Articles

An Introduction to Apologetics

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Life has been extremely busy the past few weeks, leading to our less-than-stellar frequency of posts here at TheCobbSix.  Thanks for sticking with us.  🙂

Beginning this week, we are studying Apologetics in our Wednesday night Bible class.  We hope you will find these lessons as useful as we do!

What Is Apologetics?

Now, seemingly more than in any other time, apologetics is needed. “Apologetics” comes from “apologia,” which means “a formal, usually written, defense or justification of a belief, theory, or policy”[1]

God is being attacked on many different fronts by different people. There are some that completely deny His existence. Some will acknowledge His existence, but deny the Scriptures are really His  Word and are inspired by Him. And there are literally billions of people in the world today who do not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and is indeed deity.[2]

Because of this, and the constant onslaught of teachings that come along with these  three topics, we are devoting some time for the next several weeks to study apologetics — the defense of the truth of these things.

 Why should anyone study apologetics?

Everyone should study apologetics to establish or solidify their own faith in God, His  Word, and His Son Jesus. Perhaps you are sitting, thinking, “I already believe in God and those other things.” But why do you believe? Is it just because that is what you’ve been taught?[3] Or have you weighed the evidence?

God never expected people to operate on “blind faith.”  God sent the ten plagues on Egypt so that They would know that He was the Lord (Exodus 14:4). God sent the quail and the manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness so that they would know that He was the Lord (Exodus 16:12). Jesus performed miracles so that people would see that He was from God (John 3:2). God has always, since the beginning of time, shown His existence. Our faith must be built on the evidence, not on what someone else has told us.

You should study apologetics so that you can teach others.  There are many in the world who call themselves “agnostics” who say that there is not enough evidence to prove God exists or to prove that He doesn’t exist.[4]  Simply put, these people just don’t know what to think.  Most want to know one way or the other, and the only way to prove it to them is to show them all of the evidence. You would not want a judge deciding a case against you without presenting him with all of the evidence, so why would you not want to teach a lost soul and show them all the evidence for the existence of God?

When you have that faith that is rock-solid because it is based on all of the evidence,  you are much more likely to convince someone else to become a Christian.

You need to study apologetics so that you can combat false teachings. In the schools (and everywhere else for that matter), evolution is being paraded as the truth about the origin of man and everything else.[5]  This denies the existence of God.  This denies that the Bible is inspired from God.  This denies that Jesus exists.  We must be able to combat these falsehoods that are being taught to everyone, especially our children.

There are false teachings even within the church that need to be combated with apologetics.  There are those who say they believe in God, but also claim to believe in evolution.[6]  This contradicts Genesis 1, Exodus 20:11, 31:17, and others which clearly state that creation began and ended in a total of six 24-hour days.

This would make Moses a liar or uninspired. If Moses was uninspired, so was Jesus who quoted him and who was called the      prophet like Moses (Acts 3:22). To say evolution is true is to, ultimately, deny the inspiration of the Bible and the deity of Jesus Christ!

 Can these things really be proven?

Yes! They can be proven!  God gave us everything that pertains to “life and godliness” (II Peter 1:3).  This would include proof that He indeed exists.  If there was no proof God’s existence, there would be nothing on which to base faith.

The heavens declare that God exists (Psalm 19:1).  The fact that there is design in the universe shows that someone had to design it.  The fact that nothing comes from nothing shows that someone had to create the universe.[7]

The complete accuracy of the Bible (even though it had many writers over a period of 1500 years) historically, doctrinally, and scientifically screams out that it is inspired of God. Skeptics have tried over and over to show the Bible as being historically wrong on something, yet it always turns out that they were wrong and the Bible was right.[8]

The Bible has stated scientific facts that were not discovered until thousands of years later.[9] The Bible predicted specific world events, sometimes tens and sometimes hundreds of years before they happened.[10]

The Bible records all the things we need to believe in Jesus as the Son of God (John 20:30-31).  Once we establish the inspiration of the Bible, we can see that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God.  The Jews heard Him say this, and they called it blasphemy because they knew it meant that He was claiming to be deity (John 10:24-33).  Jesus truly was God (John 1:1).

 What to Expect

We will see in the rest of this study various things that prove the existence of God, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the deity (God-ness) of Jesus Christ. We will also look at arguments used against these things and show why they are wrong and should not be accepted. Ultimately, the goal of this study is to make your faith strong and to help bring others to Christ.

[1] Encarta World English Dictionary: “Apologia.”

[2] The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” claim that Jesus was the first being created by God, and is not deity (see their translation of John 1:1 as “the word was a god”). Other religious groups, such as the Muslims, claim Jesus was a good man and perhaps even a prophet, but deny that He is deity. Others, such as Buddhists, believe that if Jesus ever did exist, He was just a man. Still many others claim that Jesus never existed in the first place. As strange as it might seem to some of us, this denial of Jesus’ deity is held by the majority of people living today.

[3] Remember that Aquila and Priscilla had to teach Apollos more perfectly the way of the Lord. He did not have all the evidence, and thus was teaching an inadequate gospel (Acts 18:24-26). We must be ready to search the evidence to find out if these things are true (see Acts 17:11).

[4] The word “agnostic” means “no knowledge.” (Encarta) They believe it is impossible to know if God exists.

[5] Nearly every science textbook in public schools teaches the theory of evolution as a fact, and offers no alternative to it.

[6] There are examples that could be given, but this is not the place to list names of brethren who hold this belief. Suffice it to say, if one does much investigating into the topic, they will find numerous brethren of both today and times past that hold this stance.

[7] The Law of Biogenesis states that living things can only come from other living things, and not from non-living material. Basically stated, spontaneous generation is impossible.

[8] See later lessons on the inspiration of the Scriptures for specific examples.

[9] Again, see later lessons on the inspiration of the Scriptures for specifics.

[10] Specifically, the destruction of Jerusalem was predicted by Jesus approximately 40 years before it happened (Matthew 24:2-3); Daniel prophesied the Babylonian Empire would fall to the Persian Empire, which would fall to the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great, and that there would be a fourth kingdom, that being Rome. It was during the days of the Roman Empire that the church would be established. Daniel wrote this hundreds of years before the fact (Daniel 2, especially verse 44).

Announcements

The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts

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It’s been months in the making, but our latest book, The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts is just about done.  We believe that you will find it to be a worthwhile and valuable resource.

Features:

  • An in-depth look at every passage in Acts which mentions or alludes to the Holy Spirit.
  • Each passage is examined to come to a better understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit as described in the book of Acts.
  • Opposing viewpoints are considered (when such exist) in light of the context of each passage and the book as a whole.
  • No stances are taken on interpretation of a passage without first proving from the Bible that it is the proper one.
  • An appendix on the end of miracles.

This book came about because of the wrangling that is done throughout the church over the issue of the Holy Spirit, His work, and how various passages in Acts are used or misused in an effort to prove each side’s arguments.

Coming in at just over 200 pages, this book is easy to read and understand, but it is in-depth, and backs up its conclusions with careful Bible examination.  Unlike some books which attempt to tell you what to believe on the issue, this one attempts to prove from the Scriptures what the proper belief is.

Issues covered in the book include:

  • Miraculous inspiration
  • Miraculous fulfillment
  • The purposes of miracles
  • The end of miracles
  • To whom does “the gift of the Holy Spirit” of Acts 2:38-39 apply?
  • How was the Holy Spirit a witness for the believers?
  • Prophecy given and fulfilled by the Holy Spirit.

We do hope that you will consider checking the book out.  Look for it (Lord willing) by the end of this month!

Articles

The Great Importance of a Two-Letter Word

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Have you ever noticed how much difference one word makes? Take, for example, the word “not.” Insert that word into a sentence, and the meaning is completely opposite! What about the importance of just a single letter or two? There is a writer who once wrote in one of his Bible commentaries, “Jesus is not sitting at the right hand of God.” Do you notice the problem? It was a typographical error, and was instead supposed to read “Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God.” The difference was only one single letter, but it changed the meaning of the entire sentence! One sentence was Scriptural, the other blasphemous!

There is a common false doctrine called “Perseverance of the Saints” or “once saved, always saved” that permeates the religious world, as well as infiltrates the thinking of the Lord’s church. The inspired apostle, Paul, speaks clearly against it. He states “I declare unto you the gospel…By which you are saved” (I Corinthians 15:1-2a). However, he does not end the sentence there. He specifies that Christians are only saved by means of the gospel “if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you” (I Corinthians 15:2b). Do you notice the importance of that one little word: “if”? The gospel saves, but only if it is kept in memory (meaning that one continues to walk in it – see Romans 8:1, Revelation 2:10). When one becomes a Christian, yet does not continue in the gospel, he is not saved. Are you truly keeping the gospel in your memory?

Articles, Bible Questions

Bible Q&A – Will the Wicked Be Resurrected Too?

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Question: When the final judgment takes place, will the wicked be raised too? I’ve been reading several books lately, and some of them say that the wicked will simply be destroyed and cease to exist. What are your thoughts? – W.A.A., California.

Thanks for taking the time to write. I appreciate your writing to get my thoughts, but I’m sure that you’ll agree that what’s really important is what the Bible says on the matter.

The doctrine that you have read about is generally called annihilationism. That is, the belief that the wicked, instead of being sent to a place of torment, will simply be annihilated—being completely removed from existence. Their punishment, according to this belief, would be that they simply cease to exist. This view is held by the majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but it has also been advocated by respected men in the church like Homer Hailey.

But again, the question is: what does the Bible say?

First, we can look at the teaching of Jesus about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 15:19-31). In that teaching, whether you call it a parable or not, Jesus teaches the reality of torment for the wicked after death. This is a conscious torment—the rich man was very much aware of his pain and anguish. He was not annihilated at the point of his physical death.

Secondly, and perhaps most convincingly, are the words of Paul from Acts 24:14-15. “[I am] believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope towards God…that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

Thirdly, the Scriptures teach that at the judgment, all men will have to answer for the things done in the body, whether they be good or evil (II Corinthians 5:10). This shows that everyone will be present at the final judgment—not just the saints.

Fourthly, Jesus constantly speaks of a place of constant torment for the wicked. He calls it “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He calls it the place where the fire is never quenched and the worm doesn’t die. He also calls it “hell.” There is no need for such a place if the wicked simply cease to exist. Since there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in that place, that means there will be people there—the wicked people.

The Scriptures are pretty clear that the wicked will be raised and stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. After their sentence, they will be sent to hell-a place of constant conscious torment.

That’s not my opinion—that’s what the Bible says.

-Bradley S. Cobb

Articles

The Giving Attitude

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Shortly after the church was established, needs arose among the Christians in Jerusalem. Many people came from far and near on the Day of Pentecost to worship God, and after being converted to Christ, they stayed in the city. This created what could have become a very large problem. These people had no homes or jobs, so they were dependent on the kindness of those Christians who were natives of Jerusalem. The attitude of many in the church at that time was amazing! They gave no thought to selling whatever extra things they had so that these foreigners could live there in Jerusalem and continue to be taught by the apostles (Acts 2:42; 4:32-35). This was not anything that was forced upon them. It was what they wanted to do from their heart!

Unfortunately, as many times the case is, egos begin to get involved. There were some that wanted the praise of men (like the Pharisees – Matthew 23:5). Ananias, a Christian man from Jerusalem, along with his wife Sapphira, got caught up in this desire. They saw many other Christians selling their lands and other possessions and giving the money to the apostles. They may have even seen praise given to these people (like Barnabas – Acts 4:36-37). In addition to the praise, they wanted to reap the financial benefits that came with selling their land (Acts 5:1).

When Ananias brought the money to Peter, he surely expected to be praised for his generosity. He received nothing of the sort. Peter chastised him because he attempted not only to lie, but to lie to the Holy Spirit and to God! Peter clearly points out that there was no reason to lie about how much money they received for the land. Ananias never had to sell the land in the first place, and when he did, he did not have to give the money to the apostles (Acts 5:4). For his wrong attitude in giving, he was struck dead, as was his wife later when she repeated the same lie. Their sin was not keeping back part of the money. Their sin was lying about it. This shows that they were not doing it to help others, but to help themselves. This is exactly what is condemned by Christ during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1).

The lesson for Christians today is that attitude matters in giving (2 Cor. 9:7). The Christians in Jerusalem who sold their land and brought the money to the apostles were doing it out of love and kindness towards their Christian family. They did not think twice about giving to help these fellow-Christians, and in fact they shared everything (Acts 4:32). Ananias and Sapphira, had they given the money with the right motives, would not have been killed. Instead, they tried to lie and deceive in order to receive praise. What was the difference between the two? The attitude.

Christians should always look for ways to help people, not because they “have to” but because they “want to.” Paul explains that unless helping is done out of love, it profits one nothing (1 Cor. 13:3). This does not mean that Christians should not give if they do not “feel like it.” It means that the Christian who is not doing such out of love needs an attitude adjustment. The Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, exhorted, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). May all follow the example of Barnabas and other Christians in Jerusalem by doing all they can to help out their Christian brethren from a spirit of love and not one that seeks for praise of men.

-Bradley Cobb

Articles, Books

Friday Freebie

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Last week’s Friday Freebie was so well-received that we’ve decided to do it again (and we might even make this a regular feature).

Today’s special freebie is…

The Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, Which?
By D.R. Dungan.

David Roberts Dungan was a preacher/teacher/writer in the late 1800s/early 1900s.  His book on Hermeneutics is still the standard on Biblical Interpretation in most preaching schools and Christian colleges.  His novel On the Rock was reprinted several times and was that generation’s Muscle and a Shovel.

Today’s free book was written to answer the question about whether the church is commanded to meet on the Sabbath or the first day of the week.  Dungan approaches the topic with a level head and an open Bible, and deals with every claim that the Sabbath-keepers produced.  When you finish this book, you will have no doubt as to the answer to the question: The Sabbath or the Lord’s Day?

Just like all of our other books, this one has undergone updating in spelling, correction of typos, and a complete reformatting to make it much easier on the eyes.  We hope you will find it useful.

Chapters

 

PART ONE:

  1. The Statement of the Question.
  2. Reasons for Keeping the Sabbath Examined Upon the Hypothesis of a Pre-Mosaic Requirement
  3. To Whom was the Law of the Sabbath Given?
  4. Was the Law of the Sabbath Perpetuated in Christ?
  5. Is the Decalogue Yet Binding?
  6. The Law, of Which the Sabbath was a Part, was Done Away in Christ.
  7. The Conclusion of Part First: The Law Containing the Sabbath Having Passed Away, The Sabbath Itself has no More Claim upon Christians than any other Feature of the Law Given to Israel at Mt. Sinai.

PART TWO:

  1. The Source of Knowledge.
  2. The View Entertained by Christians in General.
  3. Unfair Methods of Advancing the Cause of the Sabbath, and of Opposing the Lord’s Day.
  4. History Shows that the Lord’s Day, or First Day of the Week, has been Regarded as a Sacred Day in All Ages of the Church.
  5. The Teaching of the Scriptures Respecting the Day on Which Christians Should Meet for Worship.
  6. How the Apostles Understood the Subject of the Lord’s Day.

Download it by clicking here (or right-clicking here and choosing “save link as”): Dungan – Sabbath or Lords Day

Articles, Tracts from the Past

Is Baptism Essential?

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IS BAPTISM ESSENTIAL?

By Paul Simon, Minister.

Is baptism essential to the remission of our sins? It is a shame that there is so much confusion over this question on which the Bible is so plain. There are many proofs that baptism is necessary to the remission of sins to the person who has reached the mental age of account­ability. Howbeit, I will not burden your minds with all of these proofs, but rather suffice it with four—any one of which would be conclusive in and by itself.

Condition of Salvation

Baptism is one of the conditions of the remission of sins. Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). It must be agreed that this baptism is water baptism and not Holy Spirit baptism, because even those who teach that the Holy Spirit bap­tism is to be sought today, teach that it is not essential to salvation, but is a “blessing to be desired.” Jesus here makes faith and baptism equally necessary to salvation. Do you believe a responsible person can be saved without faith? Why then do you think he can be saved with­out baptism?

For Remission of Sins

Jesus says, through His apostle Peter, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis­sion of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). Jesus here makes repentance and baptism of equal importance. The preposition, for, means the same thing in connection with “be baptized” as it does with “repent,” that is, to obtain. God is here saying, “Re­pent everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins.” Can one be saved without repentance? Then neither can he be saved without baptism.

God Commands It

God commands baptism. “And he com­manded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:48). (You) repent and (you) be baptized everyone of you (Acts 2:38).

Christ is going to punish those who obey not His commandments. II Thes. 1:7-9: “And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with ever­lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” Therefore, baptism is essential.

All who obey His commandments are to be saved.Rev. 22:14: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

All agree that to get into Christ is essential. Baptism is one of the acts of obedience which puts us into Christ. Gal.

