JESUS AND JUICY FRUIT
One of these recent columns caused a South Carolina reader to question whether I could “imagine the sinless Saviour with a cigarette hanging between His lips, or drinking a can of beer.”
Waving the poker-game imagery, it’s a fair question. So I decided to see if I could imagine such a thing.
I began by imagining Jesus at the wedding in Cana lifting a glass of the wine he has just produced from water. At that moment I froze the mental tableau, transported Jesus to a sixteenth-century German wedding party, drained the cup of wine, replaced it with beer, and started the action again. It worked fine.
Freezing the action again, I transported Jesus to a twentieth-century dining table complete with ashtrays and tried to put a cigarette in his hand. It kept falling out so I gave the effort up as a bad job.
I decided to try to see if I could get Jesus’ reaction to a morally neutral but obnoxious practice—gum chewing. I pictured him working over a particularly intricate piece of carpentry work. He reached into his tunic, withdrew a shiny stick of Juicy Fruit, and carefully unwrapped it, replacing the paper in his tunic to avoid littering the byways of Palestine. As he popped the sugared nonsense into his mouth, the whole picture shattered and disappeared.
I wondered if the uniqueness of Christ was largely responsible for my results and decided to try Socrates to find out.
There was no point in trying beer drinking. There was enough alcohol flowing at the symposium to bomb a small city.
So I tried cigarettes. Socrates picked up the pack. He banged it confidently against the side of his hand. Nothing happened. He shook it and peered inside to verify the presence of a cigarette. He again banged the package on his hand, and a badly mauled cigarette fell to the Athenian dust.
At this point I decided he was stalling, so I stopped the action and put a pipe in his hand. It worked! That is, the image worked. Actually Socrates was new at it so he had a little trouble stoking the thing up and getting a good ash started.
I then tried my chewing-gum test. Socrates eyed the confection suspiciously, dipped one end of it into his wine, bit off a small piece, and began to chew it tentatively. He quickly passed it to Agathon with the observation, “Here, you need some excuse to keep your mouth moving. Your words don’t provide much justification.” The scene dissolved to the accompaniment of Aristophanes’ laughter.
It occurred to me that the results I achieved might be accounted for by the fact that I don’t condemn beer drinking, think cigarette smoking is dumb, and detest gum chewing.
But then I realized that there is no real reason why men of discriminating judgment should differ about these things.
NEWS OF DEGREE
We were delighted to read David Kucharsky’s news item, “A Life for Laos” (Feb. 26). Missionary G. Edward Roffe will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree on May 16, 1971, from Eastern Baptist College. Due to Mr. Roffe’s involvement in Laos, the degree citation and diploma will be received by his brother, Paul Roffe.
Eastern Baptist College President
St. David’s, Pa.
WHEELED MOCKERY
In this thoroughly secular age when men almost automatically belittle and mock things sacred, we who bear the Name of Christ do well not to give them additional cause for ridicule. I refer to the wheeled Agnus Dei on the March 12 cover, which strikes me as laughable at best and sacrilegious at worst. Surely there are other ways a [religious] publication can choose to depict contemporaneity and openness to changing times than to caricature symbols and sacred emblems long cherished by many faithful Christians.
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
Hay Springs, Nebr.
WHICH COURSE?
While I agree with much of what Eugene Merrill says (“Who Are Today’s True Prophets?,” March 12), I find his “safe course” stifling and representative of (and the reason for?) today’s languishing, doctrine-oriented church. Further, I believe that to regard the Bible as “that which is perfect” (1 Cor. 13:10), when the canon was complete, is to become bibliolatrous.
On the other hand, Lawrence Crabb (“New Scientific Thought: Data and Dogma as Compatible”) offers a fresh approach which is more intellectually honest while it “runs the risk of being wrong.” I find his “risky course” as representative of today’s Jesus people, who are not merely “ecstatic, dervish-type automatons,” but rather today’s joyful Jesus-oriented church. It is no paradox that the latter, in their inductive-study approach to Scripture, read the Bible more with greater insight and understanding than those who must resort to text-proof deduction to justify their preconceived doctrines.
St. Cloud. Minn.
Apparently Dr. Merrill is not clear about the nature of New Testament prophecy. He quite conveniently ignores Paul’s own explanation in favor of a proof text which fits nicely into his own mold. New Testament prophecy is primarily a message of “edification, exhortation, or comfort” intended for the believer. Only secondarily is its purpose to convict the unbeliever.… Dr. Merrill has made a valiant attempt to preserve a position that is fast losing ground. Thank God for and give us more Spirit-anointed proclamation of the Gospel. But if the whole Body were an evangelist, where would be the prophet?
Calvary Assembly of God
Delaware, Ohio
GOD’S SPIRIT AT HARVARD
Thank you very much for your recent article on the need for revival within Christian communities (“Repentance as a Church Priority,” by Vance Havner, March 12). Only within the last month has God’s Spirit taken charge of our lives in a forceful new way here at Harvard. Several of us freshmen have stopped trying to “generate evangelism,” deciding that the Holy Spirit is better qualified to do that sort of thing. We have taken to our knees nightly in worship-prayer meetings and are asking to be used of God as he sees fit. The personal fruits are already visible.… All things are seen in a new perspective.
