Religious Outlook

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 June 1939, Page 15

Religious Outlook

PUTTING OUR CONVICTION TO THE TEST OF DAILY LIFE

The following challenging article by i Canon V. F. Storr, M.A.. appeared in ' the “Church of England Newspaper.” One of the basal truths affirmed by our Lord was that of a Personal Provi- : dencc. God was a Father and was I Love; men were of great value in bis ' j eyes. They could therefore rest in j ; the assurance that they were in the ; keeping of a God Who cared for them and ordered their lives providentially. St. Paul wrote, “We know that to them that love God all things work together for good,” and the Christian Church all down the centuries has echoed his words. The Christian will feel little difficulty in subscribing to the belief in a General Providence, that is, that God is working out a large purpose of good- , ness, that He is in control of the uni- . verse and will secure that His purpose . finally prevails. The difficulties arise when we ask whether the Divine Providence orders our individual lives and their details. We are all familiar with the kind of problem which puzzles us. Does God send cancer to a person? Does He arrange that an earthquake shall occur which will kill hundreds; is it part of His loving purpose that those people should perish in that way? Does He will that a motor accident • should occur in which those in the > car are killed or disabled? The exi amples just given do not fall into the same class. The car accident is due to human carelessness or stupidity. The earthquake is entirely beyond man’s 3 control. The cancer may, or may not, - be due to some neglect of the rules of > health.

Now we cannot make God responsible for the results of human sin or ignorance. He is responsible lor making a world in which misuse of freedom is possible, and in which men have to grow by acquiring knowledge and experience. He is also responsible for creating a world in which storms and earthquakes occur. Why He made such a world we cannot say. We have to trust that it is the best possible world which He could have made consistently with the execution of His general purpose. In a world governed by uniformly operating forces of Nature, events are bound to occur which cause disaster to man; but we can still believe that, if we could see the whole of God’s plan, of which only a fraction is visible to us, we should find that everything worked out for the best. The real question is whether God wills directly the earthquake, the accident, the illness and their consequences, or whether He only indirectly wills them. I take a walk; my directly willed purpose is to reach a hill. But incidentally I produce many results which I do not directly will; e.g., I displace gravel, tread on a beetle, crush a flower.

| Chiistians may legitimately hold different opinions on this point. Some feel j that an Infinite Mind and Will directly orders everything which happens. We cannot see the providence in it, but j must just believe that it is there. I Others feel that God does not directly order much which occurs, but knows • and wills the consequences of what | occurs, and over-rules those consej quences for the best. Nothing, in a j word, which can happen is beyond His | control. He has reserves of power and I wisdom to meet, any situation which j may arise. In dealing with so difficult I a problem we must be very humble j and ready to confess our ignorance. | “We have but faith, we cannot know.” j Certain general considerations must I be borne in mind which have a very i direct bearing upon this question of j Providence, (a) We see so little of the Divine plan that we cannot pass a final judgment upon it. The scope of that plan is not limited to this earth. In the beyond we may understand

more clearly the meaning of it all. (b)| If the purpose of life were merely that we should have “a good time.” | then we could imagine a world much | more suitable to that purpose, a world '■ without germs, or storms, or earth- j quakes. But if life serves a -moral purpose then in these strange happenings we can find a deeper meaning. We cannot, with an older generation, regard an earthquake as a judgment upon the inhabitants of the locality; but we may use the happening to subserve a moral end. The fact that Nature is an orderly system is the condition of human progress and catastrophes in Nature must be viewed in relation to the total purpose of God. j (c) The doctrine of Providence has j to be lived out, if its full meaning is j I to be understood. If we are children | of a heavenly Father let us try to live j i as such, putting our conviction to the j test of daily life. This will not indeed j solve our speculative problems, but it! will help to create in us that temper | of soul in which God can make known to us His presence and love. We shall discover by a ripening experience that all things do work together for good to them that love God. The doctrine of Providence is vitally related to our prayers and our general attitude of life, and in particular to our attitude to Jesus Christ, Who is the revelation of ! the Father.