A Public Disgrace? by Doy Moyer
(http://www.focusmagazine.org)
Is it necessary to publicly disgrace someone if you think he or
she has done wrong?
Matthew 1:18-25 tells what happened when Joseph learned that Mary
was with child. Joseph and Mary were betrothed, which was as binding
as marriage itself and could only be broken by going through the
divorce process. Before Joseph had taken Mary into his home, he
found that she was with child. Joseph was a righteous man and
he respected the law. One cannot blame him for suspecting adultery
on Mary's part. How else could a young woman turn up with child?
Of course, this was before learning that her pregnancy was a result
of the miraculous work of God. After all, a virgin bearing a child
was unprecedented. So, believing she was an adulterous woman,
he decided to put her away secretly.
The Scriptures describe Joseph as a righteous man. One can imagine
how Joseph would have felt: torn between his love for Mary and
his desire to do what was right according to the law. He could
have handled the problem in a number of ways. He could have ignored
it. He could have turned Mary into a public disgrace. This was
not his desire. That, in itself, tells us something about the
great character of Joseph.
People are sometimes quick to "go public" with news
that can destroy a person. I have many times wondered how tabloid
magazines, which are known for smearing people, can survive. Obviously,
enough people like to hear about this kind of news. Even God's
people are touched by this problem. How many reputations have
been ruined because of unnecessary public dissemination of "bad"
information about others? Further, how many churches and friendships
have been destroyed because of gossip and slander among brethren?
It seems that we like to hear anything that destroys a reputation.
We like "dirty laundry."
Proverbs teaches about this kind of talk:
"The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they
go down into the innermost parts of the body" (18:8). "He
who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not
associate with a gossip" (20:19).
Even though Joseph could have publicly disgraced Mary, he did
not want to. Being a righteous man, he had no desire to cause
any public damage to her. What a great lesson for us all to learn!
Even if someone has done something wrong, our desire should never
be to create a public disgrace, especially when such is not necessary.
In Joseph's case, though it appeared to be an obvious case of
adultery, the truth is he did not have all the facts; he did not
know the whole context. Had he gone public to disgrace Mary, it
would have been unjust.
So Joseph decided to put Mary away secretly. But before he took
any action, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not
to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Though she was with child,
it was "by the Holy Spirit." She had committed no sin
which would have merited Joseph's putting her away. Of course,
Joseph could not have known this except by revelation from God.
Even if Mary had told him the truth, it might have seemed unlikely.
However, this direct revelation from God quenched his fears.
Because Joseph was righteous, rational and calm, he took no action
that would have led to disgrace. He did nothing that he would
have regretted later. Both Mary and Joseph kept their honor and
their righteousness. Now Joseph had no problem with fulfilling
his duty toward Mary. There was no public appearance of impropriety.
Joseph and Mary both submitted themselves to the will of God as
humble servants.
Christians need to be careful about taking news about others "public."
Even if that "news" is true, is it necessary to tell
others, especially if it will end up needlessly hurting that person's
reputation? Before taking any action, even secretly, we need to
make sure we have the facts, and that they are in proper context.
Perhaps a few reputations might have been spared had that basic
principle been followed.
There was a reason why Joseph and Mary were chosen to be the earthly
parents of Jesus. They were righteous, and willing to let God
work through them. They had the attitude that we should have today.
We may not do something as noteworthy as being earthly parents
of the Savior of the world, but God can work through us if we
humbly and quietly submit to Him: "So then, my beloved, just
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will
and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12, 13).
The Mystery of Life by Dale Smelser
From the "Wildercroft Announcements" bulletin.
You must have just returned from Mars if you haven't heard about the mapping of the genetic code. In each cell of our bodies there are chromosomes, one set from each parent. These are wound together into a strand of chemical DNA which if unraveled would stretch for six feet. In all this there are about 38,000 to 120,000 genes which carry the codes determining our distinctive characteristics. In each strand of DNA there are just four varieties of 3.1 billion sub-units. These sub-units, abbreviated A, T, C, G, write the blueprint of life.
The interesting thing is that DNA is found in all living things and the sub-units are the same, just arranged in different order. It is the arrangement that makes us either yeast, dandelion, or human. In other words, all life has chemical similarity. We have discovered some of the operation of one of God's laws in establishing the order and distinctions of life. But what hasn't been said in all of this is that we can arrange and combine those chemicals and still not have life. We will have made a far greater leap when we can explain what life is, than in mapping its arrangement.
In other words, life is something more there than chemicals, and this is especially true in human beings. For instance, in all human beings the DNA code is 99.9% identical. That final .01 differentiation determines eye color, hair type and color, height, body type, the shape of body parts, and so on. But astonishingly, our genetic make up is 99% identical to chimpanzees. Now that is where it gets interesting. There are some who marvel at how closely that relates us to chimpanzees. But that is in chemical composition. There are vast differences between humans and chimps which cannot be accounted for by that measly 1-% difference. While animal consciousness and repeated experience can bring about some clever reactions in other forms of life, the fact is that pure language as well as other cognitive abilities in humans, sets them galaxies apart from animals, including chimps. The scriptures explains it this way: "And God created man in his own image" (Gen. 1:27). Here is the basis for, among so many other things, the volitional moral ability of humans.
But there is more. We can transplant disease resistant genes from one form of life to another and establish disease resistance in the latter, or from one human to another to replace a defective gene with a beneficial one. However, we cannot just take the chemical composition of genes and accomplish that. Dead DNA cannot be used like that (forget Jurassic Park). We can map dead DNA and identify which criminal's skin was found underneath the fingernails of a rape victim long buried. But that DNA cannot be used for beneficial transplant purposes. In other words, we can reproduce the chemicals of an egg, or make an egg that would fool a chicken, but it will never hatch. There is something more to life than the chemicals we have just mapped.
Well, mapping the system of human life is a significant discovery and can be used for good and bad. But it is a long way from discovering the mystery of life. And those who call this information the "Book of Life" are over reaching. It may be the book of functioning life, but it doesn't tell us what life is, the origin of it, or how to start from scratch and make it. As the song, Our God, He is Alive, written by A.W. Dicus, declares, "God holds the germ within his hand." This is, as far as the materialist is concerned, the nasty little secret that everyone is ignoring in all the present euphoria. There is more to life than material. Only in God is there an explanation.