The Minister as Counsellor Part 3 -- By: Charles F. Ball

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 107:425 (Jan 1950)
Article: The Minister as Counsellor Part 3
Author: Charles F. Ball


The Minister as Counsellor
Part 3

Charles F. Ball

(Continued from the October-December Number, 1949)

In all the history of the world there has never been a time or a place where men and women have not sought out their priests or their religious leaders for personal help, counsel, guidance, advice, assurance or comfort. In ancient Greece and Rome the oracle was sought to answer questions which pertained to the problems and the decisions of life. It was regarded as an infallible guide and its pronouncements accepted without question. Who has not heard of the oracle of Appolo at Delphi or the oracle of Zeus at Dodona? Among the ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Druids and in fact universally priests, mediums and holy men have been sought after to give counsel and advice in many matters. Every tribe has its medicine man. Greece and Rome had their philosophers to whom people brought their problems. The Catholic Church has her confessional.

I am not arguing for the rightness of this practice found in the human race, but am simply saying that men are so constituted that they need help and advice and guidance. Life is full of trials and difficulties. Sin has entered and has blasted the peace and happiness of mankind, so there is little wonder that its wreckage is strewn along all the roadsides of human history. Something is the matter physically, mentally and spiritually with the human race. Every area of life has its failures and its shipwrecks—marriage, friendship, personal living and vocation. Men are conscious of failure in these areas. They are running to doctors, psychiatrists, clergymen and fortune-tellers, practitioners—in fact anybody—in a desperate scramble for help and counsel, help,

that is, to unscramble the omelette of life. There are problems of conduct, problems of right and wrong, problems of faith, problems of ethics, problems social and problems political. It has always been so. The poison of sin has infected every son of Adam and is responsible for every maladjustment in human relationships.

Back in the Old Testament economy Moses was counsellor to his people, sitting to hear their problems and to interpret them in the light of divine truth. In Exodus 18:13–16 we read: “It came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening…and Moses’ father-in-law said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning until even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God. When they have a matter t...

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