The Present Church Controversy

1923

By the Rev. L. W. Almy, Pastor
Marquette Park Presbyterian Church

Newspapers the country over are giving publicity to the controversy now on in church circles between "Fundamentalists" and "Modernists." What is the average church member to think of it? Should he be disturbed, and lose his faith in God and his church? Let us see. "Fundamentalists" represent the more conservative type of Christian thinking. They are devout, earnest men. They love the Lord Jesus sincerely. They accept the Bible "from Genesis to Revelation," And they tend to a literal interpretation of the Bible's language. For instance, in Genesis, chapter 14, we find the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, pursued by Pharaoh's army. It is recorded that the water was "a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." The Fundamentalist pictures water standing in perpendicular walls on either side of the fleeing Israelites.

"Modernists," on the other hand, are also sincere and earnest Christians. They represent a different type of thought from the "Fundamentalists." Modern science, with its increasing knowledge of the universe and man, has given a wider range of learning which the "Modernists" accept as authority to a greater or less degree. And the "Modernist" holds that God is great enough to have created this larger world which scientists have shown us. But the "Modernist" tends to a liberal interpretation of the Bible story. In the Red Sea story of the Israelites he finds (Genesis 14:21) that "Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land." Here, to the "Modernist," is a natural cause of the miracle; and God used the wind to sweep the water back. Perpendicular walls, in a world where water does not stand upright, is to him unnatural.

The average church member should do his own thinking. God spoke to the boy Samuel and the Apostle Paul directly, and He will speak to humble hearts today. If this controversy is the result of earnest desire to understand God, we can be sure God will lead us to a higher understanding of Him. It is a sign that Christians are thinking. We have not "decayed at the top," but are using our heads. And it speaks well for the spirit of the day. The average man, therefore, ought to take a keen interest in the discussion. He ought to feel that God's truth is eternally true, and science can't kill it any more than "conservative stubbornness."

A New Year dawns. It will be an epochal year in the history of religion in America. It may end in a progressive step; it can end in disaster. It ought to call forth Christian patience and tolerance on each side of the controversy. Each side is Christian. Each believes in God the Father and Creator of the universe and of mankind. Each believes devoutly in Jesus as God's incarnate Son. Each desires to spread the Gospel of Love and Purity, and Peace, through Him. Let us hope that next year will see more light and less heat; more patience and less denunciation; more tolerance and less intolerance. We shall then come through the discussion without harm to the churches, and with less to regret.

—The Merchants Telegram, Chicago, Dec. 27, 1923, p. 4.