Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-17

stupid, dead times they refuse to endure any
discomfort or Inconvenience to obtain it, or
to turn away from any sef-sacrifce to de-
tend it.
The inmperiOus demands of heshy appe-
tites and inordinate desires for Daser things
exclude all proper and just appreca ton Of
the worth of truth and set an eXorbitant
value upon carnal Qualifications. If that
which is false s. ems to be more effective
than truth for serving the sOrdid ends of
seIfshness, the false isx called the true and
the true is denounced as the false. Thus all
spiritual values are confused and 1.-The moral
currency is debased" during such eras Of
decay and degeneration.
TO the great grief Of the prophet Jere-
miah such Il time came to his people in his
day, and he lamented most bitterly the cor
rupting righteousness through which tn cir
indulgence in vice and falsehood became
wanton while their interest in virtue and
truth became languid.
In agonizing distress he cried out: "Oh
that my head were waters and mine eyes a
fountain of tears, that l might weep day
and night for the slain of the daughter of
my people, Oh that had in the wilderness
a lodging place Of wayfaring men that
might leave my people, and go from them!
for they be all adulterers, an assembly of
treacherOus men. And they bend their
tongues like their bows for lies, but they are
not valiant for the truth upon the earth.
isaiah 9:1-3.)
In our day there are prevalent somewhat
similar conditions In our own country, and
throughou ChristendOm, there Is conSpicu-
Gus want of confident belief Of the truth
and courageous defense of it. Indeed, by a
certain class of writers on theological sub
iects it seems to be assumed that definite
truth is unattainable, unimportant, and non
essential.
The chief exponent OF this vogue was Al
brecht Ritschl, German theoloSlan OF the
! JjnH in nt n OEln
March 80, 1889. Many have both imbibed
and perverted his teachings, drawing infer
ence and prOclaiming propositions, winch
! they imagine are corOllaries OF his prln-
| ciples, but which most probably he would
reject, il he were living now and heard them
stated.
Ritschliansm rejects the inerrancy Of the
Holy Scriptures and all things supernatural
1t makes little Of logic, and rests its system
! if system it may be called, on Judgment
values" An eXemplificatiOn of its position
| is found In an utterance of leading Amerl-
! can Ritschlan who is reported as saying
! with reference to a definite belief In God:
I'VE do not know that there is God. But
Iif there is no God, then there is no moral
sysetm in the universe. That is horrible
condition, and to avoid 1T we make a ven
| ture, and we postulate there is a God. This
venture is our faith, and this postulate is
our Cod"
From such statements philosophic skep-
! tcism, as weM as theological doubt, eXudes
! like ink from the tail of the cuttle-fish. Ac-
cording to this view God, Christ, salvation
and eternal life are not really matters OF
knowledge, and any sort of belief concern
ing them arises sort of religious fog or
| mist from ones own Judgment values"
OF course, definite truth be neither
clear nor dear to man who holds such
views. He would probably share the spirit
of Pilates contemptuous question when the
Roman Governor said sneeringly to Jesus,
what is TRUTH" (John 1889 Many of
| the men, who have been dislodged from all
settled convictions Of truth by the specula-
| tive theories of Ritschl, place all authority
| in religion in their own feelings, experiences
! and intuitOns. They magnify feeling and
mnify truth. They fond Of affirming
| that religion is not creed, but life, if
| there were an irreconcilable conflict between
| what a man believes and what he is-a
! most absurd notion truly.
| They deprecate all discussion of theologi-
! cal questions as being un-Christan and I'M
| friendly to peace-becoming advocates of a
! specous pacifism with which nevertheless
much of their own aggressive talk is in con