CHAPTER IV — This Changing

CHAPTER IV --- This Changing IV. THIS CHANGING WORLD
By Paul Southern A casual glance at the family album will convince the most ardent exponent of perpetual youth that time changes everything. We live in a swiftly changing world, with transformations going on all around us.

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner.” (Isaiah 51:6). The foundation of the earth was laid by Jehovah, and the heavens are the work of His hands. But “all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.” (Psalms 102:25-26).

Change rather than fixity is now a measure of reality, for change is omnipresent. Realizing with Tennyson that “The great world spins forever down the ringing grooves of change,” we approach a timely subject when we come to consider “This Changing World.”

Introducing this study we need some conception of the objectives that we have in mind. According to the wording of our subject, we are concerned primarily with the fact that the world is changing. It is not necessarily within the province of this discussion to solve any problems or settle any difficulties. It is hoped that some of the facts presented will help to unsettle our minds, and direct our thinking in greater plans for God.

There are some who are so afraid of the perils of change that they blind themselves to the absurdities of the established order. There are others who are so impressed with the existing evils that they are blind to the greater evils which their proposals may generate. Some will not listen to any change, while others think that any change is necessarily good. It shall be our purpose in this address to modify these views in the hope that the church of today may arrive at a more constructive philosophy of change. The various parts of modern culture are not changing at the same rate of speed. Since there is a correlation and inter-dependence of the various parts, a rapid change in one part of our culture requires adjustments in others. Any social trend in the world today will ultimately affect the millions of earth’s population. Whether these changes involve labor relations or a revision of the Bible, they immediately become the concern of the church.

If Christians are to be the light of the world, they cannot ignore the problems of the human family. In most cases we have confined our program to what some describe as “sacred” things, neglecting almost entirely the “secular” things. “Draw, if thou canst, the mystic line—Which is human, which divine?” The material changes of the modern world present a sacred challenge to the church of God. If Christian culture does not recognize these changes and adapt its teaching to meet civilization’s needs, mal-adjustments in the social world will continue to pile up. In the hope that we may meet the challenge of a changing world, we now turn our thoughts to some epoch making transformations.

POLITICAL CHANGES
Political changes going on in the world today will de-termine largely the direction civilization will take. The war is over, but it is not won, and it may never be won unless the leadership of creative forces carry the banner high. The peace about which we have sung and talked is not the kind that “passeth all understanding.” In fifty centuries of human experience mankind has learned very little about how to live peacefully together. A little more than twenty-five years ago we fought a war which they said would make the world safe for Democracy. We have just emerged from another war which was fought to make Democracy safe for the world. Before all the casualties of this horrible carnage have been announced to war weary folk at home, the political cauldron of international discord starts brewing again.

Political upheavals are going on m nearly every nation on earth. Traditional England that xnade the knights of old famous is rapidly becoming a cherished memory. Militant forces wiihin the British Empire are calling for a new deal, writh Colonials everywhere demanding independence. The Russian bear is on the prowl, and the Orient is seething with suspense and unrest. Traditional Confucianism and modern confusion-ism seem to be having a hard tussle in China.

Whether it is for better or for worse, the America which my father knew is no more. Within my brief experience, two entirely different national ideologies have run their courses. More rapid social changes now take place in a single decade than in whole centuries in the past, and the rate is being constantly accelerated. Life twenty five years ago now seems quaint and almost unbelievable. The rate of change is such that a person with ordinary life span will be called upon to face novel situations which find no parallel in bis past. THE ECONOMIC SITUATION
During the past twenty five years we have been deluged with propaganda regarding a planned economy. There are millions in our own land who think that all the laws of God and the forces of nature will adjust themselves to the crackpot ideologies of theoretical bureaucrats. It has been estimated that if all public relations bureaus were laid end to end and left there, newspaper waste baskets could be seventy per cent smaller. Anything like a two-cent jump in the price of farm wagons will be over the dead body of the O.P.A., which has become standard athletic equipment in the economic hurdles event.

Banks of the nation are bulging with money, yet it is almost impossible to buy a suit of clothes or a white shirt. In 1849 discovering gold was considered a great adventure; in 1946 discovering a shirt or a pair of ladies’ hose is cause for extreme jubilation. One of the best stories of the year describes the American farmer with a list of unobtainable necessities that staggers the imagination and with plenty of money to satisfy them. And because they cannot secure the implements necessary to run their farms, many farmers are packing their goods in a family trailer and moving to town.

