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television. Then, at age 34, I was violently challenged on the
doctrine of evolution and the truth of the Bible. I had read
somewhat about the theory of evolution, but was then challenged
into an in-depth study. I had been reared by upright and stable
parents in a Protestant church, but had little religious interest
and had dropped out of church attendance at age 18.
It was the autumn of 1926. I delved into the works of
Darwin, Lamarck before him, Haeckel and Huxley, Vogt and
Chamberlin. Their arguments seemed at first convincing. I began to
question whether there is a God. My head was swimming for a while
in confusion. I realized I had never proved the existence of
God. But in this night-and-day intensive study I disproved the
theory of evolution and proved the existence of God. Then my study
of the Bible became a real eye-opener. I found I had been taught
religious beliefs from childhood that were diametrically contrary
to the Bible. My intensive research proved its authenticity as the
Word of God. I knew in the business world that manufacturers
generally send along with the gadget, instrument or commodity of
their manufacture an instruction manual to explain to the consumer
how to operate the mechanism. I learned that the Bible is the
instruction manual the Maker of humanity gave mankind to explain
how to operate and live with others this most complex and wonderful
of all physical mechanisms. I proved its divine AUTHORITY. When I
found my own religious beliefs--which I had taken for granted as
taught or heard from others and in church--to be false, my mind was
swept clean of ALL religious ideas, beliefs and suppositions.
I learned that this was GOD speaking in the Bible. I asked
Him to teach me, and with open mind divested of former beliefs, I
started from scratch to be taught.
I learned that Jesus Christ is the living Word of God in
Person. The Bible is that same Word in writing. Jesus said He spoke
nothing of Himself--that God the Father had instructed Him what to
say and speak.
Where do people get their religious beliefs in our day?
Religions outside of Christianity originated in the mind and
imaginative reasonings of some man--for example, Buddha, Mohammed
and other religious founders. The Christian religion came from the
Creator God, through Jesus Christ. But Jesus said He spoke
only as God the Father gave to Him--He and God were of one mind in
agreement precisely. He taught His disciples, who became the first
apostles of the Church. The Church received its teachings and
doctrines directly from the apostles.
But--even in the true Church of God--the second generation
of Christians received their teaching and beliefs from the first
generation. The third from the second generation, and so on.
Succeeding generations did not receive their teachings direct from
Christ or the apostles, but from PEOPLE of the preceding
generation. And, like a rumor received third- or fourth-hand, this
teaching became somewhat distorted from original truth.
In the early centuries of Christianity there were no
Christian schools. There were no Christian textbooks in schools.