The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-02-23
Valuable to God
Lesson for February Is. 1862

Why is killing wrong? The
Bible says so, to be sure: but
the Bible would not say so if it
were not wrong to begin with.
The law says so: but the law
can only make things illegal, it
cannot make them wrong. Our
instincts, when not perverted,
warn us killing is wrong: but In
sticts may be mistaken. There
are many reasons why killing
Is wrong. q serious sin. Let US
try to high-nght one of these.
This reason goes to the heart of
the matter. Killing Is wrong be-
cause it destroys the noblest
work Of God. It is wrong be-
cause it destroys what God has
made, indeed the most valuable
creature God made upon this
earth.
Worth of man to his God
OF all creatures here on our
planet. man is the only one with
a soul. Put in another way.
man is the only animal who is
more than an animal. He is the
only one who is capable Of fel-
lowship with God. He is the only
one in the image of God." that
is. the only one who has-by
Gods gift - the possibility of
growing to be like God. OF all
creatures he is the one who can
be most helpful to God. All
Gods, creatures no doubt are
useful to him in some way or
other for the carrying out of the
divine Purpose: but man alone
can be aware Of the purposes
Of God, man alone can re-
ceive a revelation from God
man alone can pray. Jesus asked
on one occasion what a man
could give in exchange for his
self. If he took the whole world
in exchange. Jesus said. but
lost his self in the bargain. he
would be the loser. Somebody
might interrupt Whom in the
world are you describing? Most
people, on the hoof as you night
say. aren't as noble as all
that" Quite true: and nobody
knows it better than God. But
men are the creatures God went
to infinite trouble to save. Men
are the creatures about whom
| Jesus told his parable Of the one
lost sheep. and the joy in the
I presence of the angels over even
one repenting sinner.
In ancient times people did
not think much Of slaves. or
women, or children. a woman
had status only so far as her
connections with some man gave
her a position in society. Children
had no status till they were
grown; and slaves had no status
at all. Jesus, however, never
brushed off" any one. He al
ways had time for people: poor
people, stupid people, even bad
people. When some little chill
dren were brought to him. his
disciples tried to get rid Of them.
The Masters time was valuable,
he could not afford to waste it!
But Jesus rebuked his disciples,
not the children. All the modern
keen interest childhood, the
study of growing personalities
just at the very beginning Of
life. stems from the Christian
view. which goes back to Jesus,
that even babies are already
persons. To harm a child is to
commit a crime against the
future of mankind.
| Sins against persons
This brings up another very OBJ
vlouS thought: Sins against per-
sons are the most serious kind.
Once upon time this was not
understood. Men would be hang
ed for murder. they would be
hanged for stealing a lamb. Now
adays stealing a lahb is petty
theft. but muder is still murder,
and in many states still receives
the death penalty. This is not the
place to argue about capital
punishment. only to point out
that it shows how after all these
centuries. human life is still
known to be the most important
life on earth. and any damage
to it a serious crime.
But suppose I harm myself and
myself alone? Isn't that my af-
fair? 1t is your affair if YOU
mean does it concern you. It is
your affair if you think that
harm you do to yourself INJURIES
no one else. You wouldn't think
OF chopping your hand off, but il
you did, the law would take YOU
IN charge. You have no right to
W'u'e :oursci.-by Ratchet, al
cohol. simple neglect Or other
wise. much less 10 destroy your
self. You do not live alone, you
are surrounded by others. Well
and strong. you are a benefit
to the community; injured or
dead by your own fault before
your time. you are a burden.
you have turned your back on
| the human raco va, No.. !.