That’s Just So Yesterday

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Thus reads Isaiah 40:8, one of the lessons from this past Sunday, the Second Sunday in Advent.

I thought of this verse while reading an email from a cousin of mine who likes to forward articles, videos, humorous photos, and inspirational stories. In yesterday’s email, my cousin sent a collection of old print advertisements under the caption, “You read it and just shake your head – it can’t be . . .” The caption is absolutely correct; I had to laugh while reading them, thinking to myself, “I can’t believe these were actually used as advertisements. Did we really think that way back then?” Back then, as in the 1950’s and 60’s, when I was growing up.

Among the craziest or most politically-incorrect ads were the following: the Del Monte catsup ad that shows a smiling woman holding a bottle with the caption, “You mean a woman can open it?” Then there’s the encouragement to buy your wife a vacuum cleaner, with the promise, “Christmas morning (and forever after) she’ll be happier with a Hoover.” Another ad shows a man holding up a yardstick to his dress-wearing wife under the caption, “How to measure your wife for an ironing table.” And don’t forget the woman boasting that she has all the dates she wants now that she has gained weight from eating ironized yeast, whereas before, “Men wouldn’t look at me when I was skinny.”

But the really scary ads were the ones advocating certain products that are so obviously dangerous we wouldn’t think of using them. For example, there’s the ad for “Asthma Cigarettes: For Your Health.” Yes, seriously. Dr. Batty’s cigarettes “effectively treat asthma, hay fever, foul breath, all diseases of the throat, head colds, canker sours (sic) and bronchial irritations. Not recommended for children under 6.” Which means they are recommended for 7-year olds? Or Lucky Strikes as a weight-loss tool which “No One Can Deny.” Or how about the “Cocaine Tooth Drops” available at all “druggists,” which ad shows two little kids building a toy house out of sticks. Or the cola ad that shows a mom and her baby and asks, “How soon is too soon to start drinking soda pop?” The answer it gives is it’s never too soon, if you want your child to gain acceptance and “fit in” socially as a teen or preteen. Finally, there’s the ad with a smiling woman holding a loaf of green bread with the caption, “Try Penicillin; Made from mold, you can get this drug from your doctor or prepare it yourself.” (I’ve tried to do the last one myself, but Karen always catches me in time and makes me take a fresh slice of bread.)

We can laugh at such ads from our more informed and “enlightened” perspective, but the scariest thing about those ads is how many times they appeal to “scientific studies” to prove why you should use their products. Laboratory tests “proved” the social benefits of soda pop; the longer length of Pall Mall cigarettes means the smoke is filtered more (charts prove it so much even Santa is puffing away!); and clinical experience shows that Mr. Merke’s “New Kind of Hat” will grow hair if worn just 10 minutes a day! Unless those advertisers just made up their studies, their appeal to science shows the temporary nature of most knowledge. What we “knew” then is dangerously obsolete; much of what we assume as true today – including our ads and scientific studies – will one day be laughed at by email readers of the future (if there even is email in the future!). They may look at what we write and say, “That’s just so yesterday!”

Science is a fickle master that would claim to represent proven, objective truth, but it varies with the latest study. It also subject to the politics of whatever scientific establishment currently has authority, and on who is paying the bill for the research. Is it any surprise that studies funded by milk producers prove the health benefits of drinking milk, while a 1996 tobacco industry study of nicotine proved it improved people’s cognitive performance? In 2008, scientists sponsored by the Sugar Association proved the dangers of Splenda, while Splenda’s manufacturer hired scientists who showed it was safe. And a scientist discovered recent DNA in a dinosaur bone, but lost her job because the university for which she worked feared her work would support creationism.

By saying this I am not making the post-modern error that asserts there is no objective truth, and that all so-called “truth” is relative and subjective to each person. If I did, then maybe “asthma cigarettes” would be good for those who believe in them. No, I believe that there are truths and errors, even if the public consensus or attitude toward them changes. We can rightly shake our heads at the Schlitz Beer ad showing a man consoling his wife (who is crying over a burned meal) by telling her, “Don’t worry, darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” It was objectively a bad ad!

What I am saying is that what we are told is true today, may be proven wrong tomorrow. A compliment today may be harassment tomorrow. What was a planet yesterday (e.g., Pluto) may be demoted to a “dwarf planet” today, and then reinstated tomorrow. What had two genders ten years ago now comes in 58 according to Facebook.

Some of my favorite examples of changing scientific “orthodoxy” are in the field of anthropology. Every few years some scientist finds bones and publishes papers claiming to have found the “missing link” between apes and humans. The media announce, “This changes everything” and “Science has to rewrite its books.” Then, other scientists study the findings, and report that they were either faked (Piltdown Man) or mistaken (Lucy), and another “ancestor” is relegated to the dust bin of scientific history because the bones belong to either a full ape or a full human, or in one case, a pig (so-called Nebraska Man)!

My point is not that scientific study or research is bad; it has discovered a lot and taught us much, and much good has been accomplished. The medicines I take, the computer on which I am writing this blog, and the car I drive are just three examples of the countless ways scientific research and application directly benefit me. My point is that we need to be careful not to jump aboard every new report as if it’s a dependable truth, the final answer to life’s questions. If we do, we will be disappointed and led into error. That may be okay, if we’re talking about which laundry detergent gets our clothes the cleanest; but if we’re seeking the meaning of life and are trying to order our lives to follow God’s will, then we better make sure we have the definitive, unchanging truth as our guide.

Fortunately, we have such a dependable source. That is where Isaiah 40:8 comes in: “the word of our God will stand forever.” Jesus affirmed this in Matthew 5:18 when he said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” And in Mark 13:31: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

The Bible is God’s written Word, and that is where we find dependable, unchanging truth. It is, as Psalm 119:105 attests, “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Why is it so dependable in a world of changing ideas, attitudes, truisms, and “scientific facts”? Tune in next time and I’ll cover some of the reasons why I fully trust God’s Word for all matters of faith and life. For now, I’m heading to the fridge to get me a soda pop so I can be socially accepted by my peers . . .

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Psalm 119 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-31