Show SCEPTICAL christianity MINOT J was formerly a congregational minister and missionary sio nary but he be is now pastor of a unitarian church in boston he is in the van of the so called advanced theologians and has written a number of works in line with the popular seral semi skeptical theories of a numerous class of modern origin who do not like to throw away the scriptures entirely yet are reluctant to believe what they say lately the editor of the north nora american review put to a number of clergymen among whom was mr savage the question can an our churches be made more use useful fluIT mr savage thinks they might be and proceeds to explain how in his view this end might be reached in his article which appears in the march number of the AVe view he alleges that the efforts of christendom for nearly eighteen hundred years have been put forth in a direction at variance with existing truths and the real needs of humanity humane namely to save sav e man an from the effects of a fall which never took place to induce him to avail himself of an atonement both unnecessary and unreal wid and to in his mind a faith in doctrines which are false and absurd and aad among which we are supernatural r revelation e ve lati 0 n th the e ost lost state of man the need for a savior his birth sufferings death resurrection and ascension the efficacy of faith etc he ae altti ast ti effect that the reason why h the ahu churches are losing their ind and hence their usefulness if i that intelligent and thinking people no longer give credence to these old fables and do not care to attend worship where they are still promulgated as sober truths which worshippers wor shippers are under obligation io to accept as a part of their religious legious faith he makes the assertion that free minded well informed people no believe in any fall of man and asks what follows in reply to his own question he says why this follows as inevitably as day follows night that the very dorner domer stone of the popular theol theology agy ogy has crumbled and that the whole superstructure super structure totters to its lall fell if man has not fallen I 1 then i he is not lost I 1 and in that case he does not need to be be saved take away the fall of man and there is ne need of the scheme afi of redemption no need of a supernaturally inspired revelation no need of an incarnation no need of a supernatural or infallible church no need of a trinity no old time heaven for the chosen few no endless hell for the doomed many all these hese doctrines found their reasons reason in in the supposed fall and with lt iti they paw pass away in explaining how in his ion the churches might gain ground he be says I 1 but in order to become more useful the first and most important thing for them to do is frankly to recognize the facts of god man origin destiny and adapt themselves to them why should they longer expect intelligent tell igent men to come to them to hear a condition of things described in which they no longer believe and listen to an offer of help that they no longer believe they need today the larger part of the magnificent power of all the churches to is thrown away it ls is enough to make the angels weep to contemplate the picture magnificent buildings millions of money thousands of of men grand enthusiasms m marvels vels of patient labor prayers and aspirations all 01 expended d d in the effort to deliver an imaginary man from the imaginary w wrath rs I 1 H of sin an imaginary god in an imaginary hell if all the time and money and enthusiasm and effort had been spent in co working with the real god in delly delivering erl ng t theareal e real man from his real evils long before nihls the world might have been the eden that never was and that never will be until men I 1 intelligently combine to save man here and now from the ills that all can feel and see am there is ie no use in railing at the past me be times of this ignorance goa WA winked at but now command eth ill all men everywhere to repent to repent 1 that means in true bible phrase to mange change aco f heir purpose 86 this is the great need of today in ID the light of the ascertained facts of nature aej man the churches need to repent to change their purposes and methods the world is no not t going back to the old the ignorant the barbaric conceptions of the past it is for the churches to say whether they will accept the newer the fuli ler revelation of god if not they will but repeat the history of judaism being left behind by the wider and grander religion that keeps step with the advancing god mr savage as a scholar a thinker and a preacher is ranked among the ablest in america and his utterances upon such subjects as the above quoted remarks relate to are import ant as indicating the drift of modern opinion among reading and thinking edg peo people ale regarding religious themes clearly skepticism is increasing creast ng among professed bible students and christian believers it seems inconsistent in a degree which approaches apu roaches the absurd to see a man calling himself a christian minister an advocate and defender of the christian scriptures thus cast aside nearly every cardinal principle embodied in the system which they teach but when mr savages position is fully understood its absurdity becomes somewhat mitigated he does not believe in the old the ignorant the barbaric conceptions religion of the past he does not worship an eternal and unchangeable but an advancing god these thase admissions render him less illogical than other religionists tire are who w ho are less frank again it is difficult to frame a consistent theory of the fall and hence to have a consistent faith that such an event ever took place without a knowledge of the reason why it happened and this knowledge cannot be obtained without an understanding of the doctrine of the pre existence of spirits this latter truth is probably utterly foreign to the faith philosophy and scholastic attainments of mr savage and hence he thinks it the more consistent course to deny altogether the history of eden but to deny the fall and at the same time to attribute any degree of sacredness binding force or divine authority to the christian scriptures is to perpetrate an utter inconsistency if the fall never took place mankind are entirely destitute of sat sacred red literature and the bible becomes a volume of profane history and ethical teachings of doubtful value and authenticity mr savage calls himself a christian minister yet his teachings are flagrantly antichrist it is no palliation of them in this regard to say that free minded and thinking multitudes 4 axe are adopting them mr savage sr gues that there was no fall if this be true there is no christ nor cam there be the fall the atonement and the redemption we are the three doctrines in which are centered an d epitomized the entire mass of MOO chri tian scripture to deny one of bebe doe doctrines brines trines is to deny all of them and an to become antichrist anti christ for mr savage to wear the livery of the master while antagonizing his worl work and teachings which are so plainly set forth in those writings aroln ato which the reverend gentleman chooses his text sabbath after sabbath is an incongruity which cannot be harmonized with reason and honesty the fact that a leader in the VIM n of the so called liberal and jj danced theologians occupies stich a position apposition indicates that their t era lity and advancement are n 04 improvement from a standpoint 0 logic upon the ignorance and dog of sectarians sect arians which th ar jl have repudiated it seems reasonable to that when thinking people by iv and intellectual abaly that the W have become convinced legious systems they have bite to acquiesced in are 6 and incongruous their i will be freer to accept 1 a is self SO a tern tem which proving harmonious throughout and covers the whole scope of az thought past present and fu hafl 4 hence there is reason to that the system of religion taug taught by joseph the seer will in ONO co or i of time be accepted by the j ing masses of mankind |