Jump Start # 3949
Philippians 2:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Throwback Thursday: an article written many years ago
In the tiny village called Cincinnati, in the spring of 1829, a debate on the evidences of God caught the attention of the world. Two of the finest minds and most cordial spirits that have ever roamed this country met to prove their ideologies before a vast crowd. The men were Robert Owen and Alexander Campbell.
Robert Owen (1771-1858) was an European industrialist that some said was just ahead of his time. He tried to establish a socialistic haven where the best minds of the world could come and freely express their ideas. The place was called, New Harmony, Indiana. Owen was a writer, a scholar, an educator, and a skeptic of Christianity. He challenged any preacher in the country to debate him. A cry arose for someone to accept this bold and offensive offer. Alexander Campbell was convinced to meet Mr. Owen.
Alexander Campbell (1788-1866) had been quite well known in young America. Along with several other notable men, Campbell was preaching the fires of religious reform on the American prairie. Men and women by the thousands were rejecting the established creeds and names worn by their forefathers. The plea was to return to the Bible and only the Bible. The result of the Campbell-Owen debate thrust Campbell into world-wide fame. He earned distinction and the honor of believers and skeptics alike. The debate was printed in several additions, one of which was circulated throughout most of Europe.
Just prior to the debate, Owen paid Campbell a visit at his home in Bethany, VA (now WV). The two famous men had such a deep respect and honor for one another that a mutual friendship was formed.
As Campbell was showing Owen the farm, they paused at the Campbell family cemetery. Owen remarked that he had one advantage over the Christian in that he had no fear of death. “Well,” answered Campbell, ‘you say you have no fear in death; have you any hope in death?” After a solemn pause, Owen admitted that he had no hope in death.
“Then you are on a level with that brute,” Campbell said, pointing to a nearby ox. “He has fed until he is satisfied, and stands in the shade whisking off flies, and has neither hope nor fear in death.” At this, Owen could only smile, and seemed willing to admit the truthfulness of Campbell’s logic.
– information taken from Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, by Robert Richardson
Roger
December, 1984