AMENDING THE BIBLE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 1, 1902

AMENDING THE BIBLE.

Is the Turk alone in Desiring to Amend the Bible?

The sensitiveness of Mohammedanism to the ethics of its profession was illustrated in a peculiar way recently in the city of Constantinople. A book was published by one of the missions there; and, like all other books, was required to pass through the hands of the government censor before it could be offered to the public. In a paragraph on the sincerity of Christian esteem the author quoted this text: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” The censor erased this verse, claiming that it was an insult to Mohammedanism. He said that even in a work on Christian ethics this text might call to mind the massacres where Turks were accused of killing their Armenian brethren. The verse would teach that the Turks were liars, because they, too, claim to love God. The Turk was willing to compromise the matter if the author would make the text read: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his sister, he is a liar.” This he thought would remove the difficulty, as women were not generally slain in the massacres. But the text is true. We can not love God, and at the same time hate and destroy those whom God loves.