The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1957-05-30
One Man Looks
At God
(By Charles w. Carlson, Pastor,
St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland Maryland)

of the key thoughts and ideas that
are included in the Epistle of
James. Though there are three men
in the New Testament who have
this common name of James: James
the son of Zebedee. Johns brother;
James the son of AlpheuS, also
known as James the less Mark
15:40); and James the brother of
the Lord Matthew 1855, most
scholars agree that by the very ma
ture of the epistle, and in light of
the historical circumstances, this
epistle was written by the James
who was Jesus brother, and the
first leader of the church in Jeru-
salem.
In speaking of this epistle in gen.
eral, those who read it will find
quickly that it is in main an appeal
to the Jewish Christians of that
early period in the church to ''prac-
tice what they preached" We must
| remember that this epistle was
written at a time when it often cost
man his life to state that he be-
lieved in Christ, for the Roman En-
pire was doing everything it could
to stamp out Christianity and es-
tablish emperor worship as the of
fetal religion of the empire. In the
light of this fact, it is understand
able that many people who pro-
fessed faith in Christ would have
been tempted to bypass that faith
when the chips were down." An
other factor in the BACKGROUND of
this epistle was the fact that there
were many pagan religions with
strange ideas as to the necessary
behavior of a religious man in this
time. and the newly converted
Christians often carried into their
practice of the faith rather strange
ethical ideas. At any rate. the epis-
tie is mainly a challenge to all who
followed Christ to be, as James
puts it, ''doers of the Word and not
hearers only" In this sense it is
definitely tract for our time"
loaded with vital challenges for
Christians who live here and now.
faced with problems in life here
and now
The first statement that we want
to consider is:
Count it all joy. my brethren,
when you meet various trials.
for you know that the testing of
your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastnesS have its
full effect, that you may be per-
feet and complete, lacking in
nothing. James 1:24D
There is no doubt that we live
in trying times. But there is also
no doubt that all men have lived
in trying times. We perhaps forget
the problems that past civilizations
faced, which to them were every
bit as serious as our problems with
the "H-Bomb," juvenile Delinquent
cy, ct al. Not only do we face prob
lens as society, but as individ-
uals the problems that come with
illness, sudden tragedy, business
failure, divorce, and death, as well
as all of the other things that COM
plicate our lives, often upset lives
in drastic ways For these problems
Jesus has profound answer-in
the face of an unforeseen tragedy
he says Count it all joy, when you
meet various trials At first
sight this seems a rather strange
way to look at things, for no one
particularly likes the damage that
a tornado does, for instance. But
the fact is, that tornadoes really do
happen, both in the form of ire
mendous Windstorm, and in the
form of personal tragedies like
marital infidelity The question is,
How do we meet these lorna
| doeS?' If you meet them as a part
of this life, many times unable to
be understood, yet as an opportuni-
ty to put your faith into action,
then these trials can be really
ways of growing. If you meet TRACE
ely with bitterness of attitude or
a feeling of defeat, you will be a
sorry sight. But personal tragedy
does not have to defeat! Let me
cite one instance of what | mean
A few years ago had the pleasure
of visiting the Institute of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation at
Bellevue Hospital, in New York
City. One of the staff members
there is wonderful women in her
late tWenties who met with tragedy
about ten years ago, when she was
an active teenager. She was badly
injured in an automobile accident,
in fact her spinal cord was severed
at point that made the entire
lower half of her body a dead and
useless thing. She was even unable
to sit erect. She wrote to the direc-
tor of this institute, begging that
he take her as patient, and that