Article January 7, 1961 ISSUE

Signs of the Times

with contributions from James DeF. Murch

From "News About the Bible" in the Bible Society Record New York, New York

The serial publication of the Gospel in Indian newspapers has continued during the year. Mark has been published in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Telegu and Kannada; John in Urdu, Marathi and Sinhalese; and Luke in Tamil. The response to this effort at newspaper evangelism has been very encouraging. The Calcutta Auxiliary reports one hundred and thirty-eight inquiries, and Bombay well over two hundred. Thousands are now taking Bible correspondence courses. In Delhi a Hindu woman was so impressed by the reading of the story of the widow's mite that she and eighteen other women formed a group for the study of the Gospel of Mark. It is hoped that in due course the Gospel will be published in all the important regional languages. ...

In Latin America ... the joint labors of four Bible Societies last year resulted in a total circulation of 4,750,000 volumes. ... This distribution is a primary factor in accessions to the Christian Church, which are more rapid in South America than in any other comparable area of the world.

The Reverend James DeF. Murch, D.D. in The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio

Christ knew that the fundamental human problems were, in their last analysis, matters of the spirit. They grow out of something wrong, something ugly inside our hearts. He made it clear that laws and commandments, force and war, tools and gadgets would never correct the trouble. They could never change the basic nature of man, give him a new spirit and an undying victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

Christ taught that only a proper response to the will of God could do this. It involved the full surrender of the whole man—body, mind, spirit, intellect, emotions, will—to God.

Religion is more relevant to man's problems than any other element in life. It solves the problems that are basic to all our difficulties. It does not automatically solve our political, economic, industrial, scientific and social problems, but it gives us the divine principles by which they can be solved if we have the wit and the courage to apply them effectively.

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January 7, 1961
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