The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-04
Questions Bibles Inspiration.

To the Editor, The Washington Herald:
In one of Mr.. Bryan's Bible Talks
there are passages that are evidently
in conflict with our generally ac-
cepted knowledge of the unievrsality
of law. the unity Of nature. and the
immutab Bile law Of causation. I'VE
might as WELL" says Mr.. Bryan, meet
the issue here, for 1t arises often In
reading the Bible. Do you believe
in the supernatural, or have you gone
through the Bible and eliminated
everything you cannot explain? Have
you risen to the Bible plane, or have
you tried to bring the Bible down
to your level? Is 1t inspired or just
the word Of men? Have you ac-
copied the Bible as the word OF God
and received 1t upon its own author
ity? If you believe the things re-
corded actually happened, you can
understand Paul. II. on the contrary,
YOU reject the supernatural, then the
Bible becomes to you book of nc
tion-worse still, you regard 1t as
a false record. no longer binding
on your conscience. but just volume
from which you select the passages
that you like, Is YOU would select
them from the writings OF philioso-
pher, a poet or novelist.
II belief in the supernatural is alb
solutely essential in reading the Bible.
then to the vast majority OF men
it must remain incomprehenstve. II
we must profess TO believe what we
cannot explain then We become mere
hypocrites and degrade the mental
and moral faculties with which Goa
has endowed us. 1t would be difn-
cult. perhaps utterly impossible, for
most Of US TO rise to plane we
know not of, or comprehend the in
comprehensive. To accept the Bible
as the word of God without evidence
is a degrading superstition, repu-
diation of mans divine power when
distinguishes him from all other
animals and makes him veritably OF
all we observe the roof and crown
OF all things To those who realize
that the vast, illimitable. incompre-
hensive universe of God is governed
by law-immutable and eternal, In
the indestructibility of matter, the
persistence of force. the system OF
interminab.e connection which indis-
solubly binds together all human
events cannot accept the idea that
there is now, ever was, or ever will
! NC lIlHR super NV
of nature are the ordinances OF God,
therefore, that which is above nature
must be above God, which is unthink-
able.
Whatever we perceive. senSate or
know always consists of comparisons
the referring of one thing to another
Save by comparison We know nothing
of size, weight, color, temperature
etc Remember that this planet
which We inhabit for the brief period
of our existence is but mere speck
compared with the solar system and
the solar system itself shrinks to an
indistinguishable atom compared with
the myriad and myriad upon myriad
of worlds that occupy space illimit-
able. 1t Is believable that the
Divine Architect, who planned ana
constructed this infinite universe OF
worlds. should deem it necessary to
visit a tiny portion of this planet TO
tell men of Hi own creation how
they should write alb ook that would
reveal to all the rest Of His children
for all future time what He hao
forgotten or overlooked? Why this
implied insult to the intelligence OF
the Creator, this implied attribution
VI TeHllSSHeSS III inc
of his duty? Admitting, however. for
the sake of agument, or rather for
proper presentation of the PROPOSE
ton that God did visit Moses, David
Ezekiel Isaiah and the other Hebrew
prophets and did inspire them, did
give them authority to write a book
in his name. isn't it reasonable to ex-
pect that these writer's would agree
upon essentials, that they wouldn't
contradict each other, that the several
parts would harmonic and form
complete and consistent narrative,
that they wouldn't make statements
in direct conflict with abvious facts
In the physical world, that they
wouldn't make assertions that are
absurd and ridiculous even from a
human standard? The Old Testament
and the New Testament are full OF
contradictions and absurdities. For
Instance. in the first chapter of Gene
sis we are told: In the beginning God