BIBLE INFALLIBILITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 319, 19 February 1910, Page 7

BIBLE INFALLIBILITY.

To the Editor. Sir, —However efficacious the Bible .may be asserted to have been in civilis,ing barbarians or in preserving the "existence" to this day of the "cllo-v >n people, yet, although having been a guide to your correspondent, Mi'. Enroth, for no less than two generations, its teachings seem unaccountably and lamentably to have failed in producing in him a mild, courteous and polite spirit, or disposition, for, like many ►others who either avoln or are unable to reply satisfaetori.. lv j arguments, lie . inclines to vitu..< :.uion or to what is little short of insolence instead. I mit that I know little or nothing of agriculture or gardening, but Mr. En-' roth's knowledge of astronomy seems still more limited, or not more than that of the estimable writer of (!eue<is Mr. Enroth evidently considers (rewiring to r.iy misquoted passage. Genesis X., verse 10) that the sun and moon were two great lights placed in the • heavens to rule the day and night tff Die globe. Mr. Enroth would seem to reject the modern astronomical conclusion that the moon shines by the sun's light, and is not in itself a "light." Therefore, that there could be but one light only established by the Creator. Mr. Enroth flatteringly stigmatises my disallowing the sun unci moon as two great lights made 'o rule the <lav and night of the earth only or ■for the globe's sole benefit as a •"curious instance of mental blindness producing, also physical infigmity. Though unac-. quainted with the details of gardening, I have myself experienced no little exertion in getting rid of weeds, though I still iail to see in their presence evidence of a very .withering universal curse on the ground, in the face of the immense preponderance of fertility and fruit-fulness, and am almost sorry to find Mr. Enroth so dissatisfied with the condition <}f his land. The formation of woman irom a rib of Adam (scarcely misquoted by myself from the second chanter of Genesis, 21st and 22nd 'verses) is evidently such an established fact that Mr. Enroth does not- allude to it, it being altogether unquestionable. With what little study I liave given tue Bible, I can but say that from the horribip atrocities described therein as practised by the heroes of the Jews, the "chosen people," throughout the whole of th° Old Testament, almost precludes reading try adults, let alone; being fit for the studv of youth. I am truly astonished at the wonders ascribed to the the Bible in promoting civilisation and humanity. Not possessing a concordance where the alleged appearance of the Almighty as a lion to David is re-! lated, I do not know- but I must never-! theiess profess disability to credit its' truth. I fail also to see or acknowledge j what "evils" Mr. Enroth decrys in | "maternity" as a result of the asserted . "fail. ill". Enroth is doubtless a deep ■ render, but he seems to ignore the un- . dispute:! facts of modern science and geological investigation, which incontestably prove the existence of man on the earth m more or less civilised eon- 1 ditions thousands of years, tens of thousands of years and more before the | Bible was ever written or composed, ori, before the deeds recorded in it were en-1 acted. The beginning of the Biblical 1 , period does not date further hack than,' 50(10 years at the most, scarcely more. than a day. comparatively.- in th-> his-,' torv of mankind on the globe. rvicn ( evidence scarcely corroborates the in- ( - .fallibility and reliability of Biblical .Re- j v relations. I certainly disclaim kno-r-J ledge as to what Moses and other prophets or visionaries have disclosed or < .foretold of the candition of the •Tewi'sh j people at this day, hut no nation .so much as the .Tews seem to evince more ( by their condition the inefTicacy of ancient religions rules, they being without a national home government of the'r own. while most of the original contemporaries. fireeks. Romans (or Italians), etc.. under past secular legislators have still som? political status. As this letter is occupying quite sufficient space I must finish.—-I am, etc.. C.W.W.