a publication of the Methodist Church, published monthly by Graded Press, includes an article entitled, “We Studied You and Your Creator” and is authored by Mr. Donald P. Victorin who teaches the seventh grade class at the Methodist Church in Cranford, New Jersey. His comments are based on his observations and experi ences in teaching the fall quarter’s course You and Your Creator. One of the main ideas which came out of Unit II is “ The Story of Genesis is a poem of creation.” Mr. Victorin was not satisfied that teaching of the mate rial should go untested, but had the students write statements of faith which resulted from the fall quar- TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS 1. Thou shalt have no selfish pleasure before thy duty to thy Sunday school class. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any personal en gagements, nor any trifling excuse for being away from the class on Sunday. 3. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to questionable amusements (movies, etc.), nor to any conduct un worthy of the emulation of thy pupils. 4. Thou shalt not take the responsibility of the Sunday school class in vain, for God will not hold him guiltless that taketh such responsibility lightly, not realizing it to be a God-given task. 5. Remember the Sunday school class to keep it WHOLE. 6. Honor thy calling and thy class that thy days may be long in the success which the Lord thy God shall give thee. 7. Thou shalt not kill thy pupils' interest by thy irregular attendance. 8. Thou shalt be pure in thy faith in the Word of God, and in thy interpretation of it in word and deed. 9. Thou shalt not steal the time of thy class and the peace of mind of thy superintendent by being tardy (nor the pastor's peace of mind and soul by being absent from the worship service). 10. Thou shalt not covet superficial success, but only that which results from careful and prayerful prep aration and effort. The above ten commandments are worthy of considera tion, not as a substitute for the Word of God but as suggestions for better devotion to our tasks. ter’s study. Under the subject “ Creation” on page 23, we read what the students wrote: CREATION 1. I believe that the story of creation in the Bible was told to explain things to the people in the early days, in words they could understand. 2. I believe that the first part of Genesis is a poem of creation and is not to be taken literally. What have been the repeated emphases of this litera ture from the adult level to the seventh grade level? They can be stated as these: Scholarship is the basis of authentication of Biblical authorship; the stories of the first eleven chapters of Genesis are mythological—that is, they are stories that did not actually happen but nev ertheless they record great truths; and the Bible has many mistakes. How thankful we can be as we realize that all Scrip ture is God-breathed, and as the Apostle Peter states, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:21). From "Strange Words" published by Regular Baptist Press, 1800 Oakton Boulevard, Des Plaines, Illinois.
be. . . . Many biblical scholars today believe that these books were not written by Moses (as the church has traditionally held) but are a compilation of material coming from several different sources. These have been designated with the letters J. E. D. and P. The first source is called J because it charac teristically uses the word Jahweh when speaking of God. The second is designated E because it uses the word Elohim for God. The third is called D because it makes up a large part of what we today know as the Book of Deuteronomy. The fourth is referred to as P because of the priestly character and origin of the material. In answer to the question—“How can the first eleven chapters of Genesis be interpreted?”—American Bap tist Skoglund comments: A sizable group o f scholars have considered these opening chapters of our Bible to be “myths.” By this they have not meant that they are untrue, or fairy tales spun out of thin air; rather, that they are sym bolic statements that express great spiritual truth. They are “a worldly speech about non-worldly things.” They are efforts to state objectively and in concrete language which ordinary people can under stand, truths which lie beyond everything that is objective and concrete. They speak the truth about God and man and about man’s relationship to God. They do so, however, in language and imagery that made this truth meaningful to the people to whom these chapters were first addressed. It follows, then, that if the same truth is to become meaningful for us, it must be restated in the language and imagery that make sense to us today. What are Mr. Skoglund’s conclusions: We do not necessarily need to think of Adam as an individual man who lived at a certain time in a gar den located somewhere near the headwaters of the Euphrates River. If we take the parable approach, so much used by Jesus, we do not necessarily need to think of Adam and Eve as the physical ancestors of all who lived upon the earth, or to see Satan as a snake, or to visualize- God in physical form walking in a garden. But whatever approach we take as our own, we must bear in mind that the primary purpose of these chapters is not to teach factual, scientific knowledge but to set forth eternal truth. My Bible and I, by Jackson Wilcox, is published by Judson Press of the American Baptist Churches. This course is written for eighth graders. On page 11 we read: But aside from all the books whose authors we do not know, many are left. And aside from the ones about Which there are questions, a sizable number still remain. There are sixty-six books in the Bible. Some writers penned more than one book. On the other hand, some books—like Genesis and Psalms—are held by many devoted scholars to have been written by several writers. The implications of “ like Genesis and Psalms” in combination with “many devoted scholars” are subtly deceptive. No knowledgable person lays claim that David wrote all the psalms. The Bible does not make that claim. But the Bible does make the claim that Genesis was the work of Moses. Here is where scholarly fiction is matched with scriptural fact for the sake of belief. What could be more accepted by young minds than the opinions of many devoted scholars? But who are these scholars? They are never identified in any of this ma terial even though this appeal to scholarship is oft re peated at every age level. The September, 1964, issue of Workers with Youth,
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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