The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-05-10

| n HAL SdI uOWl SUlllc yCdl
ago to write a book about the
Kingdom of God. Where is it?
was his question. He believed
that the Kingdom come s
wherever Gods will is done, sc
that we cannot say it is all here
or all there. Gods will m a y
never be fully done on earth
but it is done more in some
places and by some people thar
in other places and by 0 h e I
people. In all the institutions OF
society, where is the will Of
God best done? To put it an
other way, what institution of So
ciety is most like heaven?
Where Religion Begins
| 1t is no surprise to be told that
this author argued that the place
most like heaven on this earth is
the home. international rela.
tons, he thought, are the area
/ farthest from the will of God
This is no surprise either: but
that is another story The home
in fact, is where religion begins
If you wanted to get rid of re-
| lglOn, as the communists do, the
place to attack is not the church
but the home. Keep people from
1 having a normal home life and
religion will dry out at the roots.
The home is where we first hear
the name of God: it is where
we first learn to pray; there we
hear the Bible read. there W.
are taught what forgiveness
means, there we learn Christian
habits and feel the first STRINGS
of Christian ambition and ideals
Modern Christian teachers OF
young people do not think of the
home, as maybe our parents
did, as a force for good which
is a great help to school and
church; it is the other wa y
! around. School and church-in-
Guiding church School-are aids
to the home.
To be better than ones father
and mother is an ambition most
people would say is impossible
Some one has suggested that
we cannot be more devoted .C
God, more fully given up tc
His will and service. than were
the best Christians of centuries
ago; in short, that there are nc
persons in our present world
who are more sanity than some
of our forebearers. What can be
true of this generation, however
is that there can be, and in
places is. a clarer knowledge OF
what devotion to Gods will de
mands. To put it another way
in our hearts devotion we can
not hope to measure up to oul
forefathers; but in the ways il
which that devotion may be
turned to practical purposes, We
may go beyond them.
Now the writer of Psalm Is
certainly believed that it is If
the home that we learn to be
better more obedient to God
than those who went before us
How can this be? 1t can be,
because in each home there is
something greater and better
even than the parents: the law
OF God, or as we would say, the
Bible. All the advice Of father
and mother is subject to error
and sin; but God word can be
taught by parents to children
and there is no advice better
than is given by the Holy Spirit
The Home is School
Each God-fearing home is q
link In a long chain. a part of a
great School of Goodness. The
Psalmist of old thought of the
parents as teachers, and he is
still right. How does the homo
teach? In three ways: First BY
the Word Of God, as was just
now said. The habit of using the
Bible, of studying it. if not learn
ed at home will not be learned
elsewhere. But the good home
teaches not by words alone, bu
by example. Many of us define
a Christian by describing the
sort of people our parents were
Religion on two feet is religion
we can understand. You car
argue about theology and theo
Iles; but a genuine Christian is
his own argument. If we are
Christians because our fathers
were, that is the way Goo
planned it. But the teaching Of
the home is more than Bible
study and good example. T h {
home is a place where VIC learr
to do by doing. The many Situa.
tlonS that test our hmpers. the
many occasions to get into q
quarrel or TO settle things peace
fully. the many opportunities tc
be generous, the diSappolnt
ments and sorrows. as we'll rs
the joys and accomplishments
which we experience in a good
home, are all part of the train
ing God offers us in the use anc
meaning of life.
BASED on outlines copyright
| cd nv tho DiXisinn of Cb,;.t;,