PER:Absence of faith  by Peter Ruckman

   From the old Faith Magazine For The Family (Aug. 1975 or 1976, the
print is a little blurred at the bottom of the page) we read this
remarkable devotional by Bob Jones Jr.

   "When Paul was preaching at Lystra, he saw a man who had been lame
from birth. Paul saw in that man . . . the faith of healing. Paul said
'stand.' From the standpoint of REASON AND LOGIC, THIS WAS AN
IMPOSSIBLITY. Reason argued, `You are lame, you cannot stand.' Faith
answered, 'You can stand, do it.' The man REJECTED THE LOGIC OF REASON.
He hearkened to the voice of faith and stood, and once upon his feet
the man found that he could walk also. How often God works this way in
human lives. He commands us to do that what is seemingly impossible.
When we leap to obey we find we can do something far greater."

   You wouldn't believe it, but this is applied as follows.

   "Today those who sincerely believe God will have the faith to put
themselves in the place where God can work a miracle even when logic
argues, 'you are unable to put yourself there.'"

   That is one of the most amazing things you ever read in all your
life. That is from a president of a university where every staff and
faculty member in that school believes that belief in the King James
Bible as the scripture is illogical and unreasonable. Bob Jones III
recently wrote a letter to Tim Lee saying that he was not reasonable
and that his granddaddy, Bob Jones Sr., had always said, "Good men are
always reasonable." The most unreasonable thing you will ever see on
this earth is the creedal statements of the faculty of Bob Jones on
final authority. I have all of them right here. Two faculty members say
that the King James Bible is from inferior manuscripts and the
Alexandrian manuscripts are the best and oldest manuscripts. One of
them says that Westcott and Hort were orthodox and conservative
Christians and that none of the Alexandrian manuscripts contained
heretical readings in them. Both of them recommend the dark age Jesuit
text of Rheims (1582) for their students as manifest in the ASV and the
NASV. The president of the school insists that the school be identified
with the King James Bible from "late manuscripts" and people who speak
at Bob Jones have to use a King James Bible from the pulpit while the
King James Bible is being ridiculed in the classroom on the campus. I
have all this material in writing from the faculty and also from
eyewitnesses.

   Now tell me something: how can anybody that unreasonable (and "good
men are always reasonable") write a homily on faith overcoming reason
and logic while rejecting the Holy Bible (AV) as the scriptures on the
grounds that such faith or belief is "unreasonable" or "illogical?"

   Look at it this way, "When Ruckman was preaching at Detroit, he saw
a man who had been an infidel ever since he graduated from Bob Jones.
Ruckman saw in that man . . . the faith of belief. Ruckman said
'believe the Book.' FROM THE STANDPOINT OF REASON AND LOGIC THIS WAS AN
IMPOSSIBILITY. Reason argued, 'it isn't the original autographs. It has
had several revisions.' Faith answered, 'You can do it, believe it.'
The man rejected the historic position of the twentieth century
Christian schools, hearkened to the voice of faith, and believed. Once
upon his feet, he found out he could run. How often God works this way
in human lives! He commands us to believe something which is seemingly
impossible. But when we leap to believe and obey, we find we can do
something far greater. We can find revelations that God has denied to
every Hebrew and Greek scholar on the face of this earth."

   That is what should have been printed in Faith For The Family. Bob
Jones's "devotional" was a joke. They pull off a lot of them up there
these days.
