What Has Religion Done For Mankind?

CHAPTER II

The Standard for Judging Religion

WHAT is the measuring stick for all religions? What is it that distinguishes the true one as such? Is religion only what man develops naturally through his contact with the material creation? Or is there a revealed religion which has come to him by supernatural means? These are questions which persons of all creeds and beliefs must have answered according to reason and the facts before they can decide whether they have what is the true knowledge and worship or whether it is necessary for them to make a change, in the interest of their eternal welfare.

² In the world today there are a number of religions of great age and with large followings. For example, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. These all have their sacred writings. Hindus have the Vedas, their four books of knowledge; Buddhists their scriptures called the "Three Baskets of Wisdom"; Taoists their holy book Tao Te King; Confucianists their classics such as "Spring and Autumn"; Shintoists their

Kojiki or "Records"; orthodox Jews their Talmud; Mohammedans their Koran; Christians their Holy Scriptures or Bible. A number of these sacred writings are regarded by their devotees as being revealed religion, from a source higher than man. But recognizing that there are powers higher than man that are good and bad, we must ask, Did each such set of supposed "sacred" writings have its revelation from a good source or a bad source? Which one is the true revelation?

³ There is every need for a supernatural revelation. We cannot depend upon what men call "natural religion". Men have the senses of seeing, hearing and feeling. They can observe the marvels of the natural world, the earth and the sun, moon and stars. They see, hear and feel the phenomena resulting from the operation of the laws that govern this natural world. By experiment they determine what is hurtful and what is beneficial. They have relations with one another in human society and so set up standards of what is proper conduct. They come in touch with many forces and phenomena that they cannot understand or explain and they attach some superstitious connection to these. Thus they build up a "natural religion", a system of rules of conduct and of worship toward what is visible or invisible.

⁴ But honesty must compel us to admit that all men are imperfect and subject to mistake and error. In different parts of the earth, widely sep-

arated, men have different experiences, different associations, different things to contend with and different sources of information. Hence the development of natural religion is bound to differ in various sections of the earth. Men are debased, too, and often prefer what is bad to what is good, because of the selfish satisfaction which they get out of this reversal of matters. They are also limited in knowledge. The result is that mere natural religion falls far short of truth and righteousness. In many cases it violates that which is pure, healthful, just and upbuilding. Hence there must be a revelation from a higher truthful source in order to correct the wrong tendencies of natural religion and in order to instruct the human conscience in the right way.

⁵ Natural religion, even such as the higher critics and materialistic scientists are trying to develop today, could never be sufficient. It can never explain the mystery of life, how it got its start and what keeps it going. How did this wonderful natural world with all its variety in earth, sea and sky come into existence? Who is responsible for all this? What did we humans come from? Where did

this thing called "sin" together with imperfection and error come from? Why is it that the human organism, which shows every possibility of being kept in operation for eternity, dies? Is there a life after death? Or will there be a return from death to life on this earth? Are there invisible persons different in make-up from man and higher than man? Do they serve man's interests or does man need protection from them? Will this stupendous material creation in heaven and earth pass away and all human and animal existence cease? If there are higher powers superior in intelligence and power to man, what are our duties to them? Are they to be worshiped, and how? What have they to do with the destiny of mankind? Is there but one God over all things, or are there many gods? To these questions many others could be added. The answers to these natural religion could never work out of itself. Modern science also provides no satisfactory, unchangeable answer, but it too shows it is subject to human disabilities and limitations.

⁶ All progressive nations are turning to modern science in order to keep abreast of the rest of the world, and, as they hope, for the sake of their independence, survival and liberation from the backwardness of the past. The more the scientists study the universe the more they can see that there is an intelligence behind it, and that the master mind behind it is a great mathematician. The famous Einstein, whose theory of relativity

played an important part toward the invention of the atomic bomb, had this to say:

⁷ Then there is Dr. Robert A. Millikan who has been rated the dean of American scientists, being the first of them to study cosmic rays and winning the Nobel Prize for being the first to determine the charge and mass of the electron, an electrical particle of all matter. Addressing the meeting of the American Physical Society at Washington, D.C., on April 29, 1948, he expressed himself in the terms of a believer in the theory of the evolution of man and yet he said with conviction:

Then he quoted Einstein's notable words above and went on to speak of God as the "Great Architect" and of our responsibility to Him.—New York Times, April 30, 1948.

