Journal: Central Bible Quarterly
Volume: CENQ 02:4 (Winter 1959)
Article: The Word We Preach
Author: M. James Hollowood

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CenQ 2:4 (Winter 1959) p. 27

The Word We Preach

M. James Hollowood

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9, 10).

The best statement of the Word we preach is tersely outlined in Romans 10:9 and 10. Man’s egotism builds his consciousness of self-importance, however, so that with the coming of each generation there arises a new climate for self-congratulation on the as sumption that times, thought, and problems have never been so complex, and that therefore man has never before been so able. But the only adequate answer for human problems, whether simple or complex, is faith, rather than human ability; and the only valid object of faith is the Word, written and living.

I. There Is No Knowing Apart From Faith In Objective Reality

In the field of science there is no knowing apart from faith. The immensity of the macro-cosmic world measured in terms of light-years is entirely outside the bounds of human experience. The size of our own galaxy being considered incomprehensible, we are told of an unknown extra-galactic beyond. But we can know it is there only by faith.

The micro-cosmic world has more recently been opened up to us through nuclear physics lending cause for agnostic bewilderment, except as we are willing to take it by faith.

Empiricists (the people who believe that human experience is the only valid source of true knowledge) pressure us to say “we know” regarding what we have experienced (i.e., touched, tasted, smelled, heard, or observed). Upon the basis of this kind of so-called knowledge we are being asked today to change our ideas of society, bur ideas of morality, our concept of material, our concepts of child training and education, our system of economics, our program of government, and our religion. But because of human fallibility, many a faulty analysis has been made, and many a conclusion studiously decided upon has turned out to be no better than a big mistake. Observation of human fallibility at work provides ample demonstration of the limits of experience in contributing

CenQ 2:4 (Winter 1959) p. 28

to any store of what man can say he KNOWS: the tone deaf man thinks there is no music; the color-blind driver thinks there is no red light; changes in body chemistry may cause sweets to taste flat; yet, the fault is not in the music, the signal light, or the candy, but in the human perception that fails to record accurately.

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