STANDARD OF MORALITY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 47, 19 November 1926, Page 7

STANDARD OF MORALITY

EVANGELIST’S DENUNCIATION DANCING AND MOVING PICTURES A very candid critic of modern standards of morality is Air. Van Eyk, a Dutch evangelist at present conducting a mission in Wellington, who told a Dominion reporter yesterday that he considered the modern dancing ball and the modern picture gallery to be two of the greatest dangers that face the young people to-day. It is his opinion that something substantial should be given the people to put in the place oi liiese attractions, and that the churches should throw aside sectarianism, and encourage the practical application ot the Word ot God. Not lour years have passed since Air. Van Eyk was a constable in the mounted police of Natal. According to his own account, he was no Christian in those days, but at length he realised that his Hie was leading aim into a wrong channel, and in Alay in 1923 he resigned from the force, and decided to devote his liie to the service of God. A year after he had laid aside his uniform, he delivered his first public address in Johannesburg, following this tip by making a successful tour of bouth African cities. He was then invited to visit Australia, which he did, and now he is carrying on his work in New Zealand. A Warring World. It is Air. Van Eyk’s opinion that the day is not far removed when the promised second visit of Christ to the world will eventuate; everything, ho thinks, is pointing in that (Preution, and the piomises and prophecies of the past arc soon to bo realised. But he considers that the Church is not ulliiling the part which should by rights belong to it. Hie churches, he thinks, are preoccupied with t«c philosophy of religion, and do not give sufficient consideration to its practical application. t “Sectarianism is rife, he says, ami this will never vanish until the churches reach the real essence of religion. Am they must not only reach it. but th y much give practical effect to it in th affairs of life. Kight throughout the. world to-day there is a deplorable deterioration in the Chistian churches, lhe Bible prophecy Ims come true, and men to-day are lovers of themselves; lovers of money, proud, adventurous, without natural .affection, implacable, "'icebreakers,'fierce, no lovers ot hat wluc is good, lovers ot pleasure moie than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness, but having denied its powe’’. J hat is the condition of the world to-day. n o have got beautiful churches, wealthy rich—but where is I heir power? Many, sav the trouble is in the people, but it is not there- It is not withm.ys without. Aly gospel, is 7Vf h e°"neonle deliverance; that is what the people need just now. Dangers Before the Young. Tho younger fieneration. according Mr Van Eyk, is at. present ruiimn n iVown an incline „s a policeman, baivng sen cd tor seven vetrs in thill capacity, ho said, niy ’linn conviction is t |iat 1 ? u ;7 0U 1 l . l ( ! 11 I s s ilra"gcd down into all the hells ot privileged licentiousness. If the chinches Io not do something to remove, tlio angers which face the young people t -day, then it is certain that our geiiciation will be absolutely swept away. "’Questioned as Io what 1-. Ilin causes of this moral degra lation, Air Van Eyk stated that the modern the trouble comes, they blame (Ince vou women to »egard the - anc litv anil the reverence of womanhood the trouble will be solved. \ou have milv to look at the nations which have disregarded this and you will find that they have been destroyed. Look at Enince; look at Russia They I avo disregarded the word of G?d, , which is the only standard of inorility. “The Bible has been banished from the rule of life,” he . onflow, -m in how many homes in Wellington till you find it? There is n° L™V ly n X,i ship these days; 1 is being banished from life. That is me 'f the ch ef causes of the moral degradation ot today.” Two Pitfalls. This process Air. Van Eyk believes to be largely helped by the loi moving pictures and t-lso by ballroom dancing, which he considers are the chief pitfalls in the way cf the younger generation..' “There is rot a you can look at,” he declared, in which there is not at least the suggestion of immorality, and which does not influence the mind of voutn to such an extent that it considers this the order of the day. I cannot too strongly condemn modern society ballrooms. Men would never dance it they had to dance with It is only the women who attract thoni. Speaking of his experience in Wellingu ton, the missioner used it to illustrate his contention that many a hie had been ruined through lhe evils cf dancin''. “Since I have been here in WeTlington,” he said, “I have had to listen to heartbreaking stories ot 701111" girls whose lives have keen ruined as a result of it. Irm a preacherand it is always to, the preacher that they come for help.” Must Show Something Better. Mr. Van Eyk is strongly cf the opinion that the mere forbidding cf euch things as dancing is quite useless. Lt people want dancing to stop, be said, “thev must prear> the Gospel <1 Jesus Christ, and get the hearts of t ic people changed Then you will find that dancing will change. It is no good telling them not to do this thing. Show them something better !n lhe Church there should be some hope. But young people do not find satisfaction in the Church; its power is lost, and there is nothing to get them there. So they naturally and automatically go off to the dancing halls and the picture galleries.” , , f , . “1 am absolutely against State legislation to prohibit anything, he declared "If the drunkard wants Io drink, let him drink; if the gambler wants to gamble, let him; and it the dancer wants to dance, then Jet him dance. But try to show him something hotter—the truth of the AVord < f God. If the churches will only ttnnd together and show a united front, then this land of yours will be a heaven. , _