Newspapers / The Future Outlook (Greensboro, … / Aug. 30, 1968, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE FUTURE J. F. JOHNSON MISS EMMA P. JOMNSON L. A. WIS* OUTLOOK Editor & Pabtfcker Ntwi Reporter Staff FlwtuHfkit llakt all chacka pajraMa to and anil to: THE FUTURE OUTLOOK P. O. BOX 80811 ? GREENSBORO, N. C. 27420 PHONE BR 8-1716 Omml dan Postage PaM at Onwtoi, *. C. 10e Par Opy Pnfclteked Weekly Per T?r PTA Ward Systems Solve Traffic Problems If Ward Systems were organized and sponsored by the Parent-Teacher Associations, they would help to cur tail quite a bit of traffic hazards during inclimate weather. Ward means just this: an organization of neighborhoods with members having similar ideas. For example, if Wards were set up by the PTA's of Lincoln and Dudley High School and the neighborhoods of Morningside Homes, Dudley Heights, Clinton Hills, Benbow Park, and the like, the leaders of each Ward would assume a responsibility like this. Of course you know that each family has one or more cars. When there are five children going to the same school and living on the same street or a block apart, the Ward leader could suggest that one parent assume re sponsibility of pooling these children during inclimate weather. That would eliminate four cars on the same street. During this time, much construction work is being done near the schools, especially Dudley High, where ground work is being done for a stadium. Several types of vehicles are being used. These vehicles interfere with traffic during fair weather. What would happen if a gala windstorm took place when classes were being dismissed in the afternoon? On the other hand, at the intersection of Lincoln and Lee Streets, there are pupils leaving five different schools, namely the Catholic School, Lutheran, Dudley, Lincoln and Bluford. Prior to this time, some women would go to their husbands' jobs to secure their cars for the sole pur pose of picking up one child. This was to show others that the family owned a car. How much easier it would be if the parent knew somebody in her Ward who could be re sponsible for carrying her child home, thusly eliminating the traffic hazard. We criticize our teenagers as being careless and reck less drivers, but they will go back and forth to pick up their friends. Most of them will say, "Look how it's rain ing. There is Mrs. Jones' son. He lives next door to us." They will pick them up. After one trip has been made, they will even return to the school to pick up others. In thinking about a PTA Ward System to curtail traffic, a teacher expressed the opinion that female faculty members would be the first to criticize thiB type of system, because they live next door to some of their co-workers. If something were to happen to their auto mobiles, like battery or tire trouble, they would find some type of excuse to curtail a conversation between the. two. There is a law which states that teachers should not trans port students to and from school, but it doesn't apply to adults. Why can't five teachers ride in the same car and reduce the number of cars on the streets ? It has been ob served that a layman or a teenager would do this with no trouble, but what about the professionals? Why can't teachers in the same school do the same thing? Is it purely a matter of trying to show off a car or is it just selfishness? This editorial will be continued in the next edition. I Poet's Corner I shall have peace, when I go home." "When I go home may quiet re Ism And nothing will I say or do ? Td cause regret or needless pain In those I love when I go home. Whan I go home, my glory Crown What heaven's host to Him bow down, Will ha that Christ is there enthroned; This Weed's Sunday School Lesson What la Our Concern? How many times have you heard some say, "God helps those who help themselves"? Or when "God hCar someone say, JSf/TdvehU8amindtothi^ with, and he won't save us from our own stupidity"? Both these statements are accepted as com mon sense by many Christians. Like so many other common sense statements, however, these Points of view must not be ac uncritically. Does the Bible really teach that God helps those who helj} them_ selves? Is it really accurate to say that God will not deliver us from our mistakes? Most such statements are only partly true, and we must learn to recognize in what sense they are true and also how they may be mislead lng. We often assume that God treats us the way a mother bird treats her young. That is, we as sume that God has shoved us out of the nest and left us to fly or fall on our own. One of the chief reasons inclining us to ward acceptance of such views "blb"calif ^at they appeal to [ our pride. They suggest that God expects us to be able to go It alone, to manage our lives with out help. We say that all we need to do Is use the minds God gave us. The question with which lesson Is concerned is how a per son can face setbacks and diffi cult decisions in life. One com mon danger Is the assumption that the future depends upon our own decisions alone. The con trasting danger is assuming that our own actions are pointless. The lesson seeks a third alterna tive. Before Yon Read The Scripture We have already seen that In actual chronology Nehemiah al most surely preceded Ezra. We do not know why the order was reversed in the Chronicler's tra dition. Perhaps he wanted to ?how that Ezra's work (begun about 397 B.C.) was more Im portant than Nehemiah's (be gun about 444 B.C.). In any case, for our next two lessons we will be dealing with events that occurred approxi mately forty years before those events studied for the last three lessons. However, the historical background of Ezra and Nehemi ah Is the same? the late Persian period. Nehemiah was an official to the court of