The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-09-26

back and see how they reached wront
conclusions. It takes no great eXer
else of the imagination to understand
how a people, believing that the,
were Gods only people, and tina al
others were Gods enemies. could mis-
take their W passion and desire fol
the voice of God and go forth t.
slaughter, believing they were com
manded Of God to do SO. Undoubted.
~ they were honest in thinking tina
they We're acting according to Gods
direction, but they were mistaken, fol
God never commanded any man tc
slaughter women and children, if what
Jesus taught us concerning the
Father Is true. If it seems like a bold
assertion to declare that they were
mistaken, one has but to remember
PauPs statement that when he was
prosecuting the. church, c%onsenting tc
the death Of christians, he declares: 81
verify thought I did Gods service. =
That is what Joshua thought, but like
Paul, he was mistaken.
So likewise we can readily under
stand how a people, believing that
every misfortune was sent of God for
the punishment Of sin, would upon the
death of 10000 men by pestilence, i'm
med1ately try to ascertain the cause
OF so great a calamity. David was the
only man big enough to charge this
to, and inasmuch as he has numbered
israel, they concluded hat that must
nave been the sin that angered Je-
hoVah and caused him to DESTROY TO-
600 men. The psychology Of it all is
very simple, once we get their view
point. Understanding their false view.
point. there is no more reason why
we should interpret the historic facts
In the life Of Israel by their false
standards than that we should in
terprek the facts in American history
by their standard.
conservative scholars acknowledging
a gradual development and rogress
in revelation, still stoutly maintain
and fight for a lofty conception of God
In the days Of Abraham. There is no
question but what God was present
and manifegting himself unto men,
even in prehistoric times, and the old
knowledge of God from the time Of
Moses down to the coming of Christ.
Still more remarkable is the fact that
the PRAYER of Jesus near the close of
his ministry" Father, the world hath
not known Thee" might almost have
been a prophecy Of the first 1900
years of the christian era, as well as
a statement of past conditions. We
sometimes forget the debt We owe to
the modern critical scholars who have
carried us away from the Grecian
philosophical, and the Roman govern
mental Interpretation or conception
of God. The theology Of Augustine,
which dominated the church for ff-
teen centuries and was ably seconded
by Calvin in the sixteenth century.
represented God as a monstrous des-
his sovereign decree, he even
deCreed sin and found o1orv
in the eternal damnation of the
non-elect. Between this sovereign
God and the Fatherhood as taught by
Jesus, there is an impossible gulf. In
the light of Christ's teaching every
movement Of God towards humanity
IS from the standpoint of a father
prompted by motives of love. One of
the greatest marvels of christian his
tory is the sloWness with which men
grasp the Christ conception of God.
In the face Of all Jesus said concern
ing the Father, the world continued
to think of God. in terms Of human
passion. One thousand seven humid
red years after the crucifixion a lead
Ing Congregational minister declares,
The God that holds you over the pit
OF he'll, much as one holds a spider
over the fire, abhors you and Is dread
.fully provoked. His wrath toward you
urns like fire, O are ten thousand
times more a~bominable in his eyes
than the most hateful and venonouss
serpent Is In ours Thesheresy Nf AN.
sinfallible, verbally dictated scripture
Ten thousand persons persisted mis-
erably because Of Elk. 22:18, Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live"
Bruno died a martyr and Calico was
into prison in an attempt on the
part of the church to save the dogma
of an infallible, bible. The church
has always been, and Is today, more
concerned In guarding her dogmas
in ~ascertaining the truth. Jesus
might well say Of this generation
You make the word Of God of no eft
feet by your dogmas."
Not only in the Interpretation of
scripture, but also In revelation, itself,
there enters these two factors, the
divine and the human. When God
to some 1T is the voice of an
angel, but to. others not attuned to re-
cefVe the heavenly. message--it is the
rumblings of thunder. The difference
was not divine but human-the voice
was the same. What the eye is to
beauty and the ear is to music, mans
spiritual intuition Is to the voice. Of
God. Christ recognized this human
necessity, or the lack of it., when he
to his deciples: II have yet many
things to say unto you, but We cannot
bear them now" The ability to hear
the divine voice and receive the divine
message is a part of revelation, and
important as it's divine element.
The recognition of a progressive
and a human element in the
in NJ way eliminates the
divine, nor is this position in any way
Inconsistent with a. positive, saving,
conception and faith in Jesus
1t does not follow that If the
historian in Judges mistook the num-
or men killed in a skirmish, that
he visions of Isaiah and the doctrines
+ Paul are thereby invalidated. .TheI
Jalue, of truth, like gold, is intrinsic.
Thou shalt not steal is of value, not
God gave it to Moses on a /
able of stone, but because it is fun
iamental to any civilization. If it
be roven that the ten COM
nandments were. inspired by the
levil. they would still be of priceless
'ur faith is not a book, but the God
evealed to us in the bible by the
eachings and life Of Jesus Christ. We {
'alue the bible because it helps us
0 know God. Justl as an astronomer ]
talues his telescope becaues it helps {
to see the sun, but the founda- !
ion of u faith and the object Of our {
is God and not the spiritual ]
through which we see him.. |
rize and love that which reveals him !
o our understanding. AS to the value s
of these changes in religious thought c
\ the work of the ministry, every man +
judge for himself. AT this point t
here is great need that we all have t
he largest christian charity. AS Kip r
ng expresses it: Each must draw s
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