Three great questions are agitating the church today, and seem likely to divide it. The three great questions are: First, Is the Bible the Inerrant Word of God Second, Was the body of Jesus that was nailed to the Cross and really died, raised from the dead? Third, was Jesus born of a Virgin? The first two of these questions are the more fundamental, but the third is of great importance. Of course if can be shown that the Bible is the Inerrant Word of God, the question of the Virgin Birth of our Lord is also settled. In this book we have taken up the first and second questions. The reader will have to judge for himself whether we have answered the questions satisfactorily or not.
There is in the church today a wide-spread opinion that the Bible is not the Word of God but simply “contains the Word of God:” and that it is very far from inerrant. This opinion is held not only by some prominent ministers in the various evangelical churches but by a considerable number of professors in theological seminaries in the Evangelical denominations where men are trained for the ministry at home and for foreign missionary work abroad: and it is the opinion of many competent judges that our whole evangelistic work at home and our missionary work abroad is seriously threatened by the growth of this opinion.
Within the past few years has been, one almost might say, a “broad-casting’’ among Evangelical ministers of a view of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which is entirely different from that given in the Bible. Those who hold this view say that they believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; but, if pressed, they frankly confess that by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ they do not mean the resurrection of His body, but a spiritual resurrection, a resurrection of His Spirit. This view is also taught not merely in the theological seminaries of some the so called ‘‘Liberal” denominations, but in the theological seminaries of denominations that have always been held to be Evangelical. The writer was surprised to discover last summer how this opinion had grown among missionaries in China. There is certainly great need that this question also be faced and dealt with thoroughly. This we have endeavored to do in this book. If something is not done of a definite, decided and effective character to stem the tide of unbelief in the Inerrancy of the Bible and in the fact of the Resurrection of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the outlook for our Missions abroad, and for our work at home, is appalling; hence book.
The question of ‘‘Evolution’’ is also being largely discussed in our churches at the present day; just at this present moment possibly more these other questions, but it has not been thought wise to treat this subject at any length in this book, for the question is not so fundamental and vital as the question of the Inerrancy and Authority of the Bible and the question of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead.
If we can settle these two questions, the question of Evolution will take care of itself. Furthermore, in the current discussions of Evolution, there is great confusion of thought both upon the part of the Conservatives and on the part of the Liberals. Neither side define with accuracy just what they mean by “Evolution,’’ and the ardent advocates of Evolution having given what they consider conclusive proof of the fact of an Evolution of a certain character, at once assert that they have proved the doctrine of Evolution in an entirely different sense. There is a similar confusion, though not so frequent or so gross, on the part of those who are contending against Evolution. No one should write either for or against Evolution without a careful definition of just what he means by Evolution. It is one of the most ambiguous words in common use today, and is used with a startling disregard for definiteness and accuracy by both sides in present conflict. If someone more competent than the writer of this book does not take the subject up and handle it in an intelligent, definite, thorough and satisfactory way, the writer may publish a book on the subject later, but he entertains the hope that a man whom he has in mind, or some other competent man, may do this work, and do it more thoroughly and satisfactorily than he himself could do it.
