The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-02-05

=-AHNfN'N-
our forefathers made their slow
.rd difficult and often hazardous
aaurncy across the continent with
n OK team and a prairie schooner
eecoilse II was the best they had.
I've are not disloyal sons because
ve refnse 10 abandon our Pullman
service and travel as they did-.we
s.a living in, a different age. And
NJ should we burden ourselves
,.'i,b a type OF Christianity which is
", out * place in this age as In
nv tcame, At heart Christianity
q, unchanging. but 1t must adapt ite
S,rms 10 the age in which 1t mani
sss,s itself IL the church has a
ttJrg Christ as It's Founder and the
iiyins Spirit within II, there IS
nothsg other than growth to ex-
nect change is the order OF all
ws1rp thmgs. You ore the same per-
con today that you were 10 y,cF
sgo--and yet you are not. You
have changed so much that an old
.Firiend might pass you on the street
yand not recognize you. Ten years
hsnce YOU will still be yoursel but
moi the same self you are today.
Thlg Is the paradox of human lie.
n Christianity were simply a Sc
ola
cal teaching. 1t would remain static
there would be no change But
1, is vastly more--it is a living, grow
inc institution. 1t is well to have
reverence for the old things-pro-
vided they have something more
than seniority to merit our respect.
shall Christianity be tolerated, boil
stered up, and fought for, simply
because II was the help Of our faith.
ers and the hope OF our mothersY
Are we 10 protect IL from Insult and
;niury as we would our aged parents
simply because II cannot protect It,
self? II our religion Is driven to
such straits then, the sooner we are
rid of II the better for us.
put before we discard It let us
get hack OF all the doctrinal state
ments which for years have passed
as Christianity, and study carefully
what the Master really said. Martin
Luther approached condition of
life quite di ferent from our age
and so did John CALVIN. Hence In
the major their doctrines have no
living connection with the modern
church-save as theological curios-
tiles No one doubts the ability or
the sincerity OF those men--thoy did
cannot help wondering how the
great Luther would approach the
problem OF modern Germany. Ger
tainly not as he did $50 years ago.
Luthers age created its own condi-
ilOns--and so does ours, and We
must face them with a mod rn gos-
pel--not a system three or five hun
dred ears old. The Christian life
Is splendid relationship. Mate
rialism, Grass and brazen. doubts
and ridicules the Christian idea
yet the Holy Spirit is in the church.
He Is a partner In every true con-
verslon--His name Is repeated at
every baptism--and by His aid men
become new creatures"
II is the purpose Of these studies
10 emphasize the bearing of Chris
tianity on modern life, and in de.
gree at least, to assist in its develop
ment
Getting Away From Doctrines.
Our Christianity has new con-
eeption Of its task our task is quite
al ferent from the one that facs1
the church 400 years ago when
ecclesiastical corruption was sap-
ping her spirituality and robblng
her OF life. The fight was so bite r.
that mems lives were not held sacred
II they stood in the way. Protes .
antism was born out of that strug-
sic Yet, during that time the
church was not performing her
funcion--no heralds went beyond
the borders of the European states,
there was no proclamation OF the
gospel of peace, and there was no
call TO the Christ. Men were fighting
Tor liberty of conscience on the one
ade and for the primacy of Peter
on the other. In the course of tenn
porai events that struggle was nec-
essary-but no student of the refor-
nation will hold that they were car
rying out the spirit of the great
commission.
The Christianity OF 100 years age
was a system of cold. hard dogmas
as intlexible as granite--and quite
as unfeeling. Proof? Read tho
erceds that were forged in that at
mosphere. Men were rallied, not &c
Chrlst, but to the five points OF
Armlnianism or the live points OF
Savinism. The doctrines of elec
uon' OF salvation by grace, of faith
sione, OF material he'll. and a hun
ofed others were piled high as the.
o'ogical bulwarks-and on then
hey gibbeted their enemies. Christ
was hidden among the rubbish
neh wer thinking more of argu'
inents with which to overthrow theii
snemles than of the supreme man
hss'ason of Divine Love.
ana even yet. there are some who
se trying to make d-o-c-t-r-i-n-S
spell Christianity If doctrine
sOulu have saved men then wher,
was the iault wits the Mosaic sys
uhf Certainly II was elaborat;
snough-but 1t lacked the yer,
. ,nins our modern fri.nd's "duc'
rlhe lacks--a LIVING CHRIST
ane new Christianity has caugh
ne ME Of the Master--it seeks q
eanze Him in virile evangelism
~, ~ making disciples of all the ma
ivns' Is our task is world task
u'ners mighty efforts were ex
nssnoed within the borders OF tn,
usrman empire-he set himself I,
ave Germany from the corruption
the Romish church. Read tn,
sUsuerous doctrines with which u
~ MS followers assailed the pa
seSS are they in place In moderl
Annh A"nSreh lfe2 Would you cross tn
SShuo nonSno In the Mayflower? Tn
.,r"rh church is not la-ing grea
as on doctrine--she is learning [,
napnasize Life. Her mission
slI rn ana good win among men
for the sh She has seen the worl