The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1954-07-17

ptCSCltbs Jul dAsO AZ pOooSooAi4S
{ great heart a big soul, as
we say.
Were I to be told by my de-
nomination that only Congre-
gationalists are going to Hea-
ven because they are the only
true church of Christ's on the
earth. I don't think that
would continue long in that
fellowship. Our God must be
bigger than that.
When we as Christians be-
lieve and teach that the Chinese
and Japanese, Hindus and Mo-
hammedans are all doomed to
perdition because of their re-
fusal to accept Christ, when
that refusal is chiefly due to
our poor and sad and sorry
witness. I think our God has
not come up to proportions,
and we are worshipping UNI
Willingly some Babylonian Da-
gan.
When some group in its sell
f1shness tries to laSso God, ap-
pr0priate him, and considers
itself Gods special pets, that
group, no matter which, is wor-
shipping, in my estimation, a
diminutive yahweh.
| Those who believe and teach
that their God is on the side
of the biggest battalions or
the most deadly bombs, are
Worshipping a Roman Mars :
certainly not the God of the
Prince of Peace.
When on a superficial basis
we segregate our fellow men;
or when we declare that the
great God made some indivi-
duals to be slaves, and others
to be their masters, we but re-
duce God to a pignly unworthy
OF a decent mans respect, not
to mention worship and deVo-
ton. I wonder what kind of d
God was Hltler's. Ha! I am.
wondering now what kind OF
a God the Rev. DR.. Malan and
his tribe are worshipping in
South Africa today.
Over our heads is an angry
God and under out feet is d
yawning he'll unbaptised in
fantS who die are lost forever
for one unrepented sin a man
may find himself tossed in
eternal flames Only $4,000
Of the worlds last generation
are going to be saved in some
new Jerusalem. All these be-
nefs and teachings, plus many
more, simply betray our little
narrow minds, and express the.
limitations of our vision of the
most high who inhabits eter-
nifty, and who is the Father of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ 1t is our conception of
a restricted God, little pri-
Yate God, a brutal God. a racial
God, a God of Mammon or of
no God at all like the material
lstlc Communists, that's one of
the main diseases of mankind.
Our religious thinking shows
up in our social behavior: and
we go about justifying our at
. titudes towards our brothers by
conjuring up some little tin
God to meet our need. A French
savant either Voltaire or Del
drot, I have forgotten now :
shouted to the narrow mind
ed religionists of his day: IRE
lease your God! Release your
!, God!" To such here today ]
: would say: Release your Coo
| and be emancipated. Release
Him for he is great, and his
greatness will enhance youl
own.
God is also great in the sense
that he cares for and loves
his creatures all Of his crea.
lures. Was not this the funda.
mental message of Jesus, thai
! God is understanding, and pIen.
) teous in mercy, and aboundins
in love? Like as a father pities
} his children, so the Lord pitie,
them that fear him, for h,
I knoweth our frame, he remem.
bers that we are dust. Fol
: God SO loved the world that h,
5 gave his only begotten son
& Paul says that God was il
5 Christ reconciling the worlc
! unto himself. Indeed we ar,
/ constrained to seek God witt
} all our heart: but we shoulc
t not forget that this loving Soc
Is forever seeking us through
E all our days, in all our way.
/ down through the deviou,
3 passages of our existence
! through the ups and downs O
our life through the expert.
; ence Of sickness, or disappoint.
, ment or pain, or loss through
the death of some relative O,
or friend through the ecstas,
, of some victory : or through
the reading of a book, or III,
nearing of some song, or tn,
w1sperings in the silence O
that Still small voice" an,
saying to us: MY son, m,