|
|
| THIS PAGE CARRIES SELECT FEATURES FROM PAST NEWSLETTERS To receive the complete E-zine/Newsletter sent direct to your email address each issue, FREE and without obligation, just insert your email address in the box and click GO.
Kindness Is Not Optional by Stanley Baldwin with thanks to Martin Luther From July 31, 2009 newsletter We live in such a mean, crass society today that we take cruelty for granted. We think of ourselves as "advanced" and "highly civilized" when in fact we fall short of decency standards established by our "primitive" ancestors centuries ago. Jesus lived in a society that, like ours, was very religious and at the same time degenerate and cruel. That was one of the main issues between him and the religious leaders of his day, who, he charged, would "tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them" (Matthew 23:4). Jesus particularly took issue with the leaders who tried to make a virtue out of their meanness. In his Sermon on the Mount, preached nearly 2000 years ago, he said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, 'Love your enemies.' . . . If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" (Matthew 5:43-47). Martin Luther, commenting nearly 500 years ago on these words of Jesus, said, "See, now, how good are you, if you are friendly and gracious only towards your friends? You are just about as good as thieves and rogues, whores and scoundrels, yes, as the devil himself. Yet you act loftily, are secure, and think you are all right, and can take on splendid and boastful airs as if you were an angel . . . . "After this fashion no man upon earth would be wicked. For there is no one so desperately bad that he does not need to have somebody for a friend; how else could he live among people, if he were snarling and snapping at everybody? If now you wanted to conclude here: He loves his friends, therefore he is good and holy; then you must make at last the devil, and all his, good and pious. "Therefore Christ here means to conclude . . . that what they teach about love is all knavery; and he teaches them to turn the page and look at the Scriptures aright, if they want to be the people of God, so that they might see and show love towards their enemies. Thereby they could prove that they had a true love, and were God's children, as he shows his love to enemies and the ungrateful." Then Luther harks back to an even more ancient civilization than the one Christ lived in and writes. "For Moses himself also plainly said this, as in Exodus 23:4,5: ''If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again;' also, 'If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, thou shalt surely help him up again.' "Here they should have found that they were under obligation to love their enemies, if they had rightly looked at the text, and had not merely glanced at it, as our blind teachers skim over the surface of the Scriptures. For since he here commands them to restore and help up an ass or an ox that belongs to an enemy: he means that they should so much the more do it when the enemy himself is in danger of person, property, wife, child; and it amounts to this: Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor's injury, but prevent it, and, if thou canst, help him and promote his advantage. Thereby you can at last move him, and by kindness overcome and soften him, so that he cannot but love you, because he sees and experiences nothing evil, but only love and pure goodness in your treatment of him." God set a standard for kindness through the teachings of Moses some 3500 years ago. He confirmed it in the message of Christ 2000 years ago. He testified of it in the writings of Luther 500 years ago. He has not changed his mind today.
May I Ask One Simple Thing?
by Stanley C Baldwin
All over the world people are hurting but an exciting new movement is afoot that can change many lives for the better. It has already been impacting ours here at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Humans (SPCH).
Want your life to perk up, your character to grow stronger, and your sense of fulfillment to increase? Then become a kinder, more considerate and decent human being. Help others do the same and you begin to change the culture of cruelty engulfing us today. This is the mission of SPCH.
We have lots of exciting ideas and plans. Right now, let me tell you about some of our guiding principles.
1. We will inform, empower, and equip you to make the world a better place.
2. We will design and make available to you simple inexpensive and effective tools you can use to nurture kindness in yourself and others.
3. We will fulfill our serious purpose with a light-hearted, happy spirit.
4. We will keep all our activities and materials consistent with Judeo-Christian principles.
5. We will be a family made up of all kinds of people with a common desire to reduce the cruelty in our society and nurture kindness.
The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." Every time we prevent cruelty we reduce some of that mourning and pain. It's that simple. And it's high time.
We ask one small thing of you. Read our newsletters to hear us out. When you are satisfied that SPCH is something you want to be a part of, let us know. We will welcome you with open arms.
Taking on the Giant
by Stanley C. Baldwin
Nobody has laughed right out loud, at least not to my face. Nevertheless, I can sense that a few--I hope it's relatively few--think we at SPCH are following an impossible dream. "Prevent cruelty?" "Save civilization?" Who do we think we are? Are we naively idealistic?)
You decide. What people have not questioned is the need. Many have responded with comments about how cruel our society has gotten. The emotion with which some respond tells me clearly that they speak from devastating experience. But even those who have not themselves been traumatized know things are bad.
Is it impossible for little Davids like us to succeed against the giant, Cruelty? Israelis thought that way about Goliath, the evil giant who made their lives miserable. When David stood up to Goliath, he no doubt expected the Philistines would mock him, and they did. But it must have hurt when his brother belittled him too, telling him to go on back home and tend his few sheep. Is that what we should do? Forget about this calling and go tend a few sheep?
That's good advice, no doubt, if one has no faith. | |
|