IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 56, 13 February 1931, Page 6

IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE

MISSED THE BUS To the Editor.) Sir, — Your correspondent "Puzzled and I are agreed on one point, "that gravitation was the direct cause of the carthquake."His conclusion, that to have prevented the earthquake it would have been necessary tor God to suspend the law of gravitation, is what I wished to infer. I cannot an-

swer the question as to whether "there was no other way in which ' this Almighty could have saved His j people those awful sufferings." One might ask the question in a simple ' way. For example, a child readies up to a bowl of scalding water on the table, in which its mother is going to wash the dishes. II gets scalded and dies. No one suggests that God is a cruel God because Tie didn't cause that scalding wafer not to scald, or to cause the water tore- ! main up in the air by .suspending (lie | law of gravitation. Then "Puzzled" seems to object to j the idea that we should learn from experience. Yet 1 find tin-.: ■" ■

authorities in this land and across the Tasman are urging Hawke's Hay to "rebuild wisely.!' Perhaps man may never be able '.■• withstand all the titanic forces of :• iture, but it is evident that it is possible to build structures that are capable of more earthquake resistance than has been the practice. Else why the jargon about "building wisely'.'" I am glad that "Puzzled" has usually found the clergy courteous. I don't suppose we are much worse than we have been painted. But he protests against their "veiled threats" and the reference to the words of Jesus Christ about "outer darkness." His quarrel is with Jesus Christ. To use a simple illustration, he agrees with the medical authorities that it is necessary to drink pure water and eat good and wholesome foods if good health is to be enjoyed. But if a number of people refuse to believe the doctors and drink impure water and eat unwholesome foods and then suffer from disease, he jumps to the conclusion that God punishes those unbelievers because they don't, believe as the doctors do. Jesus Christ is j the Great Physician, and recommends the true way of life, but He is also

brave enough to let men know that there is the possibility of an alternative both in choice and consequence. Perhaps "Puzzled" would have understood Christ better if, instead of "outer darkness," He had said, "you crowd have missed the bus." —1 am, etc., Til OS. SKITS 10. Methodist Parsonage, Strut lord. February 13, 1931.