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THJE CAIRfJENTJEIR
WhoBrought
The greatest single need in every human life is to /ove and be
loved. Almost two thousand years
ago,
Jesus of Nazareth
showed us what /ove real/y involves and how each of us
could come to express it.
by
Poul W. Kroll
Y
OUNG PEOPL E
sing about
Jesus in songs: " Pul your
hand in the hand of lhe man
who stilled lhe walers ...." Reli–
gious campaign slogans are founded
on his name: "Christ is the answer!"
Motion pictures are based on his
life; even many atheists consider
him a great teacher.
Who Was This Jesus?
The name of Jesus of Nazareth
lives on in spite of a Weslern world
enmeshed in an orgy of earthly pur–
suits. Who is this unusual individual
who lived two thousand years ago
and who has had such a profound
impact on Western man's religious
and social systems?
Even those who avoid any com–
mitment to organized religion find
in Jesus' teaching and personality
many unusual qualities. Perhaps the
most outstanding attribute of his
teaching was a new and exciting
concept of !ove which he expounded
to the people of bis age. Tha t con–
cept lives in lhe books of the New
Testament.
In our day of man's inhumanity
to roan and general lawlessness,
Jesus' message is of central impor-
20
tance to each one of us. He ex–
plained
why
human beings tend to
be
inhuman.
He also explained what
code of human behavior would
bring the joy, happiness and fulfill–
ment we all desire.
Controlling Human Nature
Many oulslanding individuals
have recognized that the incredible
wrongs in various societies are
caused, in parl , by the infiuences to
which man's nature is susceptible.
Many philosophical systems and po–
lítica! ideologies have been con–
structed to short-circuit the "baser
aspects" of man's nature.
The republican form of govern–
ment was born with the express pur–
pose of circumventing man's
inhuman rule over other human
beings. Many of lhe American
founding falhers, for example, were
deeply concerned with the lacks
in
human nature. Alexander Hamilton
( 1757-1804) was parlicularly suspi–
cious of human nature.
The English philosophers John
Locke ( 1632-1704) and John Stuart
Mili (1806-1873) devoled much of
their philosophical speculation to
lhe problem of how to bave strong
governmenl wilhout despolism. The
French Revolulion of 1789 was ro–
manlicized as a triumph of human
reason over governmental despot–
ism. Theoretically, Marxism and ils
polilical couoterpart , Communism,
seek to change human nalure for
lhe better.
Many psychologists, sociologists
and behaviorisls are concerned with
the problem of man's nalure. B. F.
Skinner, American behaviorisl, rec–
ommends "bíological engineering"
in order lo direcl humans into doing
that which is beneficent. The late
psychologist, Abrabam Maslow,
talked of lhe need for "self-aclual–
ized" people. In his "Third Force"
psychology, he studied mentally
heallhy people in order lo discover
why they bebaved as they did. After
a lifelime of work, Maslow con–
cluded lhat !ove, especially in early
life, is a central need of all human
beings.
ls Something Missing?
Still, as is quite obvious, human–
ity has failed to develop love-ori–
ented people on a vast scale.
Communism, in practice, has not
exactly proveo a boon to humanity.
PLAIN TRUTH July·August 1973
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