THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S 589 m ine th e faith of pupils in th e Bible and to sow th e seed of doubt in its inspira tion, and to inculcate th e seductive and destructive teaching of th e German schools. F a ith in th e Word of God is ridiculed as ou t of date. Our gramm ar schools, our H igh Schools, our colleges, our universities and sem inaries, are honeycombed w ith these insidious teachings and denials of th e Word of God. Christian paren ts desiring to send th e ir children to college, are hard p u t to' find one where they will be safe from th is ungodly propaganda. The theological sem inaries, endorsed and supported by tru e believers, have become a source of peril to th e evangelical church. Young men attend ing these in stitu tion s in p reparation for a life m inistry of th e Word of God, come fo rth w ith th a t Word which is to be th e ir tex t book, in th e ir hand, w ithout ever having in any m easure m astered it, and w ith vague and m isty conceptions of its inspiration, and are never able to say “Thus saith th e Lord.” , The Sunday School lite ra tu re of some denom inations is abom inable. I t is an in su lt to th e Lord Jesus Christ who H imself set His seal to th e inspiration of the Bible. In May num ber of “The P ilgrim Magazine,” published by" th e Congrega tional people, under th e head of “Teaching th e Lesson to Boys and Girls of High School Age,” a Mr. F iske w riting on the lesson “Man Made in th e Image of God,” gives u tteran ce to th e following: “A cen tu ry ago religious teachers m ade th e g reat m istake of b elittlin g hum anity, thinking perhaps th a t by so doing they w ere honoring God. On the co n trary they w ere dishonoring God by dishonoring H is hum an children. Teaching a boy th a t he is a ‘m iserable w orm ’ does no t give him a m oral incentive to a b e tte r life, it only helps to discourage him and cu t th e nerve of -m oral effort. A nd, anyw ay, it isn ’t tru e. H e is no t a ‘w orm ’; he is th e ‘child of a K ing.’ If we can teach o u r boys and girls by th is reason th a t they are related to God, th a t they are really H is children in a vital, sense, and th a t H e w ailts them to share H is w ork in the w orld, th ey will hold th eir heads higher,^ w ith a new self-respect w hich will give life a new and sp iritu al m eaning, and a pow erful m otive for noble and effective living.” In th e lesson on “Sin and Its Consequences,” he says: - “P resen t th e P arable of the T alking Snake frankly as a parable; you m ay get into w orse trouble if you do not, for th ere are elem ents in th e sto ry w hich you cannot explain on any other basis. * * Its no t being literal histo ry has nothing to do w ith its essential tru th . Soine teachers will be troubled by _th e fact th a t ‘A dam ’ in th e old version, is tran slated ‘the m an’ in the revised version.^ The fact is ‘A dam ’ is no t a proper nam e a t all, b u t in th e H ebrew sim ply m eans man. The w riter lived so m any centuries after the events of his story he does no t preten d to know ‘the m an’s’ nam e.” H ear w hat he has to say about “The Saving Grace of God” : “W e m u st first u n d erstan d ju s t w hat it m eans to be ‘saved*. * f I t will repay us to study Jesu s’ m ethod of sav in g prodigals and M agdalenes w hen He lived in P alestine. W e shall discover th a t He^ saved them by challenging the b est th a t was in them and th en g e ttin g them to dare to share H is cross. I t takes m ore th an one cross to m ake C alvary. R edem ption is a' m utual m atter. W e are saved by C hrist’s sacrifice plus our own. W e are saved by faith in C hrist, plus H is faith in us. W e are saved by C h rist’s love plus purs for H im .” These th ree samples are sufficient to show the design of some teachers to destroy th e faith of young people in God’s holy Word. Job says, (2 5 :4 -6 ): “How then, can m an be ju s t w ith God? O r how can a m an be clean th a t is born of a woman? Behold even th e moon h a th no b rig h tn ess, and th e sta rs are no t pure in his sig h t; How m uch less m an, th a t is a worm ! A nd the son of m an th a t is a w orm !” Isaiah say s: (41:14). “ F ear not, th o u worm Jacob, and ye m en of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy R edeem er is th e H oly One of Israel.” Of course, Jacob was a worm, b u t man has wriggled out from his low estate by th e evolutionary process and is now a full-fledged man, capable of telling God th a t He is a liar! Mr. F iske tells us th a t th e snake story was a parable and not literal history and a reh ash of th e older Babylonian story. W hat a pity Mr. F iske had not been borne 2000 years sooner so th a t he Could have enlightened th e Lord Jesus Christ and th e apostles concerning Old T estam ent statem ents. Evolution certainly failed in th is case, and Mr. F iske came upon th e scene too late in the process of th e evolu tion of his person from protoplasm !
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker