King's Business - 1926-10

October 1926

T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

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It would appear reasonable to suppose that If there Is one thing more than another in the physical realm, concern­ ing which He would be most anxious to convey correct infor­ mation, it would be His marvelous creative work In pro­ ducing the universe and its multitude of life-forms. Such a narrative as Genesis, purporting to come direct from Deity, and in so many respects bearing the Indelible Imprint, not of primitive humanity but of eternal Divinity, can have no other Author but God. Here, the events of Creation are narrated in broad out­ line, the language sufficiently comprehensive for the ex­ pression of Truth; yet simple and understood by people of every race, clime, and degree of intelligence. On the Divine canvas, the Master Artist has limned with bold and sure stroke, a picture perfect in symmetry, per­ spective, color and light— a picture which defies the critic, overpowers the intellect, inspires awe, compels faith and demands worship. If this Record be not the Infallible Word of God, It must be the most impious forgery the world has ever known. Either it comes straight from the hand of the Creator, or is gigantic falsehood perpetrated by unskilled and lying writ­ ers, assuming the name and authority of their Maker. In this event, the authors would be guilty of a deed, the base­ ness of which has never been equalled. If this accusation be true, the Book surpasses in Satanic cunning and malevolence anything ever foisted oh a credu­ lous world. Instead of an Infallible Guide to be followed and revered, it becomes an object of contumely, and ought to be condemned to a nameless and eternal oblivion. There is no middle ground. It must be gloriously in­ errant or inconceivably false, the supreme gift of a loving God, or the cruelest deception of the father of lies. But it has proved itself a thousand tiipes, calmly indiffer­ ent to faint praise or violent denunciation, worthy of our unfaltering faith and adoration. This faith, which is said to impose an unreasoning and unchangeable bias, does not compel us to look at every question through the colored glasses of orthodox prejudice, nor prevent us from arriving at sane conclusions. On the contrary, we are willing to’ submit the Bible to any possible test without fear of the result. One reason for this Implicit confidence is its invariable agreement with every proven scientific fact. While, not primarily concerned with abstruse scientific problems, yet In offering a cosmological explanation for the existence of the universe, It delves deep to the very root of unfathomable mystery. Its language is simple, intelligible, definite, elastic. It was understood by those ignorant of ethereal waves, radiant energy, and modern discoveries which have almost annihil­ ated space, and revolutionized transportation and communi­ cation. Times without number, a changing, chaotic science haB floundered and fallen, weighted down with the frailties and absurdities oi ignorance, almost submerged by the shifting quicksands of doubt and uncertainty, but this sublime Rec­ ord stands immovable and triumphant, an invulnerable Fortress built on the Rock of Truth. As an unapproachable literary achievement, it stands alone, a Masterpiece of brevity, simplicity, grandeur and Truth, qualities manifested at their apogee of perfection. This is all the more remarkable because it deals with the problem of origins, the most mysterious and baffling ques­ tion with which the human mind can occupy itself. This fact would lead us to expect in this ancient record, many crude and fantastic speculations, similar to those (Continued on page 608)

An Infallible Bible and the Challenge of Science

ARTHUR L BROWN, M.D., F.R.C.S.E. Field Secretary""of the World** Christian Fundamentals Association

Dr. Brbwn, who was appointed as one of the Field Secretaries of the World s Christian Fundamentals Association at the Toronto Convention this summer, is easily one of the most noted of Canada’ s physicians and sur­ geons. Perhaps few men on the American continent can speak on scientific subjects with fuller information. He knows and Iqves the Word of God , is a faithful Defender of the Faith, and a mighty preacher of the same. W e are glad to be able to give our readers this article from ‘ ‘The Crusader s Champion."

■ | « HE present is a time when the Bible is being 111*111 damned with faint praise. Many professing evan- H U f l gelical Christians believe they have done full Jus- E S a j S tice to God’s Infallible Book, when they admit that these Writings contain the highest and best expression of God’s mind and thought. We are told that, because of the inevitable frailties inher- *" ent in the various human writers, recently emerged from a brute ancestry, there must be and are, many historical and scientific errors. AI bo , in spiritual things, there is a progressive evolution o f religious thought, and in compulsory obedience to this evolutionary process our conceptions Of truth must undergo constant change, and every man may adopt his own sincere interpretations of Biblical Records, which are not Absolute Truth. This places the Book on a par with human docu­ ments and robs it of any claim to supernatural origin. We are constantly being told that the Bible is not a scientific Text-book, that its science is crude and primitive, its history inaccurate, and that mistakes of many kinds abound. We are challenged by a skeptical scholarship to bring it to the bar of cold and critical science. There, we are as­ sured, the claims of ignorant and credulous advocates will be proven false. We gladly accept this challenge, and deny that any scien­ tific tribunal ever has shown or can show the presence in it of a single error. Let the Book be tested by facts, com­ mon-sense, and reason. In every realm, trup< science and scholarship verify the truth of its statements and claims. None is justified In saying that “ the Fundamentalist is bound to look at everything through the glasses of a plenary revelation— made through such a fallible instrument as man.” If we believe in the existence of an Omnipotent God— as every thinking person must do, whether he uses the word “ God," or some meaningless substitute ‘like First Cause, The Absolute, or the Primal Source— logic compels us to acknowledge that this Divine Being must have had the power to transmit an inerrant message through any kind of a fallible instrument. If He could not control and nullify the Inherent Imper­ fections of a defective medium such as man, God would not be omnipotent.

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