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Show "The Ordinary Man's Religion" By Elder Donald P. Seegmlller (Editor's Note: The following Sermonette was written by Donald Seegmiller and published in the Mobile Times.) The churches may all be empty and the line at the motion picture theatre may be long and yet the ordinary man is religious; for deep down in his heart he strives to practice what James says is "pure religion and undefiled." He strives in his weakness to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself him-self unspotted from the sins of the world. He also aspires, though it may be ever so dimly, to eternal light and truth. He wants religion, but he wants it in a language that he can understand and in a form that he can make use of in his daily life. This attitude of the ordinary man is natural. Science has given the world a rich abundance of I material goods and . conveniences that apply directly to man's everyday every-day life and benefit it. Because of science, we, as ordinary citizens, citi-zens, today have vastly more than did the kings of our grandfathers' time. Science, the ordinary man observes, is understandable and useful. It can be applied practically prac-tically to the solution of daily problems. Religion must also be within the realms of human understanding or the ordinary man will lose heart with it. Did not God say, "I am come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly?" Religion for the ordinary man must serve his daily practical needs as does science and must be able to give a practical answer to all his problems. It is failure on the part of the churches to supply this wide-felt need that has led to the formation of our vast number of philanthropic societies and "orders of brotherhood" and that has led to our empty church pews and dilapidated churches. To re-enlist the support of the ordinary man, then, religion must cease to be remote from actual living. It must help solve the problems of daily life, of the body and mind as well as of the soul, material as well as spiritual. Since a healthy body is the beginning be-ginning of happiness and since the need of religion, like the end of life, is constant happiness, all that pertains to bodily welfare must be given the imprint of religion. re-ligion. Then there is placed upon the churches, if we are to continue to have churches, a new responsibility. responsi-bility. Religion must give answer an-swer not only to the spiritual but to the temporal problems of life. It must comprehend and give answer an-swer to the social, moral, physical, physi-cal, mental, and in this day and time, to the economic needs of mankind. The ordinary man expects his religion to help him in all such matters and if it does not some other organization will receive his support. Since the object of life is happiness. All that makes for an increase ot happiness must be the concern of the church. It is the only way that the gospel of Jesus Christ can ever bring to us the abundant life and that man can be induced to practice completely com-pletely what Jesus says is "pure religion and undefiled." We as churches must become institutions for the assimilation of new truth. We must harmonize it with the old and thereby gain and be able to give to the ordinary ordi-nary man a fullness of truth, which will advance and perfect and bring salvation to all mankind. man-kind. Let us "quinch not the spirit, despise not phophesyings; let us prove all things and hold on fast to all that which is good" as Paul instructed the Thessalonians. Let us satisfy the ordinary man's thirst for religion. |
