Newspapers / The Conflict (Memphis, Tenn.) / Feb. 22, 1925, edition 1 / Page 8
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PAGE EIGHT THE CONFLICT The Royal Conflict A DEBATE ON, “IS THE BIBLE PvEALLY GOD’S WORD?” I Bible and find out ?” she asked, in what they tell us about their A FATEFUL MEETIMG That would be a unique plan sure enough,” said Brandol, with a smile that he tried hard to suppress. “If I wanted to find out about the trustworthi ness of a man I hardly think I would go to the man for in . - J.V4. iXi _ j was SO free and cordial with her j Bible. They died trusting in | formation. And so I am not “Look out that you do not fall found herself much in its promises, and I hope to fol- sure that the Bible writers are in love with her.” “What! with littje garet ?” his presence, and her dread low in their footsteps. Mar- “Well, I hope you will not fol low them very soon,” answered and restraint gradually dimin ished. About two weeks after Bran- Brandol. “But it does seem a re atter speaker wqs Bran-1 attended services little curious. Miss Belvin, that dol Beckham, a recent graduate of one of the European univer sities. He was now returning to his Virginia home, after an absence of three years, ahd it was on the train as he was near, ing home that he met an old friend who had uttered the note of warning. Margaret, the young woman to whom the friend referred, although not related to Bran dol by ties of kinship was yet an inmate of Brandol’s home, and they two were members of the same family. The relation ship between them was as fol lows: Mr. Beckham, Brandol’s father, had married Margaret’s widowed mother, so that Bran dol and Margaret were brought together in the same family as step-brother and step-sister. Up to the time this story opens they had never seen each other, their parents having -married during Brandol’s first year at the university. The parents in their letters to Brandol had al ways referred to Margaret as his little sister Margaret, and he had continued during his life at the university to think of her as such. Already in their lette.rs Brandol and Margaret had begun tp call each other brother and sister, and this cus tom was kept up after Brandol’s return. Ever since the mar riage of his father he had felt a growing desire to see Mar garet, and now that he was soon to cross the threshold of his new home his curiosity concern ing her touched mark. Happy greetings and congra tulations raged like a storm in the Beckham mansion on the night of Brandol’s arrival. Neighbors and friends came in with hearty welcomes, and as they entered the parlor they found a young man tal|l and erect, with black hair and eyes, with countenance pale and clear, and with a physique and bearing that never failed to attract at tention. One young lady had remark ed in Margaret’s presence, the day after Brandol’s return, that she thought it was such a pity that a nice young man like Mr. Brandol Beckham should be an infidel, that she had heard that he had become one at the uni versity. . The remark fell like a light ed match upon Margaret’s in flammable heart, and «he re turned to her home with a shud- that way dering dread of her apostate mit that wUere the Beckham family were cannot account for. Sure- - - ’ ’ , , tiveness, Margaret, as to what , writings? members. During \the walk homeward from church he found himself in a company of young people, all of whom were of the feminine persuasion. “I felt sorry for poor old Doc tor Brooks this morning,” Brandol said in an earnest tone. His remark caused aln epi demic of exclamations from the young ladies. “What do you mean?” asked Miss Grilton. “I was grieved that he made such a spectacle of himself,” re plied Brandol. “Mr. Beckham, do tell us what you mean. I thought the ser mon was very impressive,” she said. “Mi,ss Grilton,” said Brandol in a tone of mingled impatience and compassion, “do you mean to intimate that you believe that story about the Ark?” “I assuredly do,” she replied. “It is in the Bible.” Brandol’s only answer at first was a sympathetic smile. “And you think that settles it?” he asked. “Of course. The Bible is in spired, and therefore it must tell the truth.” “You are sure of that, are he asked. Who ever heard of such a you?” question?” spoke up Miss Elna Belvin. “Of course the Bible is inspired.” “How do you know?” asked high-water i Brandol. I “The matter needs no proof,” she said. “Such a great book must have been inspired.” “Your theory then is that every great book must have been inspired,” said Brandol. “By no means,” she' replied with an extra touch of vigor in her voice; “but the Bible is the only one great book. There is no other book that can be com pared with it.” “I declare I must take my 6yes to an optician,” remarked Brandol. Every one turned suddenly toward the speaker. Margaret asked with some anxiety, “What is the matter?” “I cannot see straight,” he replied. “Do you know I can not see that point that Miss Belvin makes? She says that t;he Bible must be inspired be cause it is the greatest book in the world, but I cannot see it I am willing to ad- the Bible surpasses you have on hand a belief which jthe best ones to testify concern ing their own inspiration,” he said. “Why not?” asked Margaret, in surprise. “Do you think the Bible writers would tell an un truth?” “I cannot speak with posi- ly you do not hold to your ory simply as one of the preci ous heirlooms of the family?” the Bible writers would do.” They had reached their home, | At this point they were ap-1 were seated on the top step of their front porch, where they continued their conversa tion. Oh, brother Brandol, what preached by friends returning from a different church. A vol ley of remarks were exchanged, after which the party separat ed. One person there was in ^ strange remark to make. I that first party whose heart had been shaken by a small whirlwind, though she had scarcely uttered a word. Too much bewildered she had been to speak. It was Margaret. The question, “How do you know the Bible Is inspired?” kept ringing in her mind and would not cease. She was a beautiful girl, of nineteen years of age, and three years previ ously had given her heart to the Savior. The church, of which she was a member held her in the highest esteem. She was loved for her sweet Chris tian character, and in her Sun day school she stood pre-emin ent as a Bible student. Her facility in memorizing and ex plaining the scriptures, as well as her love for the book, had Brandol, lookin made her one bi‘ the most ef fective teachers in the school. Her knowledge of the scriptures was indeed remarkable, and those who had heard her ex pounding the Word to her class had often remarked on her ma turity of thought and speech. She had a class of small boys, i come deceived about some and their devotion to her was | things, but the Bible was not as beautiful as it was natural. ^ written by foolish men. It The question as to the inspira-1 would have been hard to de- tion of the sacred volume had I ceive them about anything, and never disturbed her childlike | certainly they could not have faith. She had occasionally j been deceived about so simple heard and read criticisms and a thing as the manner in which even sneers at the Bible, but they wrote their books. If they she had always recoiled from did not know, brother, who them as being the expression of j does know ? They ought to blasphemy. When Brandol had | know more about it than any- at first asked for proofs of the | body else.” inspiration of the Bible she ex- j “That sounds very pretty, pected that several proofs would ! Margaret, but the same kind of be immediately forthcoming, | argument could be used con cerning those absurd books in Our day which the writers claimed to have written under divine inspiration—books like the Mormon Bible, or that of Christian Scientists. I did not know any one thought the Bible was not a good book, fbu make me feel awful. T' very idea of Moses, or Samuel, or Paul writing deceitfully— why I cannot concieve of such a thing.” “Not too fast, my fair debat er,” replied Brandol. “I did not say they were deceitful, nor that the Bible i.= a false book. The only question with your .'lurable brother is ‘May not these good men have been de- eived?” “What! Deceived as to how they wrote their books? Do you believe that Moses and Paul and others like them did not know how they composed their own writings?” “Were you aware,” said r at her with faint smile, “that good people, even in this day, become fanat ics and are deceived abuot communications which they claim to have received from God?” “Of course,” she replied, some foolish people might be- brother, and with this dread every other volume in litera- came a touch of pity. But Bran- ture; but for the life n' ry^e J dol. unconscious of the thoughts cannot see that it must « that that filled her mind, was de account be inspired.” lighted with his little sister as “Mr. Beckham, you shock he incorrectly called her. Though me,” replied Miss Elna. “I would she lacked several inches of, no more think of doubting the equaling him in height, yet when inspiration of the Bible than I she was compared with ethers j would of committing murder, about her, it was seen that shejNo, indeed; my dear father and by no means deserved the dimi-j mother, in fact all my people nutive title of “little.” Brandol j before me, have believed in the but to her dismay no proofs were offered, but in the place of them came the inquiry to her own mind, “How do we know?” For several minutes after they parted from the others she was | the silent, but suddenly she turned and said: “Oh, brother Bran- what these writers say, because dol, you don’t know how your if they do not know about their words make me feel.” writings, who does know?” Her look and manner smote “Brother Brandol, surely you him to the heart. She contin- are not comparing the Bible ued, “Of course the Bible is in- with these books?” spired. It must be, but my “Yes, but there are books, mind is in such a whirl that I like the Koran, which have cannot think of the proofs.” | made a profound impression on “Don’t worry your head the race, and Mohammed de- about the matter. It is a sub- dared that he got his message ject of much mystery,” he said, from God.” unwilling at the moment to af- “I thought that Mohammed flict her mind with the doubts got his teachings largely from that clouded his own. “Maybe,, the Old Testament,” replied after all, it is inspired, in some | Margaret. “I have read that sense, though of course no one | the Koran is partly modeled on writing?’ I do not say that we must believe everything that any person might say about his writing, but I do say that we ought to believe what men like Moses and Paul say. How could they have been deceived about such a simple thing? You your self said they were good men. If -so, then why can you not trust them to tell us how they composed their writings? I trust these men to tell me about Christ and Heaven, and I have built my eternal hopes on what they say. Shall I not also trust them in what they say about I cannot un derstand how a Christian, who believes what these men say about the gospel of Christ, can be afraid to believe what they say about the manner in which they Avrote their own books. One or two of these writers possibly might have been mis taken, but brother how could this have happened to all of them? And you must remem ber there were nearly forty of them, and they did not live and write together, but they wrote separately, at different times and places, during fifteen hun dred years.” “I can see how all of them might have imbibed the same delusion about . inspiration,” said Brandol. “You see the first writer, back in the begin ning started out with the idea of his inspiration, and as each writ er would begin his work, he would imagine that he too was inspired,, and thus the belief would be handed down.” “Brother, you make the Bi ble writers out to be a lot of simpletons. The idea of saying that Moses imagined that God gave him what to write in the Bible, when really God had nothing to do with it; and then that men like Samuel and Solo mon, Daniel and Isaiah—men like Peter, Paul and John, each imagine that he re ceived a special message from God, like all the others, when in fact he did not! Such a pack of w'eak men as your theory makes them could not have written a book like the Bible, a book that has lived so long and done So much for the world.” “Don’t forget one fact, my charming reasoner,” he said, “and that is that I did not claim that these men were deceived about their productions. They do get a little off sometimes in their speculations about the fu ture and also about the past. But they certainly had sense enough to know how they got their facts. Surely, not all of them could have been deceived on that point.” “So you do believe that the of us can tell exactly how was composed.” “Why can w'e not look in the might say that we must believeinspired?” asked Mar garet with timorous delight. “Not that I am aware of,” he said with a smile. “I believe the writers knew how they got their books, but please remember they nowhere tell us how they wrote these books. They might have told us, and I would believe them if they had told us, but the one melancholy fact is that they maintain a remark able silence on this subject. Why do they not say something about it?” “They do, don’t they?” asked Margaret. “Ah, that is just the point. I thought you were letting your ‘supposins’ get the upper hand the Old Testament. But the question is, ‘Were Moses and Paul and the others deceived (Continued on page nine)
The Conflict (Memphis, Tenn.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 22, 1925, edition 1
8
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