Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 92, 23 July 1943, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Whakatane Ministers'. Association)

DO YOU KNOW? QUESTIONS FOR I\AIIFXTS Now Zealand lias been described as "Cod's own Country." From the point oi' \-icof .national resources, beauty spots and climate it well deserves the name. Further, there are in New Zealand a large number of splendid people, and dotted up and down tlic land are thousands ol' line Christian homes. Lei us be thankful for them. But do you know that there, is another side to the picture? Jt is said that, "one half of the world doesn't know how the other half lives," and there arc j numbers of people, sometimes good Christians, who don't want to know how "the other half." lives. If they did they would be shocked out of their isolation and complacency, liut to-day we arc realising that we all belong together. If a malignant germ gels to work in my street, perhaps through bad housing conditions, or sheer neglect on the part of my neighbours, it. does not pass my home by. When the. small boy next door catches cold, it isn't long before my boy who plays with him or sits next him at school begins to sniffle-. Yes, in community life we are all dependent one on the other. Rottenness in one section of the community will in time begin to infect every member ol' it. A.nd evil influences are like an infectious disease when they get under way. They work themselves out without respect for persons. So let mc say to you at the outset, if you, as a parent, don't know the other side of the life of our land, the sooner you get to know a number of things the better it will be for you and vour children.

Do you know that the number of people who regularly attend any place, of worship in New Zealand is but a small fraction of the population of this country? When a National Day of Prayer is proclaimed the Churches are filled and then we comfort ourselves with the hope that religion is not dead in the hearts of most of our people. But you know as well as I do that the longer people stay away from church the harder it is. for them to return. Non-Church-going is just as much a habit a-; regular Church attendance. A well-informed writer recently declared that the moral anarchy in Europe to-day is the result of a long process of neglect of God and His worship. Recall the words of Emerson, "All the great ages have been ages of belief. What greater calamity can fall upon a nation than loss of worship? Then all things go Lo decay. Literature becomes frivolous. Society lives on trilles." The position in New Zealand is full of peril and all parents must work and pray for a greater concern on the part of our people for the worship of Almight}' God. But lirst let lis set the example ourselves. Do you know that there is an appalling amount of lying and stealing going on in our country? At our last General Assembly it was mentioned that the Child Welfare Department wanted the co-operation of the Church in grappling with these evils among" young people. But our people, are not lying and stealing because of want. Social Security has rightly removed this, spectre from the minds of many. No, they are lying and stealing because of wrong motives and a wholly' sel/ish attitude to life. In February,! 1942, the President of the New r Zea-

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

land Accountants' Society at its annual meeting said: "It is of the utmost importance to everyone engaged in the. commercial life of this country, seriously to consider the undoubted loosening in recent years of the standard of commercial morality and lo make up his mind on what must be done to slop the rot." This man ought to know what lie is talking about. Further,, it is particularly distressing to lind the. extent to which stealing and dishonesty arc rife among children and young people. Cases in Children s Courts in 1939 numbered ,">,IOO, an increase of 557, or 12.3 per cent., over the previous year. Among the charges which showed an incicasc were those of theft, breaking and | entering, wilful damage and unlawful conversion of motors and otliei vehicles. In many cases, which came before the Children's Courts, thcic is evidence of a weakness or complete ladk of parental control and of the absence of any adequate religious training. It is good to know that very few regular Sunday School at tenders appear before our Children's Courts. Do you know that we spend about £10,001),000 a year on liquor and over £8,000,000 on gambling, and that we. are doing this at a tiiue when our people are being urged to save as they have never saved b-e fore? In 1939 we consumed 17,3(59,000 gallons of beer (10.7 gallons per head),, 505,000 gallons of spirits and 298.000 gallons of wine. One significant return for this huge consumption are our convictions for drunkenness,, which in 1939 totalled (>441 (males 6174; females 107), representing 12.32 of the total convictions for the year.

During 1939 eight, hundred and fifty-nine associated charges Avere preferred against persons, convicted at the same time of drunkenness, the principal ones being wilful damage, indecent, riotous or offensive conduct, obscene or abusive language, resisting the police, breaches of prohibition orders, etc. Do you know that the jiumber of divorces granted during the decaae 1930-1939 was 7645, and, the number of children affected by the divorce petitions of their parents during the same period was 8159. What disastrous effects this want of stability in home life must have on the nervous system and characters of unoffending children! In 1939 the total number of marriages was 17,115, and the number of petitions tiled for dissolution of marriage was 1243. It would appear that of' all the marriages which take place, over 7 per cent, end up in the Divorce Court. These figures reveal a tremendous amount of domestic unliappincss at a time when the. living conditions of people are being progressively improved. This, country needs something more than social security. "The health and vitality of a society,, a nation, a civilisation, depend in the long run on the social discipline upon which they act in regard to sex and family life." As a Britisher who respects his heritage, do you want the family life of New Zealand to be built on ■the Christian idea of sex and family life, knowing that in the long run the fate of a nation is tied up with the fate of Christian marriage and the family? Now, are you going to face honesty the personal issue of throwing in your lot. with Christ and His Church in the J)att-lc. for righteousness in this land, or are you going to drift along in indifference and neutrality?