The Bible Speaks to You August 12, 1967 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of August 4-10 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over approximately 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 279 - Youth's Opportunity: Protest Without Hate

Questioner: Some people call our time the age of protest. On my own campus there have been many demonstrations involving the current issues of the day. It seems that there's a great deal of resentment among young people. In fact, in these recent demonstrations even some hatred, I would say. But I wonder if this isn't natural.
Speaker: I don't think there's anything new about protest. Much of mankind's progress seems to have stemmed from protest of one kind or another. Look all the way back to the time of Moses and the children of Israel. They were protesting against tyranny, and Moses actually was giving mankind a whole new code of law. And Jesus and his followers were certainly protesting against materialism. In many ways Jesus was the greatest revolutionary the world has ever seen. He revolutionized worship. He revolutionized our whole sense of values, and he condemned injustice wherever he found it. The history of freedom in most nations began with protest.

I think young people and adults both need to recognize that protest is either constructive or destructive depending on whether the protest is against evil or whether it becomes a petty or vicious attack on people.

The conditions that Jesus faced were just as immediate for his time as some of these other conditions are for our time. They all involve certain basic relationships. It's in this area of relationship that Jesus made such a tremendous contribution, because no one was ever more forgiving than he. He condemned sin but not the sinner.

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