Our Religion

Our Religion “OUR RELIGION”
By H. L. Calhoun

Introduction
Our equals yours plus mine. The YOU in yours means a group of people named in the census books as Disciples of Christ, conservative. In the newspaper world perhaps more easily described as making up in a large part the constituency of the Firm Foundation. In the educational worlds, most easily located as the friends and supporters of Abilene Christian College. The “I” in MINE represents a people described in the census books as the Church of Christ, most easily located in the newspaper world as composing in a large part the constituency of the Gospel Advocate and per-haps most easily located in the educational world as the friends and supporters of David Lipscomb College. “Our Religion,” then, means the religion of these two groups. It has some times been named “Fundamentalism,” “Mossbackism,” “Phariseeism,” “Sectarianism,” “Non-Progressive-ism,” “Literalism,” “Legalism,” “Antism,” “A Book Religion.” It has some times been described as static, antiquated, fossilized crystallized, hidebound, ossified, narrow, indi-vidualistic. Some have said that it was begotten by egotism, conceived in bibliolatry, brought forth in ignorance, propagated in bigotry and its progeny the narrowest and bitterest of all sectarians. Outsiders have sometimes described us as preachers of union, but practicers of division; holding the form of godliness, but' not having the power; sticklers for the letter, but ignorant of the spirit; tithers of mint, anise and cummin, but neglecters of ]ustice, mercy and faith, wranglers over non-essentials, but' careless about fundamentals; loving ourselves, but despising others; professing Christianity; practicing Pharisee- ism; anxious to proselyte, careless to convert; skillful theorists but bungling practicers; great' debaters, but little doers. Our Religion
Perhaps the best way to make our religion known is not to call it names, or use descriptive adjectives, or give certain dicta as to how it was begotten, con ceived and brought forth, or even how others look at us, but by setting forth as plainly as we can just what we believe concerning the Bible, the sacred scrip ture. Since we claim to speak where the scriptures speak and be silent where the scriptures are silent, to be able to give chapter and verse for everything we do in the practice of our religion. "We believe the Bible to be divinely inspired and therefore, infallibly true in its statement of facts, all authoritative ip its commands and absolutely sure as to the fulfillment of its every promise. We believe chat its dassification of tne works of God as those of nature, providence and miracle is true; that a work of nature is an effect produced without a .special act of (rod’s will, being simply the result of the operation of his law; that a work of providence is an effect produced by a special act of God’s will through the use of his law: that a miracle is an effect produced by a special act of God’s will, without the use of any of his laws known to man. We believe that the writers of the Bible wrote and spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And that each one of its writers might have truly said what Paul said, “which things we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teaches.” And that “all scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good worksthat there is not a doctrine, duty, nor privilege pertaining to the Christian religion that is not fully and clearly revealed therein.

We believe that the inspiration of the writers while sufficient to guide them into all truth, and to guard them from all error, did not convert them into mere automatons, dictographs or mechanical instru-ments ; that it left each writer free to use to the highest of his ability his own personality, style, and vocabulary; that the province of this inspiration was not subjecting of subverting but rather that of suggesting and supplementing. We believe that the Bible presents three great realms of thought, science, philosophy, and faith. That science deals with facts and proper deductions drawn therefrom; that philosophy is based on human reason and proper conclusion’s/ drawn by it. That faith is the belief of divine testimony, and that all correct science, sound philosophy and Christian faith are true, that these three realms of thought, like three parallel planes, if produced indefinitely would never impinge one upon another; neither does any one of these three realms of thought when correctly used, ever contradict, or conflict with either one of the others.

We believe that the Bible gives the only correct account of man’s origin, duty, and destiny that it tells us man came by the creative act of God, and was made in the image of his Creator; that his whole duty is to fear God and keep his commandments; and that his eternal destiny is according to his own choosing, a state of happiness, or misery.

We believe that the Bible reveals three great' divine institutions; the home, the State, the Church; that the home is for the reproduction and rearing of human beings; that the State is intended to protect the life, liberty and happiness of its citizens; that the Church exists for the conversion of sinners and the sanctifying of saints.

We believe that the Bible is our only all-sufficient universal and perpetual rule of faith and practice; that the principles set forth in this Bible are sufficient in number and definiteness to guide man in every thought, feeling, purpose, word and deed of his earth life.

