“With from one to three millions of distinct species in the animal and vegetable world, not a single species has been traced to another. Until species in the animal and vegetable world can be linked together, why should we assume without proof that man is a blood relative of any lower form of life? Those who become obsessed with the idea that they have brute blood in their veins devote their time to searching for missing links in the hope of connecting man with life below him; why do they prefer a jungle ancestry to creation by the Almighty for a purpose and according to a divine plan? Why will they travel around the world to find a part of a skull or remnants of a skeleton when they will not cross the street to save a soul?
“How can intelligent men and women underestimate the Christ? He is no longer a wandering Jew with a few followers; He is the great fact of history and the growing figure of all time—there is no other growing figure in all the world today. Men—the greatest of them—rise and reign and pass away; only CHRIST reigns and remains. They shall not take away our Lord. The Christian Church will not permit the degrading of its founder; it will defend at all times, everywhere and in every way, the historical Christ. It believes that ‘there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ No diminutive Messiah can meet the religious need of the world today and throughout the centuries. Christ for all and forever, is the slogan of the church. There has been apostasy in every age; attacks upon Christianity have been disguised under cloaks of many kinds, but it has withstood them all—‘The hammers are shattered but the anvil remains.’ The church will not yield now; it will continue its defense of the Bible, the Bible’s God and the Bible’s Christ until ‘every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.’
“While it resists the attacks upon the integrity of God’s Word and the divinity of the Saviour, it will pray that those who are now making the attack may come under the influence of, and yield their hearts to, Him whose call is to all, whose hand is all power and who promises to be with His people ‘always, even unto the end of the world,’ The Apostles’ Creed which has expressed the faith of the Christian Church for so many centuries shall not be emasculated by modernism.
“‘Faith of our fathers! living still
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word—
Faith of our fathers! holy faith,
We will be true to thee till death’!”
46. CAMOUFLAGE OF TERMS
During the late world war, objects were concealed and the enemy deceived, by “camouflage.” Many undertake to deceive or to hide their meaning by a camouflage of terms. These terms are chosen to conceal or deceive. Terms that suggest advance, improvement, learning, science, etc., are used to describe unworthy theories, beliefs and movements. It is an unfair trick to win and often meets with undeserved success.
Evolution in the sense of growth and development, is true of a part of animal and plant life, and in this sense is undisputed. Some speak of the growth of a child and of all progress, as evolution. In the sense at issue, it means the development of all the 3,000,000 species of animals and plants, from one or a few primordial germs, without design or intelligence, or the aid of a Creator. A distinguished surgeon declares that evolution from the monkey is mere non-sense but that life is a constant evolution,—two senses in the same sentence. Such confusion of meaning brings science into disrepute. The meaning is shifted to suit.
Science means knowledge. We are glibly told that science teaches the evolution of man when it teaches nothing of the kind. A mere theory is not science until proven. A man does not become a scientist by advocating an unproven theory, but by making some notable contribution to knowledge. These self-appointed scientists recklessly declare that the “consensus” of science favors evolution. We oppose evolution not because it is science, but because it is not science. There is no conflict between Christianity and real science, but a fight to the death with “science falsely so called.”
Religion is often taken to mean deism, or infidelity as well as Christianity. They show us “where evolution and religion meet,” provided deism or infidelity is religion, but not, if Christianity is religion,—an inexcusable confusion of terms.
Law is sometimes spoken of as if it had intelligence and power. Sometimes as a subordinate deity, or agent of God, or an indefinite principle. Darwin says:—“Plants and animals have all been produced by laws (?) acting around us.” That is impossible, since “laws” can produce nothing. He evidently gives to laws the credit that belongs to God.