A Christmas Wish
At Christmas time I think of snow … “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” And a tree … “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” And lights … “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Gifts, of course … “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.… When He ascended up on high, He gave gifts unto men.” Singing … “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” Laughter … “Then was our mouth filled with laughter.” Yes, food and joy and merriment … “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart.” And above and beyond all else, love … “To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God … “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
I wish you a snowy, soul cleansing Christmas, a tree that radiates light, one over-arching Gift and many gifts, songs and laughter, food and merriment, and love enough to satisfy you.
I wish you this from Christmas morning to Christmas night, and then through all the night until that great second morning dawns, when there shall be no more night.
EUTYCHUS VIII
Equal Time
Thanks to the editor and staff for the generous comments about me and my new job (“A New Post for David E. Kucharsky,” Oct. 21). Those comments call for equal time in which I acknowledge my debt to all my colleagues at CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Their counsel and cooperation were crucial.
I would only add the appeal that we keep encouraging each other in the urgent task of proclaiming God’s word to a needy world and that we keep trying to make our presentation more effective.
DAVID KUCHARSKY
Editor-designate
Christian Herald
Chappaqua, N.Y.
A Break From Tradition
Praise the Lord, truth is coming through (“What is Happy About Halloween?,” Oct. 21). The only unhappy thing about this matter, as I see it, is that the article should have appeared about the first of October, and should appear each year about that time. It takes a lot “to put you always in remembrance” and education to break away from vain tradition and accept what is truth. What is true about Halloween and its origin might be true about many other vain traditions practiced by otherwise good Christians.
JEREMIA FLOREA
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Bay City, Mich.
If it is somehow evil for children to celebrate a “traditional” Halloween—though no worship or acknowledgement of the Druid god of death is intended, then is it somehow good to celebrate a “traditional” Christmas with gift exchange, etc.,—though no worship or acknowledgement of Christ may be intended?
WILLIAM T. TANN
Palouse, Wash.
Wasn’t that a rather dismal attempt to bring happiness to Halloween? John J. Howe’s notes on the ancient and honorable instinct of humankind to reverence, or appease, or celebrate the dead—but at least to remember them were interesting and nicely chosen. It is somewhere in the final paragraphs that the ancient animosities appear.
What is frightening about his view of Halloween is that these distortions are published at this late date. My fellow chaplain, an Episcopalian, was dumbfounded to see them in CHRISTIANITY TODAY. For one thing, first time I learned that we pray for the saints: thought we all considered they had it made. And how far from “idolatry and blasphemy” are the words of the alternative prayer for All Saints: “May we who aspire to have part in their joy be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives,” or of the first choice, “May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love.”
With Christmas approaching do not assign John J. to any stories about St. Nick. Mistletoe and holly must drive him right up the tree. Easy to see where he stands on indigenization, or Chinese rites, or African Masses. And a couple of more articles like that will push the whole ecumenical movement back to duidic times and primeval shadows.
VINCENT B. RYAN, S.J.
Veterans Administration Hospital
East Orange, N.J.
Retribution Or Rehabilitation
If I may venture a prediction, John Piper’s article “Deciding What We Deserve” (Oct. 21) will prompt a small flood of letters protesting that the notion of recompense is sub-Christian, inconsistent with God’s unconditional love, unenlightened, reactionary and the like. Although it has been ably defended by such thinkers as C.S. Lewis and John Wenham, the view that justice is retributive is not very popular even among evangelicals.
As a lawyer trying to think through legal problems from a Christian perspective, I find Piper’s thesis most helpful. Too often, for example, considerations such as political ideology, wealth, social status, and race distract us from the fundamental issue of whether the actions of a criminal defendant really deserve a particular punishment. And in contrast with the rehabilitative theory (that the criminal is sick and should be “treated” rather than punished), the retributive theory allows a person the dignity of “paying his debt” and making a new beginning. In Leviticus 19:15 God commands: “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” Perhaps this commandment embodies a beneficent aspect of recompense that many of us have overlooked in the past.
WILLIAM A. BRAFFORD
Raleigh, N.C.
Deliverance In 1933
I have just finished reading D. Bruce Lockerbie’s article “Laughter Without Joy: The Burlesque of Our Secular Age” (Oct. 7). What an insightful, perceptive article! One point that Mr. Lockerbie makes causes me a bit of concern, however. It is true, of course, that there was no Moses or Esther to deliver the Jews from Nazi Germany in 1933. But as Mordecai reminded Esther, the absence of a personal leader could give opportunity for deliverance to arise to the Jews from another place. In spite of the fact that there were many excesses and brutalities committed by Allied Armies during World War II, it is possible, I believe, to see the God of Israel at work in the Allied effort bringing deliverance to the Jews.
