The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-12-15
Alteration
Lesson for December y, 1861

Alteration" is a cheap word
and a word of high dignity too,
depending on who is using it,
and for what. Il adore Clipped
beef" or Il adore these new
hem lines" are feminine ways
of saying II like it a lot" That's
the cheap use of the word. It's
an extravagant compliment that
means very little. The high and
even sublime use of the word
means worship. l comes from
two Latin words meaning pray
to-" To adore God is to pray to
Him and worship Him. In all the
high use of adore" and "ador-
alton it is implied that what
you adore is above you. superior
to you. 1t is the high use of this
word that we should look into.
AdOring Nothing
There are persons, as there
have always been, who bow to
no one and nothing. They ac-
knowledge no superior on earth
or anywhere else. They may be
compelled to admit there are
forcs they cannot control. per-
sonal or impersonal. But they
do not bow to them except of
necessity, as a lawyer may
yield to the judges ruling even
when he despises it, Such people
regard alteration as a sign of
weakness, or willingness to be
trampled on. Now this attitude
is good up to a point. Some
things tn ere are which we
should not adore. There are
powers of Wickedness to whom
it is wicked to bow. But that is
not the point. The people of
whom we speak just here are
not bowling to anybody or any
thing. they respect nothing and
no one. This means that they do
not even adore what is adora-
BILE; respect what ought to be
respected. or worship One who
ought to be worshipped
AdOring What Is Mean
Which is worse, to adore moth
ing or to adore what should
never be adored? Among the
various off-beat religions of the
world are found devil-worship-
pers, bowling to idols which not
only look fierce, frightening and
ugly, but which stand for crimes
such as murder and fornication.
But you would not have to look
far, even in America, before you
would find people who, while not
signed up as devil-WorShipperS.
nevertheless admire bad things
and bad men. Such people will,
of course. oppose what is good
Incidentally it is hard for nice
people who have perhaps lived
among Christians all their lives,
| to believe that there are 100 per
cent scoundrels in the world. 1t
is a popular notion that every
body. no matter how bad he is,
has good intentions. This is not
true. Some people intend no
good. When that man out West
picked up a bag with $240.0OO in
it and returned it to the owners,
he got stacks of mail condemn
ing him for being a fool. Those
letters came from people who
could not understand honesty
and did not admire it. What did
they admire?
Adoring the Highest
In absolute contrast are those
people who adore what is adora-
BILE, who bow only to the Most
High. This is what we do, OF
wish or intend to do, in public
j worship. 1t is an interesting
question what would happen if il
were suddenly discovered that
the all-powerful God is wicked
That will not happen, it is not
true. but if it could be true that
the Maker of heaven and earth
is devil. perhaps some would
keep on adoring him just a.
men Of a certain type look up to
a known killer. But others, we
hope most others. would refuse
TO bow to devil no matter
what throne might be under
him. In the famous Song OF
Mary she praises God not alone
| for his greatness but for his good
ness. Mary worshipping a devil
would be grotesque and horri-
BILE. Mary praising the God who
shows mercy is sweetly right.
Worship in itself is neither good
nor bad. 1t is good only when
the One who is worShipped is
good above all.
Adoring Can Ee Dangerous
We grow more and more like
what we adore II We adore
nothing, we ourselves become
empty and cold II we admire
people who get away with muir
der because they are smart,
VIC shall try to get away with
all We can. ourselves But if we
admire what is admirable
adore what deserves alteration,