The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1954-06-24

no more of the ~ "a
earth's surface 49,
than New Jersey IA
does But in its DIR. Foreman
own eyes it was important:
what nation is not? When Israel
was just little older than the
United States is now, it crashed
to nothing, and since that time
has been only an unfragrant men,
DRY. a dead nation. The writer of
II Kings II wrote its obituary.
The Nation Forgot God
What killed Israel? The nation
did not die of old age, for 200
years is not a very long time for
a nation to exist and prosper.
Something killed that country. It
might be said that it committed
suicide-but what was the name
Of the poison which it swallowed?
In one word, it was sin. But that
does not tell us much. It is like
giving disease" on a death GER
tifcate as the cause of death.
What disease? What sins? Look
ing over the record as II Kings
II sums it up, we can see that Sc
rious sin which was the root of
most others: forgetting God. The
nation forgot what God had done
for them in times past; they for
got that he is God of righteous
ness, they supposed he did not
specially care what they did so
long as their tithes were paid up
and they had good record Of at
tendance at public worship They
had reminders of God" all over
the place, but these were idols,
images of beasts. They used the
word God without realizing
either the goodness, the greatness
or the holiness Of the only true
God.
Can God Be Despised?
High-lighted in the sad obituary
of dead-and-gone nation is the
fact that as nation they despised
the law of God. How is it possible
to despise the Almighty? Nations
and individuals show their real
contempt for God by paying no
attention to what he has said.
Millions of people in America to-
day act just as if the Ten Com
mandments for example) were
only set of bylaws for fanatical
churchmen, or-WorSe Still-aS if
they were an out-dated set of rules
from a primitive civilization To
judge from what you may read in
any newspaper, would the Man
from Mars suppose that Amer
leans, as a people, are living by
any Law of Love? If all the church
members in our country were
practicing Christians, would this
country be what it is? A nations
sins both by the actual sins of
the sinful and by the consent of
those who know better but do
nothing about it. Now you can
despise God and his laws for
while; but his laws are not arbi-
trary, they are not like basketball
rules that can be changed every
season. The roads that lead away
from God and his laws may be
wide, but they are short. They
come to very dead end. 1t is pos
sible to despise God; but it is not
safe
Paradox and Parallel
A nation can be simply peppered
with religion and yet lose the salt
of morality. In ancient Israel
the name of God was everywhere;
religious obServanceS were going
on under every green tree" as
the prophets said. But the more re-
lgion they had, the less morality.
Israel died Of kind of moral dry
rot, in the midst of shrineS with
out number. Dr. H. P. Van Dusen
has recently made thinking Chris
tians sit up and take startled
notice with these two sets of facts.
On the one hand, since World War
IL CNuGCIl membership udS Ill
creased till today it is at an all
time high. Church attendance is
also at an all-time high. Religious
reading is popular. Young peo-
pie are interested in religion more
than for years past, But on the
other hand; alcoholism has in
creased enormously; divorce has
shot up; juvenile delinquency has
multiplied; drug addiction has in
creased; sexual morality is sink
ing to a lower level. Can it be that
in America as in Israel we fail
to gear our religion into our be-
havior? Can it be that perhaps
for all our religion" we really
have made an idol of the Dollar?
Biased on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, Ma
tional Council of the Churches of Christ
In the u. S. A. Released by Conn unity
Press Service.)