We believe that the Bible makes known to us the gospel as to its origin, institution and operation; that it shows this gospel to have existed first in the eternal purpose of God, even before the foundation of the world for it tells us that Christ stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world; that, therefore, the gospel is no mere emergency measure to meet an unforeseen or unexpected event in the history of man, but that God from the beginning saw the gospel in all its beauty and completeness; that while it existed first in His eternal purpose it was first planted in the soil of the earth just after sin came to separate man from his God; in the promise that God made that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, which promise was repeated 2000 years later to Abraham, the friend of God and the father of them that believe, when God said to him, “In thy seed, which is Christ, shall all the families of the earth be blessed;” that this gospel existed next in the teaching of the prophets, who spake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, and by whom hundreds of years before Jesus was born every im-portant event of his earthly life was foretold, either in type, shadow, or simple prediction; that this gospel existed next in the preparatory work of John, the man sent from God concerning whom Jesus said, “Among those born of women hath not arisen a greater than he,” who came as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” who came to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, as he preached the baptism of repentance for remission of sins; that the gospel existed next in its perfection upon the first Pentecost after Christ's resurrection when every fact, commandment' and promise of the gospel had been brought into existence by Jesus Christ; that this gospel was instituted, set up or prepared for operation by the earthly ministration of Jesus, who did its every fact,. issued its every command, and gave it's every promise; that the facts of this gospel are as Paul states them, “the death of Jesus Christ for our sins, according to the scriptures. His burial and his resurrection from the dead according to the scriptures; that the commandments of this gospel are that one must believe with all his heart on the Lord Jesus Christ; that he must genuinely and truly repent of every known sin; that he must be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the promises of this gospel as Jesus gave them are remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and a home in heaven in the life beyond death; that having instituted this gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation and having declared of his own work here on earth that it is finished, Jesus took his seat at the right hand of God, where he ever lives to make intercession for us.

We believe that the operation of this gospel was committed to the Holy Spirit; whom Jesus sent when he ascended to the Father’s right hand to bring to the remembrance of his followers all that he had taught them, to guide them into all the truth and to show them things to come, and that we are living now under the operation of that gospel as directed by the personal agency of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Bible reveals to the alien sinner the law of pardon; that he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of his sins and by the command of Jesus Christ, be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and that when he has done these things, then and not until then does he have the promise of salvation or pardon, or the remission of sins.

We believe that the Bible reveals to the Christian the law of life; that he must do unto others as he would have others do unto him; that as he has opportunity, he must do good unto all men, especially unto those who are of the household of faith; that as one who has become obedient unto the faith of the gospel he must add to his faith virtue and to virtue knowledge; to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love, and that should he do this, there will one day be ministered unto him an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; that as one who has received the gift of the Holy Spirit as an indwelling guest and comforter, he should bear the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance and that against one whose life is filled with these things God’s law has no accusation to bring, it teaches that a Christian, being one wdio has accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord, would say as Jesus said, “Thy will, not mine, oh Lord, be done,” and that he should follow Jesus who said, “I am the way the truth and the light,” and that he should embody in his own life those elements of character found in the character of Jesus and most beautifully expressed in the beatitudes.

We believe that the Bible presents to us the church of Christ as built by Him upon the foundation, the great truth that Peter confessed when he said, “Thou ait' the Christ, the Son of the living (tod, that other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ the Lord.” We believe that this church is as the Bible says, “the pillar and support of the truth” and that through it the church and not some humanly devised society must be made known the manifold wisdom of God.

We believe that the Bible makes known to the church wThose head is Chiist himself, while the church is his body of which every individual Christian Is a living member; the law of worship due to God by the church, and that this law of worship embraces five great acts which are prescribed inclusively and exclusively, telling exactly what to do and howr it is done, without additions or subtractions, the worship, as looking up to Him, through these acts of worship as revealed in the sacred scriptures, we behold as in a mirror the glorious Lord, and are thus changed into his image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord.

We believe that these five acts of public worship are first the teaching or preaching of the word of God to every creature in all the world. Prayer unto the Father in the name of the Son consisting of confession of sin, praise to God, thanksgiving for blessings received and petitions for what we need. The third act of public worship is that of singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, making melody with our hearts and not with mechanical instruments, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord; that the fourth act of public worship is the weekly observance on every Lord’s Day of the Lord’s Supper, according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, we must eat the bread and drink the wine in memory of Him ; that' the fifth act of public worship as ordained by God is the laying by in store upon the first day of the week as God hath prospered us, each man as he purposeth in his own heart.

We believe that the Bible reveals the law of love to all men, that' we must love God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, more than father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, yea even more than we do our own life; that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves; that we must love our brethren as Christ loved us, and as John says Christ laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; that we must love even our enemies and do them good that we may be the children of our father who is in heaven, for if we love only those who love us, even sinners do the same.

