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T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
February 1932
not common sense confirm the conviction that it is reason able to believe that a personal God would make a revela tion of Himself to the beings whom He created, and that such a revelation would be a truthful account of man’s, origin, purpose of creation, and condition; that it would tell of the provision made for his happiness by divine love and would make known man’s duties, as required because of his relation to God and to his fellow man? And consider this fact, that the truths which man could not discover by his unaided reason, and which were not made known by nature, when revealed in God’s Word, are found to be not contrary to reason, but in perfect accord with its soundest operation. “ The heavens declare the glory of God.” The mind tha't can contemplate the mechanism of the innumerable suns and stars and planets with their varied movements, each in its own undeviating orbit, never failing by a mo ment’s loss of time throughout the centuries to measure off its appointed periods of revolution, and yet can see no proof of an intelligent, personal Creator, is of the same caliber as that mind which can contemplate the mechanism of a watch and yet deny the existence of a per sonal watchmaker. T he B ible The first attack on the Bible was made in Eden— “ Yea, hath God said ?” For two thousand years, the biting rail- ery and brilliant wit of the acutest atheistic minds have maliciously sought to undermine faith in the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Nor do they hesitate to de ceive by deliberate misrepresentation in their denuncia tions of the Book as abounding in contradictions, absurd ities, falsehoods, and as advocating a “ degraded morality.” The boastful claim is made that all the good it contains is found in the writings of older, comparative religions. Now, concerning this claim, it is a fact, established by the researches of the world’s most distinquished authori ties on sacred books, such as Max Muller, Rawlinson, and others, who stake their reputations as oriental scholars upon their published works, that Moses has a clear margin of about three hundred years beyond the oldest of the writers of those other books—the Koran of the Moham medans, the Eddus of the ancient Germans, the Tri-petaka
all Christian truth. It declares that “ there is no God, no spirit, no heaven, no hell, no future life, no resurrection.” Here is an authentic atheistic statement: “ The religion ist’s position [Christian’s] is the positive. The atheist’s position is the negative.” Does not common sense do well to inquire, “ How does the atheist know there is no God, since his own philosophy denies him all the higher forms of knowledge,, and all the principles which must underlie such knowledge? He can not reply to the evidence which justifies the Christian’s belief in God, for mere denial is neither argument nor dis proof. Is he not in the same position as the African jun gle dweller who denies the existence of icebergs in Lap- land, and the Laplander who says that “ there ain’t no sich critters” as lions in Africa? While some educated men are atheists, it requires no more intelligence to be an atheist than that possessed by an eight-year-old child who meets his teacher’s assertions with, “ Tain’t s o ! Tain’t so!” For that is all one need say in answer to the teachings of Christianity in order to be a one hundred per cent atheist. G od Atheism says, “ There is no God.” According to the Bible, the fool and the atheist agree in this assertion. Why does the atheist make this statement? Well, because the very first principle of his philosophy is that there is no reality, except that which can be comprehended through the physical senses—touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing. In other words, that which is not material has no exist ence. What says common sense? Are not the human emo tions and experiences, such as grief, joy, hope, and love, realities? How about thought, memory, consciousness? Have they no existence? The process of reasoning,'by which the atheist does away with an intelligent personal God, also does away with his own conscious, personal existence. The atheist says that belief in a personal God is an assumption. But both atheist and Christian must go back to the belief in some kind of a first cause. The Chris tian’s assumption of a personal God is offset by the athe ist’s assumption of an impersonal “ ultimate reality”—a
of the Buddhists, the Five Kings of the Chinese, the Ve das of the Hindus, and the Zend Avesta of the Persians. It is also a fact that the oldest specimen of alphabet ical writing in the world is the Ten Commandments. T h e first book published after the invention of printing was the Bible. Candid critics are com pelled to admit that the Scriptures contain the most ancient forms of truth now known to man. There can not be found in any writings of atheists the advocacy of one truth or prin ciple tending, to aid human progress, to better human government, or to contribute to the peace and prosperity of the individual, that was
vague, meaningless t e r m. .The ne plus ultra o f the is ex presses the same idea and is just as unintelligible.- This “ ultimate reality” (whatever it is) is a dead existence, and therefore it is utterly useless so far as giving any rational account of the universe is concerned. But when the Christian defines his first cause as “ God, an almighty, all-wise, good, supreme, self-existent Being, Creator, Ruler, and Upholder of all things,” the wayfaring man, though a fool, understands e x a c tly what is meant. Don’t you see that here we have the only starting point from which to reason logic ally and consistently? Does
Sweet Word of God “ Man was lost, and doomed to sorrow, Not one ray of hope or bliss, Could he from earth’s treasure borrow, Till his way was cheered by this. “ Speak, my heart, and tell thy ponderings, Tell how far thy rovings led, When this Book brought back thy wond’rings Speaking life as from the dead. “ Yes, sweet Bible, I will hide thee, Deep, yes, deeper in my heart, Thou through all my life shalt guide me, And in death we will not part. “ Part in death, no never, never, Through death’s vale I’ll lean on thee, And, in worlds above, forever, Sweeter still thy truths shall be.”
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