What Paul Could Teach Ann Landers
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Straight to the Cross
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What Paul Could Teach Ann Landers
by Warren Baldwin
When I was a kid, two items in the local newspaper
drew my attention: the sports page and the Ann
Landers (or Dear Abby) column. I liked the sports
page because it carried a lot of stories about
local events and athletes, and I liked the column
of Ann or Abby (I can't remember which one of
these two it was, but at one time or another I
have read both of their columns) because I
couldn't believe some of the personal-problem
stories people wrote in about. I also couldn't
believe some of the answers Ann gave.
It struck me early on that Ann was not giving
Christian responses. Yes, much of her advice was
moral and sound. But over time it seemed like the
undertone of her advice was oriented to personal
rights: "You have the right to be happy, you have
the right to self-fulfillment, you have the right
to appropriate self-expression." And in a society
committed to individual rights, who would argue
with her?
I think Paul would. Not Paul McCartney or Paul
Newman. I mean the apostle Paul.
Think about it. Paul dealt with some of the same
issues that Ann Landers did. Marital problems,
selfish relatives and friends, inconsiderate
neighbors or associates, sexual temptations or
indiscretions, disruptions at church. Well, maybe
Ann didn't deal with that last one a lot, but
there were some discussions about church and
synagogue issues in her column as I recall.
Paul dealt with those problems differently than
Ann. Whereas Ann wrote from a personal rights
agenda, Paul wrote from a corporate responsibility
agenda. The answer to a question about an
inconsiderate husband or wife was not to assert
your rights, but to seek the best interests of the
family, reflecting Christ in the process. The
answer to sexual temptation was not to seek one's
own comfort or pleasure, but to orient that stress
toward marriage and family, reflecting Christ in
the process. The answer to selfish or
inconsiderate people in one's life was not to
competitively assert one's self over them, but to
serve their best interests, reflecting Christ in
the process. And the answer to church disruptions
was not to push back, fight back or retaliate in
some way, but to maintain the body of Christ in
the spirit of unity and peace, reflecting Christ
in the process.
Some of Ann's answers might sound like Paul's on a
given issue, but the origin and nature of their
thinking over time would take the reader in very
different directions: One toward individual
happiness (which often results, ironically, in
loneliness), and one toward corporate
responsibility (which often results, as God
intends, in belonging and togetherness).
Richard Hays writes of Paul's approach: "The
advice he (Paul) offers is not ... as though he
were a first-century Ann Landers, answering
everybody's cards and letters in terms of a lowest
common denominator of common sense. Rather, he is
seeking to shape the life of a particular
community ... His letters should be read primarily
as instruments of community formation"
("Ecclesiology and Ethics in 1 Corinthians," Ex
Auditu. Link:
campus.northpark.edu/sem/exauditu/papers/hays.html).
As good as some of Ann's advice was, it was
oriented too much around the self. It promoted
self-awareness, self-assurance, self-realization.
And, in fairness to Ann, that approach is quite
the norm in our self-oriented society. One
unfortunate result of so much self-promotion is we
have many lonely, sad people, the unavoidable
fallout of self-ish living.
Paul's approach, by virtue of the Spirit, is
community focused, whether that community be the
Christian home or the larger Christian community,
the church. The Spirit promotes community-
awareness, community-interests, community-service.
Paul's interest in community building meant that
he sometimes ignored his own desires and
happiness, even his own health and safety, for the
good of the larger community. Paul didn't put
himself into situations to be imprisoned,
shipwrecked, beaten, and starved because he liked
it or it promoted self-ish interests. Rather, he
endured abuse because it served the interests of
the larger community and reflected Christ in the
process. "Does this make me happy?" was not the
pivotal question for Paul.
Paul or Ann; community or self. That tension tears
at our families and churches. Which side of the
tension do you fall on?
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