⁸ However, wise persons do not need these modern scientists to prove to them that there is a living intelligence behind visible and invisible creation and that He is all-powerful, all-wise, supreme and just, and harmonizes all things. Nineteen centuries ago such a wise man showed that mankind are inexcusable for not recognizing that there is such a God. Why? "Because what may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world's creation onward, because they are understood by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened."*

⁹ From our own experience we know that intelligence is associated with mind. The mind which can understand some of the things about the universe is associated with a brain in a body of a definite shape and individuality. So this great intelligence, this great mind responsible for all creation must be the Supreme Being, the great Person who is God, with a definite body and individuality and powers, all this distinguishing him from all creation.

¹⁰ Natural religion, resulting from man's own observations and investigations, cannot reveal to us who this God is and what his name is. Only a direct revelation from this Supreme Being himself can inform us of this. Only this revelation can give us the truth on how he made creation, what is the correct way to worship him, what his will is for us in the different periods of human history, what his purposes are, and why he has permitted sin, imperfection, selfishness and death to mar his creation and bring disunity into it. If mankind are to learn to worship in the proper, acceptable manner, there has to be a revealed religion; and to be in perfect agreement with truth and righteousness this religion must come from the living and true God, the Supreme Intelligence and Great Architect of all creation. Since we are his creation gifted with intelligence and entirely dependent upon him for true knowledge and guidance, it is only reasonable that he would give us a revelation of his will and purpose. Every loving parent imparts reliable information and instruction to his child for its protection, safety, welfare and understanding. How much more would the Creator, from whom we draw the quality of love, do so to his intelligent creatures! This he would do in order for us to know him, understand our relationship to him, see what are his requirements of us, and faithfully fulfill our responsibilities that we might harmonize our lives with him and gain his approval.

¹¹ What is reasonable and proper to expect He has done. He has given us a revelation of himself beyond what the so-called "book of nature" has to tell us. He has caused it to be written down and preserved that we might go to it and learn truth, righteousness and pure worship. But there are many writings which the various religions hold sacred and for which they claim higher inspiration. Which of all these is the true God's written revelation? To save time and space and to get at once to the point, we confidently reply, The Holy Scriptures or Bible, written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and upon which true Christianity is based.

¹² What! many will exclaim, That book upon which the hundreds of religious systems and sects of Christendom claim to rest but upon the teachings of which none of them agree, exercising the greatest intolerance toward one another, persecuting one another and even going to war with deadly weapons of violence over their doctrinal and other disagreements? Yes, we mean that book, The Holy Bible, but not the sectarian creeds which falsely claim to rest upon it. The reasons for accepting it as the divine revelation are not those of childish, blind credulity, but they spring from mature study of it, experience with it and sound facts of history.

¹³ Let us dismiss from our minds what the jangling creeds of Christendom have to say about the teachings of the Bible and let us consider the Book itself. The only way to explain its existence and what it teaches and how and why it has survived till this perplexing day is that it is the divine revelation. There must be some providential reason why it has been translated into more than 1,125 languages and is the most widely published, circulated and read book on earth today. All this in spite of the fact that its publication has been most bitterly opposed, and those who have spread it have been most hotly persecuted, and it has been attacked and misrepresented by not only non-Christian religions and powers but also by those who possessed it and claimed to be its friends, and the most wicked and violent efforts have been made to destroy it from all existence. Only the Almighty God its Author could have preserved it till now to become the foremost book on earth.

¹⁴ The Creator who is from everlasting to everlasting is the only One who could have inspired the Holy Bible. That is why it is the oldest book on earth, for the written document upon which its account of the creation of earth and its inhabitants rests goes back almost six thousand years, to near the time of the creating of man and woman. Today the Bible, composed of the ancient He-

brew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures, is made up of 66 books, the last of these being written in the closing decade of the first century after Christ. Hence the entire book was about four thousand years in being written. Some thirty-five men took part in writing it, especially counting from the prophet Moses, who wrote the first book of the Bible and wove it together from eleven earlier written documents. Even if we begin its writing from Moses in the sixteenth century before Christ, the Bible was over sixteen centuries in being written. So the thirty-five writers lived at different periods of time, few of them were contemporaries, and the time gap between the first writer Moses and the last writer the apostle John is very great. Thus, though they were all Hebrews or Jews, few had direct communication with each other. Their occupations in life were quite varied, some being warriors, shepherds, kings, temple Levites, fishers, with a tax collector and a physician among them, and men of other ordinary professions.

