THE AGE-OLD FAITH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17407, 4 November 1930, Page 4

THE AGE-OLD FAITH

“IN MODERN DRESS” FREE OF ARCHAIC EXPRESSION All over Scotland in the reunited church, an effort is being made to present the Gospel in a form that will make an appeal to the modern mind, familiar with the teachings of science and. history,” commented the Rev. James Ait ken in outlining to a reporter impressions of his visit to Scotland, from which lie returned last week. “It is the age-old faith the church teaches, but she strives to present it in modern dress, so as to make it intelligible and welcome to thoughtful men and women,” he explained. “One of the most interesting things that was done at the General Assembly in May was the appointment of a committee to investigate the lines upon which creed revision may most profitably be conducted.

“The official statement of the Presbyterian Church faith stands at present in the language of the seventeenth century, and that language was in some of the most important particulars simply a repetition of the language of tlie fourth century. The church has come to feel that the speech of 1600 years ago is inadequate to convey the truth that is in Jesus Christ to the minds of the men of to-day. “The need for a more dear and intelligible statement is urgent. Many of us rejoice that at last it is about to be undertaken. It will not be accomplished in a year or two, but it will be done, and there can be no doubt that tlie message of the Gospd. freed from its archaic expression, will find a new entrance into men’s hearts.”