When does one know he or she is doing something good? Scripture informs us that we should serve the needs of others – of each other. The adjective (good) becomes a noun and contains verb (serve) qualities. In this context, it means doing, acting for purpose (contributing). The implication is that it is additive to whatever is present, and the additive is commendable. Thoughtful persons recognize that there is an underlying universal principle reflected in the simple command: Do something good. Give something that is not existent (creative). That underlying principle is found in the context of the oath of physicians: To Do No Harm. The ancients often accented good (affirmatives) in its opposites. We find it in the Ten Commandments. There is so much mystery in the treatment of the body that the physician is checked along the way to be careful. The road to service and doing good is fraught with some danger for us. In seeking to do good, we can fail – not only fail, but actually exacerbate the problem. The doctors who drew George Washington’s blood, in the belief there was some infection in the blood that was sapping the life of the most revered American of the time. Their solution actually helped suck life from him. So complex is the matter that many states have Good Samaritan laws. Persons sued for interference and cause of death while trying to help someone else in a desperate situation can resort to the law. On some occasions they lose, with severe penalty, especially where there is no law guarding the good Samaritan.
As noted on another Page, a concerned group invested a considerable sum of money, took important professional personnel to address a problem among native women in Africa. They were highly successful in teaching the women about a syndrome that identified a nagging problem for western women. It was discovered that now the suffering women were lined up for attention to a problem they had accepted as normal in their lives and managed rather well with happiness. There were few doctors for this mass of new patients, and few medical suppliers or supplies to address diagnoses. The situation for these women, even as I write, is now serious. Were they helped by the helpers? In some fields it can be shown that the more we know the more severe may problems become. Coping is a part of life. When that is taken away, even in a good cause, there must be good reason. It may be that we should not use knowledge to create a need.
I have seen how evidence, wrongly interpreted, or advanced without solution to the problem brought forward, can become too complex, can cause loss of appreciation for mortality (as was the situation with Job in the Bible). One finds proof of our depravity (inherited moral weakness) when an unwanted child is left on a doorstep, sometimes to die before someone finds the little blanket. How do we express our call of God to serve and then to serve for good? Good persons have solutions, sometimes flimsy, but believed to be based on evidence. Persons reading the evidence of loneliness learn that it has become an epidemic. In nearly every category persons are registering greater loneliness than decades earlier (2010). Various internet services have been touting their proposals to overcome the problem. So the internet is supposed to make up the distressing omission. But the evidence suggests that the electronics may have contributed to more loneliness than less. (Alone, the person jiggles a gadget.) It is hoped that the use of g-mail, rather than E-mail may solve the problem. Not likely in that the enormous coverage has not, thus far, stemmed the tide. In 1985 ten percent of the respondents said they had no one to talk to about important matters. By 2004, the figure was 25%. In the interim the number of professionals in counseling and guidance had risen markedly. Machinery was present for solution. The patient has worsened. The most recent figures show that 45 respondents of every hundred polled express loneliness, about double of twenty five years earlier. Further it was discovered that this condition had a serious deleterious effect on physical health and work production. Christians are instructed to address human needs. The evidence is strong in defining problem severity. It is a marvelous achievement of missionaries that they have not only followed the trail of the gospel, but also reached out to native peoples to address human needs with what is available and what may be left to prayer. There are some issues that are to be left to emerging modernization, and patience in making application. Wise persons address real needs perceived in real life. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020