'
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
'August 1930
374
The outlook, to Doctor Gilkey, seems very dark and discouraging, for he said: Your generation will see a terrific mortality among churches, and the tendency will continue for the next fifty years. IThe' churches that áre able to understand will re main by adjusting themselves to the new situation, thus guaranteeing their own future. It is difficult to see how Doctor Gilkey can properly draw a parallel between the history of the theater and the history of Christianity, unless indeed he believes that the Church of Jesus Christ is a purely human institution against which the gates of Hades can easily prevail. Nor can one readily see that the causes for the anticipated col lapse of the churches which he names are so very dif ferent from what Christianity has always faced. There have always been perplexities. Youth has always been rest less. Christianity has constantly had competition. The clue to his main point is discoverable in the remark about the mistakes o f the clergy of a former generation, which is evidently a fling at the old orthodoxy. Doctor Gilkey believes in the survival of a remnant because “ many people, who have given up all religion, are not satisfied with the result, and this is a guarantee of permanency of some kind of religion, different, of course, from that o f the 1890’s.” So, then, two things are clear, according to this prophet: First, there will be a period of “ terrific mortality among the churches” ; and second, there will be permanency for the few only by “ adjusting them selves to the new situation.” This is not a new philosophy. According to Scripture, it may be traced back to the Garden of Eden where the serpent induced Adam and Eve to “adjust” themselves to the wisdom which he offered. To the fallen race thereafter God’s plea has always been for readjustment to Himself, while the tempter still maintains that the solution of the problem of life is adjustment to the course of the age. Noah and Enoch preached the necessity o f readjustment. Elijah found that many of Israel’s leaders had weakly adjusted themselves to Jezebel’s infamous program while the masses were “ limping between the two sides.” The prophet insisted upon readjustment by the destruction of the prophets and altars o f Baal and the reconstruction of the altar of Jehovah. John the Baptist proclaimed to ossified Judaism that the axe was laid at the root of the tree and called for repentance and readjustment to God. Why go farther? Church history tells the same story. John Wesley, for instance, at a time when many who were leaders of the church were demanding adjustment of Christian doctrine to prevailing scientific thought, saved the churches from a “ terrific mortality” by an appeal to heart and conscience that brought about a great revival. When Jesus stood in Pilate’s hall there had been “ adjustment” of differences between warring factions of the Jews. Pilate, too, “ adjusted” himself to the popular trend. There was one common purpose, the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Present day “ adjustments,” such as Doctor Gilkey insists upon, would of necessity be of the same sort. Indeed, appealing again to Scripture, such is the outlook before us. God speaks from heaven, not asking the Church of Jesus Christ to compromise in its attitude toward the Son of God, but advising those who "set themselves against the Lord, and against His anointed ” that they “ kiss'the Son, lest he be angry,” It is better, Then, to stick to the old paths and the old faith.
most serious fact, he observed, was that “ the very philoso phy whereby the world was organized into nations is tienaced.” He feared the supreme nationalism which is in evidence in some countries (perhaps he had in view such nations as Italy and France), and which,’ unless checked, will ultimately mean war. For the solution of the problem Dr. Smith’s only hope, it would seem, is in the Christian churches. Yet he con fessed he had almost lost courage when he realized how in effectually the churches were meeting their responsibili ties in this apparent crisis of history. He would have them show to the world that they really meant business in their refusal to approve of war, believing that if they would do so there would be a great and world-wide rally to this in sistence upon world peace. Confessing that he saw no im mediate solution of the problem, he added that he “wished the picture was more encouraging, but if the churches do not face the seriousness of the situation, they will never be able to rise to the occasion.” Dr. Smith has not, in the past, been so gloomy. He was associated with the church leaders who expected great things from the Inter-Church World Movement which promised so much and ended in great confusion a few years ago. He was also prominent in the Men and Reli gion Movement which had a brief history and left little of permanent value. He has been at least sympathetic with if not actively a part of the inner, circle of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. Surely these organizations, assuming to represent the Christian churches, have attempted much in the direction of a change in the social order which would work for world peace. There has been no lack of financial support. There has been an abundance of direct and indirect propaganda. As never before these who have called themselves repre sentatives of millions of Protestant church members, have attempted to sway public opinion and to change laws. What more would Dr. Smith suggest that the churches can or ought to do? The question arises, Does the Lord Jesus Christ com mit this problem to the Christian churches? Has He ever demanded and does He now demand that they shall “ rise to the occasion” and by social uplift or attempts at political action bring in millennial peace ? In other words, must the churches “ rise to the occasion,” or will He, personally, descend do the occasion at His coming again? The latter is the Scriptural view. It may not remove the immediate occasion for distress of mind, but there is no gloomy pes simism for the man whose hope is not in the churches but in the Christ of glory. Adjustment or Readjustment D R. CHARLES GORDON GILKEY, of Springfield, Mass., in a recent address to the students of Brown University, gave expression to some very pessimistic ideas about the religious situation of today. It was his opinion, he said, that Christianity is confronted by conditions as dangerous as those which have caused the complete col lapse of the theater during the last ten years. Among eauses for the threatened collapse of the churches he mentioned the mistakes of the clerp- of a former genera tion, the many perplexities in the civilization of today, the restlessness of youth, and the competition which religion faces from many directions.
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