The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-12-13
Faith To Share
Lesson for December Is, 1863

All religions are shared re-
ligionS. That is. If in any re-
ligious group large or small, the
notion got around that the best
thing you can do with your faith
is to keep it a kind of happy
secret between yourself and God,
then that religion would vanish
from among mankind in less
than a hundred years. Religions
persist from generation to gen
GRAFTON because those who are
religious share their faith with
other people.
But religions differ in their an
swer to this question: With
whom do you share your faith,
or with whom are you expected
to share it? Some share their
! faith with their children only.
You cannot, for instance. become
a convert to the religion Of the
Parsees, not even by marrying
one. Only the children Of Par
sees can become ParseeS. 9th
er religions share their faith
within definite geographical
bounds, or racial limits. The
Christian religion is one of the
very few which its possessors
are expected to share with all
men high and low. all men Of
all colors and races and condi-
tons in life. all human beings
all over this globe.
You cant call this sharing
If you are a Christian, then.
you have faith to share !.
that is, if you have faith. You
can't share the money your
grandfather had and spent. You
can't share enthusiasm you
haven't got. you can't share
your grandmother faith. hope
or love. YOU can share what
YOU, have, not what somebody
else has. You can pass on ideas
without believing them yourself,
though they won't be very con
vincing: but you can't pass on
faith you don't have yourself.
But there are two ways in
which people, who do have
some genuine personal religious
faith. try to share 1t, without
success. One wrong way is to
try to force 1t. on other people.
In the Middle Ages the church
used to conduct some strange
evangehslc campaigns. They
would get the police to round up
a dozen or so Jews. the Jews
would be tied together and taken
to church and made to listen to
Christian" preaching for a
number Of Sundays. and then
they would take those Jews out
and dunk them in the fountain
in the public square, by way Of
Christian baptism. Then they
would chalk it UP in their stat
istics SO many Jews convert
ed this year. No, there were no
converts by that route. Forcing
religion is like forcing food; it's
not sharing.
Sharing by talking
For all that, talking about our
faith is one way to share it.
Take the Apostle Paul for ex-
ample. He preached, he taught,
he visited from house to house.
He wrote letters. more than a
dozen Of which have been pre-
served in the New Testament.
He was one Of the greatest
talkers-for-Christ known to his
tory There is a difference be-
tween talking about our faith in
such Dragging way as the
Pharisees had. and talking about
it in humble but radiant en-
thusiasm as Paul always did A
Pharisee might thank God he
was not as other men: a convert
cd Pharisee. such as Paul could
say to king. Il wish you were
III my place only without
these chains
\ Sharing by living
| It's very doubtful whether any
one ever became a Sure-en-
ough Christian without living for
while with a real Christian.
Most of us are not converted
by something we read. first of
all. it's rather by what We have
seen and heard. Christianity is
life. not a theory. Everything
that is Christian. which is to say
every Christian truth and grace,
is in a person before it is il a
book Jesus Christ came before
any books were written about
him. Christianity is not some
thing YOU can cut into slices and
pass around like cake Christ
lanity Is Ike enthusiasm which
lust has to be caught rather
than taught. There is 10 such
thing as Christianity that's not
IN people And an unsharing, in
growing, selfish life can never
share . warm and joyful faith.
1t comes back to where we
started; You can share only