Artaxerxes I (Ar tuh-mirk-seez) . Some persons feel that Ne hemiah's reaction to the news about the plight of Jerusalem was rather extreme If Its condi tion was the result of the de struction in 586 B.C. They sug gest that some attempt had al ready been made to rebuild the city walls and that a fresh cata strophe had left the city defense less once more. Whatever the fact* may be, the Chronicler's main concern was that the Holy Ctty, Jerusalem, was In a <Je plorable state of devastation. the Persians the former kingdom of Judah was a prov ince of Samaria. This fact h?ip, us Me part of the reason for the conflict that arose when Neheml ?h was sent to Jerusalem. Br tMmaUb as hit One! the ktaf wvun dermining part of the Samaritan governor's authority. The information in Nehemiah is undoubtedly from a diary or journal that Nehemiah kept How the Chronicler gained ac cess to it is uncertain. The com munity may have preserved it for the same reason that we preserve the journals and diaries of men whose work has been significant for our times. What the Scripture Says The Scripture for today is I Nehemiah 1 through 6. Selected I verses are printed below. See Home Bible Study suggestions in the back of the quarterly. I Nehemiah 2:17-18 17 Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we Imay no longer suffer disgrace." 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been up on me for good, and also of the words which the king had spoken to me. And they said, "Let us rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work. I Nehemiah 4:15-20 15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah, 17 who were the wall. Those who carried bur dens were laden in^chaway that each with one handlabored on the work and with the oth^ held his weapon. 18 An o t the builders had his sword girded at his side while hebuO^ The man who sounaed the trumpet was beside ?e,19 An I said to the nobles and to the offiicals and to the rertrf the people, "The work U widely spread, and we rated on the wall, far frW?. another. 20 In the place Where you hear the sound of the trim Let, rally to us there. Our God, will HUM for Nehemiah 6:1-3, 15-16 1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobi'ah and to Geshem the Arab andto rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 San ballat and Geshem sent to me. saying, "Come and let us nwt toother in one of the village, in \Z plain ol Ono." But ttw"; tended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" 15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations round about us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem; for ther perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Memory Selection: The God of hmvfn will make us prosper, and to his ?i wants will ariaa and build. Scripture The purification of the people by disolving all the mixed mar riages (Ezra 9 and 10) is fol lowed in the Chronicler's history by the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem. This order may have been determined by theological concerns. Did the Chronicler wish to assert the necessity of purification before the rebuilding could take place T The right of the pure alone to engage in the work of God is one viewpoint represented in the Old Testament. Nehemiah 1: The Chronicler seems merely to have inserted Nehemiah'8 diary into his ac count. The name Nehemlah la composed of a verb meaning "to comfort" or "to console" and the name of God, Yahweh (in its short form. Yah). Thus it sug gests one who brings Yahweh's comfort to Israel. Nehemiah appealed to God as one who is faithful to his peo ple who keep the covenant. This faithfulness called for the exe cution of judgment upon the dis obedient, but it also called for forgiveness and renewal to the penitent. (1:8-9) Nehemiah 's prayer was not merely a prayer of personal repentance. It was a prayer of national guilt. Chapter 2:1-8: Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes L Many scholars thinlr he must have been a eunuch, which was usually true of persons in his position. If so, the Chronicler's regard for Nehemiah is especial ly interesting, for Deuteronomy 23:1 excluded eunuchs from the assembly of Israel. It may be that several modifications in Israelite custom were accepted as necessary after the Nehemiah interpreted the events in hig life as the result of the work of God, and the Chron icler preserved thin nffirmntirm The king's response to Nehemi ah's plea was understood as the answer to Nehemiah's prayer re ferred to in 2:4. The rebuilding of Jerusalem was under the pro tection of Yahweh. Chaper 2:9-20: When the Sa maritan officials saw Nehemiah gathering men to rebuild ?>?+ walls of Jerusalem, they were displeased. This was a sign to then that part of their authority was about to be removed. The interesting interplay be tween the work of God and the work of man is especially evi dent in the picture of Nehemi ah's the hand of God was upon him. On the other hand, Ne hemlah worked by human cun ning and skill, going by night and carefully examining the con dition of the wall. Chapter 3: The people who re built the walls should be remem bered, for they were Yahweh's faithful people. But the rebuild ing of the wall ultimately was God's work. Chapter 4: The builders to contend with ridicule, which Nehemiah took with utmost seri ousness. Because he knew work to be God's will, he was able to pray that the taunts against that work would fall back and frustrate the efforts of the tauntera. God answered this prayer. Again, however, Nehemi ah's own efforts were involved, for he set up a military defense force. v Cha?ter I; Among the faith
The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Aug. 30, 1968, edition 1
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