March 1928
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Let the Atheist Do the Proving T HE Atheists are roundly condemning all Christian teachers for assuming and teaching that there is a God, a proposition which they declare cannot be proved. Therefore all preachers are faker« and grafters. On the other hand, it does not seem to occur to the Atheist that his assumption that there is no God, has far less to sustain it than has the Christian’s belief, and there is plenty of evidence that atheistic teaching does not tend to any good purpose. To make out that there is no God, the Atheist would have to travel over the entire universe, search back through all eternity, sweep the outskirts of space, which is itself interminable, and then bring back to this world acceptable evidence that there is a universal blank. He must be able to show that he has not met with one movement of a presiding God. T o deny the existence of God, a man must know enough to be a God himself. He must arro gate to himself the omniscience o f the Godhead. How much real proof has any Atheist ever presented to men that there is no God? He talks principally of cur rent events on this small earth of ours, which he is made to reconcile with the thought of a God o f love. He must argue down a thousand anomalies which he cannot recon cile with reason. He attempts to point out the contradic tions of Scripture, yet he himself must believe in contra dictions and impossibilities without number— in effects which are infinitely greater than their causes— and all this that he may escape from the natural conclusions of reason. His reason cannot take in the thought of a personal God who is Creator of all things, yet he closes his eyes to the light that everywhere beams upon him from all nature, and closes his ears to the voice that has always come from the heart of humanity. Down from the far ages, from the very infancy of the world, the consciousness o f mankind has spoken of the necèssity of a personal God. That voice speaks to the heathen long before they ever hear a missionary. How ever gross their conceptions and however they may have attempted to symbolize Him, men of every tribe and nation oh earth have ever had the presentiment of a personal Creator. The iron pen o f all history has recorded it, and it thunders in our very ears today. The Atheist now asks us to believe that the great heart o f humanity lies and has always lied. He asks us to believe that the heart rest and spiritual help that has come to untold millions, through their belief in God, is all a delusion. The Atheist only is right. Do we not have equal warrant for charging him with colossal egotism? The burden of proof is up to the Atheist, not the Christian. The believer has sufficient evidence within his own soul that God is and that He has spoken through the Scriptures. Let the Atheist show that he has scoured the universe and found it an untenanted space. Not until then has he proved his point. JÉ? Ü? Rossgrams The way to win souls and bear fruit is to testify. Unless you are bearing fruit, you are sick. You have no life in you. A Sunday picnic has often ended in a soul panic and a moral debauch. I have never known, a card-playing, dancing, theatre going Christian who was a soul-winner. They simply won’t mix.
Biola Bands in Hunan, China B y C h r ist in e I. T in l in g In a New Book “Memories o f the Mission Fields Biola Evangelistic Bands HE success of the Biola Evangelistic Bands in Central China is in no small measure due to the careful training the men receive in the Bible Institute at Changsha. Here there is given an iM iv eminently practical and withal deeply spiritual JU--U- preparation for evangelistic service. Various missions avail themselves of its help. Its growth has been wonderful. In 1919 there were two graduates, and the exercises were held in one o f the classrooms of the Chinese house hired for school purposes. In 1924, no fewer than forty-five received their diplomas — forty-one men and four women. Their farewell service was held in the large auditorium o f the Institute, known as the Milton Stewart Hall. When I visited Dr. and Mrs. Keller in their Chinese home, the new buildings were in process o f erection. Classes were still being held in the rambling Chinese house. It was my privilege, during five consecutive days, to give Temperance lectures to the men; and one cannot forget their eager attitude toward the whole question. They were much interested in hunting up texts from which they might themselves preach Temperance sermons. Plain, uncultured men from the farms most o f them were, working hard to prepare themselves for Christian service. They were making good intellectually as well as spiritually, for the Chinese have a high average o f mental ability. S ervice A nd S tudy L in k ed The immediate practical use of what is learned in school is one of the things insisted on. In the New Testa ment classes, there is each day a five minutes’ address from one of the men, which is freely criticized by his fellows and the teacher. In the teeming city o f Changsha they find ample opportunity for translating theory into practice. Several missions welcome the help of the students, as do also some of the institutions operating under the Provincial Government. The Hunan-Yale Hospital has an arrangement with the Institute by which the latter takes charge o f the evangelistic side of its work. Then there is the constant opportunity of the street chapel. Nothing could afford better training than this. A man must be pithy, good-tempered, and concrete, if he would hold his hearers, for they are under no obligation to remain a moment longer than they feel interested. The street chapel congregation is an extreme instance o f a floating population. Many stay for about five minutes. Most o f them know nothing of the gospel and may never hear it again. Things must be so said that they will stick. Rambling oratory will be useless, even though earnest. A fter two years of well-balanced study and practice, the students are ready to go to work. Those who have been assisted by scholarships, and any others who can afford the time, join the Biola Bands, and spend a couple of years in evangelism under adequate supervision. These workers receive suitable salaries. The others return to their several missions. It is proved, however, that those missions reap a much fuller benefit when they allow their men to serve an apprenticeship on the gospel boats before settling down to the care o f a church or out-station.
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