Inexcusableness of Error.
By Watchman
To BE wrong in religious belief and practice is neither blameless nor harmless. There is a radical distinction between right and wrong, whereby wrong is wrong and nothing else. It is an inspired declaration that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. If he thinks wrong, he is wrong, and is accountable for being wrong. There may be strong tendencies and attractions to erroneous thinking, believing, and doing, but this liability to wrong instead of right does not create a necessity for being wrong. We may be right, and hence we are criminal when we are wrong, endowed as we are with the capacity for, and furnished with the means of, knowing and doing what is right. It cannot be admitted that we are actually doomed, either in the constitution of our natures, or in any combination of circumstances, to unavoidable deviations from what is right in religious belief and practice. We are plainly accountable for both our opinions and our conduct, and therefore our errors are inexcusable. This is true, even of the heathen, as is conclusively shown by the apostle Paul, who says: "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead, so that they are without excuse." Yet we are told that the heathen are "acceptably religious," as though their supposed sincerity would cover the multitude of their superstitious atrocities. But receiving the oracles of God rather than the platitudes of men, the conclusion is unavoidable that the heathen are unacceptably irreligious, and if they, with only the light of nature, are inexcusable in their ignorance and disobedience of God, those who have a written revelation from God may know what they ought to believe, as well as what they ought to do. The Bible that they have is all-sufficient for their right direction. While the mariner may err who has neither chart nor compass nor star to guide him on the watery way, and the traveler may go astray when shrouded in midnight darkness, voyagers upon the ocean of life, and wayfarers of time, need not lose the true course for reaching Heaven. The great Teacher said to the Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." Too many are in the same condemnation. A right knowledge of the Scriptures, possible to them, might keep from fatal error. Not only is there an all-sufficient directory, but an infallible guide, for conducting into all truth. For this purpose was the Holy Spirit promised in those cheering words, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." Those having these advantages need not err, and as they are capable of being right, they are criminal for being wrong. There is responsibility and criminality implied when it is said concerning those who were wrong in their views and conduct in relation to God, that "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Through their aversion to knowing, loving, and serving God, it is said that they "changed the truth of God into a lie." In these inspired declarations is indicated the real source of religious error. The evil is ascribed to the wicked heart in which it originates. All errors in belief and practice, religiously, are the offspring of a wrong state of heart—voluntarily wrong when it might be right. Where thinking and acting are not right, the heart is not right. Those who are wrong are wrong because they love to be wrong. If they wanted to be right, they could be right. Surely it must be vastly important to candidly and prayerfully examine all religious opinions by the only infallible standard of religious truth, which is the word of God as contained in the holy Scriptures, concerning which an inspired apostle says: "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." The inspired psalmist said: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Such help in avoiding a wrong way can hardly be overestimated. They who do not avail themselves of it are wronging themselves, insuring, as they do, their own condemnation. Searching the Scriptures and depending upon the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit, they need not err.