3:27: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This could not be Holy Spirit baptism, because all agree that Holy Spirit baptism does not put one in Christ. Therefore, water baptism is essential. (Note: Some­one might say, “The preceding verse says that we are saved by faith.” It does, but it does not say “by faith only.”)

Part of The New Birth

Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he CANNOT enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Practically all commentators agree that the birth of water, here mentioned, refers to baptism. See Abbott, Wesley, Milligan, Whitby, Theluck, Olshausen. Alford says, “All attempts to rid this have sprung from doctrinal prejudices.” Even Adam Clarke admits that it refers to baptism, and then tries to argue out of it. Therefore, baptism is essential.

And yet, the church of Christ, the Christian Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Second Adventist Church, Roman Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church (with possibly some branch of the Holiness Church) are the only religious groups which teach and practice baptism as essential to the re­mission of sins.

Articles

Disappointment

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New England Patriots – 45
Indianapolis Colts – 7

Ouch.  That is painful for me to type.  I am a Colts fan, and have been for 30 years.  And if you know anything about Colts fans, it’s that they despise the New England Patriots with a passion.  They are  enemy number one, and a loss to them is, frankly, demoralizing to the fans.  Especially when it’s in the playoffs.  Especially when it’s a blowout.

Disappointed? That’s the understatement of the century.

There are already Colts fans calling for the coaches and general manager to be fired, and for most of the team to be cut.  Those are severe overreactions, but there are several of them saying that quite vocally.

They’re not just disappointed, they’re mad about it.  They’re so upset at the outcome that they want everyone associated with it to be gone forever.

I know, I know, football is just a game.  And I’m not about to jump off a building, so don’t worry.

But that’s what happens when you invest your hopes in man–in humans.  People are going to fail.  They’re going to let you down.  You’re going to be disappointed, because even though they try hard, they’re not always going to succeed in doing things right or in winning the game.

This is a reminder for all of us that the only one who will never let us down is God.  God has made promises to us in His word, and He will always fulfill those promises.  My personal favorite is this one:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful [trustworthy] and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).

We don’t have to hope that God will forgive us; we can know it. God keeps His promises.  God never fails.

It’s something to keep in mind.

-Bradley S. Cobb

Articles, Books

Friday Freebie!

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The past few weeks have been busy, and we’ve been on a somewhat erratic schedule with posting articles and such.  For that, we apologize.  We hope today’s post makes up for it.

Lord willing, we will be able to have several of these “Friday Freebie” posts this year.

Today’s Freebie is…

The Christian System by Alexander Campbell

This 447-page book is Campbell’s contribution to the world of systematic theology.  We’ve taken the time to correct and update spelling, adding bold font to set apart headings, changing ALL CAPS into bold font, setting apart quotations and several other small formatting changes to make this book more visually appealing.

The download link is at the bottom of this post, but before we get there, here’s the contents of this excellent book:

Part I: The Christian System.

  1. The Universe.
  2. The Bible.
  3. God.
  4. The Son of God.
  5. The Spirit of God.
  6. Man as He Was.
  7. Man as He Is.
  8. The Purposes of God Concerning Man.
  9. Religion for Man, Not Man for Religion.
  10. Sacrifice for Sin.
  11. The Attributes of a True Sin-Offering.
  12. Christ: the Light of the World.
  13. The Lordship of the Messiah.
  14. Faith in Christ.
  15. Repentance.
  16. Baptism.
    1. Of The Action of Baptism.
    2. The Subject of Baptism.
    3. The Meaning of Baptism.
  17. The Christian Confession of Faith.
  18. Conversion and Regeneration.
  19. Christians are Persons Pardoned, Justified, Sanctified, Adopted, and Saved.
  20. The Gift of the Holy Spirit.
  21. The Christian Hope.
  22. The Doom of the Wicked.
  23. Summary of the Christian System of Facts.
  24. The Body of Christ.
  25. The Christian Ministry.
  26. The Christian Discipline.
  27. Expediency.
  28. Heresy.

Part II: Foundation of Christian Union.

  1. Fact.
  2. Testimony.
  3. Faith.
  4. Confirmation of the Testimony.
  5. Fundamental Fact.
  6. Purity of Speech.

Part III: Kingdom of Heaven.

