A psychological study took a collection of seminary students and asked them to prepare a spontaneous talk in a nearby building. Half of the students were asked to give their presentation on the importance of clergy to churches, and half were asked to talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan. Within each of these two groups, half were told that they were a few minutes late and had better get moving to the other building, and the other half were told that they had some extra time but they might as well head over early. Then a man was stationed in an alley that they would pass through, groaning and coughing on the ground.
Who helped the man?
It turns out that the topic of the presentation made little difference. The key factor was lateness. 63% of those "ahead of time" stopped to help, but only 10% who were "late" -- even among those seminary students who were about to present the parable of the Good Samaritan!
I can't condemn -- I did the same thing. This weekend, Dena and I were out for a walk on the trail when we walked past a young lady in a running outfit who looked physically weary, almost woozy, on the hot day. Did we stop? On we walked. It's amazing how quickly the mind searches for reasons not to help, instead of taking joy in the chance to simply ask if help is needed. We'll have to work a little harder to graduate from Samaria.
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