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IS CHRISTIAITY THE FIAL RELIGIO?
By Theodore Gerald Soares, Ph.D., D.D."Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?" — [Matthew xi: 3*]There was a report current some time ago that anofficial committee had been sent from Japan to investi-gate the Christian religion in England and Americawith a view to ascertaining whether it could be calleda success. Like many a newspaper report it probablyhad no foundation whatever. But one cannot helpwondering : what if such a committee were appointed ?what if the world should ask the question, "Is Chris-tianity the final and successful religion ?'"There have been many religions and most of themhave contained some truth. Many of them have beenuplifting. Christianity makes claim to be greater thanall, the full revelation of the Father, the last and bestexpression of God to men. Such a claim cannot be ad-mitted without serious question. Christianity mustmeet the question.There was actually appointed once a committee of investigation. o doubt was entertained that the re-ligion of Jesus Christ was good. The point of uncer-tainty was whether it was the best that should be. Afterthe many attempts to know God, was Jesus the com-plete revelator, or would there be other and greaterprophets after him? The committee was sent by John
 
128 IS CHRISTIAITY THE FIAL RELIGIO ?the Baptist, and it came straight to Jesus to put thequestion, "Art thou he that cometh, or look we foranother?" The Lord accepted the challenge. Hefound no fault with the enquiry. He never objects toan earnest investigation. His answer to the committeewas not speculative but practical. He bade them seeand hear and judge for themselves. "Go and tell Johnthe things which ye hear and see: the blind receivetheir sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and thepoor have good tidings preached to them." That is tosay, Jesus declared that Christianity is a message and aministry. He bade the enquirers hear the message andnote the ministry, and judge if he were the sent of God, or whether the world must wait for another.Our holy religion must meet the question still, "Artthou the great faith, the saying faith for a sinning andsorrowing world, art thou the religion perfectly,finally divine, or must we count Christianity as one of the many searchings after God, and still look for an-other?" The only answer that we can give is that of our Lord. We must say, "Hear and see; listen to thedivine message, behold the human ministry." The mes-sage is that God is love; God is Father and Saviour,loving his children, saving his people to the reach of infinite sacrifice, and inviting all men to come to himand to be partakers of the divine nature. And theministry is the service of love, helping the weak, cheer-ing the despondent, healing the sick, lending a hand tothe toiling, doing deeds of kindness. Christianity isthe grace of God and the graciousness of God's chil
 
IS CHRISTIAITY THE FIAL RELIGIO ? 1 29dren. The world needs his grace and sorely needs ourgraciousness, and it will form its estimate of our relig-ion according as it hears and sees.When we attempt therefore to answer the questionthat we have set out to consider, we do not need to gointo the field of theology, but must ask whether wewho profess and call ourselves Christians have a wordto tell that is so good, and a service to render that is soblessed, that the world need wait for nothing better.Jesus said that in his day the poor had good tidingspreached to them. Probably he meant not only thepoor in worldly goods but also the poor in spiritualestate. Perhaps we should not dare to speak as confi-dently as he. Our problem of evangelism comes be-fore us. We are quite sure that God so loved theworld, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso-ever believeth on him might not perish, but have eternallife. But we are not so sure how we can let peopleknow it. It is the old, old story, and people are sup-posed to have heard it. But they have not heard sothat they must heed. The story is still to be told sowinningly and so convincingly that men will believe.And that is our problem of evangelism.Christians have been saying that the only way toanswer the question: "Is Christianity the final relig-ion ?" is by a genuine revival. Some are looking for aTwentieth Century Moody, who will lead us. Thevfeel that there must be a clarion voice that
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