The Oxford Group How Do I Begin

Thought this was so interesting... 1930 OH MY!!!

HOW DO I BEGIN?

{1930s Oxford Group Pamphlet}

By HALLEN VINEY

ILLUSTRATED BY STUART HAT

Converted to Text by LD Pierce and Ginny Theobold 2007

www.aabibliography.com/

thanks Ginny for your help!

It is all very well for you people to talk, but what I want to know is

"How do you that way?" There's obviously something to this Oxford

Group business, and what I'd like to know is "How do I start?"

The speaker, a typical product of modern life, put down his glass

and challenged me with a puzzled expression to answer him directly.

"Well, I said, it's a matter of being in touch with God and ________"

"Yes, I know he interrupted; you all say that, but "touch with God"

means nothing to me. What I want to know is "How do I begin?" What

forms do I fill in? What do I have to do?

"First of all I believe that God wants to talk to you. It is just as

simple at that."

"He's never talked to me," he replied.

It's and Experiment

"No," I said, "Perhaps you have never been within calling distance.

It isn't much good saying "Hello" to a friend if you know beforehand he is

looking the other way and not listening. How can God talk to you if 9you

don't listen?"

"But even if I did listen, as you say, God wouldn't talk to me. How

could he?"

"You haven't tried it yet. Why, people all over the world have tried

listening and say that God does talk to hem. You need to make the

experiment.

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"All right" he said, "I'll try anything once. What do I do? Shut my

eyes or something? But I'll bet you nothing will happen."

"Remember, there are one or two conditions attached to this

listening. It's rather like telephoning: God can't talk through a dirty

contact. If you want to hear that he has to say, you must first find out,

as I had to, whether you've got a good connection.

Four tests

"Well, he said, probably I haven't. I don't claim to be a saint, but I

am as good as the next man"

"Exactly, but if you really want to listen to God you have to be

more definite. If something goes wrong with the telephone, the trouble

shooter doesn't say, "I don't claim this telephone is working well, but it's

as good as the next one. "First of all he's got to find the fault in the

telephone and then to put it right. You have to be just as definite with

yourself as the trouble shooter is with the telephone."

"How do I do that" He said.

"Well there are four pretty

good tests to help you be definite in

finding these faults. They are

absolute honesty, absolute purity,

absolute unselfishness and

absolute love. When I first met this

Oxford Group crowd I didn't know

much about religion, but I did

know what honesty meant, and

when I thought about ABSOLUTE

honesty some very concrete faults

came into my mind. It was

uncomfortably definite.

"You mean to say," he went on, "that if I thought about absolute

honest, purity, unselfishness, and Love I might find a few things about

myself which stop this listening business?"

Write Them Down

"Yes, I do. And a good way I found to make it more definite was to

take four pieces of paper and head each one with one of those absolutes.

Ask yourself the question, "Where am I not being absolutely honest?"

Don't say "everybody does it," or "it doesn't matter"." As answers begin

to form in your mind don't argue with them, just write them down

whatever they are, absolute honesty. It's not a bad way to start

"listening-in". Then go on to the next absolute, and so on. I began to

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write down quite a lot when I thought about it like that. In fact, I began

to wonder if the paper would hold out.

"I can understand that" he said, and supposing I draw up this

incriminating list, what then?"

"Well, like the trouble shooter with the faulty telephone, it's not

enough just to know what is wrong and leave it at that. The thing is to

put it right. It often means uncomfortable things like apologizing to

people, paying back money and _____"

"If I started apologizing _____, he interrupted ruefully, but I see

what you mean" he continued, I begin by writing down everything that is

wrong and then putting it all right."

The Power Behind It

"Yes, that's the first step _____as God guides you. But here is the

secret of the business. If you make this list honestly, you find you

cannot put things in order yourself. I found, for example, there were

habits I knew were wrong which I ought to put right, but every now and

then they defeated me. Like a child with a fly-paper, the more I flapped

the more these things stuck. A man can't live up to these absolute

standards on his own strength."

"How do I do it," he said, "if I can't do it on my own strength?"

"You need something more than your own strength to deal with

some of your problems. Take fear for instance. You can give yourself six

excellent reasons why you shouldn't be afraid of Mr. So and So. You say

to yourself strongly you are not afraid of him, and yet you're still afraid of

him. It's the same with worry. You need extra power to get rid of it,

don't you?"

