The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-05-18
CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
By S. P. WERNER

il
sents the second of series OF pa
pers in which S. P. Werner 0
Rrsvard. discusses in 2 conlpre
hensiye manner the teachings o
Christianity as they are Selate'
to social security. .'.'"
Those who choose to follow II
late in viewing Christ as man
however faultless, rather than re
ter, and the Centurion. and the
redeemed thief, in seeing Him as
God, usually profess an inteliee-
tual inability to see how the Pow
or which rules the universe could
so permeate a human organism as
20 make it function as completed y
divine. For the benefit of their
intellect let US point out a few
facts drawn strictly from the ac-
cepted findings of modern science.
Nobody but a fool can deny that
God. to be God at all, must be
alive. The Living God is the one
point of agreement of practically
all sincere students of the sub
iect. Now all life, as far as we
have been able to discover after
ages of investigation, is assocIat-
ed with, or causes, or IS caused
by, organized matter. From the
minutest protoplasm up to the
most complex organism, from tie
amoeba to the giant Sequola OF
California or King George V, life
is a phenomenon apart from the
forces of inanimate nature. II
God is to manifest Himself to US
as a living Power, it must be
through an organism; and that
manifestation would logically
come through the highest form OF
organic creation, Homo SaplenS,
the top of the whole scheme OF
biologic structure. Listen to what
the greatest writer in the history
of our race says about that final
climax of biologic development,
when William Shakespeare wrote
What a piece of work is man.
How noble in reasonl How infin-
tie in faculty! In form and NOV
ing how express and admirable
In action how like an ANGEL In
apprehension how like a god!"
If God must be alive, if life is
characteristic of organized mat
ter. if man is the highest form of
organic life, then We should ex-
pect to find God in man, and most
completely in the most perfect
man; so that Pilates character
cation of Christ that he found no
fault in Him, made Christ logical
ly and inevitably the Living God.
Cold reason no less than warm
faith points to the same conclu-
sion. Moreover, biology teaches
the continuity of the line of life
in an endless chain Of successive
forms. with no beginning as yet
found. and no ending as long as
any branch of the line endures.
So when Christ declared Before
Abraham was, l AM" he was
stating a scientific truth confirmed
by every reputable man of SCIENCE
today. We Christians worship no
blind force of nature; no mani
mate and inorganic mass Of uni
versal matter; for US the sun Is
only one of five hundred million
heavenly bodies now revealed by
tie Mt. Wilson telescope, with bill
lions still unseen; The moon q
dead satellite; ancestors imperfect
human beings upon whom it l.
privilege to improve; emperors at
best fallible human beings often
as much of an encumbrance as a
blessing: and the Great Power
which manifests itself in varied
forms throughout the Universe
the Power that revealed itself IN
the person of Jesus of Nazareth
that we might learn from Him the
way. the truth, and the life.
We might try to epitomize the
qualities of Jesus as a man TO IL
Iustrate His unique place In the
ranks of humanity, but It mas
been done by millions, for nearly
two thousand years, until most OF
the Christian, and much OF the
other. members of the race Know
them by heart. They have SCI
standards in every phase OF
thought and action. He worked
with his hands to make an homes:
living; He healed the SICK as q
practical humanitarian; He taught
the multitudes as an incompara-
HE teacher; He laid down code
of conduct as a law-giver. unpar-
aIlelled in the annals of jurispru-
5ence: He enunciated a philoso-
nhv of which all others are mere
" echoes today; He established
a system of ethics which has revo-
lutionized social relations; He
stated the whole duty o. man in
one sentence of two clauses,
which stands today the final die
tum of human relations to God
and man; He presented an unfal.
tering front to His enemies as nc
other soldier ever did; and He
indicated His life by ascending
the Cross, and thus single4handec
He destroyed the cruel powers
Which sentenced Him; He con.
WINGED the doubling among Hi:
followers; He inspired generation
after generation to align them
selves with His cause, and He ha
made that cause so triumphan
that when the most powerful Jew
since the Apostle Paul was Gale
upon to place the diamond dia
: dem Of Empress of India upo