The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-04-12

- - gaz@ be notriseE, then is
| (CKASlGK KUSSELlJ our preaching vain
and your faith also
vain; yea, and we are found false wit
nesses of God Then they also
which are fallen asleep in Christare per,
ished" q Cor. XIV, IA. Is, 49, He said:
The faith once delivered to the saints
! by Jesus and the Apostles in respect
J to the resurrection Of the dead has
been very generally lost. Christian
people profess belief in the resurrec-
tion, because they find it stated in the
Bible, yet they are continually in diff
Guilty in their endeavor to make the
Scriptural teaching on the subject
square with some Of the unscriptural
theories received into the Church and
incorporated into many Of the creeds.
st. Paul warned the Church against
these human PHILOSOPHERS, and called
them science, falsely so-called," which
make void the Word Of God. These
errors have been instrumental in di7id
ing the faith Of Gods people into 600
different denominations, with 600 diff
ferent professions. If Gods people
could all come back to the simplicity
Of the Bibles teaching, all Of these diff
ferences would speedily disappear.
Gods Word would be seen to be beau
tiful and harmonious and satisfactory
to the consecrated intellect.
The Bible Resurrection Reasonable.
Really the doctrine Of the resurrec-
ton Of the dead has been repudiated
by all denominations, not willingly,
not Intentionally, but perforce, as it
were. An opposite theory received
and entrenched in the minds gives no
place for the doctrine Of the resurrec-
ton as the Bible presents it. Conse-
Quently we have twisted the doctrine
of the resurrection and recite, II be-
lieve in the resurrection Of the body"
Yet, even this perverted view Of the
resurrection is not satisfactory to
those who hold it. They wish many a
time that the doctrine Of the resurrec-
tion was not in the Bible, so much
difference does it cause. For instance,
how inconsistent it seems that they
should say, II believe in the resurrec-
ton of the body" and then say, as
many do, Dying is but going home,
getting rid Of the mortal flesh, and
being freed from it's limitations. If it
is a blessing to die and get free from
the limitations Of the body, how could
it be blessing to be reincarcerated in
the body, and be obliged to keep it
through all eternity?
There is nothing inconsistent in the
Bible presentation Of the resurrection.
Not from the Bible, but from men.
comes the suggestion Of the resurrec-
tion of the body. The Bible invariably
refers to the resurrection Of the $oW.
1t is the SOUL that dies; as We read.
THE soul that sinneth it shall die"
Adam was created a living soul, but
his living soul came under the death
sentence because be disobeyed God.
It was his soul that We3 redeemed
from death, not his body. 81 will re-
deem thy life Cook up the word life to
see if it is from the Hebrew word
meaning soul, and if so, add the word
ScuL after the word life, in parenthe-
sis) from destruction.-Psalm ciii, 4.
To accomplish this redemption we
read that Christ Jesus poured out
His soul unto death" He made His
soul an offering for sin" Moreover.
we are particularly told that it was
the soul Of Jesus that was raised from
the Gead: II will not leave Thy soul
in sheol." st. Peter quotes this state
ment as prophetical Of the resurrection
Of Jesus that His soul was not left
in hades. With what body do they
come? is a totally different ques-
ton. Some Of the dead souls, in the
resurrection, will come forth with spir-
it bodies, and others with human
bodies, according to the Bible. But the
. important point is that it is the soul,
the being. that comes forth. If the soul
UleS, DIS LuG DlDIS OSC1dISo' LuCA hohA
festly the soul should be resurrected.
Bible Made Void by Tradition.
The difficulty with US has been that
we "have made void the Word Of God
|: by our traditions" We received from
the Grecian philosophers a tradition
which Socrates and Plato both ad-
vocated. namely, that when a human
being dies he does not really die. The
soul, it is claimed, cannot die, but
whenever the soul gets out Of the body,
the body dies. How strange it seems
that we ell accepted this philosophy
without a word Of Scripture, but with
hundreds Of Scriptures to condemn it!
1t behooves US to take decided stand
either with the Grecian philosophers
i: and their theories, or with the Bible.
The two are in conflict and whoever
attempts to hold both is in confusion
IF tho dead are not dead then no hu-