The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1895-01-03
As TO RELIGION,
A Correspondent Takes Exception
40 a Recent Article In ssrhe
HeFnld.ss

LDifOR HERALD: Religious c0ntro-
versy is sometimes necessary and good,
but there are some drawbacks that il il
always exposed to. 1t draws q congre-
CATION of people who have about the
same interest in it that they have in a
baseball game or a prizefght. They
laugh at the quick, funny jokes of the
debaters and overlook the facts, clap
their hands for the duelsts and COM
pletely lose sight Of the business of the
cause.
In reading The HERALD OF recent date
found under the heading Great Minds
Disagree" that the "small imitators Of
Ingersoll'' land then classified all infidels
as such) took isolated texts and parts Of
texts, suppressing the context, read in
their own meaning aud proceed to their
own delight and that of the more
feather headed part of the audience
to ridicule them. They take the
Bible and create from it God OF
their own, a God who the Christian does
not find in the Bible, and hold Him up
to scorn. 1t is the old and invarlable
trick, ETC." We would respectfully ask
the gentleman, for the enlightenment OF
few "feather-heads, !" il this is the God
he finds in the book and then tells us
that mans relation to him 10 a subject
''at once too great and solemn to be
treated in short public debate"
''If thy brother, the son of thy mother.
or thy son, or thy daughter or the wife OF
thy bosom, or thy friend which is ~
thine own sons, entice thee secretly, say
ing, Let US go and serve other Gods
which thou hast not known, thou nor
thy fathers thou shalt not con-
sent unto him nor hearken unto him,
neither shalt thine eye pity him, neither
shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou con-
ceal him. but thou shalt surely kill him
thine hand shalt be first upon him to put
him to death, and afterwards the hand of
the people; and thou shalt stone him
with stones that he die" for one am
sorry that the Christians have not "sup-
pressed" this text, context and all.
Even an infidel could make better god
than that. These are the kind of pas
sages that make irfdels. When a MIN
lister holds up the Bible and says "this is
the blessed word OF God" what does he
mean? Now we do not make the Bible
read, but the Bible makes us read
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and Him only shalt thou serve" What
god does that mean? Is it the one who
tells you to stone to death your loving
wife or daughter If she should happen to
ask you to worship some other god
Suppose she should choose to worship
you instead OF God? lie it possible that
an infinitely merciful being commanded
a man to murder his wife for expressing
an opinion on the great subject OF relig-
ion? Perhaps He thought il He should
give them too much license in expressing
their thoughts some one might ''cover
with impious ridiculc the Christians
hope which has satisfied for ages the
greatest inteleets OF the world"
Mohammedan will say precisely
the same thing Of his religion. So will
the Buddhists and the Indians when they
are teaching their young ones to say,
THE greatest intellects of our time be-
lieve this" Does that statement make
religion true? o, you say, they accept
our religion VIXEN they hear of it. Well,
there are twenty-five thousand people in
the United states who have accepted the
religion OF Buddah.
Again; Christianity has wered in
fidelity for over eighteen hundred years,
etc. Has it? Well, will some of them
answer the Bible now? Can it be possi-
BILE that being of infinite goodness and
wisdom said; "When the Lord thy God
shall drive them before thee thou shalt
smite them and utterly destroy them
thou shalt have no covenant with them
or show mercy unto them"
II will heap mischief upon them l will
send mine arrows upon them; they shall
be burned with hunger and devoured
WIN pu'hihs ieat Auu Will DlttcT ue-
struction.''
IL will send the tooth OF beasts upon
them, with the poison of serpents OF the
dust"
The sword without and the terror
within shall destroy both the young man
and the virgin; the sucking also with
the man of gray hairs"
let his children be fatherless and his
wife widow; let his children be con-
tinuaIly vagabonds and beg; let them
seek their bread also out of the desolate
places; let the extortioner catch all that
he hath, and let the stranger spoil his la
Dor; let there be none to extend mercy
unto him, neither let there be any to IA
vor bis fatherless children"
"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine
own body-the flesh of thy sons and
daughters"
"And the heaven that is over thee
shall be brass, and the earth that 10 un-
der thee shall be iron."
"Cursed shalt thou be in the city and
cursed shalt thou be in the field"
81 will make my arrows drunk with
blood"
II will laugh at their calamity"
II God did say all this, will some Chris
tan who does NOT make God OF his
own" tell us what objection he has TO the