THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
J. F. JOHNSON Editor & Publisher
HISS EMMA P. JOHNSON News Reporter
L. A. WISE Staff Photographer
Make ell checks payable to and mall to:
THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
P. a BOX 20331 ? GREENSBORO, N. C. 2T4M
PHONE BR 3-1768
I
?in i< Okmm P?tni Paid at OriiMbw, N. a
10e Per Cepy PaNMed Weekly H.00 Per Tear
Divorce Problems
The problem of juvenile delinquency comes mostly
from broken homes. In most cases, the parents are sep
erated or divorced.
Character-building organizations, as the YWCA, the
YMCA, Boys and Girl Scout leaders, and other organiza
tions can assist in curtailing the many juvenile problems.
During this particular time, parents enter into heavy
squabbles over bills and preparing children for occasional
dates. The squabbles usually end in the court room after
separation papers have been received.
Some of the facts about marriage and divorce will
correlate with the subject of juvenile problem cases that
are so often brought before the court. Statistics show that
there are successful marriages. These usually occur be
tween five and ten years after marriage.
The law gives their requirements for obtaining di
vorce as one year separation, adultry, illegal and unnatural
sex conduct and alcoholism. As to the sociological and
psychological or legal reasons why the number of divorces
are being granted would be a subject within itself. It is
without a doubt much easier to get married than to get a
divorce. It only costs $3 to $5 for a license, and the same
for a minister or a justice of the peace to perform the
ceremony. Several attorneys have said that service fees
for obtaining a divorce run from $75.00 to $500.00.
There are two or more sides involved in a divorce that
one should be aware of and that is the children who are
left without the love and affection of united parents.
In most divorces today, the blame is placed on the
in-laws, especially the mother-in-law. Mother refuses to
give up her daughter or son from her home and so the
daughter or son would rather cleave to the parents than
render love and affection to the mate. No advice is passed
between the two unless it is endorsed by the in-law. When
the first child is born, oh, how the grandmother can spoil
it before it reaches the age of two or three years. When
the child gets married and has any misunderstanding
in family life, the older folk begin to point a finger at
the son or daughter-in-law and make statements as to why
they shouldn't have married the husband or wife in the
beginning.
There is a sign in one of the leading churches, here,
which states, "The Family that Prays together, stays to
gether." Many divorces are planned before the couple
marries. The father, who may tend to be a little over-pro
tective of his daughter, often warns his son-in-law how he
Should treat his daughter. Perhaps in some eases, if the
in-laws would let the married couple handle their own
problems and cause no interference, there would be fewer
divorces, and a standard unification between the two.
More emphasis should be placed on the subject of mar
riage, divorce, and the Bible, in the junior and senior years
of public high school.
Love and affection is not a try-out thing when it
comes to marriage. It should be a strong Christian agree
ment.
We advise girls who have made a mistake in giving
birth to an illegitimate child to forget a boy friend who
refuses to marry her until after the child is born, and upon
hearing from his friend that the child is exactly like him
wants her as a wife. If she marries him, he makes her feel
he did her a favor by making her his servitude. We
advise the young lady to find her place in society to the
best of her ability. There are plenty professional positions
that she may prepare herself to fill, as typists, IBM ma
chine operators, ecetera.
There is no criticism in this writing of the law of di
vorce but a reminder to the readers of some of the facts
about it and bo that they may study this problem of mar
riage and divorce before going into it By all means, give
it a good study, think of the future of the children from
broken homes, who are juvenile delinquents because of
divorce. If you have been married and have a divorce,
think twice before you act again.
Becoming
A New Person j
What Is Our Concern?
In the eyes of the world Nick
was a success. At sixty he could
retire from his business. His
children had finished college,
were married, and were estab
lished in their professions. One
daughter was a schoolteacher
and married to a young engineer
who was doing well in his com
pany. Nick could not understand
why Mary continued to teach,
but that was her decision.
Nick's youngest son was an
officer in the air force, and his
wife had a gift shop. Nick wor
ried about whether Ruth could
make a go of it if anything
happened to John, who was sta
tioned near a trouble zone. Nick
worried even more about what
might happen to John.
Nick's oldest son was working
with Nick and was doing well.
In fact, he really carried most
of the responsibility for the
business now. Yes, Nick was
considering retirement. Just one
thing held him back. His work
was his life. What would he do
if he retired?
Beth had always thought that
when the children were in
school, she would have time to
do all the things she wanted to
do. She might read the books
her friends talked about. She
even had the wild idea that some
morning, after the housework
was done, she would take her
paints and easel and try her
hand at water colors again. Beth
had enjoyed her art courses In
college.
But Beth was disappointed.
The children in school seemed
to take more of her time than
ever. There were so many de
mands ? places they had to be
taken, dresses and jeans to keep
laundered, lunches to prepare,
meetings to attend. Sometimes
Beth felt irritated with the rou
tine of living. What did it all
add up to?
Peter's situation was more
serious. His family waa accident
prone. And if there waa a di
sease going around, not only did
his children catch it, but they
inevitably had severe cases.
Now he waa troubled about
his partner. Joe and Peter had.
started the business when they
came out of the Mfrlct. They
had faced soma critical times,
but they had always managed
to pull through. There never
had been any question of trust,
and Peter still eoold not believe
Joe had been dishonest Yet all
the evidence pointed to that di
rection.
A a If these difficult** were
not enough, the quarrel with hie
wife lay heavily upon his con
science. Peter realized he had
been absorbed to his arwn prob
lems.- But neglectful? That was
something else. Could Peggy
really be thinkng of leaving
him? Peter felt like giving up.