¹⁵ Their style is different, their writings include narratives, history, cosmogony, hygienic rules, governmental rules, laws, doctrine, poetry and proverbs. Some wrote in Hebrew, others in Aramaic, and others in the common Greek of the first century after Christ. Notwithstanding this, their writings are all in agreement from first to last, and they show the gradual revelation of the divine will and purpose. Only the great First

Cause, who has immortality, could have caused a book of such diversified contents and written over so long a time by such widely separated men to harmonize with itself from start to finish. He is the one Author of this most important book.

¹⁶ Written by men, indeed! But this fact is no objection to the divine authorship of it. Had it been written by heavenly angels, it could have been no truer, for God would even have had to inspire them to do the writing the same as he did his earthly human writers. We are informed concerning the sacred secrets that these men of God were inspired to write into the Bible: "Into these very things angels are desiring to peer."* Men are an easier medium for us to receive divine revelations through than angels are, who on numbers of occasions were terrifying in their glorious appearance to men. We are plainly told that the Bible writers did not know or understand the meaning of many things they wrote, particularly the prophecies, and yet no confusion and disagreement resulted. Not their own mental ability, but the spirit or invisible active force of Almighty God was responsible for these releases of sacred Scripture. Some writers testify to this, and the apostle Peter builds up our faith in God's written Word, saying: "You know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release. For prophecy was at no time brought by man's will, but men spoke from God as they

were borne along by holy spirit." (2 Peter 1:20, 21, NW; I Peter 1:10-12) This makes the Most High God the one great Author of the Book, though it was written by men's hands.

¹⁷ Throughout the centuries men of this world, and particularly in these last few centuries the materialistic scientists as well as irreverent radical thinkers, have attacked the Bible as historically incorrect, unscientific, contradictory, ancient and not advanced enough for our day. But scientists have repeatedly had to correct themselves. The advances made by them and the search for ancient records found in writing and on the buried relics of former days have brought discoveries which have more and more confirmed the Bible as true rather than supported the arguments of its attackers. Compared with the so-called "creation tablets of Babylon" which are filled with senseless fables, the Bible account of creation is plain, simple, and fully supported by the findings of modern science. None but the Creator could have inspired that account.

¹⁸ The Bible solves the great mysteries that have baffled mankind. In this it displays that its great Author knew the end from the beginning of his works toward mankind. It tells how sin entered the universe and how it will be wiped out, and how all its sad effects upon mankind will be cleansed away. It tells how God would send a great Liberator for mankind and how he would

be identified and how he will finally bring full deliverance to the groaning creation, in the near future for us of this day. According to the law of probabilities, there would be an infinite number of chances against one that all these foretold marks of identification could be fulfilled in one Liberator. And yet well-established history and the testimony of eyewitnesses prove they were faithfully fulfilled, a fact which stamps the Bible as the truth and the all-wise God as its Author and Inspirer.

¹⁹ This Book, too, explains how the demons came into existence and why the fear and worship of them is so prevalent throughout the earth. It tells how Babylon was founded and how all the great variety of languages and religions got started. It foretells how the Greater Babylon with all the religions that it includes within itself will be destroyed, and that at now no distant day. The Bible has always been ahead of the latest generation of men. It is no old-fashioned, static book, showing the ignorance of a former day, and giving only past history. It is far in advance of the latest thought of our time. Its prophecies foretold events centuries, yes, millenniums, in advance; and the unfolding events of history from the first century after Christ until now prove those prophecies true. They are finding a climax of fulfillment in the strange world events since World War I in 1914. Those prophecies do not halt with our momentous epoch, but carry on a thousand years into the

future. The faithful, accurate fulfillment of Bible prophecy thus far gives full assurance that those prophecies of that future glorious time will also be carried out to the letter, when all wickedness will be erased from the universe, death will be abolished from the earth, and paradise will be restored here for a perfect race of humans to enjoy forever with honor and praise to their worshipful Creator and to his Liberator for mankind.

²⁰ The Bible reveals the development and progress of the pure religion in contrast with all the false kinds and shows its early triumph over all error of belief and practice. It sets forth principles that are eternal and unchangeable. It is a Book of liberation from all the power and evil of the false religion. That is why it has been so fought against by the practicers of falsehood, who try to prevent men from getting free from the power of darkness and entering into the light and blessing of the pure knowledge and worship of the living and true God. Already in this day of world change the Bible stands vindicated as his Word of truth. There can be no question about it: The Holy Scriptures of the Bible are the standard by which to judge all religions. Follow this volume through its further chapters and prove it.