YOUTH AND THE CHURCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 249, 21 October 1933, Page 8

YOUTH AND THE CHURCH.

THE SYNOD REPORT. (To the Editor.) ' Many people will regret that the Synod gave countenance to the teachings of the Higher Criticism in adopting the report of the commission set up to deal with the ministry of th# Church to youth. That report throws doubt on the miraculous stories of the Old Testament as well as the science and history of much oS what constitutes our Bible. It appears to think that teaching our young people to distrust their Bible will bring them back to the Church. Who is to be the judge of what is true and what is untrue? Christ expressly affirmed the Davidic authorship of one of-the Psalms. The'critics now tell us that this Psalm was not written by David at all. - The story of Jonah, as well as the story of Lot's wife and that of the Flood, found •a similar endorsement in Christ's teaching. Yet they would probably be counted by the* framers of the report as "legends," unworthy of credence by the enlightened minds of our modern youth. Our young people will never be attracted to the Church by such teaching as this. What they want is positive teaohin" founded on the Bible itself. There is a tendency in some quarters to believe, that Church authority is enhanced as Bible autho--i rity is lessened. That, however, is not so. When men forsake the ancient paths they generally forsake institutions also. The Higher Criticism has made small appeal to the laity just as Anglo-Catholicism has appealed more to the clerical than the lay mind. What the young want is not doubt, but assurance of; the reality of revelation, and that assurance the teaching recommended in the report would fail to give. AN OLD EVANGELICAL. .