Strikes have become so prevalent that Flapper Fanny says the iron must be hot because everybody is striking. Brick layers have asked for $1.90 per hour, and janitors are demanding transportation and overtime to and from work. Even some preachers are striking against their parishioners. If members are not faithful church attendants, they will not receive the benefit of the cloth for baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

Some of the olders of this generation remember when frying chickens sold for $2.00 a dozen and eggs for half a cent apiece. Choice turkeys were usually seventy-five cents, and never more than a dollar. Within the memory of men now living a family head who had $5.00 a day was fairly well-to-do. He might have a good house, a good table, good clothing for his family, and even employ a household servant. Today very few household servants will work for $5.00 per day. Boneless hams used to hang in every smoke-house, but now it is difficult to find a hamless bone.

MORAL ATTITUDES
Attitudes toward moral questions are forever changing, but unbiased observers declare that the modern age has brought forth the most shocking developments. Drinking has been made so respectable that the average person looks upon the total abstainer as a freak. Last year this country consumed more than twenty-two times as much liquor as it did ten years ago.

Whether we like it or not, society is rapidly placing a premium on prostitution. Marriage in many instances is little more than legalized adultery. More and more children are being born out of wedlock, and test-tube babies have become subjects of drawing room conversation in many circles. There is very little debate regarding free love and companionate marriage in our changing society, for many couples are already practicing these things.

Change has long been the motto among fashion experts, but modern tendencies toward nudity are shocking in the extreme. Movie queens in Hollywood are now discussing wearing evening gowns featuring exposed bosoms. This idea of milady’s futuristic finery may be considered an oddity today, but it will have tremendous influence on the morals of America tomorrow. When Hollywood and New York place their approval on feminine fashions, the styles soon sweep every Main Street in the nation.

It is difficult for Christian women of high ideals to feature the social and moral changes going on today. According to leading educators and psychologists, we have more family and social ills than ever before. During the recent world war, delinquency among women increased 389 per cent. Many moral casualties involved innocent girls who were turned loose on the streets by otherwise good mothers unaware of our rapidly changing society. Immorality and corruption precede the fall of any nation. Since womanhood casts the deciding vote in determining these factors, it is up to the Christian women of our land to uphold the highest ideals of morality and decency.

HOME LIFE
Family life in the United States is also lapidly changing. The place once revered as "Home Sweet Home” in many instances has been transformed into a cheap night club. Now it is a dressing room, a filling station, and a beer parlor. There is grave danger of complete disintegration of that type of home life which has made America great. Witness how the status of women has changed during the second World War. Until a few years ago, in many States a married woman could not teach in the public schools. In the eyes of many school boards marriage changed a woman into some kind of a varmint. Then came the war, man-power shortages, and high wages. The result was that women were welcomed into every kind of business and industry. Many forsook the home for ship yards and army camPsa Children were left to shift for themselves in a jittery world, and now the wild oats of juvenile delinquency are coming to a head. And all. the while we continue to organize for cultural improvement and social progress. Women’s clubs number into the scores, and new ones are being born ever)) month. The Federation of Women’s Clubs is the most heterogeneous organization in the world, except the Democratic Party. But American club women do very little to stop disintegration of home life. The majority of them, just like the men, are so interested in their organizations they forget why they are organized.

What these changes bode and where they will lead is not for me to decide. One thing is certain: the home is the oldest d’vine institution, the center around which all other institutions have been founded and with which they will either stand or fall. In a recent letter to the 14th annual convention of the National Catholic Conference on Family Life, President Truman said that several post-war conditions are the equivalent of attacks on family life. He listed among these such things as the housing situation, economic insecurity of so many people, and the instability and turmoil that have been among the unfortunate fruits of the war. The housing situation in the United States presents a definite problem to the church of our Lord. There was a time when every city had hundreds of vacant houses, apartments, and rooms. Today a rental vacancy is remarkable enough to make Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not.” Christians cannot ignore this problem and fulfill their mission to this generation. It is difficult to interest a church member in foreign missions when his family has to find lodging in the union bus terminal. Many babies are now being born in hospital space reserved eight months in advance, but where they go from there is anybody’s guess. In many cities maternity wards have quit accepting reservations. The time may come when, like the present apartment house situation, they will quit accepting babies. No nation is stronger than its homes, and the measure of a civilization is the measure of its family life. It is normally the soil of the Christian home that produces great leaders for the church and state. The family is the child’s first educational group, and no other agency has equal power in its development. But present conditions in our country are gnawing at the very roots of wholesome family life.

“What is home without a mother?” is a question which used to melt the hardest heart and bring a tear to the dryest eyes. When a sailor asked the question at a recent U.S.O. party, his girl friend replied: “I am tomorrow night.” This is not an isolated case; it is a reflection of what is taking place in our rapidly changing society. In 1866 the girl was the apple of her suitor’s eye; in. 1926 she was his perfect peach; but in 1946 she is just his date. There was a time when young men did most of .the proposing, but that plan has been altered somewhat. During 1945, 312,000 young ladies bought engagement rings to slip on the fingers of unwary males. Our rapidly changing home life is further reflected in a youth forum held recently in a large city. Teen-age boys and girls, 13 to 16, discussed over one of the nation’s strongest radios what to do with their parents. Here ar$ some of the subjects to which they addressed themselves: “Borrowing Mother’s diamonds,” “Driving Dad’s car,” “Increased allowances,” and “Staying out after midnight.” Most of the teenagers called for a hike in these things, and insisted that parents quit treating them as children. All of this before they have cut a wisdom tooth and before the boys have shaved twice!

SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS
Scientific discoveries of the modern world would stagger the imagination of genius. From this viewpoint we conclude that the future is now, Crossroads marks the spot where anything can happen, and change is the mood of the moment. Although man cannot create anything, God gave him the wonderful ability of changing things. In His first orders to the human family God said: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28). If man is made in the image of God, he should be capable of any power delegated to him. The ability to subdue the earth and explore the forces around it is today reflected in scientific discoveries which make the masses tremble.

Man has tunneled under mountains and has bridged the deepest chasms. The bowels of the earth have been explored, and the depths of the seas have been fathomed. Man has not only built a temple of knowledge from the earth to the sky-, but he is also now able to pierce the boundless space beyond.

There was a time when we laughed at that mythological line about the cow that “jumped over the moon.” Today we are not so sure that such a Buck Rogers’ feat is impossible. On January 10, 1946, the Army Signal Corps made the world’s first scientific contact with the moon. A radar signal beamed at that celestial body spanned 238,000 miles of outer space, and in 2.4 seconds the echo reflected by the planet was received back on the earth. Applications almost beyond immediate comprehension were foreseen as a result of that electronic achievement. It is hoped by many that radar’s contact with the moon will solve the age-old question of whether life exists on other planets. Others are discussing inter-planetary excursions with no more excitement than a trip to market in Colonial days. And some have predicted that the day will come when children will play in space as they do now in backyards. This is truly an age of transportation marvels. With the miracle of radar we also have rockets, jet planes, and space shiPsa In the old days there was some meaning to the expression, “The sky is the limit,” but those days are gone forever. When the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad proposed carrying the mail at an over-all speed of fifteen miles an hour, men said it was impossible, and that people travelling that fast for hours would soon die. When the Postmaster General of the United States said mails could be transported at 180 miles an hour, people wondered if he was reckless in his utterance. Now a jet plane crosses the continent in four hours and thirteen minutes at an average speed of 582 miles an hour. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics predicts that mail planes may reach speeds of 1,000 miles an hour within the next three years.

Right now no spot on earth is more than sixty hours from your local airport. The Atlantic is conservatively only four hundred minutes wide. San Francisco and Australia are a mere thirty-five hours flying time apart. These distances will soon be greatly reduced, for the stratoliners of tomorrow will relegate our present speed records to the realm of horse and buggy days. These are not mythological musings of an impractical pulpiteer. They are scientific predictions of men who know. According to aviation experts, the time will come when business men will commute between New York and London as quickly as strap-hangers now travel between Times Square and Long Island. It is also entirely possible that the plane’s pilot will remain in his tower at home while he steers the magic wonder through boundless space. Truly, the world is changing! If planes can be run by push-buttons, can gliders with zippers be far away? The scientific picture is changing so rapidly today that I shudder to think what the next experiment may bring forth. Uranium is now obsolete in the production of atomic bombs, for lead, it appears, works just as well. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was equal to 20,000 tons of TNT, the greatest explosive in the world. That bomb is already obsolete, and America is equipped with atomic bombs equivalent to 20,000,000 tons of TNT, a thousand times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. In discussing these rapid developments, General MacArthur has said: “Warfare is no longer warfare—it is a question of civilization. In view of the potential destruction now encased in scientific capsules, the millions of earth’s population should be eye-witnesses of the forthcoming historic test at Crossroads. Their view of the destruction wrought by the atom bomb could tell them nothing of its technical nature, but it would tell them in unforgettable form the story of its incomparable might. Observation at close range might cause us to forget self long enough to ponder the future of man and the course of social progress.

Civilization began with Adam and Eve, but if something is not done to stop the onslaught of an uncivil civilization it is going to end with “atom and evil.” The world’s greatest scientists split the atom. , If society is to survive, similar intelligence and comparable sums must be used to explore the social atom. It is already clear that the atomic bomb has sown suspicion and fear among the major international powers. Until now human nature has been unable to control its own evil impulses, and now it is called upon to control the atomic bomb. We have split the atom for war and destruction; now we must re-unite the world for peace. The only defense against atomic destruction is the creation of a world in which no nation has the slightest desire to drop atomic bombs on anyone else. Peoples of earth must choose between atomic order and chaos, and the church of the Lord is heaven’s agency for setting the pace. Unless Christian teaching and practice come to dominance in human affairs, there is no possibility of using the recently discovered terrific forces for the creation of a better world.

