Gold Tried in the Fire - Robert J. Wieland

place where you live, even though your "world"
may be filled with sex shops and pornographic
magazines on your street corner and lurid massage
parlor signs beckoning you on your way to town.
Magara doesn't need Playboy or Hustler in his
village, nor does he need to pay money to see
temptations in books, magazines, or on a screen.
Such vicarious pleasures would be ludicrous there.
Many village girls—even professed Christians—
are only too ready to put on a show for Magara—
the real thing, free, anytime. And he knows very
well how enticing are their wiles. Most of his
Christian friends have no scruples about not "doing
wrong again" after one has "believed in Christ."
The overwhelming impact of nearly a century
of Christianity in Africa has drilled into the people
the idea that you keep right on sinning after you
become a Christian. The only difference now is
that you are saved in your sins instead of being lost
in them, provided you keep your accounts with
God up to date by proper confessions in church or
to the priest, penances, and attendance at church,
6