The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-11-10

"ds VIII LIE
philippians 3s.) The speaker said:
Even sanity Christians seem but i'm.
perfectly to grasp the plain teachings
Of the New Testament respecting mem.
bership in the Body of Christ. Some
assume that it is to be had on some
basis Of fayoritism. and trust that they
will be of the Elect. Others think
that the Apostle is using figures OF
speech in al extreme fashion, anC
vaguely hope that they belong to the
right Church and will attain whatever
others get, as in the success Of a party
in which I'll the victors share the
spoils. ,.5
No doubt the errors of. the Dark
Ages absorbed In childhood have been
more or less responsible for, these va.
carries and for III general neglect Of
proper Bible study. 1t seems hard for
the people of God to realize that the
Wisdom from Above Is the noblest
science and the best instructions; and
that it needs intelligent and systematic
study as much as do earthly sciences
But we are learning, and. thank God
progress is being made in u%nsectariar
Bible study classes. which are spring
ing up all over the world.
Conversion Not Winning Christ.
What is ordinarily termed conversion
is not what st. Paul refers to in our
text as winning Christ" The word
,~conVersion signifies ito turn about
1t implies that a wrong course has
been pursued, that the error Of the wa
has been detected. and thas a change
to the proper me has been made. The
wrong course is the sinful course,
which brings injury and injustice on
others. We never had Il right TO take
that course; yet to some extent we are
~eKcusabie: for we were born with
downward tendencies. an inherited pre-.
disposition to sin.
We inherited these depraved appe,
tites and tendencies from our forefa.
theirs under the general laws of hered.
ity. A realization that sin always
brings sorrow is a SUFFICIENT reason for
a change of course. Conversion, there,
fore. is. merely the operation Of a sane
mind in turning about from things rec.
ognized to he Injurious. Every sensi.
Bile person should be converted from
sin to righteousness.
Conversion may have Christ connect.
ed with it. or it may -ot. Many are
converted without any real knowledge
of the Gospel Of Christ. They merely
knew that they were going in n wrong
direction, and turned about to take the
proper course. But this we can say.
that only strong characters can sue.
cesSfully pursue a right course, and
strong characters are in the minority.
Whether strong or weak in character,
great aid will surely be experienced
by those who. at the time Of their con-
version. have a knowledge of Christ
and an appreciation Of Els work and
His teachings.
Nothing else gives such fortitude as
the hope set before us in the Gospel.
and the r~ealizetio that there Is a flu,
ture life provided through Christ for
all mankind. and that our course in the
present life will have much to do with
the stripes, or punishments. we shall
here or in the future life-nec-
essary to TT us for Divine favor and
everlasting lie,
present Your Rodies"--SaeriHces.
One might reform his life. and have
q knowledge of Jesus and of the life to
come secured through His death, and
of the fact that whatsoever a nan
soweth that shall he also reap" and
yet. with all that conversion, belief and
reformation of life, he might not be q
Christian at all, in the Bible sense OF
that term. We would not by this dis
courage anybody from taking the re-
formatory steps already outlined. We
would. on the contrary. encourage
them 30 to do. These steps are neces-
sary before anything further can ex-
pect to be attained.
AS already stated. reformation and
righteous living commend themselves
to all intelligent minds as right and
advantageous, beneficial TO the individ.
nal himself as well as to the world of
mankind. Let MS discuss Christianity.