“An Eminent Christian of a Rare Kind”?
Dr. W. R. Matthews, present dean of St. Paul’s cathedral in London, in commenting on the decease of his predecessor, Sir W. R. Inge, the “gloomy dean,” referred to Inge as “an eminent Christian of a rare kind. He shocked a good many people but he made them think.”
Among the statements by which Inge shocked a great many people was that he believed in neither heaven, hell nor the British socialists. Of course, one who claims to be a Christian cannot put his faith in the British socialists, nor, for that matter, in the liberals or the tories, but must put his faith in Christ’s kingdom. And (giving Inge the benefit of the doubt) in stating that he did not believe in hell he may have meant, not in a fiery hell. But how can a man pose before the people of the world as a Christian minister and state that he does not believe in heaven? Heaven was very real to Christ Jesus. He said he came down from heaven and that he was going to return to it, that his Father resided in heaven, that his kingdom was from heaven, that the reward of his footstep followers was in heaven and that they were to lay up treasures in heaven.
When Dr. Matthews states that Dr. Inge made people think, what does he mean? Made them wonder if there really was a God, if the Bible was worth the paper it was written on? His remarks certainly were not such as to encourage the right kind of thinking on God and the Bible. Can such a one be properly termed “an eminent Christian of a rare kind”? Obviously there is something radically wrong with Dr. Matthews’ concept of what constitutes a Christian. When leading clergymen subscribe to such a philosophy as that of Inge, is it any wonder that there is so much religious illiteracy, apathy and hypocrisy in the world, that there are so many who are “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power”?—2 Tim. 3:4, 5, NW.