popular in the Tubingen School o f Theology in Germany about one hundred and fifty years ago. It was thoroughly answered and repudiated by the conservative theologians in the United States, Great Britain and other parts o f the English-speaking world during the last generation. There is absolutely nothing original that these modern-day liberal theologians have contributed so far as this hypothesis is concerned. There is, however, a recrudescence o f teaching along these lines in this generation and, alas, the voices in protest are even more limited than they were in the last gen eration! The new curriculum in the United Church o f Canada pompously declares, among other things, "Genesis certainly does not agree with the scientific facts we believe today . . . anyone who attempts to harmonize the two is simply ignoring plain facts.” The story o f Noah and the ark is called a legend; Isaiah was writ ten by two men; Daniel was composed after the events prophe sied in the book actually had occurred; John did not write the fourth Gospel account. The resurrection o f Christ is quite thor oughly repudiated. It is stated in the curriculum that there is "no indication in the books (o f the Bible) o f the way o f salvation through Jesus Christ.” The Editor-in-Chief o f the publication states, "Although this liberal approach to the Bible is revolution ary in a Sunday School curriculum, it has been taught in theo logical seminaries for forty years.” He adds this rather defensive comment, "People are saying 'thank God we have something positive now to teach, something which is honest and open and not double-talk’ ” . One commentator in the GOOD NEWS BROADCASTER truly appraises the situation: "This so-called 'breakthrough’ is not only a disclosure o f what these liberal or modernist churchmen don’t believe about the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ; it is also a disclosure o f their deceit and intellectual dishonesty over many years. They have lied to their church con- stituents with regard to the historic Christian faith, covering unbelief with double-talk. Consistent with their warped morality, these leaders now feel they have cleansed their souls by coming into the open with their ridicule o f the Bible and their denial o f the Lord who bought them. There is nothing positive about this new curriculum. It is entirely negative, cutting people off from the anchorage o f the Word o f God and setting them adrift on the sea o f human authority and speculation.” It is indeed startling and alarming to realize that what was bought with such great cost and sacrifice by earnest and devout men and women o f God through the past generations has been so foolishly "sold down the river,” even by well-meaning people o f God in the last generation. Now the oncoming generation will know nothing more than these doctrines o f disbelief which are now being proclaimed in Sunday Schools across the length and breadth o f Canada. History is indeed repeating itself. What might have been a great denominational lighthouse for the propa gation o f the Gospel must have it written over the name o f the denomination the tragic word, Ichabod— "the glory o f the Lord hath departed.” DECEMBER, 1965
FROM A CH ILD THOU H A ST KNOWN THE H O L Y
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SCRIPTURES — 2 Timothy 3.15
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