W. WINGER
Brethren in Christ Church
Carlisle, Pa.
Thank you for the revealing, relevant article by Lockerbie. I was deeply moved by it.
WM. A. SWETS
Minister of Pastoral Care
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
For Better Sex Education
Harold O. J. Brown’s “Others Say” on “Abortion and Child Abuse” (Oct. 7) erred, I think, in assuming that there are five million fewer unwanted children today because of the greater availability of legal abortion since the early 1970s. He seems to overlook the fact that according to the best estimates, the number of illegal abortions prior to 1970 was about the same as the number of legal abortions performed today. Nor do Americans seem to be any more abortion-prone than people in any other country. In Italy and Austria, where church and state both frown upon abortion, the abortion rates are four times greater than in the United States.
It is interesting that a survey of anthropological literature by psychologist James Prescott a couple of years ago showed that societies that are more permissive with regard to abortion tend in general to be more caring societies than those which frown on abortion. It would be a cheap shot to point out that Nazi Germany prohibited abortion while committing barbarities against Jews and political opponents.
Since even the proponents of free choice on abortion would prefer the avoidance of pregnancy to abortion, is it not time for pro-choice and anti-choice people to join in supporting better sex and family education in the schools and better pregnancy counselling and improved methods of contraception?
EDD DOERR
Director of Communications
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Silver Spring, Md.
A Reducing Program
You have written a very interesting editorial (“There Are Many Ways to Steal,” Nov. 4) regarding Senator Mark O. Hatfield’s approach to tax reform (S. 1969), which he calls “Simpliform.” I cannot agree that the line-by-line tax reform approach which you advocate is as good as Senator Hatfield’s proposal or that his would create more problems than it solves.
You indicate that “Christian schools should not” get general funding from the public purse. However, your basic argument against “Simpliform” in favor of the present system is to provide motivation for “the non-typical large donor who has, because of tax advantages, contributed large sums to private schools.…” Your logic here seems illusive. Doesn’t this advocate doing indirectly what you say should not be done directly? Senator Hatfield says we ought to do it directly if at all. You refer to those institutions who want no government support so they can be free from government regulations. If, as you imply, they are dependent on the “non-typical tax donor,” motivated by a tax-break, they are not as free even now as they might fancy. That tax-break rests on the good graces of the government and may be wiped out at the whim of any Congress. “Simpliform” would make them free indeed without the crutch of a tax-break. Senator Hatfield apparently ascribes a higher motivation to the non-typical contributor than you do. He knows that the donor’s out-of-pocket part of the gift is more substantial than the tax-break and, isn’t it logical to assume, that his primary motivation is the support of a good cause rather than the tax-break. Hatfield’s bill is designed to enable him to give more, consistent with that higher motivation and without any government strings attached.
The line-by-line tax reform method used in last year’s Tax Reform Act was not a colossal success. Congress has already found it necessary to enact several bills this year to correct it. One became law last spring. Another has passed both Houses of Congress and is currently awaiting the President’s signature. There are at least four other bills passed by the House and awaiting Senate action which include more than 100 additional changes to the one Tax Reform Act of 1976. There must be a better way to deal with what you call a “hodgepodge” in the present system. “Simpliform” would replace volumes of government regulations with a few simple instructions. We never thought of that producing more problems than it would solve. We do concede, however, that it might create a few problems including unemployment for a large number of IRS agents who would no longer be needed.
FLOYD ROBERTSON
Secretary of Public Affairs
National Association of Evangelicals
Washington, D.C.
Clarification And Correction
Edward E. Plowman is to be commended for his judicious and relatively comprehensive news report on the 37th General Council of the Assemblies of God (“Assemblies of God: A Leader Upheld,” Sept. 9). However, his comment that the chief staff members of AGORA, a new magazine of opinion, “are associated with the 650-student Southern California College” (SCC) needs clarification and correction. Your readers need to understand that AGORA has no official connection with the college, or for that matter, with the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God. While three of the editors are professors at SCC, the fourth [one] (myself) is a professor of history at California State University [in] Long Beach.
AUGUSTUS CERILLO, JR.
Professor of History
California State University
Long Beach, Calif.
