THOSE FOREIGN CARS
Before coming to work for T he K ing ' s B usiness magazine four years ago I was managing editor of the largest auto motive magazine in America. It was in those days that the foreign car boom was just getting underway. Great Britain dominated the field. There was the noisy, thrifty little two-seater MG and the flashy, gas-gulping Jaguar. The French exported a few hopelessly under-powered Citroens and racing fans saw a good many of those brilliant Italian Ferraris. Then a couple of years ago the foreign car boom kicked up its wheels under a wide-open throttle. And Great Britain was lost somewhere in the swirl of things. Germany took firm command of the American foreign car market. And it was the amazing little beetle-like Volkswagen that did the trick. Fast on the VW success came the DKW and the Borgward. And from France both Simca and Citroen brought out models that literally stormed the American market. Continental automakers were goggle-eyed. They just couldn’t keep up with orders. Americans were gladly wait ing four to six months to buy a VW and then found that after driving it a year could sell it for about the same price. Sweden found that its ancient looking (Ford, circa 1939), but superb handling Volvo sold extremely well in America. Why this enthusiasm for foreign cars? To a lot of men the answer is fairly simple. Detroit long ago stopped building well-engineered cars. They simply turn out clumsy iron monstrosities whose only claim to glory is in their size, power and paint and upholstery combinations. It’s the biggest deception fostered on Americans since women started wearing engineered undergarments. And a lot of men are tired of it. Why drive a car ("17 glorious feet long” ) that requires an over 200 gas-hungry horsepower engine to lug it along when you can relax to the thrill of driving a beautifully engineered 35 to 80 horsepower car? Answer that question and I think you have the answer why so many men are buying foreign cars today. And I have a feeling that today a lot of men feel the same way about religion. Too many professing Christians seem to give the im pression that "size” is the thing that counts in a man’s relationship with God. Do it up big. The more times you go to church, the more committees you’re on, the bigger
your donation. These are to measure your righteousness. Some of us are beginning to wonder if the church isn’t getting like Detroit’s automobiles. Frankly size and activity and outward show never impressed me very much. What most men want to know is: Does the thing do the job it’s supposed to ? You’re not interested in religion for religion’s sake. You have no reason in the world to be interested in religion unless it gives you some positive help in obtaining a right relationship with God. You’re not interested in it to merely impress your fellow men. Or even your wife. Deception is no answer for the man who is seeking spiritual tmth. What can a man . . . one who really wants to know the truth . . . do? Not being a minister my advice may be unorthodox but here it is. And it’s worked for a good many men. Don’t expect to find the truthsitting in a church pew. Don’t expect to find the truthtalking religion with the men at work or your next door neighbor. Don’t expect to find the truth with the help of a continued series o f lectures from your good wife. If Christianity has any truth for you you’re going to find it in the Bible. I mean that. For my money I’d rather get my informa tion firsthand. Not a lot of warmed-over ideas and prejudices however well-meant. Most men I know have no quarrel with God. Christianity has just never been presented to them in a complete and clear way. The Bible is the only source-book of Christianity. And it’s written in a language anyone who can read can under stand. Nothing complicated here. Start today to read the New Testament completely through. Get your own copy. Mark it up. Outline it. But mostly read. Not just through once. Several times. Without preconceived ideas. Approach it just as if you’d never heard a sermon or argument or lec ture on religion. You’re here for one purpose only. Not to argue. Not to quarrel. You’re here to find out what the Bible says. That’s all. After you’ve read the Bible for yourself then it’s up to you to receive or reject Jesus Christ as being the way to God. Jesus Christ said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He also said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
APRIL 1957
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