The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-07-20

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a like dilettant-
ism? Has it not been a COM
mon thing to have men say, "It
makes no difference what a man be-
lieve so he acts right?" Such an ex-
preston is common to the person who
has practically no religious profession,
but many in the churches of Jesus
Christ are saying, "Oh, we don't care!
One minister is as good as another.
We are under obligation to believe
one man as well as another Has not
that position been taken to such an
extent that the sense of discrimination
as to the minister's message has be-
come deadened or lost? A distin-
guished American pastor said not long
ago that he was preaching in the
Highlands of Scotland and he found
himself attacked at the close of his SER
mon as to the squaring of his teaching
with the Bible and with the standards
of the Scottish church. Is it not a rare
thing to have a minister criticized be-
cause he is not sound or orthodox?
How a minister is dressed how he
speaks, what are his mannerisms? are
universal subjects of remark, but rare
1y is 1t asked, SIS he sound in doc
trine?" Many at once become incensed
If you suggest such a thing as I'M
Soundness in doctrine, and today a
large proportion of these are professed
Christians and liberal supporters of
Christian work.
The text was written by the Apostle
Paul and in the short letter from
which it is taken Paul speaks some
five times about this soundness. An
examination of the different verses
shows that the word translated sound
as an adjective means primarily
healthful or h~ealth-giving. What we
note of the trend of Paul's mind guild
ed by the Holy Spirit as found in his
writings in the two epiStles to Timothy
and the one from which this text is
taken, leads to 40 confusion as to his
desire to purify Christian doctrine or
teaching. He warns us, too, of MANY
unruly and vain takers and deceivers
whose mouths must be stopped, teach
ing things which they ought not" Writ
ing about the same to Timothy he
spoke of the time when men will not
endure sound doctrine, but will heap
to themselves teachers having itching
ears, and they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be
turned unto fables" Doctrine is SIM
ply teaching of any kind. 1t may be
profound or superficial, right or wrong,
pleasing or disturbing.
Now, what is sound doctrine or
teaching? There must be some cri-
terion or judgment. The suggestion of
the Apostle Paul in his initial way
gives one of these. This preaching
must be health-giving, and as to spir-
itual doctrine, that would mean that it
must be health-giving spiritually.
In the first place, the teaching
should be simple, never causing a
doubt in the minds of the hearers rs
to the intent of the teacher. In his
first letter to the Corinthians Paul, re-
ferring to the man who speaks for God,
gives warning that his speech must not
be like a trumpet that gives an uncer-
tain sound. Far better is it that a man
is at once recognized as speaking
against the truth than that he is so I'M
certain in his message that the needy
soul does not know whether there is
anything in the speech for him or not,
The indefiniteness of much of the re-
ligious teaching of today is a promi-
nent characteristic of it. Jesus Christ
was never misunderstood as to mans
belief and life. The message of
'Billy' Sunday, or Gypsy Smith, is not
misunderstood.
In the second place the message
should be sound In the sense that it is
in accordance with the accepted belief
of the Christian centuries. There
have been alterations from the truth
at practically every point, yet the ag-
gregate of Christian belief is trust
worthy and cannot be misunderstood.
The confusion of the present day is
universally acknowledged, but fifty
years ago this confusion did not exist.
The Goddess philosophy of today, I'M
questionabiy finding it's Matching place
in the German universities and theo-
logical schools, and the theology of
the flood of fiction and other more seri-
literature that has swept over the
land, has fallen altogether into ruin in
the light of the present war.
Red-blooded and thinking men are
driven to the necessity of c~onceding
that possibly the acceptance of the
proposition that the Bible is the Word
of God, infallible in it's records, and
supreme in authority, is the need of
the day and is the only guaranty of the
soundness of doctrine.