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Show THE UTAH INDEPENDENT December 18, 1970 Page 3 Readers Outlook (Continued from page 2) Actually, Im surprised By Tom Anderson THE PEACE OF CHRIST Mr. Savage mentioned the Deseret News statement (which was made by an uninformed student who did not represent Participation 70). Shortly after the statement appeared, I wrote Mr. Savage apologizing for the statement and assuring him it wasnt true. Id since forgotten the whole, unfor- tunate incident and thought Mr. Savage had too. Sincerely, Suzanne Dean, Chairman Participation 70 Christmas Vignette By A1 11:6) Biorge Its disgusting the way they have commercialized Christmas, Mrs. Willing Jones cried as she ordered 200 Christmas cards for imprinting. Why, I think its a sin! Old Abe, Abraham Smith, looked at Mrs. Jones and waited until she signed the order before saying anything. How ironic, how unBiblical, how unchristian that peace-lovin- g men of good will now look to such unGodly instruments of the Devil as the United Nations for peace and brotherhood. Peace and brotherhood reside not in world government, treaties, power pacts, o ecumaniacal church movements, but within ourselves. The Bible believes in law and order, in war, and in capital punishment (Gen. 9:6; Exodus 21:12; Numbers 35:16-1- 8, 30, 31; Matthew 22:6, 7; Romans 13:4; Hebrews 12:20). Pacifists bring not peace, but war. They ofTer only supine acquiescence to evil. Christ was 'not a pacifist. He was constantly surrounded by soldiers, yet He never once admonished a soldier to take off his uniform or to refuse to fight for his country. Most of our present-da- y pacifists are phonies, Pharisees. Peace be with you does not mean thou shalt not be obliterated by atomic holocaust. Peace be with you means not the peace of the dungeon or the slave state, not the peace of the firing squad or the graveyard, not the peace of every successful dictatorship. It means the peace within you. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace in men with whom He is well pleased (literal translation), (cf. Hcb. Well now, I dont know, he said, Dont know as though I care to be called a merchant of sin. Well, I didnt Our overwhelming problem is not the atom but man the individual man. Prior to his second coming, the only way well ever have permanent world peace is to surrender to the Comrats: the peace of the prison, the peace after the firing squad has fired, the peace of the mass grave thats peace, Communist style. The only true peace the world will ever know is the peace of Christianity. Christianity, not food Christianity, not the United Nations is the hope of the world, and the only hope. George Bernard Shaw, English critic and writer, said: After reviewing the world of human events for 60 years, 1 am prepared to say that I see no way out of the world's misery except the way Christ would take were he to undertake the work of a modern statesman. i The peace Christ often talked about was not the peace preached by our pacifists and hippies. In Matthew 10:34 Christ said: Think not that 1 am come to send peace on earth; I come not to send peace; but a sword." Christs sword was for cleaving sharply between right and wrong, between God and Satan. Christs peace" was not between men and nations. Christ was speaking of one's individual peace, the peace of mind and heart to be achieved through oneness with Him. In John 14:27 he said: Peace I leave with you, my peace, I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The Prince of Peace knew no peace during his short time on earth. He was reviled by the crowds, betrayed and disavowed by His Disciples, spat upon, beaten, scourged and crucified by the mob. At the Christmas season, to most of us, Jesus ranks right beh:nd Santa Claus. Christmas is supposed to be not for Santa Claus, but for Christ. Christmas is not Rudolph, the reindeer, and his sleigh, but Christ and His cross. There never was a time w'hen Christianity was acceptable to the world. Today, as in the past, Christians are a small minority. Most people not only are not Christians, most people dont even know what it means to be a Christian. Most Americans, it seems to me, think of Christian as meaning who goes to church, or maybe just a non-Jea non-JeIn America today, even many Protestant clergymen period. arc not Christians. For, according to several recent polls, most of them do not believe in Christ's divinity. His virgin birth. His miracles. His resurrection and His promise of eternal life. They think he w:s a good guy. Actually, he was either the divine son of God, or else He historys greatest faker and biggest liar. There can be no If He was what He said He was, then He still is. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:23) American Way red-nos- ed w, w, w-a- s Features mean you, Mr. Smith, she quickly apologized. I mean those big outfits like our department stores and supers who start long before Thanksgiving promoting Christmas sales and Christmas bargains. . this and that. No thought to .pre-Christm- as By the real meaning of Christmas-th- e birth of Jesus Christ. Why Jesse Helms COMMISSION ON OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY its disgusting! You know, its funny you should bring this up. Ive just been thinkin the opposite of what youre sayin. I think its downright nice of you to think of doin' something Christlike on Ilis birthday by givin gifts and send-i- n greetings to remember Him. Wasnt it the three Wise Men who started all this gift givin by presenting gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child? Do you suppose there is the slightest chance that they might have bought the frankincense and myrrh from some merchant? And... now Im supposin, y'understand, 'cause I really dont know. . . but could the Wise Men have been involved in some commercial business transaction when they traded sheep skins for the gold they presented to our Savior? This is what in, Ive been think- Mrs. Jones, and I think its just wonderful that in good ol free enterprise America where profit makin isnt a sin that we can follow the marvelous example set by those three Wise Men. Icfick The country has been spoonfed, and forced to swallow, so many dangerously absurd notions in recent years that there appeared to be almost nothing that the federal experts could not force the public to accept. But the Presidents Commission on Obscenity and Pornography managed, in a strange bit of unintentional irony, to come forth recently with a theory so 'obviously fraudulent that there was an immediate and almost unanimous public rejecso-call- ed tion of it. This Commission, after spending months and millions of the taxpayers dollars sitting around reading dirty books, issued a report which in effect assured us that obscenity and pornography are not harmful, and that laws prohibiting such filth should be forthwith repealed. The Commission has been a farce from start to finish: In the first place, it is not a Presidential commission Mr. Nixon long ago disowned it. Its members, all except one, were appointed by Lyndon Johnson, and dominated by the Civil Liberties Union which has long stood for a permissive, anything-goe- s society. So now we have a permissive society, and just look at what weve got! commission has It may be, as we say, that this unwittingly jolted the American people into consciousness once again. Certainly the country has slumbered long enough. We have bought one bill of goods after another; we have been told that communism is nothing to worry about, that freedom can be improved upon by the imposition of federal controls, that everybody is equal, that the federal debt doesn't matter. Politicians have told us bombing and burning and looting arc legitimate and justified means of protest, and that paying people not to work is the way to achieve human dignity. We were told that federal aid to education was the way to improve our schools and that there would never be any federal control of education. Campus riots, we were told, were and if any merely manifestations of academic freedom so-call- ed body got hurt, we were always assured that it was the fault of the police or national guard. Presidents Commission on ObAnd now the scenity and Pornography tells us that the moral gutter leads ' to social upliftment. Mankind has been down this road many times before and we mean down. History records that since the beginning of civilization, there have been at least 2,000 different cultures, o,f which 55 became obsessed with sex and permissiveness. Of the 55, not one has survived. In ancient Greece, immorality got so far out of hand that the Athenians were sitting ducks for the Spartans. Plutarch wrote extensively about the downfall of Greece, and it is interesting that he recorded in advance the warning that Athens would not long survive its moral standards plunging to such depths. Plutarch noted, for example, that there was an insanity sweeping the country which resulted in men trying to look like women, and vice versa. He singled out an Athenian leader named Alcibiades who, just before the Spartans arrived, paraded around the city in a long, purple, feminine robe. The same was true as to Rome, and every other civilization that discarded its character and moral stability. Which is why, perhaps, the American people today so nervously observe what is happening all around them. They see sissy boys and men scarcely distinguishable from girls and women in hair styles, dress and conduct. They note the tidal wave of filth in every conceivable form. And then they are told by a federal commission that all of this is quite all right. In their hearts, the people know better. They may be too apathetic and too indifferent to try to do anything about it, but they know. The federal experts may yet manage to flush the countrys future down the sewer, but at least the people arc in a position to prevent it. If the people sit back and do nothing then, as the saying goes, its their funeral. American Way Features so-call- ed |