Can civilization be saved?

This month news in Britain has been dominated by the murder of little Sarah by a child sex abuser. It has been heart wrenching indeed. 

A few years ago when I was taking part in a Primary School Assembly the head teacher gave a serious warning to the children not to talk to strangers and be very wary of any person speaking to them whom they do not know well. 
It was a very necessary warning. 

However I could not help feeling very sorry that such warnings have to be given. It was not always so. Casting my mind back to my own nursery school days, I remember - at the age of four years - going on my tricycle for half a mile or more along a the pavement of a lane to the nursery school. 
I did the journey by myself and there was no hint of danger from strangers. No-one ever thought of such a thing. 

We have also just read of two teenage girls going into the home of an elderly lady who had been kind to them and then brutally and boastfully killing her. They wanted her money!

I am reminded of the words of Lord Hailsham who used to be Lord Chancellor. He says in one of his books:

..  the moment  a  society  consciously  begins  to reject Christianity and its  values  and,  for  whatever  reason, begins pursuing the opposite, the most startlingly evil practices appear once more to emerge  from  dark  corners  and  flap  their hideous wings abroad.

The reason for this is that we need a relationship with God to give us knowledge of the  purpose of human life. If we don't know the purpose of human life we will not appreciate its value. If we do not appreciate the value of life we will gradually begin to behave very badly to one another. This will be made even worse if we do not believe we are ultimately accountable to anyone for the way we have lived our lives. 

Lord Hailsham goes on to speak about the Christian Faith's effect on our sense of failure or success in life. He says:

Nonetheless  I believe that  the Christian religion  does to some extent save the believer  both from excessive  elation  at success and undue depression at what is called failure.  It is in fact a remedy both against arrogance and against bitterness and despair.   No Christian dare think of  himself as a success if he contemplates seriously any  of  his  shortcomings.    Equally  no Christian  will think of himself as a failure if he reflects upon the love of Christ for himself.

He argues that Christianity is needed to maintain civilization and a sound mind. I am sure he is right. 
However no-one is going to become a Christian in order to `save civilization'. People need to be persuaded that Christianity is true. I believe it is true that Christ is the Saviour of the World and that all people are called by God to trust and obey Him. That alone, though wonderful, does make sense of our human experience.

For all its faults, it is the Church that God uses to bring people to a knowledge of Christ. It is true that we can worship God in our gardens but we won't learn the commandments of God nor the purpose of life nor the way of forgiveness and salvation in our gardens. 

However far we are removed from the horrors mentioned at the beginning of this paper we all need that forgiveness.

Return to Comment Page.

Go to main page of `Faith and the Modern World.

E-Mail Howard Taylor