The Professor's Challenge (KJV)

A Christian young man in a California college was held up to ridicule and contempt by his fellow students and professors. He was belittled as a “fool,” a term which God, in Psalm 14:1, applies to his persecutors themselves: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Finally, his professor, who had no use for the God of the Bible, declared: “The only way to settle this matter is for [the Christian] to write an article in defense of the Bible and I will choose another student from the class to present the other side.” Of course, he selected one whom he considered the most capable of refuting any arguments his opponent would advance, and who himself hated the Bible. The date of the contest was set. The infidel strenuously prepared himself, while the Christian looked to God for wisdom as commanded in James 1:5. The day of the contest finally arrived. The classroom was filled to capacity with an expectant crowd. With calm fortitude, born of humble dependence upon the God of the Bible for help, the Christian student quoted largely from the Bible itself. The ostentatious professor then proudly called on his champion. Intense silence gripped the audience as the supposed-to-be advocate of infidelity walked briskly to the front. With unusual calmness he said: “First, let me assure you, I have spent many hours searching through the Bible in a most exhaustive manner, for evidence of its untruthfulness. I sought diligently for possible contradictions, but found none. That you may know how thorough was my search, I read the New Testament through three times and the Gospel of John sixteen times. The more I read and studied the Book, the more I became convinced that it was not of human origin. So sublime and so searching were the statements of the Bible that a feeling of condemnation crept over me. I seemed to be reading a Book written directly to me and for me. I became convicted, saw my sin and foolishness, and I am now a firm believer in the Bible as the Word of God. Not only do I believe the Bible to be the Word of God, but I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.” Who can imagine the sensation this supremely fair investigation and frank confession caused? Is it any wonder that the professor’s face changed color? The audience was thunderstruck and silent. This is only another victory for the Bible. The Bible will prove itself whenever and wherever it is given a fair test. Every humble and “easy to be entreated” Bible reader can there find the way to eternal life, while all those who proudly “read in order to dispute” will both find and experience the way to eternal death. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into [judgment]; but is passed from death unto life. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 5:24; 3:36).