2044.-Surprise Parties by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 10, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 15.

2044.—Surprise Parties

By Editor

[We are willing to answer all questions in this department that are practical for the department and that would minister to the general good of our readers, but we answer no questions unless the name and address accompany the question. We do not ask this for publication, nor will it be published unless the inquirer so desires; we ask it, however, as an evidence of good faith, and that we may answer by letter if deemed best. Inquirers will please take notice. There is no departure from the rule. Unsigned questions reach the waste basket by the most direct route.]

2044.—Surprise Parties.

Does the Lord approve of people attending surprise parties? Solomon speaks in Eccl. 3:17 that there is a time for every purpose and for every work. Would like you to explain this text and also the question.

It depends altogether upon what the surprise party is for, what the object is, what the spirit and motive are that underlie it. If it is a surprise party for pure hilarity and fun, a mere ministering to the lusts of the flesh, that is one thing. If it is for the purpose of showing kindness to a friend, appreciation of friendship, helping the poor and needy, that is another thing. Some of the old-fashioned surprise parties were very blessed affairs indeed. We have known them again and again to make themselves into half a dozen teams, each taking a load of wood to a poor widow who was without any. We have seen men gather from half a dozen different farms, leaving their own haying and harvesting, to harvest the crop of a man who was sick, and he did not know anything about it until he saw them come; it was a blessed surprise party to him. We have seen them come to a poor minister, who hardly knew how he was going to live thru the winter, with wood and provisions and food and money. We can not believe that there is anything wrong in such a surprise party as that. Sometimes these parties take on less of a beneficial character and yet are harmless, and helpful in breaking the ice of cold formality and showing real friendship. Let the motive be right and the acts be right, and we need not trouble ourselves about the surprise parties in it. It would have to be judged as all other parties are, according to their character.

Eccl. 3:17 is simply a statement that in God's judgment there is a time for every purpose and every work. In the beginning of the chapter the writer says that all the things in this world have their regular course, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to buy and a time to plant, a time to harvest, a time to kill, and so the things of the world go on in their regular course over and over. And yet many of these things are perverted. He saw that in the very place of justice among men that wickedness was there, in the place where there ought to be righteousness, that wickedness was there. So he states the conclusion that God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is time, that is in God's judgment, for every purpose and for every work, so that God's own plan shall be perfectly complete in everything, as man's plans are incomplete.

2045.—Scriptural Authority for Wearing Apparel.

What scriptural authority have the Dunkards and River Brethren for wearing the cap and bonnet? Is there any pamphlet that treats upon this subject? Is the prevalent fashion wrong of women attending evening service with the head uncovered?

How good it is to know that the Lord has left some things to Christian common sense and our own taste. The prescription that He lays down is that we should dress modestly, becomingly, and befitting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He or she is best dressed whose dress attracts the least attention. We know no reason why the Dunkards and River Brethren may not wear any kind of clothes they desire. Let them follow their own taste and the best light they have. We know of nothing that would compel any one to follow their fashion. They may have pamphlets on the subject themselves. We know of nothing that treats of that subject, hardly think it worth any treatise. Nor do we see anything wrong in women attending evening services with head uncovered. God has given women hair for a covering of the head. Sometimes the immense bonnets or hats which they wear serve to hide the speaker and singers from those who sit behind. It seems to us that it would be a great relief to have them uncover their heads under some circumstances.

2046.—God Is a Spirit. John 4:24.

Please explain John 4:24. The Spirit hath not flesh and bones. When any one is born from above, and the Spirit of God dwells in him, when he dies, does the Spirit of God or of Christ die? When Christ died, He said, "Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit;" and Stephen said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." What did that mean?

To reply to the last question first, that simply means that God would take their life and care for it. Christ's life was commended unto the Father, Stephen's life into the hands of the Master. All these difficulties would vanish if we remember that spirit is used in different ways. We give more than one meaning to words constantly. We find the same word used under different meanings in the Scriptures. For instance, Jesus said of His disciples, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of;" that is, You do not understand what actuates you. Spirit sometimes means a spiritual being. So God is a Spirit, a spiritual being; angels are "ministering spirits" (Heb. 1:14), spiritual beings. There are also evil spirits or demons. Then there is spirit meaning life, the life which God gives to His children, the higher life, in contradistinction to soul, which every one possesses, children of God or not. The expression quoted above that "a spirit hath not flesh and bones which ye see Me have," evidently refers to evil spirits, and the disciples' conception of ghosts, for they seemed to have the same superstitious ideas of phantoms that men have at the present time. If we will bear in mind these various uses which the word spirit has, we will have no trouble whatever in letting the context settle the question. As, for instance, the words of Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," compare with Col. 3:3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory." That life does not leave us as a conscious, intelligent entity; it did not come to us in that way. It came as life, vivifying the whole spiritual man.

2047.—The Rich Man and Lazarus.

Please explain Luke 16:19-31.

The passage is too long for proper explanation in this department. Such questions we must almost of necessity leave out because of that. For that reason we refer our questioner to a tract which covers the scripture very much more fully and much more clearly than we can state it in this department. The tract is B. S. L. No. 146, and can be secured from this office for two cents. See also "Christ's Object Lessons," chapter entitled, "A Great Gulf Fixed."

In brief, it may be said that the parable was one which illustrated the condition and attitude of the Jews and Gentiles toward God. The Jews could be well likened to the rich man that fared sumptuously. All the riches of God's grace had been given them; they had been made the repository of His law and the recipients of the riches of His grace. Rom. 9:4. They considered the Gentiles but "dogs" and unworthy of any of the riches of God. They felt that none would be saved outside of their own particular nation, and the Pharisees themselves, to whom Jesus addressed this parable, seemed to feel that there was no salvation for any except Pharisees. It is recorded of one of this class that he remarked that if only two people were saved in this world, it would be him and his son, but if only one were saved, he himself would be the one. Lifted up in their own estimation, the Jews failed to find the true riches of God; the Gentiles in their poverty of soul, willing to accept anything, received of His grace. Rejecting Christ, the one class has been left to trouble, ever seeking but never finding rest, while the other class, those who accept Christ, have found peace and joy in Him. The great gulf which lies between is the unbelief on the part of those who reject their Saviour. This could be well enlarged and amplified, but in brief, is an explanation of the parable, for it is a parable and not a literal occurrence.

"Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way: and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."

"But foolish and unlearned questions avoid."