"Yes," he said, "I suppose I do."

"Well, now that something more is the power of Christ, as an

experience in your own life. Christ faced all human problems. He was

always obedient to what God told Him, and he found power over them.

"Now we can have the same power ourselves because of what he did,

because of His death and resurrection."

"I don't know that I follow all that; "I'm afraid I don't know much

about this religious business."

"Don't worry about the theory now. A lot of people can switch on

the light without know much about electricity. The main thing is to get

the light. In the same way, a lot of people get into first-hand touch with

God without knowing all the theory at first. They understand more later,

as they gain more experience.

"I see. Well, how do I get into touch with God?"

"You have to make up your mind to give God complete control of

your life. It is the inward attitude, the set of you your will that counts.

Do you really mean business? If so, God will see you through.

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A Decision for Life

"You mean," he said, "if I really want to stick to it."

"It's a decision for life. It means carrying out God's will seven days

a week and twenty-four hours a day."

"What does that imply in practice?"

"For one thing it means getting up earlier to listen to God. An

alarm clock may be a help. If you feel chained to your bed, put the clock

out of reach across the room."

"How long should I listen?"

"As long as you feel you need. Most of us begin with a few minutes

and find we need an hour or so now. Some people sit up in bed with a

pencil and note-book, others dress first."

"What happens? Do I hear a voice or something?"

"No, God normally talks to people through their thoughts. It's the

natural way for him to reach you. Let Him put the questions to you

about your business, and your home life, and the bit of the world you live

in. Think over the problems of the day against the background question,

"What does God want?" rather than "What do I want?" You will find

convictions forming in your mind as you to the right thing to down.

Write these convictions down."

"Why write them down?" he protested.

"Well, you wont forget them and can go over them later to see if

they've been done.

"But how am I to know whether these thoughts are from God?"

"You can test them by those four standards: Absolute Honesty,

Purity, Unselfishness, and Love. They'll naturally be in line with the New

Testament. If in doubt you can check them with other people who listen

to God."

"Yes, that sounds practical enough. But I would need to talk it all

over with some one who had taken the plunge before I could see things

really straight. Most of us, you know, are experts at deceiving ourselves.

As I understand it, first of all I have to be honest with myself and then

take my orders from God every day."

A God-Controlled World

"Yes, that is what the Oxford Group is out for, to get God in control

of people like you and me.

"Human nature is the real problem. Change that and we're well on

the way to solving social. economic and national problems. Everyone

admits moral recovery has got to come before economic recovery can be

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permanent. Besides God-controlled people make God-controlled nations,

and only God-controlled nations will achieve world peace.

"That's what we are enlisting for ____ and I'm putting all I've got

into it, Why don't you try it."

HAVE YOU READ?

FOR SINNERS ONLY

By A.J. Russell

A newspaper man tells the story of the Oxford Group and hoe it

spread from person to person around the world. Published in

twelve languages it has sold 180,000 copies in English alone.

Harper, $1.50 postage 8c

LIFE BEGAN YESTERDAY

By Stephen Foot

Oil-man, soldier, educator accepts a new commission on the front

line of world affairs. Harper, $1.50 postage 8c

6

I WAS A PAGAN

By V. C. Kitchen

A successful advertising executive faces the question, "Is this all

there is to life?" and finds the answer. Harper, $1.50 postage 8c

WHAT IS THE OXFORD GROUP?

By the Layman with a notebook

A man of the world presents an answer to the world's Chaos and

confusion. Oxford University Press, $1.21 postage 8c

WHEN MAN LISTENS

By Cecil Rose

The cure for meaning well and doing badly.

Oxford University Press, 25c postage 1c

RISING TIDE

48 pages of pictures dramatizing the secret of changing human

nature and giving everyone a new start. 10c postage 4c

NEW LEADERSHIP___ Lean and Martin 10c postage 1 1/2c

THE WORLD CRISIS___Hermann Hagerdoring 10c postage 1 1/2c

NEW ENLSITEMENT___W. Holmes-Walker 10c postage 1 1/2c

All obtainable from receipt of cost and postage from

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