NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

Recently, I ran across some thoughts concerning Philip and his preaching to the Samaritans.

Acts 8:5, "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them."

According to the above passage, Philip preached Christ to them. Some today would not have allowed Philip to preach at all because he was not educated. He had no Bible college degree. Many preachers today are always wondering what they should preach. Maybe we could learn from Philip and preach Christ. Notice that preaching Christ produced great joy in that city. Acts 8:8, "And there was great joy in that city."

Many today would have had Philip preach something like this:

"I have a new philosophy of life. We are practicing ‘community of goods’ at Jerusalem, and it is very satisfactory indeed. We would like to establish a Christian church in your city, and should have a building that would be a community ornament, and which will compare favorably with the Jewish synagogues."

We are very tolerant. Indeed it matters little what a man believes, if his life is all right. The Samaritans have a very good religion, and so have the Jews, and each is very conscientious. We are thinking of proposing a federation of Samaritans with Jews and Christians.

Our plea is for unity. We want to bring together Samaritans, Jews and Gentiles, that they may have a better understanding. We are all alright, if we know each other better. We take in everybody. But people of wealth and social standing are preferable, as it makes it easier to raise our missionary budget.

As soon as possible, we expect to call a parliament of religions, to try and find a common basis upon which all can unite, taking what the majority will decide is best for all.

We think the ideals of Jesus make a good philosophy, but we are sympathetic with all forms of faith. We are strictly scientific and up to date. As a man has come up through millions of years to his present attainments, we are willing to wait millions more for still further developments, which will come about by 'resident forces' or 'consciousness' within him, inherited from the amoeba; lost, but not forgotten.

We have links enough for a long chain. The links are not united, but we are looking for and hoping to find missing links which will unite all.

Our religion will be scientific. That is, we will have in mind and adore ancestors who abode in trees, and far back of them the amoeba, (sic) who is father of all, blessed forever, and under this fatherhood we expect a brotherhood of man and the whole animate and inanimate evolutionary process.

Some of our 'assured scholars,' 'forward looking,' 'men of leading and light,' are agnostics, some are theistic evolutionists, some believe a miracle produced the first cell, others will not believe the miraculous in any form, holding that 'resident forces,' of unknown origin, have been working upward from brutes to civilized man.

And many of the Samaritans, hearing, believed that nothing was settled for certain, and went on their way back, and sat down.

All of this is not modern. Cerinthus and the Gnostics taught the same in the first century. The doctrines were buried, but are now resurrected; the skeleton dressed up in a new suit of clothes, and called 'modern.'

Palulus, in 1828, tried to explain miracles on a materialistic basis. He's gone. Strauss said miracles are myths, but Strauss is now among the "have been"s. Baur decided that miracles are not myths, but legends. But Baur was not a preacher.

There is the theory that even God is not absolute, that He is subordinate to the evolutionary process, and must develop according to this process; in other words, "He is not a complete, but a growing, God." Like man and creation, the Creator Himself is not yet what He will ultimately be.

I found these thoughts in a sermon by J.H.O. Smith. The sermon was published in a book called "What Think Ye Of Christ? And Other Sermons." This book was published by Standard Publishing Company. It was copyrighted 1927. It is even more relevant today in 1994. In the words of Solomon: Ecclesiastes 1:9. "There is no new thing under the sun."