Personal Effects of Christianity and Atheism Contrasted
A. Craig. Luke 6:43-44 For a good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit; neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.… — A youth who had been carefully brought up in the fear of God, and had been a Sunday-school teacher, and a frequent speaker in small meetings, went to college to study for the ministry. There he was led to become a Freethinker. It took a good while to do, but in course of time he did not even believe in a God. In this way he lived about a year, hiding the truth from friends as well as he could. One day, in the class-room, there came a thought into his mind which he could not get rid of. "What kind of man are you now as compared with what you were when a Christian?" Reason and conscience combined m answering: "A worse man every way. As a Christian you were a better man to your parents and to others; you lived a worthier, nobler, and more unselfish life; your unbelief has lowered you in every respect: what produces the best life must be the right creed." The Father, whose loving heart had thus spoken to him, was not far away, speedily received him back as a wanderer made welcome, and in due time sent him out to preach the faith he had once denied. (A. Craig.) Parallel Verses KJV: For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. WEB: For there is no good tree that brings forth rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that brings forth good fruit.