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on The Jaina Philosophy With such practices, these men talk of the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, the universal love and liberality of thought. Even aside from these acts, the teachings propagated among the most ignorant of the low classes is at best a dogma of one or other particular sect, first and foremost of which is that the Holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament is the only word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.
Now if the Scriptures are what has been claimed for them i. e. if they are the infallible word of God from beginning to end, then we must discard all other sources of knowledge and follow only the teachings of this one book. But have even the most pious Christians, with any intelligence at all, really followed this doctrine to the exclusion of all other sources of knowledge? Certainly we know as a fact that they have not. This one fact shows that in this respect, Christianity has been a failure as the sole source of light and life, not only in India but in any other country.
What sane literary man would consider the Bible to be the inspired word of God, especially when he raises the question as to who wrote the books, when they were written, and where they were written? I do not intend to enter into a discussion of the fallibility or infallibility of the Bible, but it is a fact that the first bright spark of knowledge presented to the poor benighted souls of the Hindus is this theory about the Bible. Next, the Missionary teaches that the world and all things therein were created by the word of God's power out of nothing within the, space of six days, and all very good.
How many of your intelligent people believe in this dogma. If, as I am told, few people believe in it and many are trying to explain it away, yet the Bible teaching in this is none the less a failure. And the relation between God and man is explained thus :I here quote from the Presbyterian confession of Faith.
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