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HERESIES EXPOSED
A Brief Critical Examination in the Light of the Holy
Scriptures of some of the Prevailing Heresies and False Teachings of Today
Compiled by
WM. C. IRVINE
Loizeaux Brothers, Bible Truth Depot
New York
First Edition, 1917 - Fifteenth Edition 1944
Agnosticism
By A. McD. Rewood
THE
natural attitude of a thinking
mind toward the supernatural is that of skepticism’ skepticism, not agnosticism. The
skeptic halts at the cross-roads, to take his bearings; but at the sight of a cross-road
the agnostic gives up his journey altogether. True skepticism connotes intellectual
caution, but agnosticism is intellectual suicide." With these words Sir Robert
Anderson opens one of his chapters in his In Defence, a book which we commend to
everyone who suffers from mental doubts.
What is Agnosticism?
In the words of Professor
Alexander Stewart, it is "the name by which those designate their position who do not
deny the existence of God, the future world, and other doctrines of religion, but
declare that we do not, and cannot, know anything about these subjects, and should
therefore leave them out of account." Agnosticism denies that there is a revelation,
and therefore denies the Bible. In effect, the agnostic is neither logical nor
philosophical, for, whilst he acknowledges there is a God, he will not allow that God can
reveal Himself to the creatures of His own bands. "The Agnostic recognizes the facts
of nature and the duties of life: of these he admits we have a knowledge sufficient for
all practical purposes, though even here there are deep problems which remain unsolved;
but because be cannot solve all deep problems with regard to God, he will not admit
that we have even a practical knowledge of Him - a knowledge to be gained by inference
from the facts of nature and the constitution of man, even if we leave that given by
Revelation out of account. Agnosticism is thus essentially inconsistent and untenable
whenever it goes beyond the declaration that there is much in relation to God which our
intellects cannot apprehend."
Such a half-way position,
with atheism on the one side denying the very existence of God, and skepticism on the
other side endeavoring to find the way (as Paul says: "If haply they might find
Him"), although it be but a feeling one's way in the dark, is surely only possible to
those who refuse to know and are wilfully blind. One can have much patience with
the honest doubter, the man with sincere intellectual difficulties, who is willing to make
use of even a rushlight if it will but lead him in the way of Truth. But no amount of
argument will avail for the one who deliberately rejects; his agnosticism is with him a
"creed," a "creed" of illogical ignorance.
An Appeal
This article is not so much
an exposure as an appeal, and that to the former class. Agnosticism has done its own
exposing; it stands self-condemned in the eyes of all honest minds who have themselves
made honest search and found the Way. Now, our appeal is-Will you search and find?
Christianity declares with no equivocal challenge that "God hath spoken unto us by
His Son." The Son Himself has said: "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE."
And He has further laid down His principle, and a truly scientific principle at that,
fully in accord with the modern scientific method, by which we may arrive at a clear
knowledge of Truth, of Himself. This is given in John 7: 17: "If any man will do His
will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of
Myself." You are in doubt as to whether God can and does reveal Himself to the human
heart; you are in doubt as to whether Christ Jesus is the manifestation of God and His
love to man? Right! Then there, in the few words quoted above, you will find a method of
testing it for yourself. You believe in the existence of God, somehow, somewhere. Act on
that belief. Do His will and you shall know. He has pledged Himself to do
His part, if you will do yours. "But," you answer, "what is His will? How
shall I find it out?" My answer is this: In nature everywhere we see the evidence of
His power and of His workings; but in the Bible we see His will and His love. "But
how do I know that?" you ask. Test it. Here is the commandment, the will of God, as
given in His Word: "This is the commandment, That we should believe on the
name of His Son Jesus Christ," and again, "This is the will of Him that sent Me
(the Son), that everyone which seeth the Son (by faith) and believeth on Him, may have
everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (1 John 3: 23; John 6:
40). You don't believe the Bible? Never mind, for the moment; test those words
practically; receive Jesus Christ into your heart by an act of simple faith, believing Him
to be true to His Word, asking Him to open your eyes that you may see and know Him. Keep
asking, sincerely and persistently, and - You WILL KNOW! "Really?" Absolutely
certain! God does not lie, He is not a gamester, He is God! And He wants you to know and
to love Him, for He knows and loves You!