We believe that the Bible presents to us the great motives leading us to forsake sin and to practice holi-ness as expressed in obedience to the gospel and to that perfect law of liberty into which if a man looks and continues he shall be blessed, and that these motives are fear of eternal punishment, hope of everlasting happiness and love to him who first loved us.

We believe that this Bible lifts the veil of the future and shows us the pathway of the just, shining more and more unto the perfect day; that it tells us if we follow Jesus in this world we shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That we’ll be able then to rejoice in the Lord always, as we seek to make our lives glorify God and bless our fellowmen.

We believe that this Bible reveals to us the coming of the Son of man in His Glory, and all His holy angels with Him, when He shall sit upon the throne of His glory and that all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of eternal life and they that' have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

We believe that this Bible shows the veil of earth’s temple rent in twain from top to bottom, revealing to us the glories of that home, that Jesus has gone to prepare, and that while it doth not yet appear what we shall be, we know that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is, and that every man who has this hope in him will purify himself even as He is pure; that some day it may be his privilege to sweep through the gates of glory as they swing wide upon their hinges of pearl into that land where they have no need of the sun by day nor of the moon by night, for the Lord shall give them light and they shall dwell in His presence, and God shall be their God and they shall be his people, drinking- of the waters of life clear as crystal, that flow out from underneath the snow white throne of God, eating the fruits of the tree of life, the life more abundant, where sin never comes, sorrow and pain are forever unknown and death is not found, and that as long as God shall last, we may dwell in this home of the soul, going on always and growing toward the limitless perfections of Him who loved us and gave His only son to redeem us at the price of his own precious blood. These are some of the elements of our religion and though they have been told by one of its humblest adherents in plain simple language, and though we may say as one of old said, “the half has not yet been told,” we believe that enough has been revealed to show how unjust and incorrect is the charge that our religion is static, antiquated, ossified and narrow.

Five years ago I stood on a mountain in California beside a tree which towered 363 feet above the earth. It was 105 feet in circumference, 35 feet in diameter. It was 4,500 years old, 250 years old when Abraham was born. It was estimated to contain enough lumber to box in, if sawed into inch planks, the greatest steamship and to put a lid on the box. As I stood by the tree and studied its features, I thought, this tree has stood in one spot for 45 centuries; it has never once changed its position; it has never in all its history changed parts. There have always been roots, body, bark, branches, foliage, flowers, fragrance, fruit. It has never once changed the kingdom in which it lived. It has always belonged to the vegetable kingdom, never to the mineral or animal kingdom. It has never changed species in all its life. It was never oak, hickory, or pine. It was always redwood. It has never changed its physical prop-erties. Its wood has always been brittle, light, lasting, soft. It has never once changed chemical elements. A piece of that tree analyzed 4,000 yoars ago would show identically the same elements as a piece of the tree analyzed....... And those elements are united in the same proportion. It has never changed foliage. It aid not for a while bear oak leaves, then mulberry and then ash, but always the leaves of the redwood. Its flowers have never changed. It never bore blossoms like the rose, the honeysuckle or the lilac, but always the blossoms of the redwood. It has nev6r changed fragrance. The perfume of the honeysuckle, the sweetness of the lily was never its own, always the fragrance of the redwood and its fruit has ever been the same, never bearing apples, peaches, nor pears, but always the seed of the redwood, and its life has been constant, never an hour in its existence that life has not flown back and forth through its fibre. As I thought of these unchanging elements that have been the same for 45 centuries, I said, Old tree, you are static, and the tree said, “Yes, static even as he is static, of whom it was said He was the same yesterday, today and forevetf.” And then I said, “Oh tree, are you static? Wherein are you static? In root? Each year have not your roots dug deeper, spread wider and grown larger ? Has not your location widened and deepened with the spread of your roots until today it is a thousand times greater than when first a tiny twig pushed its way through the soil of earth?” And the tree answered, “Yes, my location has grown with every passing year, my roots have changed with every season. I am not static on location, neither am I static in root.” And then I said, “Oh tree, are you static in your body?” And the tree answered, “With every passing year my trunk has climbed higher toward the blue dome of heaven, has grown greater in circumference, has grown wider in diameter, has covered itself with thicker bark. My trunk is not static, but even yet is changing with every passing hour.” Again I said, “Oh, tree, are your branches static?” And the tree answered, “Each year has seen my branches spread wider, increase in number, grow larger and become stronger a thousand fold greater than they were during the first year of my life. My branches are not static.” “Is your foliage static, oh, tree?” And the tree answered, “No, every returning spring has seen new leaves take the place of the old that fell away, and the foliage of the year 1927 is a thousands times greater than in the first year of my life. My flow'ers have grown in number, with each passing year and have changed 4,500 times. My fragrance has been fresh with each new blossom, and greatly increased in its quantity. My fruit has never failed to be renewed with each passing year and has spread wider and wider until today I stand in the midst of thousands of my children, grown almost as great, some of them as the parent tree. My life current has changed greatly, drawing from the willing breast of mother earth, drinking in from the>. atmosphere that gave freely, the life current has increased many thousand times over what it was in the first year of my life. I occupy a larger space, a very greatly increased space in the vegetable kingdom than I did 4,500 years ago. The elements found in my body are a million times more than they were 40 centuries ago, and so of my foliage, flowers, fragrance, fruit and life.” And I said, “Oh, tree, you are dynamic, you are never the same.” And the tree answered, “Yes, dynamic, as was He who said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly’.” And as I looked upward through ’ts branches toward the heaven to which they pointed, I said, “Thanks, old tree, for the lesson thou hast taught me, that in the living works of (tod there are united as in His own life and years the two principles, the static and the dynamic, and so we find in this religion of ours. It has embedded in it the static. The gospel of Jesus Christ the basis of our religion is nineteen centuries old. Not a fact, command or promise m that gospel has ever been changed, Not a doctrine, duty or privilege has been altered. Not a motive has been added, substracted or changed. Not a fruit of the spirit has been altered. Not a grace of life has seen changes. Not a principle that has altered, and yet, how greatly it has changed. The dynamic elements are as apparent as the static. Its location, now different, beginning on a mountain in the land of Palestine for the law went forth from Zion, it has spread over the hills and valleys of earth, until there is not, a nation of any consequence where its roots have not been planted. How it has changed in its content. Beginning with a little band on the day of Pentecost, it has spread through the centuries until today its adherents number 566,201,000. How dynamic in growth. Its body the. body of Christ, now small, on that day of Pentecost, when compared with its size today. Its fruit of the spirit increased a million fold and more. Its flowers of faith and hope and love fresh in every newborn child of God. Its graces of life reproduced with every new generation. Its teaching and preaching of the word done by new ser-vants of God, in every age. Its prayers ascending from living hearts, fresh in each generation. Its songs of praise changing with every passing year. Its memorial feast and its offering of love given by other hands with every passing century. How its foliage has changed!

