Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-23
Religion Should Relate to Life
as Well as Theory in the World

on the parable of Jesus feeding the
| five thousand, Rev. Mr.. Sunday
| pointed out the need Of real relig-
( ion in the everyday life OF the
world. Jesus" he said, created
salvation by His life, death and
| resurrection. That is the food to
feed the spiritual hunger of this
world. But the task of distributing
this food to the hungry is put in
The hands of His followers"
Continuing, he said:
There are people who don't be-
lieve in the miracles. 1 90. You
cannot tear the miracles out Of the
life of Christ and leave the historic
fabric intact. If Jesus, the Son of
God, performed miracles, let the
world know. II He did not per-
form miracles. He was not the Son
of God. He did perform miracles
and He was the Son of God-so l
believe il.
Every attempt TO explain the mir
acles by any law of nature or any
theories by men always gets the
eXplainer deeper iTt0 the mire than
he was So just accept what God
has said, because that is true, and
want to draw a few practical
questions from this miracle:
First. The world is hungry.
Jesus faced a problem of physical
hunger in His day and we face the
problems of hunger in the modern
world It has always been a prob
lem to get enough TO eat. 1t has
always been a battle to put clothes
on your back, and provide a roof to
shelter you; and it always will be.
Jesus said, The poor ye have
always with you, but Me We don't
have always with you" and no:
only did Jesus face the problem of
physical hunger. but Of spiritual
hunger. If anybody is hungering
today, Jesus Christ is the only
source of supply and He has some
thing for everybody.
II one were to believe all the
articles in corrcIt literature TO-DAY
you would think the modern world
IS disguised ard Indifferent to the
religion of Jesus Christ. I believe
exactly the opposite is true. be-
lieve that in no century since the
morning stars shone together, has
there been more real, genuine hun
ger after real, true religion than
there is today, The world is not
disguised with religion, but the
world is disguised with the world
illness. and with the rituals, and
with the essentials in which
we have lost our religion, but they
are not Disguised with religion!
What World Wants.
There are some kinds of religion
that the world is not hungry for.
and never has been and never will
be, and the sooner we find it out
the better we will be, and the bet
ter the world will be.
First: The world is not hungry
for a religion OF formal Observ-
ances; and there were formalities
in Isaiah's day, for / read, For
what purposes is the multitude OF
your sacrifices? l am full of the
burnt offerings of rams, and the
fat of fed beasts; and 1 delight not
in the blood of bullocks, or of
lambs, or of the goats. When We
come to appear before me, who
hath required this at your hand p
And there are a thousand and
one who forget religion, and allow
the forms and the ceremonies to
take the place of religion, and you
have to get rid of the forms and
ceremonies to give religion
chance.
They are just choking by their
forms today, and we are substitute
ing Righteousness for righteousness.
Our danger is not in the boiling
over Of the religious caldron, but
the danger that the fire will be
drawn and the boiling will cease.
Religion has never been hurt by
enthusiasm. but it has been killed
bv your darn ritualisms. Do you
understand it? Never on earth,
and I defy you to show me where
it has! Religion has Pever been
hurt by enthusiasm, but it has
been killed and choked by rituals
and forms.
There was a time when people
were intensely interested in fine
spun theological arguments and
theories, and you could announce a
debate on forms of baptism or on
sanctification or predestination or
or the falling from
grace, and the popular preacher a
few years ago was the best theo-
logical debates. Today that time
has passed and a debate on bap-
tism or predestination or sanctill-
cation would not draw a corporals
guard.
The average person has not lost
interest in these vital truths of re-
ligion but they have lost interest
in that type of religion that spends
its arguments in word battles. Re
ligion my friends, should relate TO
life and conduct as well as theory
in the world.
Have Lost Religion.
So they have not lost any inter
est in vital truths, but they have
lost religion. Now listen. The
world is not hungry for a religion
of social service without Jesus
Christ. and we have had enough CT
this ChristIess social service
bunch. We will agree with all your
social service and everything. pro-
vided you will take Jesus Christ
with you, but l won't stand up and
let anybody make an attempt to
the gospel for Jesus
Christ. There is no substitute for
the sun, and there is no substitute
for religion by Jesus Christ.
You can't get to heaven any way
but by being born again in the
blood of Christ. 1 will go with you
in social service, will go with you
in sociology, I will go with you in