Concerning Differences in Men – Sunday, March 25, 1945
There is a commonplace but ever-startling observation to be made concerning men, and that is: how very much alike they are, and at the same time, how very different. Those reared in the same home at the same time under the same influences, often give early evidence of strikingly different personalities, abilities, and aptitudes. Even so-called identical twins may be vitally different in many ways, although their likeness of looks may be confusing to others. Occasionally genius appears—perhaps one of a family, perhaps one of a generation—rich minds, great souls, gifted men.
They may be born and reared in the same home as half a dozen other children; they may attend the same schools as a thousand others; they may be exposed to the same community influences as ten thousand others, and yet give early and unmistakable evidence of unusual gifts. We may train a child most excellently in all of the conventional ways of music, but that doesn’t mean that we have another Mozart or Brahms.
We may school students most diligently in the proper use of language—but that doesn’t mean that we have another Shakespeare or Browning. We may discipline men in the ways of war and of statesmanship, but that doesn’t mean that we have another Washington or Franklin. Beyond all the factors of life that can be accounted for in terms of the present, there is still much more that cannot be accounted for except in terms of the eternal past, intimations of which were given to Job when the Lord God answered him out of the whirlwind and said: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? … Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? . . . Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?” (See Job, chapter 38.)
It would seem that in the economy of God, men of gifts and leadership are born into every generation and among many peoples. We may be grateful that. these infinite complexities of life are in the hands of God, and not left to the planning of grouping men, no two of whom see all things alike. And we may be grateful for the assurance of an eventual justice that will take into account our differences. And those who would plan in any particular for the lives of others, must be mindful not only of their many likenesses, but also of their great differences, some of which are accounted for by the experiences of this life, and some of which must find their explanation beyond the bounds of this world.
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station KS L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Mar. 25, 1945. Copyright 1945.
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March 25, 1945
Broadcast Number 0,814