GENERAL ESSAYS. 171

  1. Patriarchal Age of the World.
    1. Abraham.
    2. Two Promises?
    3. Covenant of Circumcision.
    4. Sinaitic Covenant.
    5. Two Seeds.
    6. The Blessings of Abraham.
  2. The Jewish Institution.
  3. The Kingdom of Heaven.
    1. The Elements of a Kingdom.
    2. The Name.
    3. Constitution.
    4. The King.
    5. The Subjects of the Kingdom.
    6. The Laws of the Kingdom.
    7. The Territory of the Kingdom.
    8. Manner and Customs of the Kingdom.
    9. Induction into the Kingdom of Heaven.
  4. The Coming of the Kingdom.
    1. The Ascension of the Messiah.
    2. Coronation of the Messiah.
    3. Present Administration of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Part IV: Remission of Sins.

  1. Proposition 1. Converts were called Pardoned.
  2. Proposition 2. Converts were called Justified.
  3. Proposition 3. Converts were called Sanctified.
  4. Proposition 4. Converts were called Reconciled to God.
  5. Proposition 5. Converts were said to be Adopted into the Family of God.
  6. Proposition 6. Converts were to consider themselves Saved.
  7. Proposition 7. A change of views must come before a change in state–and they are not the same thing.
  8. Proposition 8. The Gospel has a command in it, and thus must be obeyed.
  9. Proposition 9. Only an action resulting from our faith can change our state.
  10. Proposition 10. Immersion and the Washing of Regeneration are the same thing.
  11. Proposition 11. The early Christian writers uniformly connect immersion to Regeneration and Remission of Sins.
    1. Barnabas.
    2. Clement and Hermas.
    3. Testimony of Dr. W. Wall, Author of the History of Infant Baptism.
    4. Justin Martyr.
    5. Tertullian.
    6. Origen.
    7. Cyprian.
  12. Proposition 12.  Even the denominational creeds agree to this, though they won’t carry it out in practice.
    1. Episcopalian.
    2. Presbyterian.
    3. Methodist.
    4. Baptist.
  13. Objections.
  14. Recapitulation.
  15. Conclusion.
  16. Effects of Modern Christianity.
  17. Immersion Not a Mere Bodily Act.
  18. Justification Ascribed to Seven Causes.
  19. Peter in Jerusalem, Paul in Philippi, Reconciled.

Part V: Regeneration.

  1. Regeneration.
    1. Repentance.
    2. Reformation.
    3. Regeneration.
  2. The Bath of Regeneration.
    1. New Birth.
    2. Renewing of the Holy Spirit.
  3. The New Life.
  4. Physical Regeneration.
  5. The Use of the Theory of Regeneration.
  6. The Regeneration of the Church.
  7. The Regeneration of the World.
    1. Regeneration of the Heavens and the Earth.
  8. A Word to the Moral Regenerators of Any Age.

Part VI: Breaking the Loaf.

  1. Proposition 1 – There is a house on earth, called the house of God.
  2. Proposition 2 – In the house of God there is always the table of the Lord.
  3. Proposition 3 – On the Lord’s table there is of necessity but one loaf.
  4. Proposition 4 – All Christians are members of the house or family of God, are called and constituted a holy and a royal priesthood, and may, therefore bless God for the Lord’s table, its loaf, and cup–approach it without fear and partake of it with joy as often as they please, in remembrance of the death of their Lord and Savior.
  5. Proposition 5 – The one loaf must be broken before the saints feast upon it, which has obtained for this institution the name of “breaking the loaf.”
  6. Proposition 6 – The breaking of the loaf and the drinking of the cup are commemorative of the Lord’s death.
  7. Proposition 7 – The breaking of the one loaf, and the joint participation of the cup of the Lord, in commemoration of the Lord’s death, usually called “the Lord’s Supper,” is an instituted part of the worship and edification of all Christian congregations in all their stated meetings.
  8. Objections Considered.

Part VII: Concluding Addresses.

  1. ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM.
  2. A WORD TO FRIENDLY ALIENS.
  3. ADDRESS TO BELLIGERENT ALIENS.

We truly hope you find this book to be useful and worth the time to read!

