Newspapers / The Future Outlook (Greensboro, … / May 1, 1970, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE FUTURE OUTLOOK J. F. JOHNSON Editor & Publisher MISS EMMA P. JOHNSON News Reporter L. A- WISE Staff Photographer Make all checks payable to and mail to: THE FUTURE OUTLOOK P. O. BOX 20331? GREENSBORO, N. C. 27420 PHONE 273-1758 Second Class Postage Paid at Greensboro, N. C. 10c Per Copy Published Weekly $6.00 Per Year Can You Vote? Registration books have been open for the Spring Pri mary election which will take place Saturday, May 2. Did you register ? Are you planning to vote on Saturday ? Members of the N.A.A.C.P. Voting Campaign Com mittee went, all-out during the last few weeks in seeking to get non-registered citizens on the books. Many citizens have moved from their old precincts since the last election. Unless they have notified their registrar and had their names moved to their new pre cinct, they are not qualified to vote on Saturday. If you can't vote on May 2, be sure to be a qualified voter in time to take part in the General Election in No vember. College students as well as interested citizens can follow through with the house to house campaign for registering citizens and see that they vote in the Novem ber general election for the candidates of their choice. The General Election consists of the Democrats and Republican government officials, namely, Senators, Con gressmen, State House of Representatives, County Board of Commissioners, and Clerk of Court. The non-registered citizens can qualify themselves to vote by making an appointment with their registrar in their precinct or go by the County Board of Elections of fice, 323 W. Market Street from 9:00 until 5:00 P.M. Before a voter votes, he should go to the headquar ters of the different political parties and talk with the officials and secure literature about the candidates and know their platforms before casting a vote. It is customary when one is a member of the Demo cratic party to vote a straight Democratic ticket and if he is a member of the Republican party vote a straight Republican ticket, but it is perfectly legal to vote a "split ticket," wherin a voter picks men from both parties. Of course, this only true in a General Election. In a primary you can only help select the men who will represent "your party" in the General Election. The citizens of Guilford County, especially the Negro, should exercise their franchise at the polls due to the fact that many Negroes are denied the right to vote in many of the southern states. In order to vote in some southern states, the Negro has to go through a long procedure of schooling, and will have to answer certain questions se lected by the registrar taken from the constitution of the United States. If he is unable to answer the questions, he cannot vote. Again, we urge our citizens to register and help others to qualify themselves to vote soon. POET'S CORNER The Lord had a job for me, But I had bo much to do, I said, "You get somebody else Or wait till I get through." I didn't know how the Lord came out, But he seemed to get along; But I felt kin da sneakln' like, Cause I knowed I'd dohe Him wrong. One day I needed the Lord Needed Him right away, And He never answered me at all, But I could hear Him say, Down in my accusing heart, "Boy, Pse got too much to do, Or wait till I get through." ? Paul Laurence Dunbar This \V ee^'s Sunday School Lesson BEGINNING WHERE YOU ARE Have you over known a per son who was completely chang ed? I remember a man who had been an alcoholic. He moved to a new community where no one knew his past. He was soon called on by the pastor and some laymen from a nearby church. He became active in the men's club and at the end of the year was elected its presi dent. There was great joy in his home. Surrounded by new friends who believed in him and upheld by their expecta tions, he became a new man. He accepted baptism and for the first time in his life became a member of Christ's church. Christianity has always claim ed the power to transform lives. The greatest argument for Christian faith has always been bad men made good, drunks made sober, violent men made gentle, grasping men made gen erous, and hate-filled men made loving. In this lesson we are to study such a changed man. His is per haps the most famous and dra matic conversion in history. We speak of the apostle Paul, who changed from a zealous perse cutor of the new faith to its most effective champion. How are we to understand this trans formation? The purpose of this lesson is to explore this and re lated questions. SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES The Scripture for this lesson is Acts 9:1-31; 11:19-30; Gala tians 1:11-17. Selected verses are printed below. Galatians 1:11-17 11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For 1 did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I perse cuted the church of God vio lently and tried to destroy it; 14 and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the tradition* of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, 16 was pleas ed to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach Mm among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles be fore me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Acts 11:19-26 19 Now those who wera scat tered because ol the persecu tion that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antloch, speaking the word to none except Jew*. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antloch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. 