Arizona republican., 1922-01-16
CHALLENGE MADE BY.
CHURCH To MANHOOD
SUBJECT Of SERMON

The challenge of the church to
manhood, and the reasons why men
fail to rise to the full measure of
their religious responsibilities fur
nlshed the theme for a vigorous and
courageous discourse by Rev. Arthur
Lee Odell, pastor Of the First Pres
byterian church, yesterday morning.
In a straightforward message to the
men In his audience, DR.. Odell put
the question squarely to each of them,
Are you man enough to live your
religionT'
Declaring that all great religions
had been founded by men and propa-
gated by men throughout all the his
tory of the world, DR.. Odell then pro-
ceeded to analyze the reasons for the
belief that the church exists only for
women. children and "effeminate
preachers" He took up the idea,
frequently expressed, that the church
is out Of date, and went on to show
that some of our most popular and
most important institutions date back
for centuries. The rituals of some
secret organizations, preserved intact
through the centuries, the institution
Va llA0 AdllAA4yS lOalQSO Ou AONC oiA0
self sacrifice, are not discarded be-
cal@e they are "out of date" he said.
and he reached the conclusion that
only the pigmy fails to measure up
to a religious expression of life. Fail
ure to rise to the great challenge
which the church gives to men was
a sign of mediocrity, not of advance
ment, and the man who, through one
excuse or another, remains indiffer-
ent or actively hostile to the church
admits his inability TO drink the cup
of sacrifice and service which is held
out to him.
The man who takes his family to
church on Sunday morning and then
goes to the office to transact busi-
ness cannot expect his children to
do anything else when they are
grown, declared the speaker, who
stated that in every case where he
had found a man who abused and
vilified the church and her ministers.
he found man who had ghost
somewhere in his makeup, some hid
den wrong, something in his own life
that was hurting.
Outspoken in his condemnation OF
the action taken by the city councils
of Chicago and st. Louis in adopting
resolutions asking congress to amend
the Volstead act with view to rails
ing funds for a soldiers bonus
through a tax on light wines and
beer, Or. Odell said, ito our crying
shame after 1000 years we find we
have risen no higher than this-a
proposal to provide bonus through
drinking the life blood of women and
little children. I hope the American
Legion has sufficient manhood in It
to say we don't want help on that
basis procedure that would drown
men in hell and rob and starve their
children"
In closing, DR.. Odell made strong
plea for a more active life Of Chris
tian service on the part of men. He
deplored the conception entertained
by some as to the manner in which
a minister should approach those to
whom he comes with his message,
declaring "the preacher comes to you
as a man, the bond-servant of God,
it Is true, but not or any man. We
don't have to beg people to come to
church; we have q message for men,
one which challenges their best e1-
forts.
christianity will never make much
OF a success until men work at II
more. stand for righteousness in all
their ioings, acknowledge the Christ,
live the truth. If they will do that,
ii they viii accept the challenge then,
Ike the 10 disciples, they will find
even the devils are obedient to them.
The men Of America must accept the
challenge, must live their religion
or as nation we shall go the way
of Rome"