Cambridge, Mass.
Thank you for the excellent article. [Repentance] is our primary need and certainly ought to be our first priority.
You stated that Mr. Havner was ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention. Actually, no one has ever been ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention. A Southern Baptist minister is ordained by a local church, which affiliates with the other churches in the convention. We have no higher authority than that of the New Testament Church under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Highland Crest Baptist Church
Green Bay, Wis.
• Right! Sorry for the error.—ED.
BAD VIBES WITH THE ‘STATUS QUO’
Evidently the author of “Time to Get Radical” (Current Religious Thought, March 12) has little understanding of the Now generation’s needs, values, or problems, nor does he realize the sociological necessity of a college education today for the young adult. He accosts the student militants before considering and experiencing their view.
The first myth he propagates is that higher education is an opportunity and I not a requirement. A college degree has become the passport into any professional field. Without that piece of paper, one is very limited in what he can accomplish in our society. I am in school only because I need that B.A. to teach.
And it is definitely the older generation’s view: “If you don’t like it, leave.” No, baby, that’s not the way it is anymore, for change is invading the land. We want a society that is meaningful and relevant for all people, even if that means bucking the system that preserves superficial values. We want all men to experience freedom to be themselves anywhere, anyhow. We don’t need isolated communities where I all people dress, think, and behave alike. But what we do need is to learn the appreciation of differences.…
Before continuing in the tirade I against the student radical’s uncooperative spirit in considering established essence’s panaceas, I would advise the author and people of his disposition to read The Student as Nigger by Jerry Farber and It’s Happening by Simmons and Winograd. We are willing to hear 5 your side, “status quo,” but have you really listened to us? Or have you “picked up our vibes” and are too afraid to change?
La Mirada, Calif.
KEEPING UP WITH LEWIS
Thank you so much for the recent articles by C. S. Lewis (“On Moving With the Times,” March 12 and 26). His writings have meant so much to me throughout the years. Keep up the good work!
Piedmont Presbyterian Church
Burlington, N.C.
JOURNEY OF BLACK AWARENESS
Another radical is abornin’. Thank you, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, for sharing the good news. Virginia Mollenkott (“Up From Ignorance: Awareness—Training and Racism,” March 26) may not realize it, but she’s in the midst of a revolution, one that spells liberation for her.
We welcome her to the fellowship of those who are trying to “get themselves together.” We know where she’s coming from, and encourage her to continue her pilgrimage of black awareness. (In fact, we advocate such for others, too. We are grateful to our brothers like Joseph Daniels who help us by revealing their hearts.) It is an agonizing and costly journey, but leads to freedom from the racism that holds all men, oppressor as well as oppressed, in bondage. Right on!
Wheaton, Ill.
The particular point of the article with which I take issue is the discussion on the Wordless Book. Personally, I can readily see the racial implications involved in the use of the Wordless Book. I have in fact cautioned about its use. However, my concern is this: Virginia Mollenkott, in exposing the racial implications of the Wordless Book, misrepresented the typical teaching of the Wordless Book. She says, “We simply haven’t imagined how it would feel to be dark-skinned children listening to the white-skinned lady talking about how if only we will open our hearts to Jesus, we can be delivered from what we are and become the way she already is by birth.”
Such a statement is either an unintentional misrepresentation of what is in fact taught, or it is a conscious effort to further load the Wordless Book with racial overtones. The Wordless Book is used to teach that all people alike are in need of spiritual rebirth.… I deplore racism! Unfortunately our society abounds in it. For that reason I have written, hoping this statement can be retracted or corrected. The Wordless Book was never intended to be racist! But such misrepresentations lead to no other conclusion than that the Wordless Book is designedly racist in intent and purpose.
Area Director
Lakeland Child Evangelism Fellowship
Winona Lake, Ind.
Certainly Dr. Mollenkott’s [article] embarrassed blacks as well as whites. I commend her insight and sensitivity, but I doubt that her purpose will be served by the mawkish, patronizing tone of her comments. Only the insecure, pseudo-intellectual black will applaud this approach. The thinking black, Christian or non-Christian, knows the truth: skin color doesn’t matter. To argue or agonize over the point only tarnishes the truth.
Baltimore, Md.
EYE-OPENING SECULARIZATION
Belden Menkus (“Evangelical Responsibility in Public Education,” Feb. 12) is right that “these decisions did not remove God from the classroom.” He had been removed long beforehand. This was only the logical and inevitable outcome of the long process of secularization.… It may have served to open the eyes of some evangelicals to the real nature of the public school.… I was very disappointed that Mr. Menkus did not call for the establishment of Christian public schools—the only real solution to the educational dilemma that faces evangelicals today.
Smithers Christian Reformed Church
Smithers, B.C.
