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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 19, No. 8. July 1, 1955

Arguments Strong

Arguments Strong

"I had no Idea," Bill ventured one day, "that the Christian arguments were so strong. I imagined that the Rationalists had it all their own way and that Christians were simply traditionalists who accepted myth and legend as though they were proved facts. Now I see that there are facts on the side of Christianity as well."

But he was far from accepting the Christian Faith in toto. He was only accepting the truths of the New Testament that he could see an immediate reason for. Ten days had gone by, and now we faced the death of Christ. Was this a martyrdom or a sacrifice for sin? That was our next milestone. Bill was clear that it was a [unclear: mart], and equality clear that it was not a ransom price paid for men's sins. The one was common sense; the other immoral—the innocent dying for the guilty and the Judge of all the Earth allowing.

The more we studied the record in the Gospels, however, the more we felt that the martyr theory was incapable of explaining all the facts of the story, Jesus failed to reach the standard of a good martyr, for instance, for on the Cross his faith failed, and ho cried out that God had forsaken him. Stephen was an improvement on that: he died radiant. And so with many of the subsequent martyrs. Why this collapse of Jesus faith? It was at such variance with his serene trust in God shown throughout his life.