Newspapers / Southwide Baptist News and … / Dec. 9, 1921, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Southwide Baptist News and Ridgecrest Reporter (Marshall, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
-V-^ r • *, A-..' ’V |Ai I'* Ivj m IB i i |;m W c fL’ m •Gi^finrmB BAPTiRr m m ^>a «fw INTRODDCING SOUIHWIDECBAPTIST SOOTHWIDE BAPTIST is as wide as the South, as narrow as the doctrines of the regular Baptist churches of the south and as wide too. The personnel of its staff of writers is guarantee of this, Amos Clary, the associate editor, is a graduate of Furman University and of Rochester Theologi cal Seminary. He was for somfe|time Field Edi tor of Religious Herald and is author of several books. Judge J H. White, the publisher, a well known Baptist deacon and banker of Marshall, N. C. is a layman of proved efficiency. B. W. Spilman, widely known Sunday School specialist. President of North Carolina, Baptist Convention and of Southern Baptist Assembly at Ridgecrest, is on the regular staff of writers and will contribute SPILAIANOGRAPHS each week. James Edward Dillard, Chairman of factory basis for our beliefs must be one that wmes from above and not from human thinking. Oar own judgements are biased and incomplete, and only time can tell whether this one is right or that. The foundation we need m.ust be one laid by God himself, and so attested that it shall stand unshaken through all the ages; shall find itself equally in touch wdth all the ages; and, while adjusting its method of statement to the immediate time of its writing, shall yet be so frue to all underlying truth that always its principles shall apply to current conditions. Baptist believe that the Bible comprises such a revelation. Thro' all the ages it has bdrne its m^sage to men; in every age it has shown itself able to touch the fundamental needs and ex- ^riences of men; it has come with the stamp of Divine authority; and it has been so true to underlying fact that not in all time has one proven fact of science contradicted it. Theories of science there have been in almost .unlimited number which have denied its statements, but fis science has advanced in knowdedge, and as in some cases our knowledge of scriptrue has be- , • , . , . liut K.iio\vieaee or smutnip Southern Baptist Assembly Board and pastor of come more accurate, it has been found the great Southside Church in Birmingham, will contribute a sermon weekly Bartlett A. Bowers of Broadway Church, Knoxville, will recularly give a column under the heading “MEDITA TION.” ' F. A. Bower, a fine American of British birth, will write British and Canadian Notes. Frank Willis Barnett, the inimitable, once edi tor of Alabama Baptist, now one of the editors of Birmingham Age Herald, will edit a column en titled: “THIS AND ITHAT, HERE ,1ND THERE.” The editor hopes soon to be able [to devote his entire time to the paper. News will be the specialty of SOUTHWIDE B.APTIST Our effort will be to gather the news of the churches of the Southern States, so that those Baptists who cannot afford to subscribe for fifteen or twenty denominational papers may take thein state paper and SOUTHWIDE BAP TIST and keep in touch with the affairs of the SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. SOUTHWIDE institutions of the convention need such an organ as is now provided. The editor as corresponding secretary of Southern Baptist Assembly, has for several years found that an nouncements of the southwide institution had to be sent to at least fifteen papers in order to reach all sections of the South. With the Southwide Baptist all portions, if not all individuals in the Southern Baptist Convention can soon be reach ed by a single announcement. The paper,Is not related to Southern Bap tist assembly at Ridgecrest in anyway, but will contain much Ridgecrest news and report the fine aJdresse.s made there. that' no biding contradiction existed. We are fully ju.^tified^therefbre jn:believing that'in it we have the foundation which w^e need. The experience of the past', moreover, justifies us in believing that the Bible is so clearly the word of God, and so clearly aecnrahe in,its revelation, that rt- will always withstand all attacks, and in the end will auu among tnem some o trVths testimony to God's eternal j leaders, seem ready to accept the theory The Ctiristian And His Bible. By W. E. Denham. There is no question that should engage the attention of our Baptist people today more seriously than the one named in the heading to this article. Voices are proclaiming views from every angle, and we are sometimer in danger of becoming confused over the widely varying calls and advice that come to us. Though we as Baptists believe that tho Bible is the sole guide for our faith and conduct there arp evidences, here and there of a dangerous tendency to avoid or ignore its clear teachings . and to engage in pure speculation. ' Among the questions where this tendency is making itself apparent -mayt be mentioned. Evolution, the Pre-millonnial Com ing of Chri.'st,' tlie Biblical approval of war. Divorce and Hcmiiniage„ etc ..* ■, ; ■There are three facts concerning the Bible that confirm the position just stated and that deserve our thoughtful consideration First. THE BIBLE NEVER CONTRADICTS ITSELF. , It is fully admitted that there are many ap parent contridictions to be found, but closer study will demonstrate that they are apparent only, and do not exist in reality. ^ ^ One reason for the difference of the opinion among us is the bias of our early training and experiences and thinking. It is exceedingly difficult to dis^sociate ourselves wholly from the views with which our lives were surrounded, and to bring to the study of the Bible an open mind. To this perhaps more than to any other cause may be attributed the continuance of many divergent doctrinal views. Baptists are un questionably freer from this condition than most Denominations, as the presence among us of so miny who have come from other Denominations testifies, but even we are too much tainted with this same fault, when it comes especially to matters other than tkoae distinctive doctrine on which as a Denomination we agree. 