as found in the archaeology of Egypt is a consistent record of degeneration. The eminent Sayce, one of the ablest archaeologists in the whole history of that great science, expressed his wonder and amazement at the high stage of culture met with in the very earliest records of the Egyptian people. Other authorities, such as Baikie, have written voluminously upon the subject. It had been hoped that when excavators finally reached undisturbed tombs of the first dynasty, they would find themselves in the dawn of Egyptian culture. . . . Through the first tombs, we peer back into an older preceding culture that dazzles and amazes the human understanding. Instead of finding the dawn of a developing humanity, we see mankind already in the high noon of cultural accomplishments. . . . Egypt, as elsewhere, shows us no dim, brutish beginning, but a startling emergence of this people in a high degree of culture. . . . It must not be presumed that this condition is unique in Egypt, or peculiar to any one race or country. The same queer discrepancy between the fallacious theories of the philosophy of organic evolution and the facts of human history is observed wherever archeology has been able to hold the torch of discovery over a given area.”—Pages 41, 42, 49, 50, Dead Men Tell Tales, by H. Rimmer.

⁷ Notwithstanding the continuing vindication of the Bible by advancing knowledge, some of the clergy of Christendom oppose the Bible to side with science. On May 3 the Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported the “Reverend” Joseph B. Mohr as saying: “It is regrettable that the doctrine of the infallibility of the Bible has been interpreted by many to mean that the Scriptures in all their parts, even their pre-scientific parts, are of equal value to us today, and equally binding.” What this cleric is trying to say in his roundabout, flanking attack on the Bible is that God’s Word is not reliable, that if the men who wrote it had known science they would have written it differently, that if God who inspired it had known what today’s scientists know he would have caused it to be written differently, that when we must choose between science and the Bible, we should choose science. This is only typical of so many clergy in Christendom today. They build on the shifting sands of science, not on the immovable rock of God’s Word.

Basis for Believing the Bible

“Your word is truth.”—John 17:17, NW.

1. How does the fundamentalist tear down faith in the Bible?

THE clergy of Christendom fall into two general classes: the fundamentalists and the modernists, or higher critics. They hold different views on the Bible. The fundamentalist takes it all literally; the higher critic takes it all apart. The fundamentalist contaminates it with paganism, by teaching such doctrines as trinity, eternal torment, purgatory, and other beliefs taught by pagans long before Christ. When apostate Christianity became catholic or universal from and after the fourth century it embraced pagan teachings, in order to appeal to pagans and convert them to a nominal Christianity. In a futile effort to avoid conflict with God’s Word, the fundamentalist clergy twist certain texts to fit in with their paganisms, as Peter said: “The meaning of which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (Matt. 15:6-9; 2 Pet. 3:16, NW) Though claiming to build on Bible truth, fundamentalists found their faith on pagan myth. Their misrepresentations of God and Christ cause many to turn away from the Bible. They thus lend themselves as tools for tearing down faith in God and his Word.

2, 3. What position does the higher critic take regarding the Bible?

² Paul warned against “the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men”, and said that after his going oppressive wolves would rise and waste the flock of God. Such ravenous wolves, Jesus cautioned, would come in sheep’s covering. (Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29; Col. 2:8, NW) They do now come out of clergy schools, masquerading behind a theological seminary sheepskin to appear as authoritative ministers of God. But whether they are fundamentalists or modernists, they devour rather than build up faith. The modern higher critic does this by saying that the Bible is only myth and legend, that it is not historically accurate, that much of it is fiction and deliberate forgery. As proof note this from the pen of one of such higher critics:

³ “The authors and compilers of the biblical books often had a variety of traditions, legends and writings before them, and they edited these for their purpose, which was not primarily to convey historical information, but to declare God’s message to their contemporaries through these memories of the nation’s past. They employed literary devices, usual in their time, such as putting into direct discourse on the lips of their characters the points of view for which they were reported to have stood, or even writing an entire book in the name of a revered figure of a bygone day. Daniel and the Second Epistle of Peter are examples of this practice.” This critic adds that it is immaterial that the “writing does not give an accurate account, according to modern historical perspective”.a

ARCHAEOLOGY SUPPORTS THE BIBLE

4. What argument was once used against Moses’ writership? and why is it no longer used by informed critics?

⁴ Just as in the case of the evolutionary scientists, the higher critics have been forced to retreat from former positions by the advance of knowledge, particularly knowledge unearthed by archaeologists. During the nineteenth century the higher-critic scoffers were loud in their denunciation of the Bible’s position that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, one of their arguments against it being that writing was unknown at the time of Moses. When they had to give ground on this point they did so grudgingly, and arbitrarily said that even if writing was known it was not widely used and Moses did not know the art. But further discoveries made the rout of the higher critics complete. Now it is acknowledged that writing was widespread in Abraham’s time, that it was used by not only adults but children, whose textbooks have been found. Writing was known before the Noachian flood. Clay tablets with writing on them go back to the fourth millennium before Christ, reaching into the life span of Adam. In fact, archaeology indicates that Adam wrote, and along with others such as Noah, Shem, Isaac and