What has Christianity, our religion, done in the realm of painting? Blot out every picture suggested by or inspired by the Christian religion and all the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo and De Vinci and Reynolds and West' and a hundred others must go, for all the great paintings that the world knows today came either directly or indirectly from our religion.

What has it done in architecture? Beginning from the temple of Solomon and Herod, coming down thru the centuries to Saint Peter’s Church, the cathedral of Milan, St. Paul’s in London, Church of the Madeline in Paris, including the thousands of little brown churches in the vale, and the other thousands of white spires pointing to the heavens, all have sprung from the religion of Jesus of Nazareth, and to destroy all these buildings would leave in architecture nothing of great importance today.

What has it done in the realm of literature? Confine it even to our own mother tongue, beginning with Shakespeare who said, “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may,” whose female characters are drawn with such purity and tenderness and love that we know as surely that' like produces like, where he found his ideal.

What has it done in the realm of music? From the notes of the sweet singer of Israel down through the ages, the psalm and hymns, the great sonatas and symphonies of the world have sprung from the hearts tuned by the religion that our God hath taught.

Go into the realm of science and listen to that long line of Christian scientists, who say we can analyze any living object and show every element and the combination of elements found in it and we can recombine those elements in the same proportion, but we cannot produce life. There must be a God who is the author of life. '

Take your stand among the philosophers. See that one as he holds in his hand the rose, watch him note the beauty and shapeliness and combination of its petals and the wonder of its design and its perfume. Follow him as he studies that most wonderful mechanical combination to be found on earth, the human body. Note the perfection of its parts, their wonderful symmetry, and adaptation, its striking design, and then hear him say there must be a God, there could not be a design without a designer.

