THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S hours, or a solar day, for the Hebrew word tran slated “ day” has o ther mean ings, as used in th e Bible and else where, th an a solar day. MINISTER NAILS A L IE An instance of most astounding slan der is repo rted in th e columns of a church paper. As is often th e case, this slander was directed again st a m inister. It was said th a t his wife was attending a certain meeting, th a t he w ent th e re in a rage, th a t he by violence dragged her from th e hall, and th a t he by force com pelled her to go home w ith him. He allowed the story to circulate for a time, then riddled it as follows: “ In th e first place, I never attem pted to influence my wife in h er views nor her choice of a meeting; “ Secondly, my wife did no t attend th e meeting in question; “ In the th ird place, I did not attend th e meeting myself; “To conclude, n either my wife nor myself had any inclination to go to the meeting; “Finally, I never had a w ife.”— Selected. A DEAD SEA I looked upon a sea, and lo, ’tw as dead, Tho’ by Hermon’s stream s and Jo rdan fed. Whence came a fate so dire? The ta le ’s soon told— All th a t it got it kept, and fast did hold. All trib u ta ry stream s found here th e ir grave Because the sea received and never gave. O sea of the dead! help me to know and feel T h at selfish grasp and greed my doom will seal; Help me, O Christ, myself, my best to give, T h at I may others bless and like Thee live.” — M issionary Review.
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Light O n Puzzling
Passages and Problems
“Was Adam a Son of God?” The Bible does no t say th a t he was. Both th e Authorized Version and the Revised Versions say so (Luke 3 :3 8 ). B u t if you will look a t both Versions you will see th a t th e word “ son” is in italics, showing th a t it is not in the original. It is not in th e Greek. But even if th e two versions were rig h t in adding it where God did no t see fit to p u t it in, it does no t follow th a t it would mean th a t Adam was a “ son of God” in th e sense th a t those who receive the Lord Jesus “ become chil dren of God” (John 1:12 R. V .). On th e o ther hand th e re is no Bible reason, as far as I know, for believing th a t Adam was lost. He did become a m ortal, physically dying, man through his disobedience to God’s command ment. Death began to work the moment he sinned. Of du st of the ground he was originally formed and to th e dust he began to re tu rn the moment he sinned. And he was put ou t of the garden. But God Himself preached the Gospel to Adam and Eve before they were sent fo rth to bear the tem poral consequences of th e ir tra n s gression. “Is the story of Creation and of the Fall in the garden to be taken in the literal sense?” Yes. There is no t th e sligh test indi cation in th e accounts themselves, or in any Biblical references to th e accounts, th a t they are to be tak en in any other th a n a literal sense. They are related as history no t as allegory. And th ere is no scientific, nor really ration al, dif ficulty in tak ing them in a literal sense. Taking th e account of C reation in a literal sense does not necessitate our tak ing th e “ days” of the creation account as periods of tw enty four
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