East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-04-14
PASTOR DECLARES
BIBLE is LEGEND
ST. LOUIS DIVINE PREDICTS
CHANGE IN SACRED BOOK
Says That il should be Brought Down
TO the Twentieth Century-Mean-
ing has Been Changed Many Times
by Critics.

The Bible is collection of myths
legends. folklore and ANONYMOUSLY
written documents by many authors.
l. should not be taken literally in all
its points It should be revised and
edited and brought down TO the view
point of the people Of the 20th CEN
tury"
This is the statement made by
Dev. DR.. NJ. H Lchliter at Maple
Avenue Methodist Episcopal church,
Maple and Belt avenues, st. Louis,
says the Globe-Democrat That the
Bible will be more extensively used
25 years hence ahan at any other
period and that it will be considered
A disgrace to be ignorant of it, was
another cf his statements.
"As you peruse the Bible he said,
you will find verses that stand out
flom the others by reason of their
hsauty. Nine out of ten times those
Verses We're added by one of the men
who edited it centuries after it had
left the hands of its author.
Meaning Changed by Critics.
Thousands of chapters and verses
have been interpolated in this sacred
work by its later critics, and many
chapters and verses eliminated by
them. Nearly every ecclesiastical
council during the middle ages added
to it and took away from 1t whole
books of the earliest writings. Up to
the present time the canon of the
Bible has not been finished.
"One Of the great principles of life
is that we should always be making
our way through the transient toward
the permanent. from the guesses of
man toward the truth of God. The
theory of evolution finds nowhere a
more effective illustration than in the
study of literature. 1t passing
strange. however, that the literature
of only one nation should be exempt
from the general law. vet the litera-
ture of the old Hebrews embodied in
the Bible has been shouded in such
2 peculiar air of sanctity, almost su-
rerstition. that any attempt to ap-
ply to the Bible the universal law OF
development has been looked upon
as Sacrihgious.
Predicts Change Is Coming.
These early days of the 20th cen
tury will probably see the death OF
this MISREPRESENTATION Many have ar
idea that Gods book was in some
mysterious way handed down super
naturally from the heavens. was toe
sacred TO investigate and to be taker
literally. For such person a quota
ton settles everything. If it is in the
Bible it is enough. The facts are
that the Bible is composed of legends
myths folklore and anonymously
written documents by many authors
IN addition the composites of man!
early and modern editors are added
That work extended at least 150l
years. Then came the publication
and the task of getting the book to
gether. The result upon publication
was the Old Testament, beginning il
500 3. c. and extending UP to thu
time of the birth of Christ. and th'
New Testament. which was simply ;
repetition Of the work done in gath
ering the facts in the Old Testament
Up to the second century there wa
no organized literature and it was al
age Of poor scholarship, whose liter
airy forgeries were common. Compil
ers separated what they thought wa
the true from the false-an over
whelming task"