CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 135, 8 May 1933, Page 10

CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

There never was such a preaching of mental, ethical and so-called Christian principles as we now have throughout the world, stated Pastor Wesley. E. Richards, of the United Evangelical Church, on Sunday May 1 when delivering an address on the subject, “What are Christian principles?” A few of the popular teachings were enumerated, such as the “Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man.” “Nowhere in the Bible can it be found that God is the Universal Father of all mankind,” he said. “Jesus Christ’s statement in John 8: 42-44 easily refutes such foolish teaching. Salvation by works, which in effect is, be as good as you can and do all the good you can, is a universally popular teaching. Neither are such principles as these acceptable to God as a means of salvation,” intimated the preacher. “The unqualified statements contained in Jonan 2: 10 —Salvation is of the Lord—and Ps. 3: B—Salvation8 —Salvation belongeth unto the Lord—put any such foolish notion right out of court. Any teaching which denies Christ cannot be Christian, or ‘science’ that denies matter cannot be scientific. Yet strangely enough in this connection we have statements like these: ‘The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a personal trinity or triunity) suggest heathen gods.’ Christ’s statement in Matt. 28: 19 easily brands such a statement as being anti-Christian, which reads: ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost as relating to the God-head.’ ‘Spirit being all nothing is matter,’ is another statement. This vtill ,be easily recognised to be a flat denial of the very name of science, which the dictionary, renders ‘matter co-ordin-ated.’ “A statement was made at the close of a lecture recently given on Labour politics that more Christian principles had been propounded than were preached in the churches. This,” said the speaker, “indicated lack of knowledge as to what are Christian principles. In the first place,” stated Mr Richards, “Christian principles are not economic; although if Christ’s teachings were obeyed better economic conditions would obtain.” The preacher then proceeded to examine the basic principles of Christianity as set forth by Christ Himself. Turning to John 3he read verses 14 and 15 —“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” ; “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Here the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross was brought before the world as the great fundamental of the Christian faith. That Christ did not die as an example, or a martyr to His principles as some foolishly taught was made abundantly clear in many places throughout the Bible; where wo had such statements ns: “It is the blood that maketli an atonement .for the soul,” and “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sms.” “Christ died for our.sins according to the Scriptures. In v. 15 we are shown another great fundamental Christian principle —that to appropriate the benefit of the sacrifice we are to believe in Him so that we may be saved from perishing, eternally and enter into the full enjoyment of the life that will never end.” In concluding, the preacher said that the change was so radical in the life of any who were willing to believe and obey the commands of Christ that it "involved a new birth, since- Christ had said that “except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Thus we had the sacrifice of Christ; our belief in the sacrifice; with the consequent new birth of the Spirit of God in the soul of man, as three of the great fundamental Christian principles: Therefore, any teaching which was contrary to these great fundamental facts could not rightly claim to have the imprimatur of the Lord Jesus Christ.