Re: Scottish preacher story (urban legend?)

This is typical of sermon illustrations collected by frustrated preachers. There are many books of them but I don't own any!

I does not ring true as Whyte was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland which had a very strong scientific tradition. Fleming whose uniformitarian ideas were pinched by Lyell, and also Hugh Miller, David Brewster and many others. They adopted the views of evolution etc earlier than most.

Urban myth sums it up.

Michael
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Freeman, Louise Margaret
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 10:01 PM
  Subject: Re: Scottish preacher story (urban legend?)

  The story is mentioned online at http://www.ottawamennonite.ca/sermons/exemplary.pdf but does not give the details and it looks like it comes from the same source as your preacher.

  I found 2 other references to Alexander White as a famous Scottish preacher but without the scientist anecdote: http://fpch.org/hollywoodpulpit.org/sermon990502.html

  and http://www.pbc.org/dp/goins/4454.html

  I'd suspect a rather loose definition of "famous," myself.
  __
  Louise M. Freeman, PhD
  Psychology Dept
  Mary Baldwin College
  Staunton, VA 24401
  540-887-7326
  FAX 540-887-7121

    -----Original Message-----
    From: steamdoc@aol.com
    To: asa@calvin.edu
    Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 14:52:47 -0500
    Subject: Scottish preacher story (urban legend?)

    My pastor recently used the following sermon illustration:
    -----------
    Alexander White was one of Scotland's greatest preachers in a previous generation. One day he noticed that a famous scientist began attending worship services at his church. White resolved that he would do everything in his power to win the man to Christ, and for the next several weeks his sermons were of the sort that he thought would appeal to the scientific mind.
          One day the scientist came to the pastor and said that he wanted to join the church, and Dr. White asked him what had convinced him that this was something he should do. The pastor hoped that the famous scientist would mention the compelling nature of his sermons, how brilliantly they were put together, and the logic of his arguments for the faith, but he never mentioned them. Instead, the scientist told how an elderly woman spoke to him on the steps of the church one Sunday, and asked him, quite simply, "Sir, ar e you a Christian?"
          He replied, "Well, I am thinking about it."
          And the woman said, "Oh, do come further in than that. Jesus Christ means the world to me!"
          Then the noted scientist said to Alexander White, "As I looked at her radiant face with those shining eyes, I knew that she had a secret which I didn't have, and I wanted it with all my heart."
    -----------------

    When I asked who the "famous scientist" was, I was told that his source (a publication called "Lection Aid") did not give the name. The lack of specificity leads me to think that this might be an "Urban Legend". He has had other urban legends in sermons in the past (a story about the founding of Stanford University after an Ivy League President turned away a shabbily dressed couple that turned out to be Mr. & Mrs. Stanford; the now-debunked story of a Columbine fatality affirming her faith immediately before being killed). To his credit, he is willing to correct himself when these things happen.

    Does anybody here know more about this story? It doesn't fit either of the 2 famous Scottish scientists (Kelvin and Maxwell) that I can think of, and so far Google has not turned up any evidence that an Alexander White was "one of Scotland's greatest preachers."

    Of course it is a nice story to illustrate that evidentialist apologetics is generally overrated in the church, and incarnational witness is generally underrated. Which is of at least some relevance in science/faith discussions.

    Allan
Received on Mon Jan 23 18:06:44 2006