In December 1883, a man by the name of Stephen Girard died willing his estate to the City of Philadelphia. A controversial clauses of Girard's will established a college for impoverished white male orphans between the ages of six and ten years. The will specified the subject matter to be taught, limiting instruction to purely moral concepts of goodness, truth, and honor, and barring clergymen of any denomination from holding any post within the college and from visiting the premises. Some religious groups sued and the case went to the Supreme Court. The court was put to the task of deciding if keeping out denominational groups was the same as keep out Christianity and the Bible. The court ruled that the will was valid but while the denominational groups could be kept out, the Bible and Christianity could not. They said, “Are not these truths all taught by Christianity, although it teaches much more? Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament? Where are benevolence, the love of truth, sobriety, and industry so powerfully and irresistibly inculcated as in the sacred volume?” They knew that for any instruction in morality, the Word of God is the superior text! It is a shame that this view of the word of God has changed not only in our country but even in some churches. That is why the true church focuses on teaching the Bible and the Bible only. It has “granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness”
In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Comments
Post a Comment