Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1915 — Popular Objections and How to Meet Them [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Popular Objections and How to Meet Them

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

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TEXT—When I have a more convenient season. I wM call for thee.—Acts 24:25.

When a man says: “I have no time for religion,” it means that he is not

interested. He has all the time there is, and if he considered his salvation a matter of much importance, he would take time for it. He may be so crowded with business and home cares that he cannot attend meetings, but that need not prevent him from being a Christian. Our Roman Catholic friends, who

belong almost wholly to the laboring olnan, and whose time is not their own, as a rule, are the most regular churchgoers in the community. The fact 1b that people find time for what they consider important.

I know a young man who wished to attend a certain series of meetings. The factory where he was employed was running and every man was expected to work overtime for a few weeks during the bufey season, for which of course, they received extra pay. He was not a Christian, but he went to his employer and asked to be excused from working evenings for a week, and he also went without his supper each night in order to attend the services. Very soon he gave his heart to God, and before the end of the week he had the pleasure of seeing his brother converted. Not the Real Reason. When one offers the lack of time as an excuse for not being a Christian, it is well to show him by some simple illustration that this is not the real reason. Say to him, “If, in addition to your regular work, you had an opportunity to earn ten dollars each week by one hour of extra work, would you accept the offer?” He-will doubtless answer, “I think I would.” “In other words, if you want time for something extra, you manage to find it. You see, my friend, the simple fact is that you do not feel the need of salvation, and you are not Interested in it. You are in the condition described In Ephesians 4:18, ‘Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the. ignorance that is in them, b§cause "of the hardening of their heart.’ Why not face the fact, disagreeable as it may be, and when people ask you why you are not a Christian, give them the real reasgn instead of offering a false one?* And furthermore, it is well to remember that if you do not take time to consider this question of salvation, you will soon lose your capacity to know God, and will be in the condition described in the nineteenth verse ol the same chapter, ‘Who being past feeling,’ gave themselves up to all manner of sin.” - “I Will Think About It." There are some minds which mature very slowly, and if one really has never considered what is involved itj becoming a-Christian, it may be well to give him a little time for reflection. As a rule, however, this excuse is only another way of saying, “Not now.” We should show the person that already he has all the information he needs for an intelligent decision, and Chat if he waited a dozen years he would not be "any better prepared, but on the contrary, he would be less disposed to decide than now.

There are only two things that he needs to know —that he is lost, and that Christ is the only Savior. These two things he knows already, and all that remains for him to do is to accept Christ as bis Savior. Show him that continual thinking on the subject will not make the decision an} easier, but continual rejection of Christ will surely make it harder. It is a great mistake for people to think that they can be saved when they please. The only time when a man can be saved is when God chooses to save him, and God’s time is now; “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” No one has a right to say that he wIH think it over and decide when he is ready. God calle-for immediate decision; he commands ub to lay down the weapons of our rebellion, and surrender unconditionally. When Mr. Moody was holding meetings in Hartford, Conn., many years ago, he urged a man one night to accept Christ at once. Finally the man replied, “Well. Mr. Moody, I will promise you this: I will attend the meeting tomorrow night and I will accept Christ as my Savior then.” That man never reached his home alive. The train on which he traveled ran. off a bridge at Tariffville and many lost their lives, and among them was this man. j "That ex>erienee,” said Mr. Moody, me a lesson, never to let any one off with a promise, but to press them hard for an Immediate decision, and If that failed, to ghow step the peril of .even a