Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-01-02
DIR. ABBorr's Con.

~ Lyman ADDoll HhF ~ Iaolt tuUt
out with statement Of his conception
OF the Deity which should give ortho-
dox theologians food FOR thought lie
Is quoted as follows.
~ wonder II you students IN Harvard
VIII understand me when | say that
no longer believe In Great First
Cause, My God Is a great ana ever
present force which is manifest IN all
the activities Of man and all the work.
ings OF Nature l believe IN God who
is IN and through and OF everything
not an absent God. whom we have 10
read through n Bible, or a priest or
some other outside aid, but God who
is close TO ue. Science, literature and
history tell US that there IL one etcr-
nal energy, that the Bible no longer
can be accepted as ultimate, that many
Of ia laws We're copied from other re-
ligions. that the Ten Commandments
did not spring spontaneously from Mo-
seq. but were, like all lave, u gradual
growth and that man is creature, not
a creation. No thinking man VIII gay
there are many energies The days Of
polythelsm are past There IL only one
energy. That energy has always been
working, II Ia an intelligent energy.
No HtltililSl can utl9 H. II WIS NNih-
ing before Christ's time, even aa II liz
Ii now. Yet God has personality.
We recognize Il ~ we recognize the
personality OF Titan or an Angelo,
Only God Ia always working, always
creating whereas their work IL done.
God stonda near is The mother OF
deaf, dumb and blind child gyes her
daughter one, two, tire gifts without
being recognized. Finally there breaks
through the chllds intelligence the fact
that these gifts. 80 kind, 20 loving,
spring from the came source. II throws
It's arms around her neck and kisses
her Even go we ever In the presence
OF God come TO realize his proximity
and love, God makes for good Mans
progress n a progress upward Each day
Is better than the first
Someone has, hastily, characterized
this statement as "a new religion"
But there Is nothing new In this Pan
theiam is not new. II is really the To-
glcal escape Of the refined Intellect
from the poytheism Of paganism II
presents a theological platform upon
which both Jewish and Gentle philo-
sophers have met, God as an ever
active energy manifest In every part
and particle Of nature, has been pro-
claimed by some philosophers for hun
dreds OF years.
Il It not strange though, that o the.
ologan. when dissatisfied with the or.
thodoX conception Of the Deity turns
to pantheism instead OF the Scriptural
representation OF God2 Is there any
conception on the subject which II wor-
thy OF consideration, except that which
is revealed through Gods inspired SER
wants? A man low IN the Intellectual
scale, carves an image and gives il GER
tain features and calls It god, An.
other a little higher up In the scale,
makes different image, more beauti-
ful. but still an image, Another, still
higher up intellectually dscards an
visible images and pictures TO himself
god that IL all energy
The ignorant pagan confines his god to
a few objects Of nature or art. and wor.
ships before them. The pantheist sees
god in every object and manifestation Of
energy Why Is the last conception so
much better than its predecessor, since
they allare Of the same human origin2
Is II possible to know God except by
revelation from Himself?
We do not wonder that thinking men
and women turn from the orthodox
teachings concerning the Godheod
which are clearly made up Of the ideas
OF Pagan philosophers, but we hold that
there Is no reliable source OF informa-
ton concerning God except the reveal
lions given from time TO time during
the different dispensatlons OF human
history. II we are not to believe IN the
God OF Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
NJ oses, and the prophets: the God re-
vtaled in ana by Jesus Christ and the
God revealed In this last dlspensaton,
which various revelations all agree as
so many genuine Photographs with
their original then there Is, u seems
to us no escape from absolute atheism.
For msn-made images OF God, whether
formed out Of wood stone, or metal, |
or put together out Of abstract ideas IN
the workshop OF philosophy, are an |
worthless they may phow more or
loss ingenuity of Workmanship, but that
liz not enough for basis of that faith |
without which there can be no eternal |
cXnltatIOu.