22 News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antloch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with stead fast purpose; 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spir it and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large com pany of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. Memory Selection: Rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this pur pose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the thingB in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. ? Acts 26:16 EXPLORING THE QUESTIONS Students of the Bible have al ways been fascinated by the sto ry of Paul. Who was this young Jew who became Christianity's foremost missionary? What ac counts for such a radical change in his character? What quali fied him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles? What accounts for his remarkable ability to for mulate the first written state ments of the Christian faith, when he had not known Jesus during his earthly ministry? Was Paul's conversion unique, or should we expect similar transformations today? Do Christians today expect Christ to change their lives? Should they? Paul could boast that con cerning the law he- was blame less. (Phiippians 3:6) Is it pos sible that morally upright peo ple today, like Paul, need to experience conversion? According to Acts 9:20, Paul began immediately after his baptism to make public witness to his new faith. For Paul this witness involved teaching and preaching. Is this form of wit ness required of every Chris tian or only of those with ex ceptional verbal gifts? What other forms of witness are pos sible? In presenting the faith Paul had great success in the cities of the empire, Why could Paul reach the urban masses while we cannot? FINDING HELP WITH YOUR QUESTIONS Let us begin by setting down what we can learn about Paul. (Saul was his Hebrew name; Paul, his Roman name.) In several of his letters Paul speaks of himself as a Hebrew of the trbe of Benjamin and a Pharisee. He was born and rais ed in Tarsus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, and he was educated in the university there. At some point, his fam ly had won Roman citizenship, a greatly prized honor. As a young man Paul had gone to Jerusalem to study un der the famous rabbi Gamaliel. Thus it was a brilliant and zeal ous young man who started to Damascus to arrest the Chris tians there. Paul's Meeting With Christ In trying to understand the conversion of Paul, we must not forget Stephen. The vic torious and forgiving way Ste phen met martyrdom, and the fearless deportment of other Christians Paul persecuted, must have made a deep impression on him. How could these simple people whom he thought to be so wrong face death and im prisonment so trumphantly? Trying to understand what went on inside of Paul, William Barclay of the University of Glasgow has this to say: "It was about 140 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus. The journey would be made on foot and would take about a week. Paul's only companions were the officers of the Sanhedrin, a kind of police force. Because he was a Pharsee, he could have nothing to do with them; so he walked alone; and a* he walked he thought . . , The way went through Galilee, and Gali ee brought this Jesus even more vividly to Paul's mind. The ten sion in his inner beng tighten ed. . . . Just before Damascus the road clmbed Mount Hermon, and down below lay Damascus. . . . That very region had one characteristic phenomenon. When the hot air of the plain met the cold air of the mountain range, violetn electrical storms result ed. Just at that moment there came such a lightning storm, and out of the storm Christ spoke to Paul. And in that moment the long battle was over and Paul surrendered to Christ. . . . He who had intended to enter Da mascus like an avenging fury was led by the hand into that city, blind and helpless as a child." We may draw several conclu sions from Paul's conversion. 1. Paul's dramatic experience ts not the usual one. Much harm has been done by expecting ev eryone to have the Pauline type of Christian experience. How ever, it is equally important to remember that every Christian must come to some time of de cision for Christ. The church is weak today because many of its members have just drifted into it without being aware that when they say Yes to Christ, they are saying No to the/ val ues of the world. 2. Converson is not the end o f our Christian experience. Al ter his conversion Paul had in struction from Ananias and re tired to Arabia lor further study and reflection upon the Scrip tures. He had to learn more about the life and teaching at Jesus from Peter and Jamas In Jerusalem. Is the church weak today because many of its mem bers have failed to grow? How many have neither studied nor grown in their understanding at the mind of Christ since child hood? 3. Conversion is not neces sarily from gross sin to good ness. Paul was already a pious keeper of the moral law. But he needed conversion from confi dence in his own goodness to faith in Christ. The church to day has many members who re ly solely on their own goodnew. They are respectable folks, but they show llttlef sign that they have experienced the love of God or know how to love their fellows. 4. To say that a man la con verted is to say that he has ? new center for his life Where
The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.)
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