The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-11-09

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l&SSSsE M "a Faith may be
lszssss.zss@ssszA sssas-A understood as the
body of Christian truth given once for
all in the first century, embracing the
fundamentals of our Christian sys-
tem-the infallibility of the Holy
Scriptures, the deity Of Christ, the lost
state of man by nature, the only hope
of recovery by the atonement of Christ
cred from the standpoint of the church
in it's visible form or that of the indi-
vidual, personal interest in the SUBJ
ject being emphasized with reference
to the latter rather than with the for
mer. The aspect of the former, be-
cause It determines the aspect of the
latter, shall have fuller treatment.
Faith has had a varied experience.
For some three centuries it was held
with comparative fidelity. Then the
clouds of paganism and lust for en-
bracing Christianity as an element Of
political life began to gather, For
some centuries there was great dark
ness. In the period Of the Crusades
there were Pickering lights. Then
darkness came over Christian thought
until the days of Huss in Bohemia and
Wickliffe in England. Persecution in
Bohemia and Indifference in England
soon brought another season Of dark
ness, until in Germany, under Martin
Luther, the light arose that has shone
for four hundred years, and accounts
for what we have of the true faith to-
day.
Is the faith of the church, as such,
wreck today?' Do we find all sails set
and drawing, bound confidently for
distant port? Or do we see that church
hesitating, staggering in the midst of
changing teachings as to fundamentals
like the ship with contrary winds and
laboring hard to avoid the rocks on
which it may be total wreck?
Is it not true that some denomina-
tons of Christians while still clinging
to orthodox creeds have abandoned
those creeds in their teachings? Faith
full men in some denominations are
now crying to their brethren to sup
press many Of the church publications
as they are distinctly infidel in their
teachings. Is 1t not true that many
hungry souls go to church and come
away hungry because they have not
heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
How about the individual? Not long
ago a young man, who was gradu.
ate of one of Americas greatest uni
versities and was finishing his second
year in an orthodox theological semi.
nary, said to the writer that he had
lost his faith, had no confidence in the
Bible, did not accept the deity of Jesus
Christ, and was thoroughly unhappy.
This is an extreme case, but the writer
has had many young people of liberal
education give substantially the same
testimony.
What is the somewhat remote rea.
son for this situation as to religious
teaching? We must go to the land OF
Martin Luther. The work of corrupt
ing the Bible had progressed until
nearly all German universities and
theological schools had repudiated the
faith Of Luther, although clinging to
his name. Learned men said certain
results had been attained and these
results diScredited the Bible. With
amazing rapidity this conclusion took
hold in England and Scotland and our
own country. Destructive biblical
criticism and Darwinian evolution
swept over nearly all our great uni.
versities and our Bible was in the
scrap heap. Those of us who have
watched the trend of German thee.
logical teaching have observed a ire.
mendous advance since the days of
Schleiermacher, Baur and Hoffman to
the days of Kuenen, Graf and Cornill
1t was bad enough with the former,
worse with the latter and the final
plunge was made by men like Neitsz-
che, who utterly ignored the Bible
and defied God himself. Is it any won.
der that Germany is suffering today,
and is it much less wonder that the
Saxon world is suffering likewise?
When will men learn wisdom?
For the individual, especially re-
speeding young people, the old-fash.
Toned religion must come back. The
old religious home must be restored.
How many professedly religious homes
are religious wrecks!
Back to God! Back to Jesus Christ!
To thus get back we must get back to
the Bible. Thank God it is being pub
lished as never before and the demand
for it is beyond the supply. Think
God for this fact as to the hunger Of
the people for truth.