|
Christianity Teaches:
1. The existence of a God infinite in presence, yet a personal
being; infinite in knowledge, yet a being who cogitates, contrives,
plans, and designs, like man; infinite in power, yet the author of a
world full of imperfections; infinite in goodness (as well as power),
yet permits martyrs to expire amid flames, and patriots and
philanthropists to languish in dungeons; unchangeable, yet at a certain
time after a beginningless state of inaction, aroused from his idleness
and made a universe out of nothing; is not the cause of evil, yet the
creator of everything and everybody save himself; is free from
infirmities, yet is pleased with some things and displeased with
others; is without body, parts, or passions, and yet is of the
masculine gender.
2. The original perfection of everything.
3. The existence of a devil—a creature made by God, and the
author of evil that will exist forever.
4. That man is a “fallen creature,” and unable to
improve by his own unassisted efforts.
5. That man can be “saved” only through the blood and
merits of Christ.
6. That belief in the Christian system involves moral merit;
disbelief, sin.
7. That it is man’s duty to worship God by prayer and
praise.
8. That a comparatively small portion of mankind in the future will
be happy; the greater portion will be in torment eternally.
9. That man has received a book revelation, of which, however, but a
comparatively small part of the race has ever obtained information.
10. That reason should be subordinated to the teachings of the
Bible.
11. That the acts of the Jews, such as are practiced now by
barbarians only, were commanded by God, and were, therefore, right.
12. That there are mysteries contrary to experience and reason,
which must nevertheless be believed.
13. Although God has given man a revelation, there is great
uncertainty as to what he meant to say on several subjects of great
importance.
14. That woman is man’s inferior and subordinate, was made for
his gratification and convenience, while man was made for himself and
the glory of God.
15. That God has approved and sanctioned polygamy, slavery, and
despotism.
16. That man should take no thought for the morrow. He should
pattern after the lilies of the field.
17. That man’s ills and sufferings are ascribable largely to
the immediate agency of a personal, malicious Devil—a being of
extended presence, of almost infinite knowledge, of great strategy, and
immense power.
18. That Jesus was God Almighty incased in human flesh.
19. That the golden age of the earth was in the past.
|
Materialism Teaches:
1. The self-existence, the eternity, and the sufficiency of nature,
and the universality and invariableness of natural law.
2. That in the history of this world there has been an evolution
from the simple to the complex, from the special to the general, from
the homogeneous to the heterogeneous.
3. That good and evil are relative terms. All morality is founded on
utility and evolved by the wants and necessities of human existence.
Honesty is right, not because a God has so declared, but because
man’s security, safety, and happiness are promoted by it.
4. That man’s condition, although imperfect, is improvable by
his own unaided efforts.
5. That man should look to himself and not to a spectacle of
suffering and death of eighteen hundred years ago, for improvement and
elevation.
6. That belief and unbelief are involuntary and without moral merit
or demerit.
7. That instead of worshiping God, we should direct all our efforts
to improve ourselves, letting “gods attend on things for gods to
know.”
8. That man, wherever he may exist, it is rational to believe, will
be fitted to his condition. An unbroken everlasting sleep,
which probably awaits us all, affords no ground for fear. And how
infinitely preferable to a future state of punishment in which the
majority of our race will be forever miserable!
9. That the teachings of reason and the lessons of experience are
the only revelations man has received.
10. That the Bible should be tested by the same rules of historical
and modern criticism that are applied to other ancient documents.
11. That the barbarous acts of the Israelites, like those of other
ancient nations, were the result of their undeveloped, and uncivilized
condition.
12. That the universe is full of mysteries, above our comprehension,
but none contrary to our reason.
13. That the difference of opinion among Liberals is consistent with
their common position that man has no infallible standard. That the
enlightened reason of man is the highest and best standard he
possesses.
14. That woman is man’s equal and natural
companion—exists for him only in the sense in which he exists for
her.
15. That slavery, polygamy, and despotism are evils whenever and
wherever they exist.
16. That man should attend to the affairs of this world, and,
contrary to the notion of Jesus, should
take “thought for the morrow.”
17. That evil is due to natural causes. Man can gradually remove the
evils that afflict him by becoming acquainted with his nature,
relations, and surroundings.
18. Jesus was probably a reformer, a “come-outer,” an
“Infidel” of his time. We can esteem him as a benefactor
without worshiping him as a God.
19. The present is better than the past, and the golden age of the
world is in the future.
B. F. Underwood.
|