THE NEED OF DIVINE REVELATION
Why Do Men Need the Sacred Scriptures!
HAT THE foundation is to a building, such are the
Holy Scriptures to the Christian religion. The
writings composing this Sacred Volume came to us
from the God of heaven. He is their Author. In them is
given a revelation of His character and will, the laws and
principles of His government; and the attributes pertaining
to His position as Creator and Sovereign of the universe.
The Holy Scriptures inform us that men lost the revela-
tion which God gave them in the beginning, because they
did not want to retain Him in their knowledge. The result
was that they “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God
into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Romans 1:23.
Their conception of the Deity and of His worship was de-
graded to the lowest pagan level.
A knowledge of the revelation given to mankind in the
Holy Scriptures is a safeguard against false worship. The
value of them as such is seen in what false worship has
brought upon mankind, as disclosed in history and manifest
in heathen lands today. By paganism men were led into the
most abominable practices recorded in human annals. Idol
worship was accompanied by licentiousness and cruelty of
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By Leon A. Smith
so dreadful a nature that even the thought of it causes one
to shudder. |
Hopeless indeed would be the condition of the human
family if men were left to depend upon what their own minds
could discover for their knowledge of God and the right
manner of His worship. Men have depended upon them-
selves, neglecting the pages of the Divine Revelation.
Because of this the world has become filled with innumer-
able diverse and conflicting systems of worship, each claim-
ing to be the true religion.
Mental ability, which enables men to discover scientific
truth and master the various branches of secular knowledge,
cannot be solely relied on to discern between truth and error
in the spiritual realm. The truths of divine revelation are not
set forth in the words of the scholar and the orator. To the
Christians at Corinth the apostle Paul said that he came to
them “not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God; . . . that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 2: 1-5.
The truths which cluster around the cross of Christ, are of
a nature which puts them beyond the reach of human reason-
ing. They are contrary to the thinking of the natural mind.
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians
2:14. Men's writings are prone to glorify the human. If
the Holy Scriptures had been the product of human minds,
they would have ignored or excused men’s weaknesses and
sins, and would have been full of the glorification of the great
characters of sacred history. The Bible writers, on the con-
trary, lay all human greatness and goodness and wisdom in
the dust. |
When men had the knowledge of God, “they glorified
Him not as God,” the Scriptures state. (Romans 1:21.)
They were not willing to give to God the glory that was His
due, because they wanted to glorify themselves. That was
the rule governing the operation of the natural heart back
long ago, and it is conspicuously so today.
The human mind fails as a guide to spiritual truth not only
because of its very finite powers, but because there is asso
ciated with it a carnal heart filled with the weaknesses of
human nature. Religious beliefs are often determined more
by individual prejudices and passions than by the exercise of
the reasoning faculties; they are shaped more by wishful
thinking than by logical study.
“The world by wisdom knew not God,” the Sacred
The Sacred Scriptures have been published in more than 1,000 languages
and dialects. They constitute the most widely circulated book ever known
among men. The accompanying article tells us why the revelation of God
in nature does not suffice for us in the struggle against sin.
Tue WATCHMAN MAGAZINE