The Twelve Scout Laws, X–XII

© Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. SAMUEL J. ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF THE CENSUS, 1920 Who is going to find out and let us know the answer to the question, "What's the population of our United States?" If you or anyone else answered this question now, your verdict would be purely specula- tive. In due time Mr. Rogers will solve the problem correctly.

Reason and Miracles By J. M. Sjodahl

According to the synopsis of a Sunday sermon by the Rev. Elmer I. Goshen, published the other day, the popular Salt Lake minister concluded that "miracles" had no place in a modern thought program. "Reason," he asserted, "can find no logical basis for "miracles" or "special providences," and he further held that "unless the church, as a whole, shook off the 'shackles of superstition' that had dominated it for centuries [referring, it is evident, to the Christian belief in miracles] it would soon lose its uplift force and die." Doctor Goshen's argument, as given to the press, was this: The entire universe is guided by law; but the Christian dogmas were formulated at a time when men knew next to nothing of the "natural laws that govern the universe." Hence their belief in "miracles." The speaker was particularly concerned about the Old Testament narrative that represents Joshua as commanding the sun to "stand still." "It is a painful sin and a disgrace," he exclaimed, "that in nine-tenths of the pulpits, in ninetenths of the Sunday Schools, they still preach and teach that Joshua made the sun stand still." I have the greatest respect for Mr. Goshen, and honor him as a conscientious student and a fearless and able exponent of what he conceives to be the truth. In the pulpit he wields an influence for good in the community. I also fully recognize his right to freedom of speech in church or elsewhere, even when he differs with the most advanced and mature thought of all ages, or even with the Word of God, which Christians accept as the ultimate authority on all questions of faith and practice ; but it seems to me, nevertheless, that his argument, as published,

calls for a reply. A majority in this community revere the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God, and believe it. Many of us have accepted it as true, after years of study and careful weighing of the arguments on both sides, and we have, besides, received the testimony of the Spirit to its truth. To this class, the argument presented brings nothing new, nothing startling. It comes as a bunch of faded flowers, colorless and lifeless. But there are others, who have not yet had the years and experience necessary to become thoroughly grounded in the faith of their fathers, and in their behalf the gauntlet should be picked up.

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258 IMPROVEMENT ERA

Let me say, therefore, that I venture to take issue with the speaker when he asserts that "reason can find no logical basis for miracles or special providences." My reason has found a logical basis for a belief in miracles, and so has that of millions of others. According to the scriptures, our Lord performed many miracles. He healed the sick in hundreds of cases, and he even raised the dead. He appealed to these works as evidence of his divine mission and authority. He gave the same power to his followers, and the Apostles were empowered to bestow the gift of healing upon those who accepted their testimony. Hundreds, probably thousands, were thus endowed in all parts of the world. It is both logical and reasonable to accept these statements as true, on the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and the writers of the first centuries, unless it can be proved that they are false witnesses. But that has never been done. It cannot be done. Our Lord himself appeals to his miracles as works which no other man did. Was he a deceiver? Did he deceive the people? He rose from the dead the greatest of all miracles! Was that deception? The Twelve and many others testified to his miraculous life and resurrection, and they willingly sealed their testimony with their blood. Was it all hallucination, born of ignorance and superstition?

This is the dilemma presented: We must either accept as true the testimonies of the inspired writers, or we must hold that those witnesses were deceived and deceivers; that our Lord and Savior himself wilfully deceived them, and that Christianity, with its lofty ideals and matchless achievements, was founded on fraud, deception, and falsehood. Can reason find any basis for such a belief? If not, it must accept the miraculous element in the Christian religion as a part of it. There is no logical escape from this conclusion. But even if we thoughtlessly set aside the testimony of the writers of the Bible and their immediate successors, as belonging to past ages, we are confronted with the fact that in our own day and age the Lord has again endowed his people with miraculous gifts. "We have," as the late President Joseph F. Smith (Gospel Doctrine, p. 642) says, "the testimony of the modern prophet, Joseph Smith, who saw the Father and the Son, and who has borne record of them to the world, whose testimony was sealed with his blood and is in force upon the world today. We have the testimony of others, who witnessed the presence of the Son of God in the Kirtland temple, when he appeared to them there, and the testimony of Joseph and Sidney Rigdon, who declared that they were the last witnesses of Jesus Christ."