Editorial July 2, 1979 Issue

Dependence and independence

Nathan A. Talbot

Independence has a popular and positive flavor. People often strive for the freedom and release it implies. And they often find negative implications in feelings of dependence—they shrink from too heavy a reliance on people and things.

There is a valid blend for these two concepts when they come from an understanding of our relationship with God. We should feel a deep and continuing dependence on things of Spirit. And we ought to develop a growing independence from things of matter.

We may take a nostalgic look at the past and think wistfully of the days when rugged individualism and a strong sense of independence perhaps more often impelled people. Certainly there were periods in history when this kind of attitude was prominent. In the early years of the founding of the United States, for instance, there was a very appealing spirit—a new land, new frontiers to conquer. It seemed so typical for people to rely unabashedly on God, and this attitude contributed to a strong sense of independence.

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