The Present Paralysis of the Human Race Every being and organism is subject to a necessity of becoming other than it is- in a single word, it must grow. Not only the animal and the plant, but the crystal, too, obeys this law, and it is difficult to see why humanity which, as history shows, forms an organic whole, alone does not follow it. The only solution of this problem is, that man is not now in his original and normal state: he is no longer as God created him. He who denies the Fall has no light upon this profound mystery. It is beyond doubt that had man never fallen, he would have continued to grow in knowledge, goodness and happiness: in fact, would have become more and more like to God. Enoch, the man who walked with God, and whom He took to Himself after he had lived the great cycle of three hundred and sixty-five years- a year for a day- is an example of a human being who had fulfilled his destiny, and most probably a type of what the destiny of all men might have been. But alas! man fell, hence progress and advancement in the final sense became impossible. The fact that man has not progressed, or rather, is not now progressing, may be seen by comparing the products from the various fields of human enterprise of today with those of two or three thousand years ago. In literature, nothing has appeared which equals the Book of Job, or which rivals the Psalms. In Philology- which is a sure test of the intellectual development and mental life of a people there is no modern language which matches the Sanskrit. In Art, all that is best we borrow from the ancient Greeks. In Science, we are still far behind the designers and builders of the Pyramids- a recent examination of some mummies has revealed the fact that the Egyptians were ahead of us even in dentistry, in Ethics, the marvellous system formulated by Confucius is superior to anything we have today outside of the Bible. In gigantic civilizations, none have outstripped those of the Babylonians and Phoenicians, which flourished hundreds of years before the Christian era commenced. In legislation, forensic and organizing ability, the Romans have never been surpassed. While physically we compare unfavorably with the ancients. Here then is a fact fully demonstrated, that as an organic whole, our race is making no real progress and evidencing no signs of growth. And we repeat, it is the only one among all living organisms which is not growing- growing, not evolving. What, then, is the cause of this mysterious paralysis? How can we account for it except by the explanation furnished in the Word of God, namely, that this organism has had a terrible fall, is marred and broken, is not now in its normal and original state! If then the Fall is a historical fact and the only adequate explanation of human history, what follows! First, man is a fallen creature; second, he is a sinner; third, he needs a Savior. This then is the foundation of the Gospel appeal. By nature, man is alienated from God, under condemnation, lost. What then is the remedy? The answer is, A new creation. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). It is not the cultivation of the old nature which is needed, for that is ruined by the Fall, but the reception of an entirely new nature which is begotten by the Holy Spirit. "Ye must be born again." Anything short of this is worthless and useless. VI
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 15:59:59 +0000
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