Has Christianity Failed?

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 219, 16 September 1939, Page 3

Has Christianity Failed?

By--The Reo. C. W. Chandler

THE Christian world must needs stand aghast before the grim reality of this, another war. As widely as opinions differ as to the Tightness or wrongness of this barbaric means of settling disputes and adjusting national bounclaries, there can be no two opinions regarding the awfulness of the situation.

Because it is a part of ordinary human nature to blame the other fellow, the various contestants in the present dispute are laying the blame upon everybody but themselves. "He made me do it," says the whimpering child as he receives a wordy reprimand from his irate mother for pushing a neighbour's child into a. duck pond. iou should 11 t have put it so near the edge of the table," says the man to hie wife as he mops hot tea from his scalding lap. It's always the other fellow.

One of the questions that is asked in times of calamity is, "What has Christianity done for us after 1000 years of its propagation?"' Upon first hearing this question put, we feel inclined to be more than despondent over the seeming failure of Christian love in the practical affairs of nations. "Idealnonsense!" "Impractical dreaming!" "Maudlin sentiment!" These are some of the opinions expressed concerning the vital message of Christianity. How can we answer this challenge? \Vhat apology have we to make in the face of our seeming impotence? Ihe much quoted Sir James Jeans in his "Mysterious Universe" says that there are some luminous bodies so far from this earth that it takes 50 million years for their Lght to reach us. And the velocity of light is something like 299,000 kilometres a second. It hardly bears imagining.

Xow what about One who called Himself "the Light of the World?" How long should we expect it will take for that ineffable brightness fully to penetrate the darkness of our sinful hearts? Nineteen hundred years in comparison with millions is but as yesterday. It is only when we begin to view tlie matter from this angle, that we Itegin to understand why

we are not farther along the road of progress. Moreover, it provides the answer to those who look with scorn upon our meagre accomplishments. Our individual strength is hardly equal to the task of grappling with the problems that confront us. The little ray of light that has yet penetrated our darkness is hardly sufficient to keep us from groping. Twenty-five Years After After all what are 25 years that have elapsed since the last war but a watch in the night. The soil that covers our illustrious dead has hardly lost its freshness, and those of us who lived through those anxious days now feel that the distance that divides us from then is but a step from stone to stone —a leap from cliff to cliff. The terms of a peace that some believe were just were hardly dry on the parchment upon which they were written before a breath of discontent, and even of premeditated revenge began to be wafted abroad. Peace .-o('s_ deeper than a mere cessation of hostilities, and because it does we can truly say that it was not really established in 1918, and that what is going on now is but a continuation of that attempt "to make the world safe for democracy."

What progress has been made during these years in the direction of that deeper and more abiding peace that must of necessity be built up in our hearts? Merely refraining from discussion does not signify that any two people are at peace. Thoughts of hate, fear and mistrust may still be rankling in their hearts. We have been doing what K/.ekiel deplored. We have been crying "Peace; and there was no peace." We have been settling around the table to eat our "peace pudding" before ever the ingredients were mixed, let. alone bound up in a cloth and put into the saucepan. Now to answer our question. It is just a matter of simple

arithmetic. If it takes 50,000,000 years for the light from some distant nebula to reach us, which nebula Is receding at the rate of aT)out 4500 miles a second, and it has taken only 1900 years to put this very thin veneer of Christian respectability upon our barbaric natures, how much can we expect to have accomplished in a mere 25 years ? Modern Martyrs \et tangible progress has been made and courageous witness Is being made in various parts of Europe by men who count allegiance to conscience dearer than life. Fresh martyrs for the faith are appearing on the stage of history, and leaving behind them names made glorious by exhibiting dauntless courage in the fa.ce of danger that has hardly been eclipsed by any martyrs of previous centuries. Pastor Schneider, of Dickenschied, lias recently died in a concentration camp at Buclienwald, where, without trial, he has been held a prisoner since 1937. It is said that he died of heart attack, but his friends assert that he was brutally beaten on November 11 last. Since then he was not able to leave his bed. He was 38 years old—had a charming personality, and took an especial interest in work among young people. His crime was that of refusing to accommodate his gospel to the philosophy of Nazi-ism. Dr. Weissler was hurried' to his death in 1937. It is through such apertures a 6 these that the light of the Christian faith shines through on this stricken world. Such heroic witness does more for the subsequent good of mankind than all the strife of nations.

Although judging by the enormous advance that has been made in science and invention over the past two and a half decades man appears to be something of a mental giant, he is, nevertheless, still in the crawling stage so far as his spiritual development is concerned. He really shouldn't be trusted with firearms, until he has spiritually come of age. and then, perhaps, he will not want to use them.

In the meantime we can do naught but prav that out of this "winter of our discontent" will come a spring made glorious by our suffering.