Evening star., 1924-03-23
HOLDS VIRGIN BIRTH
POSSIBLE FOR RACE
DR.. Stratton. in Debate, Says
Revelations of Science Aid
Religious Claim.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, March a2.-Remark-
able advances of modern science
which have made the miracles OF
yesterday the commonplaces OF to-
day reject the claims of modernists
that the virgin birth of Christ is a
scientific impossibility, the Rev. John
Roach Stratton, pastor of Calvary
Baptist Church, declared tonight in
the third of a series of five funda-
mentalist m odernist debates with the
Rev. Charles Francis Potter, pastor
Of West Side Unitarian Church.
Dr. Stratton upheld the affirmative
on the question:
"kesolved, That the miraculous
virgin birth of Jesus Christ is fact
and that it is an essential Christian
doctrine" He invoked science to up
hold his thesis that in the absence
of final laws of natural phenomena,
the doctrine of the virgin birth was
TO be accepted as miracle. The
might even be proved by future
scientific researches, he intimated.
Insists On Facts.
DR.. Potter confined himself to an at
tempt to prove that the virgin birth
was improbable and unnecessary as
an essential doctrine of the Chris
tian religion He insisted that his
fundamentalist opponent would have
10 prove the actual fact of the virgin
In the first of the debates, the
judges gave victory to DR.. Potter,
upholding the negative on the ques-
ton:
Resolved, That the Bible is the in
fallible word of God" In the second,
DIR. Stratton won. upholding the neg
ative on the subject: Resolved, That
the earth and man came by evolu-
ton
Virgin Birth Possible.
No natural law and no fact of
science, DR. Stratton asserted, would
make the virgin birth impossible.
ssembling authorities to illustrate
scientific proof of parthogenesis, or
non-Sexual generation, among insects
and lower forms of animal life. he
pointed out that science had not yet
plumbed the depth of the laws of
natural phenomena Recent evolu-
tionary discoveries in biology and
bio-chemistry, he went on. made il
impossible to gainsay the possibility
of parthogenesis among higher mann
mails.
Turning to the religious aspect of
the question. DR.. Stratton said "spe-
officially and emphatically." that he
believed the virgin birth was
miracle and should be accepted as
such; that there were not only good
grounds for believing that miracles
were possible, but that lin an inf
mite universe. ruled by living God
they are necessary and Inevitable"
Creation of Adam.
If God created the universe and
created Adam. without human
mother. he could have created Christ
without human father, DR.. STRAIT
ton argued. quoting: With God
nothing shall be impossible"
The advent of Saviour through
virgin birth was foreseen by ancient
prophesy, and was occasioned by hui
man need for such a supernatural
helper expressed from the very
dawn of history by all peoples" he
said.
Weighing the historical evidence,
DR.. Stratton said he found the facts
proving the virgin birth unusually
clear, specific. trustworthy and in
deed overwhelming" There was the
testimony of trustworthy witnesses,
who told of the facts with circum-
stantial detail and persuasiveness, he
continued.
DR.. Stratton quoted long sections
of the gospels of Matthew and Luke
and read from other sections of the
Bible.
Reference in Gospels.
The argument that the virgin birth
was invalidated because other sec
tions of the gospel did not refer to it,
was also attacked by DIR. Stratton,
who insisted that indirect reference
to it existed outside the gospels of
Matthew and Luke. Explaining ST
Paufs silence on the subject, he said
he did not refer to the miracles and
to many of the significant events in
Christ's life.
he said, lis to deny the integrity of
the Bible and to reject it's authority.
To reject one part of the new testa-
ment as untrustworthy is to invali-
date it all
Object of Worship.
Second, he went on, the doctrine
has been declared to be essential by
all branches of the Christian church.
On its acceptance, depended the re-
liability and efficiency of the Chris
tian atonement. Lastly, he concluded,
the doctrine alone gave an adequate
object of worship to Christians.
DR.. Potter prefaced his argument
with the assertion that most Chris
tianS agreed on one point, namely
that Jesus was what He was, be-
cause the spirit of God was in Him"
He was not interested, he AIDED. in
the particular way in which Jesus
became divine"
Science has proved the existence
of parthogenesis in the lower forms
of life up to the amphibians. but not
the possibility among human beings.
he continued. In fact, he added, he
would content himself with the sci
entiffcally supported assertion that it
would be extremely improbable
among human beings.
No Mention by st. Paul.
Dr. Potter said st. Paul made no
mention of the virgin birth Only in
the gospels of Matthew and Luke was il
referred to, and in Matthew there
were contradictions, he declared.
"The only document of Importance
as evidence" DR.. Potter continued,
lis an unsigned, contradictory state
ment, made by one who was not an
eyewitnesses, giving hearsay rumors.
and written down sixty years after
the event. not as a record Of facts.
but confessedly as a theological tract
to prove that Jesus was the Messiah
expected by the Jews
DR.. Stratton, he went on, had not
proved the virgin birth as a fact and
thus 1t should not be considered an
essential Christian doctrine. No doc
trines on such f1imsy foundation
ought to be a test question for young
men entering the Christian ministry.
he added. .,