Everything Hangs Together

              Everything Hangs Together
Script: Romans 1.18-25
Intro: Everything hangs together. Paul had to believe that. Bom and
raised within the Judaism of his day, a Pharisee who observed strictly
the religious laws, leaving that role, becoming a Christian, and by the
time this letter is written he has been through so many experiences that
he must believe it. But what does it really matter? We find life, many
of us depicted in Cozzens' book Morning Noon and Night. It is the story
of Henry Dodd Worthington coming to the end of his life to write his
autobiography. In reflecting upon the whole experience he begins at the
time of his conception: p.8
And what does it really matter.. All things are relative.
I. We have laid to rest the Absolutes of a generation ago and have substituted
probabilities. All things are relative. Probabilities determine us
A. Relativism has became the normal pattern by which our values emerge.
1. "It all depends" becomes the answer to moral questions. This
is what Einstein said about the physical universe. It all depends
on the relationship of speed, time, and mass. He used the
idea of a train standing still, the training moving and your posi­tion
in relationship to it. The new truth shattered the old notion
upon which physics was based and spilled into other disciplines.
The hard lines separating disciplines began to erode. We began to
speak of molecular biology, biological engineering, plasma as ano­ther
state of matter.
2. It further spilled over into popular morality, and eventually
influenced understandings of the Christian faith.
3. But like anything popularized there is a distortion of the.
real. Einstein was saying everything was relative to something.
The speed of light. But ultimately not even the speed of light.
For Einstein knew the difference between reality and the focus of
a physicists theory.
B. Regardless of the thrust of relativism the psychic states seeks
balance. Another generation talked about pulling yourself together.
To be uptight is a hindrance to hang loose may be to come unravelled.
We speak of fragmentation, dehumanization. Psychiatrist— people talk
of feeling like they are coming apart. And those who haven't used every
ounce of energy to keep themselves together.
1. We tend to know what the realities of the physical world are.
We do not jump out of the second floor window because gravity is
only a highly supportable theory.
2. We believe that reality hangs together in the raising of child­ren.
We are aware enough of the implications of Freudian psycho­logy
that childhood is an important part of how things hang together
later. Our educational system is a concern. The war in Viet Nam.
Someone will ask what if we had been more astute sooner?
3. Behaviour therapy— .
C. The life that we possess has a way of hanging together.
1. Eckstein in his book the Body has a Head.