THE BIBLE A HUMBUG! by O. A. Johnson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 21, 1878

THE BIBLE A HUMBUG!

By O. A. Johnson

There are many who pronounce the Bible a humbug; for they consider that its teachings are inconsistent with reason.

If that be true, then its principles must be a humbug. But who, except children, ever thought that it was a humbug for children to honor their parents? or who, except the lawless, ever thought it to be inconsistent to obey the just laws of a nation? Now if these laws are not a humbug, then they are true. This is an unavoidable conclusion.

Again: are the laws which protect our lives from the robber and assassin, and which protect our property from the thief, a humbug? Are the laws which protect the purity of the social relations, and which forbid our fellow-men to speak evil of us unjustly, a humbug? If all these principles are inconsistent, then all the fundamental laws of our civilized nations are a humbug. But man does not consider these laws an imposition. Then why reject the Bible, when, in fact, all laws of justice are founded upon its principles? If it is just that children should honor their parents, and that man should obey the just laws of a nation, is it not just that man should honor and obey his Creator? It certainly is just and consistent. If these principles are not a humbug, then the Bible cannot be a humbug; for its teachings are founded upon them. Those who despise and ridicule the Bible despise and ridicule principles which they, under other circumstances, uphold and defend. It would be well if such persons would consider this subject and be consistent. O. A. Johnson.