Phil, good one.

earlier, Phil Scovell, wrote:
>    Early in his ministry Dr. Harry A. Ironside was living in the San
>Francisco Bay area, working with some Christians called Brethren. One
>evening as he was walking through the city he came upon a group of
>Salvation Army workers holding a meeting on the corner of Market and
>Grant avenues. When they recognized Ironside they asked if he would
>give his testimony. So he did, telling how God had saved him through
>faith in the bodily death and literal resurrection of Jesus.
>
>    As he was speaking, Ironside noticed that on the edge of the
>crowd there was a well-dressed man who had taken a card from his
>pocket and had written something on it. As Ironside finished his talk
>the man came forward, lifted his hat, and very politely handed
>Ironside the card. On one side was his name, which Ironside
>immediately recognized. The man was one of the early socialists who
>had made a name for himself lecturing not only for socialism but also
>against Christianity. As Ironside turned the card over he read, "Sir,
>I challenge you to debate with me the question 'Agnosticism versus
>Christianity' in the Academy of Science Hall next Sunday afternoon at
>four o'clock. I will pay all expenses."
>
>    Ironside reread the card aloud and then replied somewhat like
>this. "I am very much interested in this challenge. Frankly, I am
>already scheduled for another meeting next Lord's Day afternoon at
>three o'clock, but I think it will be possible for me to get through
>with that in time to reach the Academy of Science Hall by four, or if
>necessary I would arrange to have another speaker substitute for me at
>the meeting already advertised. Therefore I will be glad to agree to
>this debate on the following conditions: namely, that in order to
>prove that this gentleman has something worth debating about, he will
>promise to bring with him to the lecture hall next Sunday two people,
>whose qualifications I will give in a moment, as proof that
>agnosticism is of real value in changing human lives and building true
>character.
>
>    "First, he must promise to bring with him one man who was for
>years what we commonly call a 'down-and-outer.' I am not particular as
>to the exact nature of the sins that had wrecked his life and made him
>an outcast from society -- whether a drunkard, or a criminal of some
>kind, or a victim of his sensual appetite -- but a man who for years
>was under the power of evil habits from which he could not deliver
>himself, but who on some occasion entered one of this man's meetings
>and heard his glorification of agnosticism and his denunciations of
>the Bible and Christianity, and whose heart and mind as he listened to
>such an address were so deeply stirred that he went away from that
>meeting saying, 'Henceforth, I too am an agnostic!' and as a result of
>imbibing that particular philosophy found that a new power had come
>into his life. The sins he once loved he now hates, and righteousness
>and goodness are now the ideals of his life. He is now an entirely new
>man, a credit to himself, and an asset to society -- all because he is
>an agnostic.
>
>    "Secondly, I would like my opponent to promise to bring with him
>one woman -- I think he may have more difficulty in finding the woman
>than the man -- who was once a poor, wrecked, characterless outcast,
>the slave of evil passions and the victim of man's corrupt living,
>perhaps one who had lived for years in some evil resort, utterly lost,
>ruined and wretched because of her life of sin. But this woman also
>entered a hall where this man was loudly proclaiming his agnosticism
>and ridiculing the message of the Holy Scriptures. As she listened,
>hope was born in her heart, and she said, 'This is just what I need to
>deliver me from the slavery of sin!' She followed the teaching and
>became an intelligent agnostic or infidel. As a result, her whole
>being revolted against the degradation of the life she had been
>living. She fled from the den of iniquity where she had been held
>captive for so long; and today, rehabilitated, she has won her way
>back to an honored position in society and is living a clean,
>virtuous, happy life -- all because she is an agnostic.
>
>    "Now," he said, addressing the man who had presented him with his
>card and the challenge, "if you will promise to bring these two people
>with you as examples of what agnosticism can do, I will promise to
>meet you at the Academy of Science Hall at four o'clock next Sunday,
>and I will bring with me at the very least one hundred men and women
>who for years lived in just such sinful degradation as I have tried to
>depict, but who have been gloriously saved through believing the
>gospel which you ridicule. I will have these men and women with me on
>the platform as witnesses to the miraculous saving power of Jesus
>Christ and as present-day proof of the truth of the Bible."
>
>    Dr. Ironside then turned to the Salvation Army captain, a girl,
>and said, "Captain, have you any who could go with me to such a
>meeting?"
>
>    She exclaimed with enthusiasm, "We can give you forty at least
>just from this one corps, and we will give you a brass band to lead
>the procession!"
>
>    "Fine," Dr. Ironside answered. "Now, sir, I will have no
>difficulty picking up sixty others from the various missions, gospel
>halls, and evangelical churches of the city. So if you will promise to
>bring two such exhibits as I have described, I will come marching in
>at the head of such a procession, with the band playing 'Onward,
>Christian Soldiers,' and I will be ready for the debate."
>
>    Apparently the man who had made the challenge had some sense of
>humor, for he smiled wryly and waved his hand in a deprecating kind of
>way as if to say "Nothing doing!" and then edged out of the crowd
>while the bystanders applauded Ironside and the others.
>
>    "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes
>of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of
>the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commandments of the
>Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
>pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and
>altogether righteous" (Ps. 19:7-9).
>
>
>This article originated on The Salvation Online Network

John

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