Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 3 January 1941, Page 4

Readers Write

Much has been written during thef past year about war as viewed from| the standpoint of religion. At first | pacifism had a| THE HOPE OF groat deal to say* THE WORLD, for itself, but it| seems to me that* we have now settled down to the* grim fact that we are at war and that| the fight is to the death. The oddsi are heavy against us, and the task is| of titanic proportions. Yet, through? the darkness there shines forth a I gleam of hope. ? “We shall win! ” we say. And when| we ask each other how we know wef shall win, we discover that our hope? does not lie in the fact of our tre-i mendous resources or in the uncon-f querable spirit of the men and wo- ? men of our race, not yet in the pro-* mise of unlimited aid from America.?

No, it lies in this thought: “We shall win because we are on the side of Right, and God is ort our side.” There is something within us that tells us that “Right is right, since God is God, and Right the day must win.” ... The Bible clearly teaches us that there is no power that will drive back the hordes of hell but the power of God, in and through His Son Jesus .Christ; and it seems to me that the time has come when we should pause in our endless counting of planes and- bombs and tanks and torpedoes, and consider just what we need to win this war. We know that it is a spiritual war and that we shall need more than material power if we would win. We shall need spiritual power. But how can we , obtain this spiritual power? First, by the public and private confession of our sins as a nation, and then, by our acknowledgment of our need of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, not only as Saviour, but also as captain, to lead us to victory.

I am not overlooking the fact that we shall need munitions in everincreasing quantities, nor am I suggesting for one moment that we, as a nation, do not acknowledge- God and put our trust in Him. We do. But it is the tardy way we go about it that call for criticism. It is not characeristic of our people that thousands who call themselves Christians will so cleverly manoeuvre a conversation that the name of Jesus need not be mentioned?

Then, too, how many men are there is high positions, enjoying, as they do, the privilege of speaking to the whole world, who will publicly confess that we, as a nation, are putting our trust in the Son of the Living God? Not many! Any mention of God’s name is generally rather perfunctoryand sometimes even apologetic, and the name of Jesus is avoided.

This attitude of mind is not, I am sure, the result of unbelief, but arises from that mistaken sense of modesty which we British people rather pride ourselves in possessing, but which, if we would be perfectly honest, could often be more truthfully called cowardice. Are we as a nation guilty of cowardice in thus neglecting to recognise God’s Son. or. are we ashamed of Him?

. . . Sir, my object in writing this letter is to bring before your readers the tremendous fact that all power is vested in Christ the Son of God, and that the only victory that overcomes the woi'ld and drives back the devil is man’s faith in Him.—ALICE :S. RIVE (Tanekaha, Northland).