A Testimony
Anybody tried this way
before you? Literally thousands, a host innumerable. Here is a sample of one who thus
found Christ, taken from J. F. Clarke's booklet, Does God reveal Himself to men?
It tells of the conversion
of H. Musgrave Reade, for twenty years, not merely an agnostic, but an out-and-out
atheist, nevertheless an honest thinker, as recorded in his own book, From Atheism to
Christ:
I read eagerly
Strauss' Life of Christ, in which he contended that the Gospel account was on a par
with the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, and that Christ was simply a myth, probably
taken from the Hindu God Krishna. Then I readily drank in Renan’s Vie de Jesus, with
its beautiful, but soul-destroying picture of Christ, neither divine, nor human, neither
the Son of God, nor a truly noble and good man. Fichte, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and a host of
German metaphysicians then captivated my fancy, and I was soon in the vain imaginings of
idealism, transcendentalism, and pessimism, and thus blossomed into a philosophical deist.
Auguste Comte, with his Positivist Philosophy, then attracted my attention; his plausible
theory of science and religion gained -many adherents, mainly through his attempts to
spiritualize free thought into a religion. The Religion of Humanity was the cult, and its
devotees were asked to worship an abstraction, that to elevate the idea of the whole
humanity, past, present, and to come, into a grand being, to be reverenced and worshipped.
Professor Huxley aptly termed it Catholicism minus Christianity. These, in turn, gave way
to more extreme critics and opponents of Christianity. Rousseau, Voltaire,
Volney, Paine,
and others, were eagerly sought for, and the tenets of Christianity were insidiously
uprooted from my mind. I became what is termed a Freethinker (why a rejecter of
Christianity should have the monopoly of this title I have never been able to understand).
The transition from this phase was greatly facilitated by a course of studies in the realm
of science, in which I was introduced to the works of Buchner, Haeckel, Darwin, Tyndall,
Huxley, etc., and imbibed the doctrines of evolution-this completed the work, and left me
a materialistic atheist.
While in this state of
mind Reade met Charles Bradlaugh, Mrs. Annie Besant, Dr. Edward Aveling, and other
prominent atheists, and became himself an anti-Christian propagandist. In 1882 he became
Secretary of a branch of the National Secular Society of which Charles Bradlaugh was
president, and in 1892 he was one of the seven men who formed the Independent Labor Party.
In 1900 he was appointed by his employers to undertake a long journey in America, and in
this connection he visited sixty-two of the largest towns and cities in the United States.
The various sights witnessed and the many cities through which he passed deeply impressed
him, and formed the first link in the chain of evidence of the existence of God.
An Agnostic Convinced
In his own words the memorable
journey and its consequence are thus described: -
What, then, was the
result of this experience to me? Was it by mere accident that I was allowed to undertake
this journey? No. I am fully convinced that it was God's 'merciful providence that
ordained this as His method of drawing me to Himself, with the ever-unfolding panorama
that came before me as I was travelling over those thousands of miles, coming into contact
with all the races of mankind-black, red, yellow and white-skinned people. Now on the wild
prairies of the West, then across the wonderful, awe-inspiring canyons of the Colorado, up
14,000 feet on the snow-capped Rockies, across sandy deserts for hundreds of miles,
amongst the Red Indians of New Mexico, mixing with the cow-boys of Arizona, into the
beautiful -scenes of California, then the sights of China-town, with its 50,000 Chinese,
and amongst the negroes in their log cabins.
All this had its deep
influence upon my mind unconsciously, and it eventually resulted in the revelation of God
to me as a Personal Being, knowing and loving the creature He had made. The hour of the
revelation drew nigh. I was in the train, slowly climbing the wonderful Rocky Mountains.
