Is the World Better Than When Jesus Was Here? by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 11, 1913

Is the World Better Than When Jesus Was Here?

By F. M. W.

CHARLES M. SHELDON, author of “In His Steps,” in a recent sermon at Battle Creek, Mich., answered this question in the affirmative. He regards the existence of the following conditions as proof of this statement:—

The world today is a far better world than it was when Jesus lived in it, and it is getting better every day. Two thousand years ago there were no missionary societies, no civic improvement bodies, no public schools, no Sunday-schools, and no great churches, with their branches and various activities; no movement for the abolition of war, no sentiment in favor of universal peace, no playgrounds movement, and, of course, no newspapers, telephones, telegraphs, steamships, or flying-machines.

We are quite willing to admit the great increase in the missionary and philanthropic societies, church gilds, peace movements, inventions, etc., enumerated by Dr. Sheldon. But these are by no means a proof of growing spirituality. Rather are they makeshifts for that spirit of personal piety and devotion which should characterize the members of the church. The world today is forgetting God. The great Protestant churches have been slowly but surely succumbing to the spirit of worldliness and indifference. Before us is the United Presbyterian of October 2, and regarding present-day Christianity the editor gives this testimony:—

It seems to be an unquestionable fact that at the present day home religion is on the decline. Such is the opinion of religious leaders everywhere. There can be no doubt, as is often affirmed, that modern business life is partially responsible for the decay of the family altar. This is true particularly in the city where the rush is swift and intense and where many well-disposed people have permitted the worship of God to be crowded out of the day's program. There is also a deplorable tendency on the part of many Christian parents to entrust almost entirely the religious education of their children to such organizations as the Sabbath-school and the junior society. Too much cannot be said in commendation of these modern organizations, especially when they are maintained according to high standards of efficiency; but, they can never become substitutes for godly homes where instruction in righteousness is received from fathers and mothers who know the Lord. . . . The church likewise is suffering from the effect of religious decline in the home. There is being produced a type of church-members who are characterized by formalism, with no spiritual depth, sadly lacking in the spirit of consecration, and therefore of little practical use so far as the real work of the kingdom is concerned.

Similarly the editor of the Advance of the same date, under the heading “More Religion,” says:—

The greatest need of America at the present hour is more of the religion of Jesus Christ. It is not enough that we have better sanitation, or more knowledge, or committees on the rural problem, or on housing in congested quarters. Man shall not live by bread alone, and there has been a famine of the Word of God. There are cheering signs of an awakening to a perception of this great need. There is heart-hunger in many of our churches for a more deeply spiritual presentation of the gospel. There are men, and many of them, who have been seeking to fill themselves with philanthropy and with social reform, who are finding more and more fully every day that these things concern the outside of the cup and the platter. God has made the soul of man for himself, and it is homeless till it finds him. Let us have no less of sociology and hygiene than we have been having; on the contrary let us have more, for more is needed; but let us put farther to the front and higher in the lead the saving gospel of the Son of God.

We have today as never before a proxy of Christian effort, but the old-time spirit of practical, every-day Christianity in the lives and homes of the people is sadly on the decline. This world will never be brought to Christ by church gilds or philanthropic societies. These may be good in their way, and as a result of their effort there may be much amelioration of human woe and suffering, but for the most part they exist at the sacrifice of the personal factor in religious life. This is the real element of power. Remove from the religion of Christ personal consecration, personal seeking after God, personal prayer, and personal Christian effort, and the vital power of Christianity is lost. The demand today is for a living, personal Christianity.

F. M. W.