Truly it is but a shortsighted view that would call such a religion as this static, ossified, narrow. The author of our religion said that a tree is known by its fruit. Does this mean that a religion may be known by the characters that it produces, the men and women whom it grows? Passing by the man of Galilee, who practiced what he preached, the Apostle of the Gentiles with his inspiration, let us come down to the Restoration found in the 19th century. Look at that man Alexander Campbell, who when Robert Owen, the boastful champion of infidelity came from his Scottish home to the shores of America and challenged the clergy of the Christian religion to bring forth a man to meet him in debate, promising to defeat such representative as to show their religion a fraud and a failure. It was Alexander Campbell who accepted the challenge and won a victory for the Christian religion as decisive as that which David won over the boastful Goliath. It was the same man, Alexander Campbell, who a few years later met Bishop Purcell, the learned and skillful representative of Ecclesiasticism, and won for Protestantism and Christian Liberty as represented by him such a victory as gained for him the gratitude of every Protestant body on earth. It was the same man who a few years later met in debate that learned and skillful debate, Dr. N. L. Rice, representative of denominationalism, and Alexander Campbell won over him such a victory for the United Church of Christ as has left denominationalism since that day without a defender or even an apologist.
Take another man concerning whom Dr. Henry H. Thayer, learned Harvard professor and editor of the great Grim-Wilkes English New Testament Lexicon said he possesses the most thorough knowledge of the English Bible of any living man. A man who wrote the most splendid commentary on the book of Acts that has ever been written. A man who by his thorough knowledge by the word of God, and science of biblical criticism, met the keenest representatives of destructive criticism in argument and did more to defend the church of Christ from their baleful efforts than any other man, the saintly J. W. McGarvey.

Take another man, who by his pleasing personality, his trenchant pen and his powerful preaching, did more to popularize and propagate the plea of the disciples than 'any other man of his generation, the matchless Isaac Errett. Take another man, who by his firm stand for the alone sufficiency and all sufficiency of the word of God, as our rule of faith and practice, did more to pre-serve our creed from modern eco.lesiasticism repre-sented by organized missions, from the fad of federa-tion and from the formalization of Christian worship through the introduction of mechanical instruments of music where sound was too often substituted for sense and the motive prompting the singing of the hired choir was too often greenback, rather than the grace of God m the heart, than perhaps any other man, David Lipscomb. Shall these men be called static, mossbacks, narrow, and Kteralists? Shall such epithets be applied to him who was the author of our plea, Alexander Campbell? Or to John W. McGarvey its most noted defender? Or to Isaac Errett, its peerless propagator? Or to David Lipscomb its sturdy preserver? The very asking of the question is enough to show the absurdity of an affirmative answer. It was Alexander Campbell w’ho said, “Introduction of a mechanical instrument of music into a worshipping assembly of Christians is as inconsistent as the bringing of a cowbell into a musical concert.” It was John W. McGarvey who all his life long believed and preached that the use of mechanical instruments of music in the worship of God was wrong, and neither one of the four men whom w*e have mentioned believed that either humanly, devised missionary societies or mechanical instruments of music were any part of the inspired service and worship of God, nor that either one was a matter of faith.

Perhaps a few words in conclusion may not be inappropriate. The following facts will not be denied by anyone who believes the Bible and is acquainted with the history of our religion. First, the era of greatest growth in the history of the church of Christ was in that period when the church came fresh from the land of the inspired apostles and into the hands of those who succeeded them; when its doctrines and its practice were governed wholly and solely by the inspired teaching of God; as it came first from the lips of inspired men and then from its writers. In the first three hundred years of its history we see this church making such progress that its gospel was preached throughout the then known world, and was accepted and obeyed by so many that it became the established religion of the great Roman Empire, whose ruler Constantine the Great, bearing the sceptre of iron, bowed in humble submission to our King, Jesus, who bears the sceptre of love. The next period of most rapid growth found in the history of the church was within the first fifty years of the great Restoration movement led by the Campbells, Stone and Scott. When the growth was so great as to surpass by ten times that of Methodism, which up to that day has furnished the prodigy of growth in the Protestant world. When Methodism was fifty years old it numbered 50,000 adherents. When the Restoration movement was fifty years old it numbered 500,000 adherents, just ten times as many as Methodism won in the first fifty years of its life. And it is a significant fact that these two eras of the most rapid growth of our religion were those in which neither humanly organized missionary societies nor mechanical instruments of music were used by any of the churches of Christ.

It is another fact quite as significant, that with the introduction of these two so-called human expedients, there came a diminution both in the number and per cent of increase and so far has this diminution gone that in some years there has been a decrease, rather than an increase in both.

It is another fact that nowhere among the churches of Christ are there people found who believe that either mechanical 'instruments of music or humanly organized missionary societies are matters of faith, or that either one or both must be used, in order to have the Christian religion in its perfection. It will not be denied by anyone acquainted with the Bible that Jesus prayed all his followers might be one; that the Holy Spirit speaking by the apostle Paul said, “Let there be no division among you, but be ye perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” If the Holy Spirit condemned division, and Jesus Christ prayed for union, and the Holy Spirit taught it, then union among God’s people is both possible and desirable, for neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit would teach or pray for what is not desirable or possible.