p. 412 | An Age of Infidelity by F.

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · Jun 28, 1920

FromAustraliasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 26.

An Age of Infidelity

By F.

A RECENT issue of the Australian Christian World (May 21, 1920) lamented the fact that “the tendency of the age is to ignore God—the God of the Bible and of the Christian and Jewish Churches.” There can be no doubt as to the honesty of the lament, because we are undoubtedly living in an age of infidelity. Infidelity literally means lack of faith, and by usage has come to mean lack of faith in God and the religion of the Bible, a condition which can also be truly expressed by the terms atheism and scepticism.

The whole world lives by faith and to declare that one has no faith is equivalent to asserting that one does not live. Many people assure us with great vehemence that they are sceptics, atheists, unbelievers; but unbelief is in itself a belief, even as with a traveller the absence of a mapped-out course is nevertheless a course. Yet the world is peopled with those who call themselves infidels, and with those who are infidels without calling themselves such. Lack of faith is a characteristic of practically every class of people, and, saddest of all sad facts, is particularly prevalent among the churches. Preached from many an elaborate pulpit, taught in countless religious colleges, and fostered by the leading theological literature, lack of faith in God and disbelief in His Word is a prominent feature of nominal Christendom today. Call it atheism, scepticism, agnosticism, infidelity, higher criticism, or what you will, the unbelief is there, proving that we are in the last days, for the Saviour Himself has placed on record the question: “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. F.