The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-02-16
The Clean Life
Lesson for February Is. 1867

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ure Of American life? It is not
the ~supermarkets, the big double
lane highways. it isn't the cars
or even the schools. Many, even
Christians, would say it is not
even the churches that are the
best American possession. What
is it (the reader is invited to
Think which could get along
without the church. but without
which the church would soon
wither away?
The answer. of course, is the
Christian home. Christian church
and Christian home support each
other; sometimes with an assist
from the school. sometimes not.
But the home is more indispen-
sable to the church than the
church to the home.
What then is the inner sup
port and foundation of a Christ
ian home? The obvious answer
is, Christian marriage. Failure Of
a marriage means failure of a
home.
Attack ON home
Today the home is under at
tack. Not directly; no one would
get a moments hearing if he
advertised himself as opposed to
good homes. But indirectly, in
countless ways. marriages can
be, and often are, poisoned in
advance. It is well known that
ore marriage in four. the coun-
try over ends in divorce; and
that though divorced persons
often re-marry (for the stark and
simple reason that they already
have cheated wife or husband)
they are not likely to make
much more of the second try
than the first.
One of the deadliest ways to
poison a marriage beforehand is
to come to it no longer a virgin:
and this holds true for man and
woman alike. From the very
beginning. the Christian church
and the Jewish synagogue have
held up one standard for mar
riage: Confluence before, and
chastity tfaithfulness each to
each) during marriage. What
ever breaks down that stand
ard does something to break
down marriage itself. A home
where husband and wife are both
survivors of many affairs with
oLher people. a marriage that
knows nothing of faithfulness, a
marriage ready to break in two
tine minute a homesomer man
or a more ~elluring woman com.
es on the scene, - such a
home" is likely to have little
or no regard for any children
and may even resent them.
Mind and body
The laws of any place fall
behind the best ideals of the
best people. Any good lawyer
will admit as much. But even
the law, clumsy and external
as it must be, knows that
adultery is wrong. But by the
time adultery gets into the
courts, or becomes a tragic basis
for divorce. it has been going
on for a long time. Jesus put
it quite bluntly. Any man who
looks on a woman with lust in
his heart, has already commit
ted adultery with her. There are
only three requirements for any
act. good or bad: desire, capa.
city. opportunity. And an act of
adultery exist for a longer or
shorter time in a mind first. A
clean life is not one that lacks
legally punishable acts. A clean
life is one in which the law is
not needed: it is a life that
supplies it own discipline.
Our special problems
In America at this time and
for a generation or more be-
fore now. the Christian ideal Of
continerce before marriage
chastity during it. itself has been
eroded by constant attack. Con-
slider the books and magazines
for sale at your nearby drug
stores; consider the themes Of
popular moving pictures and
novels; consider the moral stand
ards of Hollywood and Of their
influence on our national life
Consider the way women and
girls dress. To maintain a clean
life in the midst of surrounding
such as are common in America
is extremely difficult, more so
than for most previous centu-
rieS.
Yet there is one thing il will
help us to keep in mind. That is,
that at the time the Christian
church began, standards Of rela-
tons between men and women,
in the Roman Empire, where the
infant church was born, were
just as low as they are in Amer.
ca today. if not lower. Yet the
ideals of Christ outlived the en-
pire. The future of America
is not with those large areas Of
corruption: it is with the small
groups that intend to remain