{"product_id":"2940012929594","title":"Using the Resources of the Country Church","description":"Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original edition for your reading pleasure.  It is also searchable and contains hyper-links to chapters. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe American people are just beginning to realize the need of the conservation of natural resources. There is evidence that the nation is slowly awakening to the necessity of a wiser use of natural wealth. The pressure of economic circumstances is emphasizing for the more thoughtful the importance of conservation. This idea of a better use of our natural resources is of the utmost social value. It augurs well for our future as a nation.\u003cbr\u003eThere is equal need of our taking heed of our moral resources. Men and women are more important than natural possessions. The greatest human wealth is morality. It is this which separates man from the animal and makes social life on the human plane possible. Morality represents a great social resource. It needs conservation, for upon its wise use depends human progress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe country especially needs to conserve its moral resources. Its social problems do not attract the attention that urban problems obtain. There is, therefore, often less careful use of moral opportunity. Moral sentiment is created, but not directed into social service. This brings serious social loss.\u003cbr\u003eThis book is a plea for greater conservation of the moral forces and opportunities to be found in the American small community. It is based upon the belief that social progress depends most upon moral statesmanship, the wise directing of the moral energy which, fortunately, is present in every community.\u003cbr\u003eI wish to thank the editors of Rural Manhood for permission to make use of material contributed to that periodical.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*****\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn excerpt from the:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe great social need of our time is the bringing of the religion of Jesus closer to the deep, concrete needs of men and women. This has always been the great social need, for men and women cannot live well together unless they root their lives in profound spiritual vitality. Sin is a human evil—not the fault of a period of time. Social ills are sins expressed in organized forms—personal selfishness showing its relationships in its social consequences. Neither the bad man nor the good man can live unto himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is therefore the business of Christianity both to develop spiritual power and to put it to use. Full service is impossible if the Christian organization fails in either of these activities. Socially men must be made to feel as brothers and then they must be taught to act as such. There is no easier way socially than this path of brotherhood and unselfish service. Without the service the brotherhood soon ceases to seem real. Without the brotherhood the service soon loses its courage and high ideals. Without spiritual vitality both brotherhood and service fail to withstand the test of time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis generation appears, however, to have a social distinction, even if the great social problems are merely the expressions of human selfishness. It is more difficult than in earlier times to see the personal evil in the social ill. The sin of the individual is lost in the great complexity of the situation. It is difficult to fix responsibility. Often we are uncertain as to what expresses bad judgment and what shows wicked intent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe size, organization, and intricacy of our social problems put upon us a greater moral test. We must be better than our fathers or our social life will be less Christian than theirs. Human progress requires, if we are to live a satisfactory social life, a superior morality. This it is the task of the Christian organizations to develop.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is the temptation of some well-feeling people to think of service as something done at a distance. The great social contributions must always come, however, from those who see needs close at hand and have the good judgment and the true courage to meet such needs. Whether Christianity keeps close to human necessities or not depends upon the interpretation it receives; therefore, Christian teachers are under obligation to keep always in mind the great necessity of making spiritual opportunity appear closely related to the social service of the individual. We must not be selfish even in our spiritual experiences. Spiritual vitality depends upon the social impulse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo organization needs to cultivate the habit of seeing possible service near at hand more than does the country church. The relation between it and the community in which it lives is so definite that it can never have excuse for failing to realize its community responsibilities. It is of the community, in spite of itself, and its spiritual possibilities are found in its happy discovery of the largeness of its community ministration....","brand":"Leila's Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152557687024,"sku":"2940012929594","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012929594_p0.jpg?v=1763574190","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012929594","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}