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F IVE BOYS, from fifteen to twen ty-one years of age, stood before the bar of the Criminal Court in though they might have come out of any high school. “Have you anything to say as to why this court should not pronounce sentence upon you?” the black-robed jurist asked gravely. There was utter silence. They only hung their heads. "I therefore sentence you------” and the judge proceeded to give long pris on terms, a total of 247 years in all! ' I talked to those boys afterwards. Their attitude varied from defiance to shame and remorse. They were not subnormal mentally; they had come from homes that definitely were not of the slum type—many other persons from such types of homes have made good. They seemed healthy enough, and they wore good clothes. What, then, was the matter? These fellows-simply were young pagans, in whose homes there had been no train ing for. ideals or character. They had been brought up in an environment where pleasure—get it however you can—was the sole objective. To them, a "thrill” meant more than anything else in the world.
feels he wants to do, he has the right to do. We don’t believe in God or any of that superstition, and we don’t have to answer to any one about our con-, duct. This morals stuff is all non sense.” The judge, a God-fearing Jew, sol emnly shook his head. “That’s what is wrecking America,” he commented to me later, after he had granted the decree. Now let us turn to the other side of the picture. Yes, It Works For illustration of this phase of the matter, any one of a number of situ ations might be cited, but we will choose only one. In Chicago, there is a great church, with some 5,500 members and with 1,700 households in which the Word of God is honored by daily reading. From those firesides rise daily the most earnest pleas to the heavenly Father to bless the home and to guide each one of the family. That church, incidentally, has grown in twenty-one years to be one of the largest in America—a hint to pastors who wonder how to have flourishing congregations.
What had they done to get this thrill? They had started stealing both to get money and to test, their wits. Success gave them something to brag about. From petty thievery they had graduated into what they called their “Gun Club”—robbing victims at the point of a revolver. That wasn’t enough: Only one thing remained, the lust to kill. They robbed an inof fensive grocer, and then as he stood with hands up, they shot him to death in cold blood. Police caught them. That ended _ their crime, but began their living ’death. That is one prod uct of a godless home. Let me give you another, also out of real life. Into the divorce court of the same city came a warring couple, from a family of millionaires. These smart appearing young people, in their early thirties, were the parents of four chil dren. “My husband is unfaithful to me, brags about it, and even urges me to go out and commit adultery,” the tear ful mother testified. “How about it?” the judge asked sternly, turning to the husband. “ Yes, I have affairs with other women, and I think it is all right,” he said, with no tinge of shame. “This is a new day, and whatever a person
Chicago not long ago. They looked as
The pastor of this thriving North Austin Lutheran Church is Fred W. [ Continued on Page 168] • Evangelism in the FAMILY will mean revival in the NATION • jp
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