CHRISTIAN ORDER CAMPAIGN

Southland Times, Issue 24878, 19 October 1942, Page 2

CHRISTIAN ORDER CAMPAIGN

The campaign for Christian Order is seeking to apply the spirit of Christianity to the needs of the people of New Zealand. Two ways, it is claimed, lie before us. One way—the way of Christ—leads to reasonable happiness for us all; the other—the way of the totalitarian states—to slavery and ruin. Once more it is Christ or Barabbas, civilization or barbarism. The message in all parts of the Dominion yesterday emphasized the Doctrine of Sin and the Fact of Redemption. “Man-like it is to fall into sin. Fiend-like it is to dwell therein. Christ-like it is for sin to grieve, God-like it is all sin to leave.” “Sin is so common and so prevalent that most of us look upon it as inevitable," said one speaker yesterday. “We say, ’Everybody’s doing it’ and ‘I can’t help it,’ but ke cannot wriggle out of our moral responsibility for sin as easily as that. Sin is no myth. It is a sad reality. It is a universal experience of humanity in all ages; it penetrates to the very core of our being. Sir is failure. Sin is what ought not to be. Sm is selfishness. Sin is rebellion against Almighty God. The only remedy for sin is grace. It lies not in the pruning-hook of culture, but in the reception of new life from God. Only the influence of the Living Christ can bring about transformation in the lives of men and nations. It is only on the foundation of the old faith that we have any hope of building a new order of society."