November, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
377
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B y W ILL H. HOUGHTON*
New York, N. Y.
I: . t is too late in human history for any man to deny seriously the uniqueness of the Christian message. I f some educated pagan should arise to say that there was nothing in Christianity which could not be found in other religions, the Christian would pay little attention to him, for he would understand the utter ance to come from one entirely ignorant of the Christian message, or from one who had a deep-seated prejudice against Christianity. C hristian ity or R elig ion ? Recently, there has come from the press, the report of the Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry called Re-Thinking Missions. One would expect such a report to be prejudiced in favor o f the Christian message. But, on page 49, are found these astonishing words: In respect to its theology and ethics, Christianity has many doctrines in common with other religions, yet no other religion has the same group o f doctrines. It would, b'mdifficult to point out any one general principle which could surely be found nowhere else. In language almost as plain as language can be, the Com mission says there is nothing unique about Christianity and its message. T he M essage of the L aymen ’ s C ommission The entire report can be measured by this declaration. If Christianity is only one of many religions, then we can give serious consideration to this report; but if Christianity is unique, then the position o f the Commission is false, and the report is discredited. Let no one think that we can let the report drop and forget it. It is not merely a polite expression of opinion. It is meant to be accepted, and quite evidently it has become a document o f propaganda. In the opening passages of the book, the Commission says: That these missions should go on, with whatever changes, we regard, therefore, as beyond serious question............ There is in this fact, however, no ground for a renewed appeal for the support, much less for the enlargement, of these missions as a whole in their present form and on their present basis. This Commission makes no such appeal. In our judgment, there is not alone room for change, there is necessity for change, in respects which our report will indicate; and the effecting of. such change should be the condition for every further enlargement o f the enterprise. According to these statements, only those missions and *Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church.
missionary organizations and mis sionaries who can be brought into line with the ideas and ideals o f the Commission should be supported. The gauntlet has been thrown down, and the Commission has taken up weapons of war fare against missions “ in their present form and on their present basis.” T he S pread of P ropaganda The attempt to bring about the acceptance of this report in the churches has not been abandoned. Unlimited funds are behind this antichristian movement. Up to the time o f publishing Re-Thinking Missions, $557,000.00 had been spent, and o f this, $550,000.00 had come from one man. Apparently the collective interest of the other “ laymen” is represented by the $7,000.00. Yet this is supposed to be a movement representing the laymen o f several denomina tions ! One may be sure that there is a well-financed plan to get the churches eventually to order their missionary enterprise according to the findings and recommendations o f the Commission. Our interest is primarily in the question raised by the commissioners as to the uniqueness o f Christianity. Is Christianity unique ? Let us turn to the early days of the Christian message for an answer. W e find it in the Word o f God “ that cannot be broken.” T he E xample of the E arly C hurch The church, as it is described in the book o f Acts, had its remarkable growth because it proclaimed a unique message. The Apostle Paul would never have gone to prison if he had preached Christianity as another sect of Judaism, or as any one of many religions. His insistence that there was no other gospel cost him his comfort and his life. The early Christians would never have suffered martyrdom had they conceived o f their responsibility as merely that o f giving and receiving the good things com mon to all religions. The testimony o f Christians would never have turned back the tide of heathenism in a single village on earth had it not been for the conviction that only Christianity had the message that every heathen village needed. In the story of the early church, one comes face to face almost immediately with the claims of the uniqueness of the Christian message. In the fourth chapter o f Acts, one meets the declaration of which the Appraisal Commission apparently has never heard: “ Neither is there salvation in
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