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Bible Religion

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 44.

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Bible Religion

By C. P. WHITFORD

C. P. WHITFORD
“PURE religion and undefiled . . . is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27. From this scripture we learn that the person who has Bible religion will “keep himself unspotted from the world.” Those who have Bible religion do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. Do you ask me how I know that such is the case? I answer in the language of Inspiration, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15.
What is there in this world that is displeasing to God? “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:16, 17.
One who possesses Bible religion will not be controlled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life. In short, he will have no love for the pleasures that are so much enjoyed by worldly-minded people. His heart and affections will have been so changed that he will love the weekly prayer meeting, and he will love to talk of Jesus and his love.
It is quite possible for persons to be baptized and unite with the church who are not dead to the allurements of sin. They may attend church, but they also play cards, attend moving-picture shows, go to the circus and theater, and to many other questionable places of amusement. Have such persons got religion? If so, what kind of religion is it? They love the same pleasures they did before they professed conversion. Such persons are described in 2 Tim. 3:4 as being “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” It is true, they have a form of godliness when they attend church, and it is also true that they have a form of ungodliness when they attend the moving-picture show, and other places where worldly-minded people go for pleasure.
The person who has Bible religion will heed the admonition given in 2 Peter 1:5-7. He will add to his faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. We are told if these Christian graces abound in us, we shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Are the majority of those who profess to have religion fruitful in a knowledge of the Bible? Are they familiar with the teachings of the Word of God? Is the Bible the Book of books with them?
Reader, it means more to have religion, Bible religion, than many have thought. It means to come out from the world and be separate. Jesus says: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19.
If you and I live the same life that Jesus lived, worldly-minded people will not seek our company nor shall we love theirs.