70 years ago — July 22,1946
We confront racial, economic, and international problems which call for the unselfish application of the highest wisdom, but, in the face of them, we insist on our privileges and forget our obligations. It has been said that ‘at the bottom of every social problem lies a social wrong.’ … If the desolation of Nagasaki was a military necessity, there is something desperately wrong with militarism … . This day calls for honest soul-searching.”
So begins “Our Present Mood and Christ” by Teunis E. Gouwens, reflecting on Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Gouwens cautioned about undesirable moods. “There is prejudice, that offspring of ignorance and fomenter of injustice. There is animosity which poisons the soul and stirs up … group against group, nation against nation. ‘What more is there to hate in this world?’ asks George E. Sokolsky. ‘Have we not had enough of it?’” Humility, grounded in the cross of Christ should be the quality sought by us. “We are told ‘to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly’ with our God.”
