Editorial October 30, 1976 Issue

Criticism and Healing

Naomi Price

It has been said that to criticize is to admit that one is unable to discern the presence of the perfect universe God made. If this is true, we will never be inclined to criticize anything, since to do so would indicate a spiritual shortcoming—a blindness—in oneself.

Yet in daily life we shouldn't expect to say everything is perfect when it isn't. We must be able to discriminate between good and bad. Integrity cannot permit us to say bad is good or to give top marks for third-rate work. And if we complacently believe that we ourselves are perfect when we're not, we're building up a serious problem for ourselves. If there's something wrong with what we or others are doing, we need to criticize it in order to correct it, otherwise we can't progress.

Surely, then, we should learn to criticize in the best way possible in order to attain highest standards in human affairs. And the best way is the Christly way. We should aim to "know to refuse the evil, and choose the good"^{Isa. 7:15;} in the manner of the Messiah as prophesied in the Bible.