Basic HTML Version
I
s
JT WRONG
to be a cultured
individual?
Is it wrong - is it extrava–
gant - to purchase quality things?
Sorne people pride themselves on
lack of culture and good breeding.
They actually brag: "We're just
poor folks. " They spurn good-qual–
ity merchandise, saying, "That's too
rich for my blood." They shop for
bargain prices, condemning better
quality as "extravagance." They ac–
cuse a well-dressed person of being
"stuck up."
Does God love the pour and bate
the rich? People speak of "God's
poor." Must one be poor economi–
cally, ignorant t<ducationally, un–
couth social ly, in order to please
God?
lt's true Jesus said, "How hardly
shall they that have riches enter into
the kingdom of God!" But be also
clarified bis statement by adding:
"How hard is
it
for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom
of God!"
In this world we have the poor,
the ignorant, the uncouth and the
uncultured. And at the other ex–
treme we have the rich, the social
snobs, the intellectuals.
What is right?
We say at the Ambassador Col–
lege campuses that we teach not
only how to earn a living, but also
how to live! The college motto is:
"Recapture True Values." Out of
what textbook do we teach the true
values? In what textbook do we
learn how to live?
Actually, the only source of this
most necessary knowledge might
seem a little strange to students of
the average university.
It
is the
ONLY
textbook which imparts the
most necessary of all knowledge:
What is the meaning - the purpose
of life? What are the true values?
What is the right way to live - the
way to peace, happiness, prosperity,
security - the comfortable, interest–
packed, enjoyable and abundan!
life?
Why sbould the one book - the
Holy Bible - that holds all the right
ANSWERS -
the only rational an-
PLAIN TAUTH June-July 1974
Personal from
IS IT
WRONG TO BE A
CULTURED INDIVIDUAL?
swers tbat make sense - be over–
looked by so many?
The Holy Bible is, actually, the
foundation of knowledge. So what is
the answer that comes from the text–
book of the very Creator about this
matter of culture, good breeding,
how we should dress, education, fi–
nancia! prosperity?
Actually, surprising though it
may be to sorne, the Bible teaching
upholds prosperity, culture, educa–
tion and acquisition of right knowl–
edge, good quality, proper attire in
clothes. The Bible reveals human
nature as being lazy, slovenly, yet
full of vanity and greed.
When people
brag
about being
poor, uneducated and uncultured,
that is merely
VANITY.
It
is usually
self-excusing shiftlessness, neglect,
lack of effort.
Now is God lazy? Jesus said, "My
Father worket h hitherto, and I
work." What was God's work? That
of Creator and ruler over his cre–
ation.
What about quality? Was his
work well done or poorly done? After
the creation in the first chapter of
Genesis, "God saw every thing that
he had made, and behold, it was
VERY
Gooo."
God placed the first man in
the garden of Eden.
It
was undoubt–
edly the most beautiful garden ever
to exist on earth. God planted it. God
gave the first man a job in that gar-
den.
It
was not to be lazy, shiftless
and let the garden go to weeds and
ugliness - but "to dress it and to keep
it" (Genesis 2: 15).
ln creating, God had to tbink,
plan and design wbat was to be cre–
ated. For example, look at a beau–
tiful rose or a lily. There's nothing
inferior there.
His instruction to the workman:
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might" (Eccle–
siastes 9: 10).
Jesus, prior to his ministry, was a
carpenter, a builder of buildings. In
Nazareth the best and finest build–
ings were built out of stone. The
little synagogue (mentioned in Luke
4: 16) was very probably one of the
stone buildings that Jesus helped to
build.
A man once accused me of being
a "perfectionist." But Jesus Christ
commands
that we be perfectionists:
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is
perfect" (Matthew -5:48).
Jesus Christ is still a builder. He
rose from the dead. He is
ALIVE
TODAY.
Today he is building a
SPIRI–
TUAL
building - his church, to
be–
come
the kingdom of God.
lt
must
be the
FINEST
(Ephesians 2:20-22).
Just what is the difference be–
tween "best" quality and cheap
merchandise?
(Continued on page JO)