Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-08-02
synopsis:

lLRASlOK KO2SGtL er. We give
synopsis:
The Pastor declared that there is
a measure OF truth in the Well
known EXPRESSION, The fatherhood
Of God and the brotherhood OF man.
but not in the sense in which 1t Is
commonly used--that since God is
the Life-giv of the world, therefore
He is under obligation to save all
the world is to have
universal salvation. While the
thought of universal salvation IS
much to be preferred to that OF uni
yersal damnaticn, 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 dlsoDedl-
ence; and his entire race nave peen
born in a condition of alienation from
God. Only through faith in the re-
demption effected by the death OF
our Lord Jesus Christ can any hu-
man being hope for salvation.
The speaker reminded his audience
that the word father means life-glV-
er, one who bestows life. He pointed
out the Bible declaration that all life
emanates from God alone, and that
the Heavenly Father recognizes His
responsibility in this respect. Every
earthly parent mas responsibility
for his child. 1t is his duty to make
provision for the child's welfare,
physical, mental and moral. Who
ever cannot do this has no right to
bring a child 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 MisIed by False Theology.
This thought contradicts mucn OF
current theology: for when the creeds
tell us that God is all-wise, all"poW-
erful, loving and good, they spoil it
all by declaring that notwithstand-
ing His Wisdom, Justice, Love and
Power, He is sending the vast ma
jority of mankind to endless misery
in other words, that He has made
a miserable failure in creating man
kind, and that His Plan Of Salvation
is a farce. Even without a Bible, we
should have known better than this.
The only reasonable explanation for
our believing such teachings is that
given by the Apostle Paul-that Sa-
tan has so blinded the minds of many
that they seem unable to reason in
telligently upon the subject Cor
inthians Al; l Timothy Al.
The Adversary has shrewdly back
ed 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
something that even his Greater IS
powerless TO take from him, This
theory is directly contradicted by
our Lord Jesus Himself, when He
said, Fear Him who is able to des-
troy both soul and body in Gehenna"
the Second Death.-Matthew 10:
%; Ezekiel 1874, 20; Psalm 1920.
Some of our learned people talk
about 1.-The fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood 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.
While 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 diso6eyed Him He would
take that life from them. Not even
a hint was given that the penalty for
disobedience would be life contin-
ued in eternal torment. Genesis
.2:17; 3:19; Romans 6:23.) Man
lost his right 20 life by taking a
wrong course. From Gods stand
point, the human race is dead. Thus
we see that mankind today are not
children of God. Adam was a son of
God until he forfeited that blessed
relationship. Since his sin thPle
have been no human sons of God eX-
cept Jesus while he was in the flesh.
When our Lord came into the
world, He opened up way whereby
those who would follow closely in
His steps might become sons Cf God
on the very highest plane rf life. II
faithful unto death, they would
share the glorious reward which the
Father had promised Him-immor-
tally, life in its highest form. FOR
over 1900 years the call to saintship
has gone quietly forth Compare
lively few have responded. But it
is to these alone tina CD now be-
comes the Father-John ILL.,. Ro-
Lob