El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-05-05
CHURCHES

Text: $50 out. into the highways
and hedges and compel them to come
in, Luke 1923
TN Oriental imagery Jesus painted
a picture OF religious Indifference
which requires but a few slight
verbal notifications faithfully to por-
tray modern conditions. A man pre-
pared a supper. The invited guests
declined the invitation. Trivial ex-
cuses are rendered. The underlying
reason was business and social pre-
occupation A second class Of people
are invited, those without such pre-
occupations. There is still room in
the banquet hall and the servant is
sent out a third time to scour the
country for additional guests. with
the order: Go out in the highways
and hedges and compel them to come
in"
Mo4eraize the Parable.
The church represents the banquet
hall of the parable The servants
are the ministers and all Christian
people OF this Christian nation do not
thusiasm for humanity. The invita-
ton is TO the gospel feast. "FIo. every
one that thirsteth and he that hath
no money, come ye buy and eat" The
invitation is met with monumental in
difference They make light Of It
and go their ways. some 70 their
farms, others TO their merchandise.
still others to their pleasures Shall
we, like the serva--L in the parable,
resort TO cOnscription TO fiji up the
vacant spaces in the Kingdom and
the empty pews in the church,
what's the Matter With the Church,
We have forced upon our attention
the unwelcome and perplexing fact
that the church is barely keeping
pace with the increasing population
Of the land. Every church member
is thanked on either side by two mons.
With all our pulpit scholariness. ef-
ficient organizations. wealth we are
gaining at the rate OF but one percent
per year. II is reported that half the
people OF this Christian nation do not
darken the doors OF the sacred sane
tuary and half Of the remaining half
only occasionally. A generation ago
one Of the sunniest OF Christian opti-
mists, D. L Moody. said: The gulf
between the church and masses is
growing deeper and darker and wider
every year" The sentence accurately
describes present dav conditions
Who Is 10 Blame. Church or AEee
Comes now one set OF critics
and says the church is blameworthy.
II has not adapted itself 10 changed
modern conditions. Scribes in the
pulpit repeat by rote the theological
traditions Of the fathers. They have
no burning message for the present
age. The common people heard Jesus
gladly and If the modern pulpit dis
pensed the genuine gospel of Jesus
the common people today would gladly
listen
Did They Hear Jesus GIadIyF
Please do not carve a text out OF its
context and leave the context bleed
ing and mutilated and crying out to
be heard. Why did the common
people hear Him gladly that day.
He had just routed their inveterats
foes: the high brow Pharfsee. the
These were the political and social
foes OF the common people. When
they saw their bitterly hated oppon-
ents worsted by Jesus in their assault
upon Him. they threw their hats in
the air and cried out "Hurrah for
for the common people" But when
He discoursed on spiritual topics
they did not hear Him gladly When
he fed them they followed Him. but
when He talked about the bread of
life. they went back and walked no
more with Him." says John who was
there and knew what he was writing
about. If they heard Him so gladly
why did they cry lynch Him." when
Plate wanted 10 free Him? II they
heard Him so gladly why were tnere
less than 200 TO be enrolled among
His followers after His death2 The
truth Of the matter is. the people of
Jesus's day. both common and classy,
and of our day too, have no taste for
a spiritual gospel Let the glib critic
of the pulpit read his new Testament
Alright.
Ia the Age MaterinIisticf
Comes another set OF critics and
says the trouble lies not with the
church, but with this sordid. material
istic age. that is money crazed and
pleasure bound.
Has there ever been an age in the
history OF the world of which IL could
be said, this age is not materialistic?
Pure and undefiled religion at its
fountain head was corrupted by ma
terialism. Young Lot said to his re-
ligious uncle. 1 am going 10 the city.
there is money there, wife and
daughters can get in the social swim
in Sodom. And the lure of the city
proved TO be the family religious un-
doing. Materialism was the curse Of
Jesus's day. There is not a million
aire in the modern church more sordid
than the church leaders with whom
Jesus was acquainted The Pharisees
we're lovers Of money" says the
church historian. The most dastardlv I
deed in history was conceived IN ma