The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1949-03-03

lUAtu VI comparing OUu > AAluS-
dom to growing plants. Every
plant is miracle, it is evidence
of Gods creative power; but
plants do not grow overnight,
they grow by the laws which the
Creator made in them.
Wild Sowing
ES WE SAW last week, the most
& important feature of the Ideal
World, or of any world, is the quail
ty of the people in it. So most of
Jesus parallels were about people,
one of the most famous being this
one Of the "prodigal SON." ("Prodi-
gal" of course does not mean wicked
or repentant, but wasteful, reckless
with money or other things.) You
could find many faults in that young
man. One of them-the fault that
nearly killed him-Was that if he
had a calendar he never looked at
it. If you take a good look at a calen-
dar you will always notice that
there is another day after this one
another month, another year. But
the prodigal never thinks about to-
morrow, only about today. He sows
his wild oats because he has fun
doing it. He can say $50 what?"
fast enough but he has never asked
the question, and then what?"
Childish, isn't it? Yet all about us
are prodigals old enough to know
better. e-.
Some people even argue that
it is a good thing to sow wild
oats, on the theory that the
prOdigal gets it out Of his sys-
tenn and is afterwards a better
man.
Nonsense! Is it better for your ed
ucation to spend several years
learning things wrong? Is it better
for a garden to let it grow up in
weeds for the first three weeks? Is
it better for a mans health to spend
his childhood years on a sickbed?
That's no more silly than to say
that a man is morally better for
having been immoral for a while
first.
PrOdigaI Nation
TT HAS even been said that we have
L a prodigal-son civilization. Cur
generation is pretty busy sowing
wild oats. We waste the natural re-
sources of the earth Drinking has
become encouraged by law and
made glamorous by the movies. We
spend more on liquor than on
schools. More money is spent on a
single days horse-racing at a big
track than a whole state or province
spends on education in a year. The
ties Of marriage have grown so
weak, especially outside the Christ
ian church, that it has not been long
since one American city was boast
ing that its marriage rate had
"caught up with" its divorce rate!
Wild Harvest
THE PRODIGAL son in Jesus
story went home-but he had to
reap his wild harvest first. The
modern prodigal, whether indivi-
dual or nation, seems to misunder-
stand Jesus meaning. If God is
thought Of at all, he is pictured as
a benevolent Being who after all
doesn't mind our enjoying our little
fling. "He will forgive" said Vol
taire, chats his business" That is
a total misunderstanding of God.
The Heavenly Father does
love every enc of his children,
yes. But he will not hold back
any one who insists on wasting
his substance. He will not inter-
fere with the mans freedom
even if that freedom is wickedly
used.
He will not suspend his own law:
whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap" Tho prodigal
will never get back what he threw
away. Time that is killed stays
dead. The poverty and pain created
by personal or national extrava-
gance and intemperance, God will
not magically conjure away.
Copyright by the International Coun-
Gil of Religious Education on behalf of
90 Protestant denominations. Released
by WNU Features.)
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