What Constitutes a Christian?
By Clarence Santee
Will He Believe the Bible?
In childhood we were taught that one who implicitly believed the teachings of the Bible, and who, on the strength of that belief, and by the Spirit contained in that Word, had accepted of the Saviour there revealed, as there revealed, was a Christian. How is it to-day? That the name “Christian” is becoming more and more elastic, covering about all the wrong-doing and wrong-teaching that is found in the outside world, is evident to any person who, laying prejudice aside, will express an honest conviction. It is self-evident. Really, the result could not be otherwise as we see the attitude taken by many — perhaps a majority — of the speakers and writers. The Bible as a book of veracity and inspiration, the great and only source of a revealed Christian standard of morality, is attacked by professed Christian teachers. Creation as a Bible Doctrine
The creation, as taught in the Bible, through which we become acquainted with the works of God, and through His works, with Himself as God (Jer. 10:10-12), is questioned or openly denied. The reaping must come according to the seed sown. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3) is the question asked by the Holy Spirit. To prove that the above statements are not misleading, I will quote from writers of note and professed Christian experience. Prof. George B. Foster, for some time the leading teacher in the University of Chicago Divinity School, says: “Religion is not of divine or miraculous origin. It is not a religion from a God, but an achievement of man. . . . More and more people are giving up the idea that their religion is something handed down to them from a divine source. They are coming to see that their religion is just as good as, and better than, if it had been given to them without the work of human agencies.” — Dallas “Daily Times Herald,” December 27, 1908. The Rev. Artemas J. Haynes, speaking on the validity of the Scriptures, said: “The New Testament is not infallible. Any schoolboy can prove it from almost every page of the book. . . . We are to read the Bible as we read any other book, rejecting those parts which were incidental, accepting those parts which are permanent because of their inherent moral and spiritual grandeur. It is an old saying quoted from Bishop Butler, that it is the province of reason to pass upon the probability of any scripture. To conclude I would say that we are not to speak of the Bible as infallible, nor are we to speak of it as reliable expect in parts. It is certainly unreliable as a book of science; and I think very few would to-day accept the philosophy of Job. It is not always reliable ethically, especially in the Old Testament.” Many others maintain the same. A recent writer said, “Portions of the Bible are indecent, inhuman, and false.” The Judge and the Thing Judged
Setting the “reason” of man above the Scriptures, deciding upon the “probability” of their truthfulness, certainly leaves all men free to mount the judgment-seat and6acquit or condemn. The judge is higher than the thing to be judged; therefore in the above view, the judgment or reason of man is higher than the word of God as given in the Bible. It is at liberty to condemn such parts as it may not approve, and virtually must point out its own savior. One scripture says, “So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2:4, last clause. Having questioned the inspiration of the Scriptures, the account of creation becomes open to adjustment by every self-appointed Bible critic. A Seven-Thousand-Year Day
A leaflet entitled “Bible Study Club,” in which are printed lessons for study during the first three months of 1913, to be used in Sunday-schools, has the following: “God arranged a great week of seven days for His great work of bringing man to perfection. Six of these days prepared our planet to receive Adam as its lord and earthly king, an image of his Creator. The seventh day, which there began, is not yet completed — it lacks a thousand years of completion. . . . The seventh day of the creative week began with Adam’s creation, and has already lasted six thousand years, and is to be completed with the thousand years of Christ’s reign. The seventh creative day will be seven thousand years long. Whoever sees this to be a reasonable deduction, can easily suppose that the six preceding days of the Genesis account were likewise seven thousand years each.” “The seventh day, which there began, is not yet completed — it lacks a thousand years of completion.” This is the sober statement of one who claims to be a believer in the Bible as the revelation of God. If the seventh day of creation week is not yet a completed day, then God has not yet rested the seventh day, and the statement that “God did rest the seventh day” can not be a truth. Again, that “God blessed the seventh day [not a part of it], and sanctified it [set it apart for a sacred or holy use] because that in it He had rested,” would be deprived of all its meaning. In Ex. 20:11 we read, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day [rest day], and hallowed it.” That creation seventh day was rested upon by God Himself and was past when He blessed the day and set it apart or sanctified it for man’s use. This sanctification must have looked forward to future duplicates of that first rest day, in memory of that day, as past time can not be set apart for use in any way. Christ says, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. The Bible Says Twenty-Four Hours
The evidence is certain. The seventh day of creation was the last day of the first literal week of time. God sets it there, and it has no other commencement. The seventh day as rested upon by God, and set apart for man, was the same kind of day that man has had from that day to the present. God Himself said, “The seventh day is the Sabbath [rest day] of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” Ex. 20:10. We do not understand that man was to rest for seven thousand years, but that man was to recognize that the seventh day of twenty-four hours was God’s rest day, and when it came at the close of six days of labor, he was to acknowledge Him by resting as He rested, on His rest day. After stating that “the seventh day of creation week” will be seven thousand years in length, the writer gives his proof for these statements in the following language: “Whoever sees this to be a reasonable deduction, can easily suppose that the six preceding days of the Genesis account were likewise seven thousand years each.” We agree with the conclusion, because, in the light of the scripture, “whoever sees this to be a reasonable deduction, can easily suppose” anything, however unscriptural. The writer continues, “The seventh day of the creative week began with Adam’s creation,” also that Eve was created “in the beginning of the seventh day.” These are evidently deductions drawn from the statement that “on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made.” Gen. 2:2. Many have inquired as to the meaning of this language. I will read from other scriptures to explain the statement: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Ex. 20:11. If all that is in our heaven, earth, and sea was made in the six days, then man also was made in the six days. This agrees with Gen. 1:26, 27, 31. If “all” was made in six days, then we can see that “ended” must have the significance of “rested” or “ceased from.” The Septuagint, the oldest version of the Scriptures, reads, “And God finished on the sixth day His work which He made, and He ceased on the seventh day from all His works which He made.” Gen. 2:2. The writer of the lessons believes that Adam was really created, but that vegetation came by evolution. He says: “The account does not say that God made so many different kinds of grasses and fruit, trees, etc. It declares that under divine command the earth brought forth these various kinds. Nothing in the Genesis account would interfere with an evolutionary theory as respects vegetation.” We will try this “Genesis account” with the above statement. “The Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.” Gen. 2:4, last clause, and verse 5. To uphold the evolutionary theory for all vegetation, and in this way give some show of reason for a seven-thousand-year day in which it would come to a state of use for beasts and man, is the evident effort. This writer says, “The account does not say that God made” these. But as we have seen, “the account” does emphatically say that God made them before they were in the earth, and before they grew. God has carefully guarded the week of seven twenty-four-hour days all the way through. It was a continuation of the creation week. Leaving out this God-given record, no man could point out the time when twenty-four-hour days and seven-day weeks began. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” “For He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9. Believing this statement, Paul could speak by the Holy Spirit and say, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Heb. 11:3. It is not only that we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, but it is by the word of God that we understand it. Other speculations are vain, and lead to doubts as to the truthfulness of that Word. He who doubts that Word, is as a ship without a true chart or compass. He will drift here and there, but no man will ever drift into the harbor of heaven. He must pull against currents and tides. The drift will always carry him the other way.