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Is ltWrong toBe aCultured Individual?
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s it wrong to be a cultured individual?
ls ít wrong- is it extravagant- to purchase quality
things? Sorne people pride themselves on Jack of
culture and good breeding. They actually brag:
"We're just poor folks. " They spurn good-quality
merchandise, saying, "That's too rich for my blood."
They shop for bargain prices, condemning better quality
as "extravagance." They accuse a well-dressed person of
being "stuck up."
Does God !ove the poor and bate the rich? People
speak of"God's poor." Must one be poor economically,
ignorant educationally, uncouth socially, in order to
please God?
It's true Jesus said, "How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23.) But
He also clarified His statement by adding: "How hard is
it for them that trust in riches to eoter into the kingdom
ofGod!" (Verse 24.)
In this world we have the poor, the ignorant , the
uncouth and the uncultured. And at the other extreme
we have the rich, the social snobs, the intellectuals.
What is right?
We say at Ambassador College that we teach not only
how to earn a living, but also how to live! The college
motto is: "Recapture True Values." Out ofwhat 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 ofthe
average university.
It
is the
ONLY
textbook wbich 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 abundant life?
Why should the one book- the Holy Bible-that holds
all the right
ANSWERS,
the only rational answers, be
overlooked by so many?
The Holy Bible is, actually, the foundation of
knowledge. So what is the answer that comes from the
textbook ofthe very Creator about this matter of culture,
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1978
good breeding, dress, education, financia! prosperity?
Actually, surprising though it may be to sorne, the
Bible teaching upholds prosperity, culture, education and
right knowledge, acquisition of good quality
merchandise, and proper attire. 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.
lt
is usually to excuse
shiftlessness, neglect , lack of effort.
Now is God lazy? Jesus said, "My Father worketh
hitherto, and 1work" (John 5:
17).
What was God's work?
niat of Creator and Ruler over His creation.
What about quality? Was His work well done or poorly
done? After th.e creation in the first chapter ofGenesis,
"God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it
was
VERY GOOD. "
God placed the.first man in the Garden
ofEden. It was undoubtedly the most beautiful garden
ever to exist on earth. God planted it. God gave the first
roan a job in that garden. That job was not to be lazy,
sbiftless and let the garden go to weeds and ugliness-but
to "dress it and to keep ith (Genesis 2:
15).
In creating, God had to think, plan and design what
was to be created. For example, look ata beautiful rose
ora lily. There's nothing inferior there.
His instruction 'to the workman: "Whatsoever thy hand
findeth todo, do it with thy might" (Ecclesiastes 9: 10).
Jesus prior to His ministry was a carpenter, a builder 9f
buildings. In Nazareth the best and finest buildings were
built of stone. The little synagogue (mentioned in Luke
4:
16)
was very probably one of the stone buildings that
Jesus helped to build.
A roan once accused me ofbeing 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
ÍS AUVE TODAY.
Today He is building a
SPIRITUAL
building-His church, to
become
the Kingdom of God.
lt
must be the
FINEST
(Ephesians 2:20-22).
Just what is the difference
(Continued on page 44)