Protestantism’s Twin Plight

PROTESTANTISM’S house has twins. Their cries are now being heard. For in the cradle are twin plights—one is in America, the other in Europe. In America the laments of leading churchmen have exposed the religious revival as being hollow. Too many peace-of-mind seekers and materialists, the clergymen say. Dean Liston Pope of Yale Divinity School put it candidly: “There is no great religious revival in America, and probably will not be in the accepted sense. . . . The extension of church membership . . . should not be allowed to obscure the present state of the world.”

Now the other twin has started to cry. The recent publishing of Paul Hutchinson’s book The New Ordeal of Christianity has underscored Protestantism’s plight in Europe. The American, especially, is surprised to read of “the feeling of helplessness and despair which pervades so much of European Protestantism today.” Author Hutchinson faced the facts:

“We now have millions—especially among the industrial workers and the surviving youth—indifferent to the churches when they are not contemptuous of them. A striking but incontrovertible fact about European countries which traditionally have been Protestant strongholds—such countries as England, Scotland, Holland, and the Scandinavian nations—is the almost complete withdrawal of organized labor from the churches and the rapid shrinking in the number of young people who show more than the most passive interest in Protestant church activities.”

The book discusses individual European countries and states that in many of them “the spread of communism since the war has rocked the Protestant churches.”

“The most striking fact about Protestant churches in England today,” says the new book, “is the emptiness of most of them.” The writer points out how shocked Billy Graham was when he discovered empty pews in England. Did Graham’s crusade change the matter? “His meetings in England and Scotland,” wrote Hutchinson, “have not changed it. The situation is even more dismal, if that is possible, in Scotland than in England. And in Scandinavia it is appalling.”

Protestantism’s plight in Scandinavia is: “Not only are the organized workers there out of touch with the churches but most other elements in the Scandinavian populations . . . are likewise out of touch.” The editor of a leading newspaper in Stockholm told the author: “The church is simply a venerable old monument in Sweden. We support it for historical and sentimental reasons. But it no longer plays an important part in Swedish life. If you want to study Swedish religion today, go back to the United States.”

Back in the United States church leaders continued to bemoan their own plight. “Much of our current boom in religion,” declared Presbyterian minister John E. Burkhart, “is nothing more than spiritual aspirin. It doesn’t cost much, doesn’t do much, won’t hurt much, and isn’t worth much.”

Man’s Salvation Secondary to God’s Vindication

The Bible speaks much about the salvation of man, but where does it talk of the vindication of God? Does it teach vindication is more important than salvation?

JEHOVAH’S witnesses stress the vindication of Jehovah’s name. Other religions put the emphasis on the salvation of man: Repent and be saved, confess your sins, be baptized, accept Jesus as your Savior. These are the sentiments harped on by the evangelistic revivalists and crusaders. The Bible teaches these truths and Jehovah’s witnesses embrace them and preach them to others. They are very important. They should never be minimized. But neither should they be magnified so out of proportion that they hide the more important truth of the Bible, the vindication of Jehovah’s name.

God’s name Jehovah was made known in a special way when he delivered the Israelites from Egypt as his chosen nation. He put his name on that people and gave them his law: “And now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The Israelites agreed to obey and be Jehovah’s special property with his name on them. They were warned: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.”—Ex. 19:5, 6; 20:7, NW.

When this third one of the Ten Commandments says not to take God’s name in vain or in a worthless way, it means much more than not using his name in profanity. It means that those who agree to be God’s people bear his name and must obey the laws and commands and principles his name stands for; otherwise they are taking his name in a worthless way and will not go unpunished. They cannot disgrace his name forever. In his due time Jehovah will take action to vindicate it, even at the cost of human lives, for its vindication is more important.