o f belief in standards has affected the highest echelons o f our social and political life.” Mr. Pew continues his comment: “ It has also infected important sectors o f the church. Studies made at leading schools o f religion reveal that belief in unchanging morals has largely given way to the view that 'all guide lines are irrelevant’ that is, a fixed moral code must go. In other words, decisions must come from man’s sense o f what the moment demands. That is called 'situation ethics’ meaning that, instead o f applying eternal moral principles to situations, we let each situation determine the principle.” Mr. Pew adds a quotation from Dr. Robert L. Shinn, Dean o f Instruction at Union Theological Seminary: "In the twenty-five years that I have been studying theology, I have never seen the situation more chaotic.” Mr. Pew then goes on: "Natur ally. When foundations are shaken, chaos ensues. With seminary emphasis what it is today, it is not surprising that Biblical preach ing in many churches has declined. Like most laymen, I go to church to hear heralded the mind o f Christ, not the mind o f man. I want to hear expounded the timeless truth contained in the Scriptures, the kind o f preaching that gets its power from 'Thus saith the Lord.’ Such preaching is hard to find these days. This may well explain the curious fact revealed by latest church sta tistics, as well as a Gallup poll, that while church membership is showing a steady rise, church attendance is steadily dropping. Whenever any official church body relegates the Bible and its teachings to a lesser place in its program, it almost always turns to activity in non-church fields to fill the vacuum. Thus we see church leadership everywhere expending vast time and energy to push the church into fields far outside its God-ordained juris diction.” Mr. Pew points out that evangelism, which was traditionally interpreted to mean that o f winning individuals to a saving knowledge o f Jesus Christ, has been given a completely new defini tion. He quotes the statement o f Dr. Morikawa, Secretary of Evangelism o f the American Baptist Convention, "Contemporary evangelism is moving away from winning souls one by one to the evangelism o f the structures o f society.” He adds these words o f Dr. D. T. Niles, one o f the leaders o f the World Council o f Churches: "The heart o f Christianity is not concerned about these trends as he is. He likewise quotes from political leaders who are greatly distressed over the pressures that church men are putting upon political leaders to vote according to their socialistic, if not communistic, ideology.” One distinguished Senator declared: "I have been particularly distressed by the actions o f many o f our clergy and other church leaders who justify their violation o f fed eral, state, and local laws on the grounds that these are bad laws and that the only way to correct them is to break them. Once it has been stated that any law need not be obeyed unless it is 'a good law,’ the beginning o f the end o f rule by law has been initiated.” How true this is! The only regret is that these discerning lay men still support the boards and agencies o f their liberal churches Continued on page 42
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