Christianity and the Drama
By Editor
SOME time since, in commenting upon the statement that religion and the drama were becoming intertwined, we said: ‘Religion and the drama may be becoming intertwined, but Christianity and the drama are not and never can. The drama is part and parcel of the world, and the Christian is commanded to ‘love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’’ This the Freethought, a liberal paper published in San Francisco, criticises as follows:— ‘We read in holy writ that God himself so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it, and the Son so loved the world that he gave his life to redeem it. We are, furthermore, enjoined to be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect. If man is to be as God, and if God loves the world, how can man leave the world outside his affections? Is it possible that there can be inconsistencies in religion?’ This criticism is merely a play upon words. God loves the world in one sense, while the unregenerate man loves it in quite another sense. God's love for the world is that of a parent for a child, a love that would elevate and save, and this is witnessed by the fact that he made an infinite sacrifice to make salvation possible. But the love of the natural man for the world is altogether selfish; he loves it that he may use it to gratify his unholy desires. Man's love of the world is really self-love; God's love for the world is a love for others. There are glaring inconsistencies in religion, so called, but none in genuine Christianity. Religion and Christianity are not synonymous, nor is everything Christian which bears that name.