Campbell, Alexander – The Christian System

Articles, Tracts from the Past

Tracts from the Past – Foolishness of Evolution

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One thing that we did before, which was somewhat popular with our readers, was offer up some “Tracts from the Past.”  These were tracts which have long-since been out of print, but that we thought were interesting and useful.  We will be bringing back this feature occasionally over the next few months.  Today’s tract from the past is…

Foolishness of Evolution

By Paul Simon, Minister

I can understand why Evolutionists try so hard to prove that the world has been in existence for millions of years; because, it would have taken man that long to have developed by the process of evolution — and then, impossible, because only life can impart life. One cannot give that which he, himself, does not possess. Only God can give life to dead matter; therefore, only God could have formed man out of dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God is life and can give life. There are 600,000 recorded species of liv­ing invertebrates and 36,000 vertebrates. No one species can cross the line to another species. Evolutionists need to find, not one missing link between men and monkey, but 636,000 missing links. There is a missing link between every species and it always will be missing, because God has so decreed.

Evolutionists are not satisfied to guess what man looked like millions of years ago, and call that guess, “Science,” but are de­termined to guess how he will look a few years from now, and call that guess, “Sci­ence.” Roy Chapman Andrews writes under the title, “How We Are Going to Look” in Readers’ Digest, May, 1945 [Note: Items in parenthesis and italics are my comments]:

“Human beings, half a million years from now, would be caricatures in our eyes—something out of a bad dream. Big round heads, almost glob­ular, hairless as a billiard ball; even the women! Very clever these future people will be—much more intelligent than we are—but alas, at the expense of hearing, tast­ing, seeing, and smelling. Their faces will be smaller. But they will be taller prob­ably several inches. (He is not so sure about this bit of Science, but definitely so about the rest of it.) Though shorter bodies are predicted, with longer legs and only four toes.

“We might hesitate to invite one of those future humans to dinner, were he to appear now in advance of his time, except for his conversational brilliance. But he would have some physical advantages over us: no appendicitis! no sinus trouble; no fallen arches”

We should be the most happy people in the world! We were born just at the right time. Just think; had we been born a few million years ago, we should be squirming mud-dogs or baboons and had we not been born until half a million years later, we should have had large glob­ular heads, with no hair! It seems as though some of us do not have long to go—just think, 500,000 years from now I shall be as bald-head as a billiard ball. Alas, alas, poor me! And what are 500,000 years—to an Evo­lutionist?

Mr. Andrews continues,

“Such predic­tions aren’t guess work. They are based on the known progress of human evolution. Before us is the visible evidence of fossil human skeletons, beginning with that of the Java Ape Man, more than half a mil­lion years old, and progressing in a definite sequence up to the present day. We have every reason to believe (and yet, he does not give even one reason. I wonder why.) that the development or reduction of the same physical characteristics will con­tinue into the future. We can visualize some of these changes if we forget the paltry six thousand years of known civilization and think in terms of thousands of centuries.”

He says that those predictions are based on “known progress of human evolution.” You can see just how much of it is “known.” He has not made any of it known to us. Mr. An­drews admits that we have no knowledge (Science) of civilization prior to six thous­and years ago, but he had just said, “Before us is the visible evidence of fossil hu­man skeletons, beginning with that of the Java Ape Man, more than half a million years old…” How does he know that they are more than 500,000 years old and that they are skeletons of the Ape Man, if civilization is unknown beyond 6,000 years ago? But he goes further back than that. He goes beyond the knowable and tells us what happened 60 million years ago, for he says:

“It required 60 million years for the horse to change from the four-toed Eohippus, scarcely bigger than a fox, to the thor­oughbred of today.”

“Not long before the beginning of the Ice Age, say six or seven million years, (Which? He is a Scientist. He should tell us whether it was 6 or 7 million years. But what is a million years to an Evolutionist? It is quickly said. He reminds me of a cer­tain woman, who to a friend of mine, said, “Honey just say you got it and get up from there.” This friend was seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost and replied, “I haint got it and I haint gonna say I got it.”) he was a quadrupedal ape, swinging blithely through the tree tops like a present-day gibbon or chimpanzee. But he was an ape with possibilities. Some inner urge (What urge? I have never been able to learn how anything but a monkey can know why a monkey acts as he does.) impelled him to get up on two feet and free his hands for purposes other than locomotion. He did this in an incredibly short time, judged by evolutionary standards (What are they?). It required 60 million years for the horse to change … What will happen to him [man] mentally and spiritually we can only guess.”

Not all that glitters is gold. Not all that is called, “Science,” is Science.