A Conference of Young Men
Story★★★★Negley Farson in one of his books tells how he, in company with other journalists, once visited a conference of young men. They were divided into groups to discuss such questions as “Do you believe in the omnipotence of God?” At the end of the day the score of each group was chalked on a blackboard by a professor who was a picture of collegiate efficiency. It seemed even to the onlookers that he was analyzing God with a piece of chalk and a sliderule.
In the middle of all this a wounded ex-officer sprang to his feet and cried, “Stop! This is hideous. You must not talk of God like this. This is blasphemy.
The way to Christ is not through gymnasiums and shower-baths. No! No! I tell you.
You must read the Bible — the words of Christ Himself. Oh God!” He sank down as though ashamed of the scene he had made. Afterwards that group of sceptical journalists admitted to one another that they had each wanted to walk over and put an arm around that man in whose figure they saw a hunger and thirst for a real faith.
The point
A journalist observing intellectualized theological discussion interrupted by a wounded officer's passionate plea for authentic faith grounded in Scripture, not academic methodology.