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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NE S S
The Bloodless Gospel The unsophisticated layman natur ally asks the question: Why are liberal- istic professors, so “ positive in their negative teaching,” permitted to remain in— or even enter— the very citadel of power and influence in the church? The late war witnessed a startling increase in the spread of such teaching. I was made painfully aware of the fact during service in a large medical officers’ train ing camp in the South. A “ new gospel” was being preached which is not -the gospel. The church of Jesus Christ has been frequently called “ militant” . If the oath of allegiance taken by the soldier entering the'army of our country were treated as lightly as the solemn ordina tion -vows of many ministers in the church, he would be stripped of his uni form. Should not the defence of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ be, at least, as important as that of our coun try? Unfortunately,, the “ church mili tant” is not “ militating” along such lines as it should, SO' far as Methodism is concerned. The marked increase in the number of students in Bible Institutes, where the fundamentals of the faith are given their due emphasis is one of the visible and growing protests against the fruits of German rationalism as being taught in well-known and well-endowed denom inational institutions. The further this theological “Wanderlust” goes the more emphatic this protest becomes. The antagonistic attitude of much of official Methodism towards such institutions is anything but Christ-like, and will prove a boomerang on the Church. Liberalism and Lewdness Is there no connection between the preaching of this “ new gospeT’and the admitted fact of the marked increase— long antedating the world war— in crime, divorce, suicide, the social evil,
tests are being raised here and there with increasing volume, which reflect the opinion of large numbers of Metho dists. The following paragraph, from a former editor of the Christian Advocate, states the matter succinctly: “A rationalistic liberalism has sprung: up among: us, which is a grave menace. It unblnshingly questions trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures, openly scouts many of the most cherished traditions of the Christian Church, and boldly disregards constitutionally guarded articles of our historic Methodist faith. This liberalism is fast becoming strongly entrenched in places of power. It has advocates in some of our leading schools and colleges, on our influential General Boards, on the tripods of our press, and even in our epis copacy. It is becoming increasingly - ag gressive and is seeking more and more to shape the teaching and policies of the Church. . . . Some brave and true voices are beginning to echo through the columns of our official organs, but in most cases they are not coming from editorial sanctums, and the extent to which those beginning to speak may make themselves heard through such channels is quite lim ited. Bars against such discussion have been already set up by some of our official journals.” An illuminating instance of the above was seen in the action of the board of Bishops in overruling the decision of the General Conference of that church in Des Moines, condemning as unfit and dangerous several of the text-books named by the commission on the course of study and reading for the young min isters. Thirty-two annual conferences of this church had previously condemned the same books. Startling Increase of False Teaching .'Those who do not take their spiritual food in a “ predigested” form can easily ascertain why the above action was taken by the General Conference. Not a few parents have had grievous trial by reason of blasted faith in sons and daughters attending certain educational institutions of the church. The product of the schools and seminaries of the church reflect the teaching of that church. Here we come to the crux of the whole situation.
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