Christian Turmoil Can Bring Results

HELLO FOLKS — Man who would be man must rule the empire of himself.

—o—

SOME TIME ago I read a column of Dr. Gilroy who used to write for the Tribune. His topic was "Christians fighting with Christians." He bemoaned the bickering going on within the church groups and those who are supposed to be thinking alike religiously. The column interested me so much that I clipped it out, as I do with so many, and tonight I ran across it again.

It does seem strange that there should be such bickering among people who are supposed to set the spiritual pattern for others to follow. We must realize that we are all human and that the closer we come to answers we seek the more apt we are to want to impress our thinking on others. Perhaps that is the reason for a lot of the turmoil in church circles. At any rate it points up the imperfections we all have and that we have little call to become vindictive toward others.

We must realize that tolerance and respect for others is the fundamental virtue of Christianity. It is the lubricant that generates a society in which men can grow and prosper.

Too often we fail to appreciate the value of a minor religion. True, we may disagree with the views of that group and their beliefs may be in complete discord with the things we understand. But let us go back in history and see how a minority and supposedly radical belief can affect the history of the world and actually perform a great service.

One of the great turning points in history was in the 15th century. A man by the name of Martin Luther rebelled against the order of the day. In the turmoil that ensued he drew with him half of the people of Germany and shook the established church to it's foundation. To the view of many this was a great blow to Catholicism. But was it actually? I don't believe so. I think Martin Luther did the church he opposed as great a service as any man within the church.

At that time Christianity had stagnated and there was very little missionary work going on. With the competition that Luther created the Catholic church awoke and within the period of ten short years it had won, through proselyting, more converts that had been drawn away. All civilization benefited from the resulting competition and not the least beneficiary was Catholicism itself.

Going back further we find that in the second century of Christianity a man by the name of Marcion, in his efforts to separate Judaism from Christianity, assembled the writings of Paul the apostle. His idea was to prove that the earth was not the creation of a supreme being but of inferior Gods.

He was summarily excommunicated, but in his endeavors to prove his ideas he established the first Bible, incomplete as it was.

It was not until nearly 200 A. D., 50 years later, that the Bible with it's Gospels and Acts was finally cannonized. Had it not been for the opposition of this man whom Polycarp himself called "The first-born of Satan" we would scarcely have had a New Testament for today. Without that where would Christianity be? Makes us think, doesn't it.