Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1916-08-11
FATHERHOOD OF GOD SHOWN IN.
SCRIPTURES.
Only Those Who Are Sons of God By
Acceptance Of His Terms May
Call Him Father.

Specification of the word Father.
This relationship means responsibility
How mankind lost their sonship-God's
Character misunderstood. His Love
for His human offspring.
Portland, Maine, July 23.-Pastor
Russell was here today, in attendance
upon the l. B. S. A. Convention assem-
bled in our city, and delivered a very
instructive lecture based upon the
opening clause of the Lords Prayer.
We give synopsis
The Pastor declared that there is
measure of truth in the well-known
expression, 1.-The fatherhood of God
and the brotherhood of man," but not
in the sense in which it is commonly
used-that since God is the Life.giver
of the world, therefore He is under
obligation to save all mankind-that
the world is to have universal saliva
ton. While the thought of universal
salvation is much to be preferred to
that of universal damnation, yet neither
is wholly Scriptural. According to the
Bible God is the Father of all, in that
the race received life from Him when
He created Adam. But Adam forfeited
his sonship by his disobedience; and his
entire race have been born in con-
dition of alienation from God. Only
through faith in the redemption effected
by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ
can any human being hope for saliva.
ton.
The speaker reminded his audience
that the word father means life-giver.
one who bestows life. He pointed out
the Bible declaration that all life eman.
ates from God alone, and that the
Heavenly Father recognizes His respon.
sibility in this respect. Every earthly
parent has responsibility Tor his child.
1t is his duty to make provision for the
child's welfare, physical, mental and
moral. Whosoever cannot 40 this has
no right to bring a chilu into being.
This seems to be a just principle, one
generally recognized by all intelligent
people. Then surely it would apply to
the great Father from whom comes
every blessing.
PEOPLE MIsLED BY FALSE THEOLOGY.
This thought contradicts much of cur
rent theology; for when the creeds tell
US that God is all-wise, all-powerful,
loving and good, the spoil it all by
declaring that notwithstanding His
Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power, He
is sending the vast majority of man
kind to endless mistery-in other words,
that He has made a miserable failure
in creating mankind, and that His Plan
of Salvation is farce. Even without
a Bible, we should have known better
than this. The only reasonable expla-
nation for our believing such teachings
is that given by the Apostle Paul-that
Satan has so blinded the minds of many
that they seem unable to reason intel
ligently upon the subject 2 Corinthians
Al; Timothy Ill.
The Adversary has shrewdly backed
up the theory of eternal torment by
the other theory that God made man
immortal and therefore cannot destroy
him. How puerile the idea that, in
creating man, God gave him omething
that even his Creator is powerless to
take from him This theory is direct
ly contradicted by our Lord Jesus Him
self, when He said, Fear Him Who is
able to destroy both soul and body in
Gehenna Second Death. Mat
thew 1928; Ezekial 1920 Psalm las:
20.
Some Of our learned people talk about
''the fatherhood Of God and the BROTH
erhood of man." This thought is not
upheld in Scripture. While the Bible
declares that mankind are the offspring
Of God, that He is their Creator, yet it
does not say that He is now the Father
Of the race. Many of these men urge
the theory of eternal salvation for all
mankind. Will preferable to the
theory of universal damnation, this
theory is also unscriptural.
THROUGH SIN CAME DEATH.
The plain declaration of the Bible is
that our first parents received life from
God, and were forewarned that if they
iisobeyed Him He would take that life
from them. Not even hint was given
that the penalty for disobedience would
be life continued in eternal torment.
Gen sis 2:l7; 3:l9; Romans 6:23.)
Man lost his right to life by taking a
wrong course. From Gods standpoint,
the human race is dead Thus we see
that mankind today are not children of
God. Adam was son of God until he