AND now we come to John, and that is where the trouble commences.
The other gospels teach that God will be merciful to the merciful,
forgiving to the forgiving, kind to the kind, loving to the loving, just
to the just, merciful to the good.
Now we come to John, and here is another doctrine. And allow me to say
that John was not written until long after the others. John was mostly
written by the church.
"Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God."
Why did he not tell Matthew that? Why did he not tell Luke that? Why did
he not tell Mark that? They never heard of it, or forgot it, or they did
not believe it.
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into
the kingdom of God." Why?
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born
again." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit," and he might have added, that which is
born of water is water.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'ye must be born again.'" And then
the reason is given, and I admit I did not understand it myself until I
read the reason, and when you hear the reason, you will understand it
as well as I do; and here it is: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth." So, I find in the book of John the idea of the Real
Presence.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life."
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved.
"He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God."
"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." "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 condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear
shall live."
"And shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation."-"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day."
"No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him;
and I will raise him up at the last day."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life.
"I am that bread of life.
"Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die.
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
"Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you.
"Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I
in him.
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that
eateth me, even he shall live by me.
"This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers
did eat manna, and are dead; he that eateth of this bread shall live
forever."
"And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my Father."
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die."
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."
So I find in the book of John, that in order to be saved we must not
only believe in Jesus Christ, but we must eat the flesh and we must
drink the blood of Jesus Christ. If that gospel is true, the Catholic
Church is right. But it is not true. I can not believe it, and yet for
all that, it may be true. But I do not believe it. Neither do I
believe there is any god in the universe who will damn a man simply for
expressing his belief.
"Why," they say to me, "suppose all this should turn out to be true, and
you should come to the day of judgment and find all these things to be
true. What would you do then?" I would walk up like a man, and say, "I
was mistaken."
"And suppose God was about to pass judgment upon you, what would you
say?" I would say to him, "Do unto others as you would that others
should do unto you." Why not?
I am told that I must render good for evil. I am told that if smitten
on one cheek I must turn the other. I am told that I must overcome evil
with good. I am told that I must love my enemies; and will it do for
this God who tells me to love my enemies to damn his? No, it will not
do. It will not do.
In the book of John all these doctrines of regeneration--that it is
necessary to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; that salvation depends
upon belief--in this book of John all these doctrines find their
warrant; nowhere else.
Read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then read John, and you will agree
with me that the three first gospels teach that if we are kind and
forgiving to our fellows, God will be kind and forgiving to us. In John
we are told that another man can be good for us, or bad for us, and that
the only way to get to heaven is to believe something that we know is
not so.
All these passages about believing in Christ, drinking his blood
and eating his flesh, are afterthoughts. They were written by the
theologians, and in a few years they will be considered unworthy of the
lips of Christ.