The Bible Will Never Be Antiquated

{From: Gospel Advocate, May 17, 1979}

   The above title was used at the head of a letter recently written to our daily newspaper by Lewis Maiden, . . . who is our Southeastern News Editor, and a professor at David Lipscomb College. We are sharing this letter to the Editor with the Advocate readers because we believe it is so timely. The letter states:

   “Educators have torn the Bible from their curriculum. We are amazed at the stupidity of man. No other study can possibly take its place. Once a famous orator asked Charles Dickens for the most pathetic story in literature. He said it was the Prodigal Son.
   The brilliant Coleridge claimed that the richest passage in all literature was the first 16 verses in the fifth chapter of Matthew. The eminent lawyer Daniel Webster reported that the greatest legal digest was the Sermon on the Mount.
No man can equal Moses in law. He gave man sanitation rules that parallel modern medicine. David is supreme in poetry that heals the sin-sick soul. No other religious founder comes close to Jesus in ethics and eternal principles. The Bible is earth’s greatest book, its author is its sublimest teacher.
   How ridiculous to call it antiquated! Its lessons are timely; its ideas are fresh as tomorrow’s newspaper. Educators should heed the slashing words of a real American, Teddy Roosevelt: “Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon the teaching of the Bible.”

   We rejoice that in the church we have highly educated men like Lewis Maiden who can express himself so beautifully and that for the glory of God. We are thankful for men who are not ashamed to speak up in the defense of truth and the word of God. We should all be on the alert to take advantage of every opportunity to speak in behalf of our faith in the Bible as the reliable guide in matters of religion. “Thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our pathway.”

    We never know the good that may come from a letter like the one written by Lewis Maiden. Influence is often a quiet a gentle thing and works in ways we may not fully comprehend. The Lord has assured us that His word will not return void and we believe that applies also to an intelligent, sincere word spoken in behalf of the greatest book the world has ever known.