Front Page: autumn 1992 TRUTH IS ITS OWN EXCUSE FOR BEING In the summer edition, we publis

Front Page: autumn 1992


TRUTH IS ITS OWN EXCUSE FOR BEING 

   In the summer edition, we published Bill Lockwood's response to the 
problem of Sarah's seminal emission that was raised by a Greek expression 
used in Hebrews 11:11.  Another exchange on this subject begins on page 9 
of this issue. In his original rebuttal, Lockwood urged the editor "to open 
the scope of his paper to defend his ONLY recourse after he rejects the 
Bible--agnosticism." "Let his readers see," Lockwood continued, "what he 
offers in return."

   To say the least, we found this to be a perplexing statement.  Why, for 
example, would agnosticism be the only recourse to someone who rejects the 
Bible?  Couldn't one reject the Bible to embrace the Koran or the Avesta or 
Buddhism or New Age philosophy?  We won't deny that agnosticism is an 
appropriate and logical alternative to the Bible, but it is certainly not the 
ONLY recourse that one has after rejecting the Bible.  Apparently, Mr. 
Lockwood didn't think this statement through before he passed it along to us.

   The intent of the statement, however, was to challenge us to defend 
agnosticism by offering our readers something to replace what we urge them 
to abandon, and he is not the first to present this challenge. Many others 
have written to say that we have a duty to offer our readers a better alter-
native than belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible.  The challenge im-
plies that the iconoclast has some kind of moral responsibility to formulate an 
alternative philosophical system that is superior to the one that he has proven 
false.

   What these critics and challengers don't seem to understand is that the 
exposure of error inherently leaves a superior alternative in its wake.  That 
superior alternative is truth, because it is always better to be right than 
wrong, to believe a truth than to believe a falsehood. On this and related 
issues, H. L. Mencken. the American critic and satirist, once said this:

        I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse 
     to mankind--that its modest and greatly overestimated services on 
     the ethical side have been more than overborne by the damage it 
     has done to clear and honest thinking.

        I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be 
     wholly useless to the human race, and that no trumpeting of 
     falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vi-
     cious....

        I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than 
     the evidence for witches, and deserves no more respect....  I 
     believe in complete freedom of thought and speech, alike for the 
     humblest to the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct 
     that is consistent with living in an organized society.

        But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply.  I 
     believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie.  I believe 
     that it is better to be free than to be a slave.  And I believe 
     that it is better to know than to be ignorant.

   The transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his poem "The 
Rhodora" that "if eyes were made for seeing then beauty is its own excuse 
for being."  We believe that the same principle applies to truth.  The truth 
needs nothing to justify it existence.  Although falsehood may be infinitely 
more appealing and comforting than the truth, falsehood is never better than 
truth.


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   We believe, then, that we have met Mr. Lockwood's challenge.  We have 
told him and our other readers the truth about the Bible, and no matter how 
destructive to cherished beliefs that truth may be, it is far better than the 
falsehood that deludes people into believing that the Bible is a divine book 
that was given to guide man into an eternal paradise.  After all, what could 
be more cruel than to live a life of expectation only to have that expectation 
prove false?  The fact that the expecter may never know that the expectation 
was false changes nothing.  He still lived a life  that was based on lies.  How 
could that possibly be better than the truth?























































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