Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-12-06
FATE OR FAITH.
The Determination Of the VIII Counts
for More Thnn Either HeredIty
or Environment.


At the base OF action on the part of
man is belief. This is strong deter
mining factor In what he does or does
not do. IL is that which directs his
course. He carries with him on this
course all the wealth or poverty of
his talents and learning.
AT present we are having a revival
of belief in fatalism. Men are &C
cepting the doctrines of heredity and
environment and declaring that men
are bound by them. thet they shape
mans character and determine the
conditions OF his life. No man Is to
be praised by any position TO which he
may have attained or blamed for any
evil excuses he has committed or any
depths of sin TO which he may have
descend ~ The sense of Arsonal re-
sponsibility is eliminated. Man is de-
clared to be an automaton manipu-
lated by some unseen master force. He
is made up of certain elements; chem
lists are now searching for the proper
proportions that they may put them
together and make a man. This mat
ter is carried still further; the world
is declared TO be bound ina rigid frame
work OF law, with no place for the SUI
pernatural; God is equally bound, He
has no personality but is simply It, a
mighty energiZing force. Acceptance
of this fatalistic belief, for which so
many strong arguments can be and are
brought forward, sooner or later leads
mar ; give up any attempt TO direct
the c,,orse of his own life Why should
he try? He feels that he has no pow
er and would only be attempting the
impossible. The question is asked:
What chance has the boy or girl
brought up in the slums of a great
city or at the back side of the desert,
to amount to anything? The burden
of work so presses home upon the
working man with small pay and
large family that he has no opportu-
nifty for anything approaching the cul-
ture of his mind and soul. The use
lessness of the fight against fate is
realized and men say: whats the
use, let us enjoy ourselves the best
we can" THE don't care what we
do" and the pleasure loving spirit
comes in with tendency to despair,
and men easily give up life, by ending it
at their own hands.
But there is another belief that puts
men on an entirely different footing
with God, the world and themselves.
That is, faith in their freedom of
thought and action; faith that they
have power to direct their own lives;
faith in a personal God, who takes ac-
count of mems efforts. Heredity and
environment while accounting for
much, do not account for everything.
There is the personal element, the de-
termination of the will. that can and
does set them aside. Man may rise
superior to his circumstances and
make them his servants, rather than
his masters. The boy born under the
worst conditions in the slums or back
woods, by the use he makes of his
faith in his freedom, often rises above
the boy born and brought up under the
best conditions, but who makes no
use of them to grasp any better thing.
The worllngman in the factory by
this personal element, faith in his free
dom, has come to own the factory in
which he formerly worked, or to rise
superior to his conditions with Sc
rene and triumphant spirit. Many a
obCCPCN III Skh anu OY the
chains of evil, has come to realize his
condition, and through this faith, has
turned to his Saviour, Jesus Christ, and
has been transformed in life and char
acter. Fate is a stone wall high and
thick which stands directly across
mans pathway; but by faith in hisfree-
dom, man rises in his might, pulls down
that stone wall and goes on
his way. The wide sea inter
poses barrier to free means of
communication between the nations.
but man builds fast steamships and
makes the sea help to a quicker way
of communication, The very OBJ
stacles put In the path OF the man who
has this faith, prove the stepping
stones to larger material or spiritual
success. The battle is half won when
a man dares 10 take bis fate in his
own hands. The descendant of bad
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