We had reached an altitude of 15,000 feet. We had left Colorado 90 degrees in the shade,
and here we were passing through snow-capped pinnacles, where eagles were sweeping past us
as the train slowly labored up the heights. The panorama to a city man brought up amidst
the bricks and mortar of Manchester, was overwhelming. Here I beheld a wonder cataclysm of
nature. The "Royal Gorge" some three miles deep, lay on one side of the rails
over which we were passing, and we were now on the edge of a precipice, and again mounting
up to another peak until we reached the highest point. At this altitude the train climbed
so slowly that all the passengers left the car, and I was alone. I sat in a reverie gazing
at the spectacle, whilst I began instinctively feeling about, so to speak, in my mind for
an explanation of these wonders. The first defined thought was, Surely all this is not the
result of fortuitous circumstances, blind chance, matter and force or, as we glibly say,
"a concourse of fortuitous atoms!" Something else than the atomic theory must
account for all these wonders. Could "evolution" explain it all? Evolution can
give a plausible case to us whilst we are studying nature, in our chamber amongst our
books, but the immediate contact with nature herself, in all her rugged beauty, speaks to
us of the existence of a higher power than ourselves. Insensibly I found my mind was
undergoing a change;. an irresistible feeling of wonder, awe, and reverence crept into my
thoughts. I had ever been an honest seeker after truth, and the thought suddenly flashed
into my mind-Might I, after all, have been mistaken? I felt I must face the question. I
fell on my knees, and cried, "O God, if Thou dost exist, reveal Thyself." I
asked for light and it came like a flood I The whole car seemed full of light. It
was the veil torn off my mind by the Spirit of God. I felt that I was in the presence of
God, and I capitulated without a struggle. I who had resisted so long His gracious
pleadings, who had rebelled against His authority so many years, was at last brought into
submission. I arose from my knees filled with joy, saying, "GOD IS!" There had
come to me "that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"
(John 1: 9). There could be no "association of ideas," as some would say, to
account for this, for as I fell on my knees I had in my hand one of Ingersoll's books
which I had been reading. The sudden change simply meant that the Spirit of God had come
into my life, in spite of my resistance, without my seeking, and without the help of man
or books, and I knew that I beheld the glory of God and His wondrous works! Oh,
what a revelation and a revolution of ideas , what joy and peace to know the unfathomable
love of God! Was I dreaming, or ill with the fever? Nay, neither; I never felt better in
health than at that moment. It was my first realization of the Personal Presence
of God.
But although the great
discovery had been made, months passed before he came into possession of the new life.
An Agnostic Converted
On his return to England, a
Bible was at length purchased and carefully studied, and the joyful news comprehended that
there is a new life or salvation to be had through trusting Christ
The new life
brought with it, not only great joy and peace, but an earnest desire to spread the good
news to others. Having tasted that the Lord was good I yearned to let other blind souls
know this great joy, but I soon found out to my want to know about this "good thing
of God." They did not wish to be disturbed, they were in their sin and blindness. I
marveled greatly that they could spurn such love, that the blessed news would meet with
such a cold response: but I remembered my own sad case, how blind and perverse I had been
for twenty years.
Moreover, innumerable
witnesses could be produced, not only from amongst those who have written, but from those
whom we know.
We have seen changes wrought
in the lives of individuals that nothing short of divine power could effect - changes
certainly not the result of the cherishing of high ideals, intellectual culture, mesmeric
influences, or sentiment. We have seen these changes effected in individuals possessing
minds incapable of appreciating the glories of classical literature, or even, to a great
extent, the sublimity of nature. We have seen these desirable effects wrought in those
with weakened will power, and with records of broken resolutions; and the explanations
given by the individual have always been that these results have been consequent upon the
committal of themselves and their lives into the hands of Jesus Christ, who has become
real to them, and who manifests His saving and keeping power in their lives.
There can be but one
explanation-an actual power. If these results are effected-(and they are), to deny them is
simply to deny facts-an adequate cause is essential. That cause is God in Christ,
revealing Himself through the Bible by the Holy Spirit. Truly, agnosticism is inconsistent
and inadequate.
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