People Living Together | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Let me see if I can clarify some things about life and society as we struggle to get along in 2015. Most of us go about our lives without much consideration of some basic human issues. My background is Preacher's Kid / Psychology major / Theology Degree at the Master's level / Insurance degree / Series 6 Securities / owner of a small Tree Surgery business in the Great Recession / husband / father / grandfather ... all this I call "The School of Hard Knocks!"

    At age 69, I am not a young whippersnapper. Only the young know everything and only a person with a new degree of the Doctor's level is both arrogant, smart and dumb at the same time. I shall begin with the story of what could be the best society ever --- the Followers of Jesus, the Christ.

    Mankind is a social being. God, according to the Bible, put a man and a woman in the Garden to keep Him (some say Her) company and one another. His orders to mankind were "be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over my Creation." No sooner were the first humans on the scene of earth billions of years ago than there were problems. These problems were:

       •  Who would lead the tribe?

       •  How would we work together to live and eat?

       •  What rules would we follow to get along?

       •  What would God, the Creator, want us to do to follow his orders-be fruitful / multiply?

    Any who have read the first book of the Bible, Genesis; know there are a multitude of stories telling us the basics of mankind. Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Therefore, they were cast out to fend for themselves with sweat and pain. As long as they listened to God, things were good. When they wanted to be as smart as God, they messed up badly!

    People who read and live in Eastern NC have a pretty good grasp of living together. Whether you attend church or not, you know what church is about. Is it not interesting there are so many churches around here? The majority is "Christian" churches, but they each have a different name and belong to a different group called a "Denomination": Baptist / Methodist / Presbyterian / Christian / Independent / etc. If you get to the big city you now find Muslims / Mennonites / Mormons / Hindu / gays / lesbians / people and religions from all around the world now live in America and worship in their own traditions. They are more varied than most of us know in good old Beaufort County where life is simpler and people are less crowded.

    One of the best "churches" --- if you use the term in a generic fashion --- is at the Country Store, beauty parlor or barber shop, or just sitting around the Washington Waterfront watching fireworks and enjoying the vendors and food sellers with one of our many events making otherwise boring country living into some good fun. Church is another name for people of "like thinking" enjoying weekly fellowship. From small Bible Study groups to the Dockside Devotions we have here on Wednesdays in Bath, to the several churches, people share their faith and religious discussions in a natural way. The exception here is the person who never attends and does not want to be part of any church.

    I went over to one small riverside community and found a little outside worship area with a platform, speaker's stand, and benches in several rows up the hillside. People here are dedicated enough to worship that they have different neighbors leading the devotion and singing songs even when there is no formal church to attend. When I first came to Bayview in 1968 with the Mayo family, they went down to the little Community Chapel were Uncle Lane did the devotion, a Sunday School lesson was taught the nieces and nephews at 10:00 each Sunday. Whoever wanted to attend was welcome. In other words, we did for ourselves because we were so Baptist we were afraid that a Sunday missed might send you to hell or lose your Perfect Attendance Pin!

    Now---back to the social organizing around God's Son, Jesus.

    It was a colorful picture of mankind and what happened as early followers met in hiding places to support one another. They were a small minority in the world of Jews and Romans. All around them were pagans as well who worshiped this or that deity. There were even cults of prostitution in the early days. The most popular religion ever conceived had priestesses who invited men to "worship" at the god of Orgasm and erotic behavior. That was almost as good as sitting in front of the TV while some religious entertainment goes on at the Church of the Big Show --- now broadcast everywhere via satellite or live streaming Internet.

    You will recall Jesus went about followed by 12 Disciples. They were invited from their fishing boats to become "fishers of men." Another was a Tax Collector, a Physician, and some were so quiet we really don't know all their personal details before they became one of the Twelve.

    Around them were many other Followers. They were curious and dissatisfied people who were not happy with the other religions of the day. They had heard about a promised Messiah and Jesus was claimed to be such. Their curiosity made them want to come wherever he was to hear his words and observe his actions of healing and other things he did. They were talking all over about "this man who claims to be the Promised Messiah." To some he was a Prophet. To others he was a returned Moses or David. Everyone was curious about this stranger sharing new ideas about loving one another and finding the joy of salvation.

    Jesus kept making them make up their minds for themselves over what they observed. Some believed he was God's Son, others that he was a great Prophet, his enemies claimed he was "of the Devil." Many believed he was the promised Messiah from the writings of King David and the Prophets. Jesus' favorite question was "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?"

    I shall write a few follow-up articles dealing with GOOD IDEAS WHICH MAN MESSED UP.

    To sum up this first article:

       •  Man is a social creature with a pecking order

       •  We need and have some kind of rules to help us live together

       •  Any approach to social order can be good or bad---depending on how it is used

       •  All social groups --- even Christ-followers --- have good and bad results

       •  Nobody and no social philosophy is Perfect