Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Timothy 2:15
The New Testament having been completed verse by verse I shall turn to another subject that is related to faith, and living an Authentic Christian life. Much of these blogs will have as their foundation the works of William Wilberforce in his book Real Christianity. Who is this William Wilberforce, you may know or have read some of his works, if not, you will be introduced to a man, an important figure in Christian history. The book Real Christianity was published in the year 1797 A.D. and you may, as some do today sort of scoff at earlier works and hold only to the works done during their present or within a short period of time in high authority. I believe that we should look into our Christian history so that our foundation and knowledge of our faith becomes Authentic. It is not that those present works are not always good, some are, but we need to know history and then determine if what is being written today matches Authentic Historical Christian Faith. Therefore, William Wilberforce' work is a classic work on Christian faith. This is what this blog is all about: Faith, changing ourselves inside/out to conform to Authentic Christian Faith. William Wilberforce born Aught 24, 1759 A.D., into a merchant family and in 1780 A.D., Wilberforce secured a seat in the House of Commons as a member of Parliament for Hull, he was just 21 years of age. Wilberforce was active in educational reform, the promotion of public health initiatives and advocating shorter working hours and improved condition in the factories. Wilberforce always dealt to be the salt and light within his culture: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted" (Matthew 5:13)? Notice that the pronoun is masculine and not neuter, speaking of man, not just salt. Wilberforce engaged in prison reform worked with Jeremy Bentham and in partnership with Charles Fox in the abolition of the slave trade: "It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power"(W. Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity, ed Kevin Belmonte; Peabody, MA). Three days before he died, he learned that Parliament would pass the legislation abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. Wilberforce served his nation for 45 years, retired in 1825 A.D., and in 1833 William Wilberforce died but not after having affected many men: Thoreau, Emerson, Whittier, Jedidiah Morse, Samuel Morse, Lyman Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jonathan Edwards, Abraham Lincoln, and many more and by his example we can learn that we too, if we choose to do so, affect many people starting with our spouse, our children, our friends, people we work with, and even to go to foreign lands as missionaries, or spokesman, you see, Authentic Christians are not apathetic or lazy, they are those who actively apply their faith in action: 'But be ye doers of the word, which is able to save your souls. But by ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your selves.....But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of he work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth not his own heart, this man's religion is in vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted form the world" (James 1:22; 25-27). "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18).
I will then write on the subject of faith. This subject is of the utmost importance and I have, and hope you will, research, question and repeatedly reflect on all that you will read. We have an obligation to do whatever we are able to do to promoted the welfare of our fellowman. Yes, I suggest that faith is everyone's business, and yet there is a need to advance faith as it is so intimately connected to the welfare of society that it should be even of particular interest to politicians, to you and to your association to others. I will not write for self-interest or to promote theological prejudice. There will be no attempt to convince skeptics or to answer the questions of unbelievers, those questions the so often ask, but rather to point out some of the problems with the beliefs and actions of those who already claim to be christian. I am particularly disturbed by so many so-called Christians having little understanding in regards to the nature of the faith they profess. This subject is so much important that we should not ignore it because there are so many distractions of the heretics, those false teachers in our lives. I only ask that you take the time to check out what is said and written and if you accept the Bible and its authority, then I must assume you agree.
For wisdom is a defence,
and money is a defence:
but the excellency of knowledge is,
that wisdom giveth life to them
that have it.
Ecclesiastes 7:12
Add to your faith, your virtue, knowledge
Richard L. Crumb
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