If you Identify with any of
these persons, you, too, are ask
ing the question. How can I find
life? The Issue Is this: How can
my life, to whatever my etrcam
stanees. have meaning, purpose,
and a deep sense of Joy and
peace?
Before Yea Bead
The gerlptare
Again we are confronted with
an Incident concerning Jesus
that only John, of all the Gospel
writers, has Included. As we
This Weed's Sunday School Lesson
prepare to study this account
and to listen for what this part
of the Gospel record has to say
to us, we will do well to think
of it in terms of the place the
story held In John's thinking.
In his Gospel, John placed the
incident during the time of
Jesus' first visit to Jerusalem.
John began the account of thla
visit with Jesus' conflict with
the Temple authorities, which
came as a natural result of his
driving out the merchants and
overturning the tables of the
money-changers.
Following hard upon thla ex
ample of conflict with the au
thorities, John summarized
Je?us' Jerusalem experiences
with these words, "Now when
he was In Jerusalem at the Pass
over feast, many believed in his
name when they saw the signs
which he did." (John 2:23) Then
comes the Nicodemus story. It is
as though John had selected this
story as an example of those
persons who responded positive
ly to Jesus' teaching in contrast
to the negative response of the
Temple authorities.
John may well have chosen
this incident because the main
participant was one of the Tem
ple rulers, a member of the
Sanhedrin. The significance
John attached to Nicodemus as
an example of one who believed
is further strengthened by
John's later references to him.
(See 7:45-52; 19:38-40.)
A Word About Words
Siffns: In the first three Gos
pels, Jesus' works of healing are
represented as growing out of
his compassion for human need.
John refers to any unusual hap
pening involving Jesus as a
sign. Presumably, when Nico
demus spoke of "these signs that
you do," he referred mainly to
Jesus' deeds of healing.
Born anew: The Greek word
carries the meaning "from
above"; therefore, born of God.
Kingdom of God: The refer
ence to "the kingdom of God" in
this story is the only place the
phrase is used in John's Gospel.
In the other Gospels, especially
in Mark, the term referred to a
reign of God that was already
at hand and was yet to come.
Entrance into thla kingdom re
quired repentance and belief. In
the discourse that John devel
oped out of the Hieodemus-Jesus
dialogue, "the kingdom of God"
appear* to be equated with
-eternal life "
Sptrtti In Greek the same
word, newa, is uaed to mean
"wind," "breath," or "spirit" In
John 3:8-9, then, the translator*
had to decide when to translate
fatiiM aa oMt and when to
translate it aa wind. Of interest,
too, is the fact that in J cans'
comparison of the Spirit to the
wind he was using one meaning
of the word to throw light oe
another meaning.
?tonal life: This p h r a a ?
seems 'to refer to a unique qual
ity of life rather than to length
of life or continuing life.
Hash: John used this word to
mean the whole physical life of
a human being. John did not use
flesh in the sense that Paul uaed
it ? to mean the source of our
human sin and weakness.
Son of man: As used by John,
this term ' simply indicates the
real humanity of Jesus Christ
What the
Script*!* Bays
The Scripture for today la
John 2:18 through 8:86. Selected
verses are printed below. See
Homie Bible Study list in the
back of the quarterly.
John 3:1-15
1 Now there was a man of
the Pharisees, named Nicode'
ni u 3 , a ruler of the Jews. 2 This
man came to Jesus by night
and said to him, "Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher
come from God; for no one can
do these signs that you do, un
less God Is with him." 8 Jesus
answered him, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless one Is born
anew, he cannot see the kingdom
of God." 4 Nlcode'mus said to
him, "How can a man be born
when he la old? Can he enter a
second time Into his mother*#
womb and be born?" 8 Jesus
answered, "Truly, truly, I aay
to you, unless one Is born of
water and the Spirt, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God.
8 That which Is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which 1s born
of the Spirit Is spirit 7 Do not
marvel that I said to you, *You
must be born anew.' 8 The wind
blows where it wills, and you
hear the sound of it, but you do
not know whence It comes or
whither it goes; so it is with
every one who is born of the
Spirit." 9 Nicode'mius said to
him, "How can this be?" 10
Jesus answered him, "Are you
a teacher of Israel, and yet you
do not understand this? 11 Tru
ly, truly, I say to you, we speak
of what we know, and bear wit
ness to what we have seen; but
you do not receive our testi
mony. 12 If I have told you
earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe If
I tell you heavenly things? 13
No one has ascended into heaven
but he who descended from
heaven, the Son of man. 14 And
as Moses lifted up the serpent In |
the wilderness, so must the Son
of man be lifted up, 15 that
whoever believes in him may
have eternal life."
Memory Selection: For God so
loved the world that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but
have eternal life. ?John 3:18
Haw Wi
Caientul the Scripture
Our Scripture for thia lesson
la a familiar story. Thia famili
arity may make it difficult tor
this passage to speak any new
word to us. Perhaps we will be
more reeeptive to what this
passage can say if we try to
analyse the kind of penoo Nk?
demus was and his motivation
for seeking out Jesus. Having
done thia, we will be in a posi
tion to ask at what points wa
find ourselves identifying with
Nieodemus.
first of all, it seems safe to
imply that Nieodemus was not
yet ready to be identified openly
or privately with Jesus of Nas
areth. Nieodemus came to him
by night If Nieodemus did not
want it publicly known that he
had sought out Jesus, why was
he Interested in talking with
Jesus at all? Do we have a clue
in the approach Nieodemus took
in his interview when he said,
"Rabbi, we know that you are
a teacher come from God; tor
no one can do these signs that
you do, unless God is with
him"?
Nieodemus called Jesus "Rab
bi." He admitted that he could
not account for the wonderful
deeds he had witnessed unless
(Continued on Page S) j