GOD'S WAR, OR MAN'S WAR?

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 30 November 1916, Page 3

GOD'S WAR, OR MAN'S WAR?

TO THE fIDITOR

Sir, —As a layman may I be allowed to ask what was the meaning of the remarks made by the Rev. A. A. Murray, at the Memorial Service held in the Star Theatre, when he stated: "That the way in which the people of our generation were living was the cause of the war, attributing it to nothing else but sin; there was a vital connection between the Almighty and the way in which we live?" Does the Rev. Preacher mean to say that the war is inflicted upon the world as a punishment for its sins ? This is the only meaning I can take out of his words, which may be intended to serve as a " bogie" to frighten people into going to Church oftener, But your correspondent cannot conceive that a Just,Loving,and Merciful God would be a party to the awful massacres and outrageous crimes committed under the guise of war, And whom -does the war punish ? Certainly nbt the peoples of the world, but a few people not a bit more sinful^ than the neutrals, whose punishment consists of vast "opportunities for making money, and fattening on the blood of their fellow creatures. If this be God's war then the Kaiser and his hellish hounds are not to blame ; they are simply instruments in the hands of the Almightly. If this outrageous accusation w,as made against a ciyiUan—instead of- against the Almighty—it would be open to a charge of libel and slander. N"o, sir, the Good God h^s nothing to do with it, but the devilish pride and ambition of one autocrat, whose whole life has been surrounded by flatterers and sycophants whose adula^jons and worship, made the fool think that he w.as divine., and had the powers o.f a Supreme Being. This is the only chick he has ever had, and he don't knqw what has gone wrong with thewqrld.—Your^, etc., FUZZLEB. Helensville, 28-11-16,