The Posture Of Faith
"Evolution postulates spontaneous generation. If the idea be true, that man was not created, but was evolved from some lower form of life, then we must of necessity ask, Whence came that lower form of life? When we are told that is came from a form yet lower, and that one from a form lower still, until we get back to a single cell of life, than we must still ask where that single cell came from. In the long run, the only answer that the evolutionist can possibly give is that that first single speck of life came into existence on its own — that it was spontaneously generated. It did not come from any previous life. Yet, one of the best established facts of science ever since the famous experiments of Louis Pasteur is that life comes only from existing life. Materialistic scientists do not deny the conclusions of Pasteur, but they do claim that there may have been a time, in the remote past, when life could have developed from non-living substances. It is admitted that the conditions of the earth would have had to be greatly different from the conditions of the present. It is the problem of the biochemist to attempt to duplicate these conditions in which life might have been spontaneously generated."
This is one paragraph in the splendid new class book just off the press, "The Posture of Faith." Gordon Wilson has done an outstanding work in preparing this excellent material for use in all adult classes. From High School onward thoughtful students will find here a clear, concise, and scientifically defensible exposition of what the author defines as a "conservative viewpoint of the Biblical fundamentals." The opening paragraph in his "Introduction" to the book will give an idea of what is attempted (and well achieved) in this new presentation:
"Men who have never been partakers of the blessings of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, do not often understand the attitude which characterizes the believer. The posture of faith is so often misrepresented that in the minds of many, belief in Christ is identified with credulity. The believer is accused of guessing his way through life; it is said that we follow our religion blindly, without any better reason than that our parents did the same, Faith is often pictured as groveling, weak, and confused. It is the purpose of this book to redraw the picture. The author believes that the nature of faith is such that it may be shown to be not only reasonable, but confident and sure. The believer is not the narrow, bigoted, tradition-bound, blind follower-ofthe-blind when he is so many times thought to be."
This is a book that is desperately needed. For three-hundred years or more the general trend of what is called the "college community" has been a steady drift toward agnosticism and even atheism. If we had been permitted to examine the faculty of any great university in the medieval ages we would have found that to a man they believed in God and without reservation at all accepted the Bible as a revelation from God. But on modern college and university campuses probably ninety percent of the average faculty will be either completely materialistic or, at best, only nominally religious. Under the general influence of such teachers and teaching it is imperative that the impressionable minds of idealistic young moderns be equipped with adequate armament for protection. To send students into such an arena without such fundamental teaching as Wilson's book provides is grossly unfair to them, and may well jeopardize their eternal destiny. There is a wide-spread belief among the uninformed that in any conflict between "science" and the Bible, the advantage is always on the side of "science" and the Bible is always bound to lose.
This false supposition grows out of a confusion from two directions — as to what "science" is and as to the actual teaching of the Bible. Certainly, there have been (and still are many) many false interpretations of the Bible which are demonstrably in conflict with established scientific facts.
But interpretation must not be confused with revelation. When a man "interprets" the Bible as teaching that the earth was founded 4000 years before Christ (the third week in October, 4004 B.C., with Adam created on Friday, October 23, at 9:00 A.M. forty-fifth meridian time — according to Lightfoot, the famed Hebraist scholar and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in the mid-seventeenth century!) he is substituting interpretation for revelation. Wilson demonstrates in many ways that Biblical statements of fact are at no point of contact in conflict at all with established facts of science. The conflicts arise between "science, falsely so-called" and the Bible, or between true science and false interpretations of the Bible.
We predict (and hope) for this book an immense popularity among the conservative churches. It will strengthen faith, inspire confidence in the Word of God, and undergird the entire fabric of the Christian's hope. We urge all elders and preachers and Bible school teachers especially to secure a copy of this book and examine it. You will be impressed, we believe, by its merit. You may order from the Gospel Guardian. (See advertisement in this issue.)