Speed is the order of the day in all phases of transportation, and may the Lord help us to utilize it in spreading the gospel. Time forbids that we discuss the potentialities of the atomic automobile. Suffice it to say that the car of tomorrow will not be powered by flowing gold but by atomic energy. When “horseless carriage” became too much of a mouthful, we changed it to “automobile.” When atomic energy drives the family car, it may be changed to “atomobile.”

Atomic energy is nothing new under the sun, but modern man has been slow in exploring its powers. Archimedes, celebrated Greek philosopher and scientist, was at home among the cosmic rays more than two hundred years before Christ. Modern experiments, however, are making possible a considerably better understanding of the whole subject of nuclear forces. We are living in an era of unprecedented scientific achievement, and the church must prepare to grapple with its multiple problems.- Thus far Christians have been slow to make use of the marvels of science in bringing the gospel to the millions who are lost.

Young scientists today are at home in a world of atoms, radar, and infinite space. The significance of this fact is not alone reflected in the destructive powers of the atomic bomb. Unless we harness the genius which is now unfolding God’s hidden mysteries, civilization is sunk. Every experiment in the field of nuclear energy should cause Christians to feel that God “is not far from each one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:27-28). When I read scientific explanations of atomic potentialities, I am made to exclaim with the Psalmist of old: “O Jehovah, our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth, Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens! . . . When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownedst him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.” (Psalms 8:1-6).

RELIGIOUS CHANGES
In a world of perpetual change it is only natural that religion should be affected. Transformations now going on in this realm present one of the greatest challenges to the church of God. Militant forces at work among both Catholics and Protestants are definitely designed to silence the plea of the New Testament church. The Federal Council of Churches with its emphasis on tolerance and Modernism is seeking to restrain any controversial preaching which might upset the doctrine of others. Catholicism, now as ever before, is set to control the world. No superior genius is necessary to recognize the designs of the Catholic church. The union of church and state is as much a part of their plan today as it ever was. In every conceivable way Catholics are trying to gain control of the United States. For several years the President has had a special envoy at the Vatican. The appointment of an unprecedented number of American cardinals is but another step toward Catholic domination of this country. Another of their secret weapons is the Colored population of the United States. Years ago they mapped their strategy for winning the Colored vote, and today they are advancing according to schedule. In the field of labor the Catholic voice is likewise one of the most militant. The church must either oppose the Catholics or we may be forced to unite with them. Unless brethren learn to cooperate better in the future than we have in the past, the really Dark Ages for God’s people are still ahead.

Limitations of time and space will not permit us to discuss all the changes in current religious thought. Suffice it to say that some of these movements in the name of Christianity are attacking the very foundation of the primitive church. Thousands of preachers now occupying denominational pulpits no longer believe in the inspiration of the scriptures. Many of them have long since renounced their faith in the God of the Bible. According to their Modernistic theories, God did not make man but man makes God. Most seminaries and divinity schools are now hot-beds of infidelity and liberal theology. These men and institutions are moulding the faith and practice of thousands of leaders in modern society, and are challenging the very life of the church.

During the last five years much has been said concerning the coming world church. Sweet spirited tolerance which covers everything and touches nothing is the central theme of all discussions. It aims at the union of Jews, Catholics, and Protestants in a Christ-less church. These three groups recently participated in a great union rally, and the name of Christ was not mentioned in a single song, prayer, or talk.

These current religious trends are knocking at the door of the church, and in some instances have already begun to make inroads among the saints. The perils of the modern age demand that we acquaint ourselves with contemporary thought and be prepared to meet the challenge of every apostacy. The time has come when many religionists will not endure sound doctrine. Having itching ears they are heaping to themselves teachers after their own lusts, and are turning aside unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:1-4). In spite of the grievous dangers imposed by this changing world, “Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.” (Hebrews 6:9). “Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” (2 Timothy 2:19). The church is built upon the Rock of Ages, “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18).

If the thesis of our discussion has been established, every one will agree that we live in a changing world. And yel we live in the same old world with respect to God’s eternal purpose. It must be saved and improved in the same old way: by adhering to heaven’s eternal principles and guarding the fundamental institutions which are milestones on the highway of progress. The gospel is still “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). Neither laws, nor science, nor education can change the human heart. Nothing save the blood of Jesus can take away sin (I Jno. 1:7). We change our souls “in obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” Therefore let us “love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth” (1 Peter 1:22-23).

We have here no abiding habitation. The day of the Lord is coming when “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Death and decay are stamped on all earthly things, but we look for “the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). “Homeless here the soul may roam, but a mansion waits above for the soul that’s redeemed.”

There is an air which does not contaminate the lungs; there is a roof which does not leak; there is a circle which will not be broken; there is a home of many mansions. “For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”