Paganized Christianity
By Editor
We have steadily maintained that the teachings of the “New Theology” involved the essential principles of heathenism, and that the substitution of this new philosophy for the plain teaching of the Scriptures was in reality a return to paganism. As the advocates of these modern views are given opportunity to develop their doctrines more fully, we can see their real meaning the more plainly. The fascinating and apparently very religious doctrine of God in everything, which has of late found so much favor with some writers and teachers, is simply a variation of the pagan theology which deified the powers of nature. The ancient pagans regarded each of the many manifestations of force as a god; the modern philosophers recognize all forces as one, and to them God is Infinite Power, a Universal Presence, Infinite Personality, etc. In the light of scientific study and discovery, the many forces of the ancient pagans, which they regarded as personal agencies, have been reduced to one Personal Agency, who is the god of the modern philosophers. The difference is one of number, but not of kind. It is the heathen conception of God. The personal God revealed in the Scriptures is of a different order altogether. Our attention is again called to this subject by an editorial in a leading journal, from which we take the following extract:— In spite of the dictionaries, paganism was not merely “the worship of false gods.” The paganism of the Greek and the Norseman was not bare heathenism; its essence, as Carlyle says, was “a recognition of the forces of nature as godlike, stupendous, personal agencies.” In particular, Carlyle calls the Norse religion a “consecration of valor;” so Matthew Arnold calls Greek paganism “fidelity to nature—the best nature.” . . . Pagan myth, with its gaze of childlike wonder out upon the world, is gone; but that which was true in the pagan spirit, the recognition of the divine in the world, can be preserved to him who has the Christian faith. The new interpreters of religion declare their belief in the personality of God, but it is the pagan idea of a personal agency, rather than the Christian idea of a personal Being. It is the conception of God which is evolved by scientific investigation, rather than that which is revealed in the Word of God. And all this gives evidence of the paganizing of Christianity. It is a departing from the faith. We hear much these days about the return to nature idea; but taking Matthew Arnold’s definition of paganism as being “fidelity to nature,” there is more than a possibility that the return to nature may really involve a return to paganism. When men turn to human philosophy and scientific speculation instead of to divine revelation for their guidance, it is certain that their light will be turned into darkness. But we must recognize the fact that under no circumstances is darkness light, no matter how plausible the arguments which are advanced to prove it. Genuine Christianity has nothing in common with paganism. The pagan spirit did not recognize divinity incarnate when he came into the world, neither has it ever recognized “the divine in the world.” It has simply defied its own conceptions. Modern paganism is doing the same thing to-day, under the profession of a grander and higher Christianity. It has rejected the divine Saviour and his atoning work, and has put the human in the place of the divine. The result is a paganized Christianity. Do not be deceived by its beautiful phrases or its apparent sweetness and light. “Ask for the old paths.”