1 he errors of former generatioBB are thus perpetuated, and the .younger genera tion grows up tacitly accepting the views of its parents rather than forming the practice of consulting the Scriptures themselves and ac cepting their teaching. Many cases therefore where there is no real contridiction in the Word, find our people in opposite camps. • Another fruitful ground of divergence lies in the strength of our natural desires. The Scriptures speak in no uncertain terms on many social and moral questions, but even Christians too frequently place their desires before the Word of God, and finding in the Scriptures some minor points seeming to justify them, promptly sieze upon them and use them as arguments against the clear teaching. Divorce and remarriage, dress, the relative positions of man and woman, world liness, and so forth, all find Christians on opposite sides. On these and many other questions there is serious danger that we shall allow ourselves to be led into totally mistaken interpretations of Scripture. ■What is ni^eded'is such a cont-ictidn of the „ Second. THE PLAIN TEACHING OF VER^^'^^^^ CONTRO- 1 his position should appeal in a peculiar way to our Baptist mind. Our divergence of views from others' on Baptism, the Lord’s bupper, the proper subjects for Church mem bership, and so forth, is based upon this position. It should therefore in order for us to be consistent, be our attitide toward all scripture always clears up all noints nf details are not obscure. Nor is this to be wondered at. We are dealing with spidtuM and eternal matters, and we must Turn We recognize the truth of Paul’s words; “Si I know in part, but then shall I know fully even as I was fully known.” R will uke the light of eternity to make some things Lffi! This should not, however, lead us to refuse or even question the revelation that we have let this IS exactly what often takes place* ConsideriDg for a moment one or two of thL difficult que.slions mentionea earlier in thi« paper; look at the matter of Evolution. Tht Bible story is certainly clearcut. It pictures a perfect creation as it left the bands of God It further pictures that perfect creation as rudely and terribly ruined by sin, Both these St a t e m e n t s are absolutely in conflict with the theory of' Evolution. Yet many of our people, and among them some of Ouc leader.s seem ready to accept the theory anif reject the revelation. It .seems indeed a case of strainhig out the gnat and swallowing the camel. The question of IheLord's return in- so-tar as that shall preceed or follow the Millennium, is another of these question. No ^ndid student of the Bible can deny that the H ords of Jesus to His disciples implied that He might return while they lived, nor that l as was their expectation. Yet because all he details of that great event cannot be speufically settled, there are many who ignore that dear teaching, and either on the ground of inabitity to answer hard questions or on a moreor less arbitrary interpretation of difficult passage, turn away from the Doctrine, and sometimes sneer not only at those who hold it but even at the teaching itoelf. These two classes will suffice. The Bible does not teach both Creation and Evolution® R docs not teach both the Pra-millennial and Post-millennial Coming of our Lord- it does not c„„lr.dict itself. On botl, i? testimony is clearcBt and emphatic, and shoold be accepted b.y all who love and believe it- It ^13 not a question of a pat viewpoint. It is a question of a Scripture revelation. On many limnts the details may remain for all time- SnhUfinS of the Word ^ should settle, all controversy far Baptists. ED OF INSPIR- '■eaUy the fundamental point in all our thinking about the Scriptures. Only as we believe that in the Bible we have, not the work of men’s hands, growing thro bha centures more and more complete; but d estimate vv-i? * strength of Scripture evidence.. VV hatever view we may hold as to the manner ocripture Inspiration, and the writer is a . hrm believer in "Verbal Inspiration, if we be lieve that they are inspired, then both of the foregoing positions stands as a matter of ' course. If in the Scripture God has revealed Himself and His truth and His will, then cer tainly as we study them we shall find in them no contradictions, and on all matters, whether of conduct or of belief, we shall accept their statements as final. Only so can we really show our belief in their inspiration. absolute truth of the. VVord 'God .phalli among us when more leaf) ns to aceen>.‘ nnmitiaiionin.riI and niore we should recognize and unshaken authority of the absolute the Bible, not lead us to accept urtquestionihgly its plain teachings and seek the meaning gf .obscure i ■>,’i me oioie not passages in the light Of'those that arg plain', {merely'in our statements of belief and in'tho If we do this we shall tear down many a false ' matters that are peculiarly Baptists hni- standard of life and condnet. j all matters? With all the best will in tT' Such an attitude will increasingly deaioh-.jJ''”*'lJ'ye.shall not see ,cye-to-eye in all ^ Recognizin- the strong evidence biou-ht •, cO'-^frat^iction' and the ' there must ever remain that lovin- Sm’ , •, • ^ i.viu..,uo oiou,iii ! (uiiilrtineritiii ami unshaken cone.s- ’ "v.or the sideratioii for e-r-i, nihn.. ■' each side ou all these questions the only satis-: teachings of fcjciiptuic. ' ' ; table some divergence of viewl^^^'^'
Southwide Baptist News and Ridgecrest Reporter (Marshall, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 9, 1921, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75