Arizona republican., 1899-07-24
HOW | READ
TIL. BIBLE

and even contradictory. Therefore
when the majority of persons read the
word of God, what processes to be
Christ's teaching, thsy read it me-
/ chemically, for they do not know the
meaning of the words as they are Civ
en-. The reason that they are ignorant
4 of the tru,eh the Scriptures convey is
because they do not know how to. IN
derstand it.
Another fact is that very many peo-
pie who possess this limited under
standing have absolutely different
IDEAS as to The Interpretation of the
Scriptures. Some say redemption is
the al-important matter. Others say
the all-importana thing is grace, OBJ
tainable through the sacraments. 9th
ers, again, say that submission to the
church is what is really essential. But
the churches themselves disagree and
/ interpret the teachings variously.
The Roman Catholic church holds
that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father to the Son; that the pope is in
fallible, and that salvation is obtained
chiefly by works The. Lutheran
church does not agree with this view,
but holds that faith is the chief neces-
sity for securing salvation. Then the
Anglican and the Episcopal, the Pres
byterian and the Methodist. and all
the other sects which throng the world,
interpret the teachings OF Christ in
their own way. Each believes his own
way is best. Thus we have a Tower of
Babel in the matter of the interpre-
tatiOn Of the Scriptures
Young men and older men of the
world. doubling the truths which the
II
them. have come to me and asked
what Thought of the Bible; how I
inter preted it There IS nothing to me
more shocking than this, because il
indicates weakness of the founda-
tons Of Christianity, q doubt like
thunder cloud marring the purity OF
the clear sky of peace.
Ch-ist-who the churches say was
GOd-came to earth to reveal divine
truth to men for their guidance in life
A man, even a plain, stupid man, who
really wishes 70 benefit mankind with
knowledge that viii serve as a guide
in these great matters of religion, vii
SO manage that his meaning viii be
expressed in simple, and incisivt
terms, end even the lesser minds that
go to make up the grand total of man
kinds intellect will comprehend
This suggests the query: rs it pos
sible that God, having come on earth
especially to save mankind, was no
able to say that which he wished tc
say with sufficient clearness TO pre-
vent those who heard him from mis-
interpreting his words varioUsly, an6
afterward disagreeing about them?
I'm possible. 1t could not be 50 il
Christ was God, nor would it be pos
sible even though Christ was not God,
but simply a great teacher that he
should fail to express himself clearly
For a great teacher is great by the
very reason that he is able to express
the truth in such fashion that II can
neither be hidden nor observed, but
Dec0me as plain as daylight.
In either case, therefore. the Gospel
which permits Christ's teaching must
contain truth. and indeed the truth is
there for all who will read the Gospels
with a sincere desire to know that
truth without prejudice and. above all
without suppOsing that the Gospels
contain some special sort of wisdom
beyond human reason.
That is how I read the Gospels; and
I found in them truth plain enough for
little children to understand, as, in
dead. is said in the Gospels. So that
when I am asked what my teaching
CONSISTS il, and how l understand
Chnst's teaching. L reply: l have no
teaching. but l understand Christ
teaching as it is explained in the Cos
pels. If l have written books about
Christ,s teaching Eave done so only
TO show the falseness of the ipterpre-
tatio1s given by the commentators on
the Gospels.
To understand any book one must
choose out the parts that are quite
clear. dividing them from what is OBJ
scure or confused And from what IS
clear we must form our idea of She
drift and spirit CT the whole work.
Then. on the tasis of what we have
we may proceed to make
out what was confused or not quite
ineligible. That is how We read all
kinds Of books. And it is particularly
necessary thus to read the Gospels, |
which have passed through such a
of complications, trans !
lations and prescriptions. and wee /
eighteen centuries ago. by |
men who were not highly educated |
and were sUper5tid0us.
Therefore, in order 10 understand /
the Gospels, we must first of all sep !
arate what is quite simple and intel |
Iigible from what IS confused and IN /
Ineligible, ard af5erward read this |
ctear and intelligible Part several !
hEes over. trying TO assimilate il.
Then, helpeS by this comprehension
Of tha general meaning. We can try to
explain to ourselves the drift of the
parts which seemed Env0lved and OBJ
scure.- That is how I read the Gospels,
md the meaning of Christ's teaching
ec2ne SO clear to me that It was i'm
possible to have any Doubt about IT,
And | advise every one who wishes 10
the true meaning OF
Christ's teachings to follow the same
plan.
Let each one who is reading the Cos