2145.—Church and Commercialism.
By Alonzo Trévier Jones
Will not the church be lost in the vortex of commercialism and capital the same as all other interest, profit, and rent-taking institutions? A. J. C. No, God's true church will not be. While she is in the world and under present conditions, so far as business transactions are concerned, she may of necessity conform to some plans and means and customs of the world in the doing of business. She must render to Caesar that which is Caesar's; at the same time she must render to God that which is God's. There are some of the so-called fundamental propositions of Socialism that are not sound. For instance, labor is not the only producer of wealth. Brain comes into it as well as brawn. Again, the socialistic argument is from a purely human standpoint, making no account whatever of the power of God and the regenerating grace of Jesus Christ. The truest mode of living in the world is taught in the Scriptures, but no man can reduce it to life of himself. It must be by the power of God. The truest economy in the world is taught in the Scriptures, but he who endeavors to put it into practise apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ will utterly fail. Blessed is the man whose hope and trust is in God and not in man. Jer. 17:5-8.