62
February 1932
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
IN
TheC£[ordof F o r the w o rd o f God is quick and pow erfu l, and sharper th an any twoedged sword , piercing even to the d iv id ing asunder o f soul and sp irit, and o f the jo in ts and m arrow , and is a discerner o f the though ts and in ten ts o f the heart. — Hebrews 4 :1 2 .
not first proclaimed in the Bible. Remember this fact when''atheists make quotations, to the. disparagement of the Bible, from Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, or Plato. You will be told a great deal about the contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bible. Unable to disprove the undisputed facts on which Christianity is founded, they exultingly point to these alleged contradictions. But the well-informed Bible student knows that these inconsisten cies have all been refuted two hundred and fifty years ago. Errors in the transcriptions of copies and in the trans lations do unquestionably exist, but the contradictions to which objections are made are only seeming, not real, nor is there a single known instance of such alleged con tradiction that is not capable o f a rational explanation. And this great fact remains, that not one of them af fects in the slightest degree one single doctrine of the Bible concerning man, God, or the duties and obligations arising' from a personal relation to Him. Bishop Harnes’ observation on this subject, made over one hundred years ago, is as pertinent now as then: “ Many and painful are the researches usually necessary to be made for settling points of this kind. Pertness and ignorance may ask questions in three minutes that it will take learning and research thirty pages to answer. When this is done, the same question will be triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had ever been written on the subject.’” One of the remarkable phases of atheism is its pro fessed concern for the morals of the young. It is horrified at the thought of placing the Bible in their hands, be cause of its “ degraded morality.” It would hardly seem necessary to assure any one possessed of common sense that the atheists’ assertion that “ the Bible sustains adul tery” is an unmitigated falsehood, and that their professed fear o f the disastrous effects of reading the Bible is pure hypocrisy. It is true, as illustrating its teachings, that the Bible records, in the plain language of the day in which it was written, instances of gross immorality. But such cases are never once proposed for our imitation, nor is any sanction given to the practice of immorality.
Now consider these facts: It is the Bible which com mands, “ Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Read the book of Proverbs, with its repeated admonition to young men to avoid the haunts of evil and to repulse the soli citations of the temptress. God’s Word sets forth the final destiny of the unrepentant sinners against virtue: “ Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers o f themselves with mankind . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Here is another fact: The world has no record of any moral wreck who ever testified: “ I owe my downfall and immorality to the influence of the degraded morality of the Bible.” 0.n the contrary, thousands living in past years, and thousands in the present day, who have been rescued from the lowest depths of degradation, and who have become respected and honored in their communities, praise God for the Bible as the means of their deliverance. Son, remember this concerning atheism’s proud boast that science falsifies the Bible: Two hundred years ago, the claim was made that science and philosophy contra dicted the Bible. But most of the philosophic systems and scientific theories o f that period have been discarded and forgotten. Now, when they say that scientists—meaning evolutionists—reject the Bible account of creation, they should say some scientists do. It is not true that the pre ponderance of scholarship is arrayed on the side of evolu tion, for many of the world’s ablest scientists are among its most vigorous assailants. This fact should be sufficient to suggest that one should heed the advice of common sense to retain the Bible explanation of the origin of things until that which has never been anything but a theory has found at least one established fact to sustain it. What does atheism offer in place of the Bible? Noth ing, so it admits. But what it really does is to substitute sighing for song, sorrow for joy, unrest for peace, dark ness for light, despair for hope, and death for life. It is the Bible which offers to man everything that is needed to satisfy the deepest needs of his nature and the longings of his heart.
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