Stop speaking for God

QUESTION:

Your straight forward no-
nonsense advice _ is
something much needed
these days. Your column
shows your experience as a
counsellor and in life in
general.

In your column “The
Celestial Gong Show”, you
tell the counsellee, “li you
feel OK about yourself,
proceed with your life
fulffiiment in your own way”
Is that ic? Hf 1 understand this
advice, all one has to do Is
make up his own moral
code, follow it and he will be
blessed... My real concern fs
with you printing your
perception of God and his
characteristics... No doubt
your perception of God is

something you've worked .

out over the years. But
equally important to the
Love of God is_ the
Judgement of God... The old
and new testaments are full
of both.

No one should accuse you
of sidestepping issues in
order to tell your readers
what they want to hear. But,
when you give advice to your
clients that they don't like,
do you say, “That's OK, just
ignore what I say and make
ap your own advice and
follow it and everything will
turn out cool”?

Mr. Stewart, the “Wrath
of God” jazz is not a popular
concept, but should we
reject it simply because of it
unpopularity?... on the off
chance that there is a
heaven, hell and “eternal
damnation”, we shouldn't
deny it, as the consequences
are more important when
someone's hurt feelings...
please do what you do best:
relate to interactions bet-
ween people. Do not
theologize. Do not make
value judgements on
religious matters in print. |
respect you for having an
opinion, but I can’t speak for
the Lord, and neither can
you.

STEWART:
I agree that you and |

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cannot speak “for the Lord”.
Perhaps most people will
agree with us, at least in that
matter. Isn't it a shame that
sO many people at least
appear to believe that
someone (other than you and
I) can speak for the Lord,
and that's a shame. They act
as though their
denomination, or their
church, or their pastor, or
their favourite scripture
(often twisted

passage

around to suit their position)
can “speak for the Lord”.
You say the “wrath of
God” idea is not a popular
concept and ask if we should
reject it for that reason. I
don't think so. There are
dozens of better reasons for
rejecting it. I'll mention only
one: Jesus, himself had
nothing to say about it.
We've agreed that we cannot
“speak for the Lord”, but
when he speaks for himself,

| ask hayden stewart

Freelance Counsellor Hayden Stewart may be reached at 261-6242
for appointments for individual, family or group counselling.

Disarmament
depends on us

QUESTION:

I’ve just read your column
of April 14 and would like to
thank you for your excellent
answers to those two letters
about disarmament.

It's so easy to individuals
to feel powerless in the face
of the present nuclear
threat. That's why I ap-
preciated your positive
suggestions for action. I feel
that peace and disarmament
depend on concerned in-
dividuals such as those who
wrote you. There are so
many things that can be
done just on the individual
level. I hope you have in-
spired some of your readers

to do whatever they see to
do.

STEWART:
A staggering number of
millions of people in all the

lands on this planet are
opposed to the use of
nuclear weapons. Their

potential power is awesome.

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But, as you say, those
millions need to let each
other know how they feel

and they need to DO what.

they can and BE people of
good will and _ positive,
creative action.

There is a better way than
systematically burning each
other to a crisp.

Outnumbered

QUESTION:

About nuclear war. We're
helpless. Our government
(and other governments)
doesn't think like we
common people think.

STEWART:

If we let them know that
about 98% of their con-
stituents are utterly and
thoughtfully opposed to
nuclear weaponry, they'll
gradually start to have better
ideas.

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he has very little if anything
to say about a God of wrath.
I like that.

Thank you (I think) for
checking on my theologizing
and making value
judgements. I’ve begn
thinking I was pretty good at
avoiding them! Your letter
will keep me humble and for
that reason my value
judgement of your letter
gives you a good grade.

SS
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