The Tupelo journal., 1903-01-02
WHY l AM NOT AN AGNOSTIC.
A Believer Gives Reasons for the
Faith He Has-Shows How I'm
reasonable Is AgnOsticism.

reaSOhdDI Is n X
l am not an agnostic, writes Judson
Kempton, in the Chicago Standard, be-
cause | believe that God can be known
by the human mind. l do not believe
in the unknown God; l believe that
God is such a being that the pure in
heart may see Him, and the seeking
soul may find Him, and may afterwards
say: Il know Him in whom | have be-
lieVed." The agnostic would not
agree with this. He would say:
There may be a God, but we do not
know Him and cannot know Him, and
it is not reasonable to suppose that we
can know anything about Him. be-
lieve that it is reasonable to suppose
that we can know Him, and that as a
matter of fact men have known God,
and held communication with Him,
and talked with Him as friend talks
with friend.
Let us first look at the reasonable
ness of this, and then at the matter of
fact. We have admitted that there is
a God. Andtthat God is an orderly be-
ing, a law giver, an artist, a mathe-
matician, a mind, because He made a
snowflake, and sent it down on my
sidewalk for me to shovel off. The eff
feet must have had a cause. l make
a wooden 10Y shovel; | am the cause,
the shovel is the effect. But what is
my cause? Who made me? That great
mind. Either Immediately, at my birth,
or mediately ages ago, back there in
the sea slime of evolution God MADE
me, or started going the evolutionary
machinery which causedme, Git makes
little difference which, so far as this
argument goes.) God is the great
first cause. The effect cannot be
greater than the cause. Aman, how
ever, is something more than a snow
flake, a work of art, a beautiful con
struction. That is, some men are. But
all the attributes that are found in
man at his best, must be found in his
maker. Therefore, God must be some
thing more than a mathematician and
an architect and a d~raughtsman IL
lover; | hate, God must be a hater;
L know the difference between good
and evil, God must be a moral being;
l am at liberty to choose between
right and wrong, God must be a free
mind, bound up in nc chains of panthe-
ism; | have a will of my own, God
must have a will which He wishes me
to do in earth as it is in Heaven; Ihave
personality, God must be a personal
ity; l have the power of communicate
ing my will and my thought and my
love to those whom / wish around me,
God must have the power of commune
eating His will and His thought and
His love to those whom He wishes.
In other words, it is reasonable to
think that God is movable. 1t is
reasonable to think that God can make
Himself known to me, if He wishes to
do so.
The only question that remains, then,
is, is it reasonable to suppose hal God
would wish to do this? Is this not the
key to the situation? Can we not say
this: God (if He is the infinite being,
the Creator of the universe must be-
will have a care over all His works?
And, if He is a God of love Gas He
must be, if there is love in the uni
v~erse), He will wish to communicate
His thought and His will and His love
to all His creatures who are capable
of comprehending and doing and low
ing the good, the true, the beautiful?
Now man is capable of this: He is
so far superior to all other creatures
that he lives as in a different world. He
has a mind capable of meditation on
the things that are true, the things
hat are pure, the things that are hon
est, the things that are lovely, the
things that are of good report. He has
the thoughts that wander through
eternity. He thrills with noble pur-
pose and glows with high resolve. He
grieves for sin and signs for holiness.
He lifts his forehead to the sun. Like
a God, he is capable of self sacrifice
and deeds of heroism. Man is capable
of loving God. Listen to this:
LAS the hart panteth after the water
brooks,
So panteth my soul after Thee, o God.
My soul thirsteth for GOD. for the living
God;
When shall come and appear before
God?'
Did ever lover write a more pas
| sionate letter than that love song to
God? If, therefore, this satisfies us
that man is capable of loving God, of
thinking His thoughts, of doing His
will, and if our former argument is
sound, it follows hat it is reasonable
to think that God wishes to make Him
self known to men, and we cannot be
agnostics because agnosticism is I'M
reasonable to us.
In this our reasoning is supported'by
such masses of evidence and matters of
fact that we could not begin to so
much as look into them. For, all
through the ages, from the day of
Enoch, who walked with God by faith,
to the days of Abraham, who was
called the friend of God; from the days
of Abraham to the days of David, who
said: 81 love the Lord, because He
hath heard my voice and my supplica-
tion," from the days of David to the
year that King Uzziah died, when Isa-
iah saw the Lord high and lifted up