Articles
THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE (Part 1)
A tree is known by the fruit it bears. When we pluck the luscious fruit from the branch year after year we do not need to be convinced of the goodness of the tree, we have the evidence in hand. Christians do not need to be convinced that the Bible came from God—they have seen the fruit it bears. No other book has ever had such an influence. It has always championed the right in every controversy and has never done despite to the individual who studied it. Because of its great influence, Christians believe that the Bible is a revelation from God. MORAL INFLUENCE SPREAD ABROAD Did you ever hear a man say, “I used to steal, lie, drink, swindle, abuse my family, gamble, break up homes, beat my debts and was an immoral citizen but I was finally induced to read some books on infidelity, atheism and doubt and now I go to church, treat my family decent, pay my debts, live a moral life, try to be a good neighbor and a good citizen as the result of the influence these books had on me”? No, and you never will for the Bible is the only book that has such an influence on men. As long as the Bible has such an influence, Christians may declare with confidence, “The Bible is God’s Word” and they may point with pride to its fruit. HUMAN FREEDOM ADVANCED In the days of the Old Testament all nations, except the Hebrews, were built on slavery. The Hebrew nation, even when it permitted slavery surrounded it with many alleviations and held no one in servitude more than seven years. The Roman nation with a population of about one hundred and twenty-five million held more than sixty million in the basest sort of slavery. Overworked, underfed, and killed at the pleasure of their owners, these slaves were indeed “without God and without hope” in the world. But lo, the Christ came and died, and from the very beginning slaves were received into the churches of Christ on the same basis as their masters. The New Testament teaches the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. Where Christianity has gone, slavery has either retreated or been destroyed. While Mohammedanism has enslaved millions, Christianity has freed millions.
