The Ten Biggest Church Stories of ’77
This is the time when pundits put together articles on the biggest stories of the previous year. Here are my choices.
The senior pastor of a San Jose church met with the four members of his staff for breakfast each Tuesday morning last year. He was supportive toward their ministries and personal growth. He also insisted on their taking one day off each week, and set the example.
A teacher of adults in a Philadelphia church responded to a question by saying, “I don’t know.”
The woman who teaches nursery class in a Columbia church loves the children, and they love her. “When can we go back to Sunday school?” is their question on Sunday afternoon.
A Tulsa pastor’s twelve-year-old son misbehaved at the Sunday school picnic, and everybody said, “Boys will be boys.”
Three laymen in an Ann Arbor church contributed fifty dollars each to their minister for book purchases and periodical subscriptions. And they didn’t want to know his selections.
The pastor of a large Midwest church gave up his special parking space so that an elderly woman who was crippled could use it.
“They still talk about George, a year after his funeral,” said a woman in St. Paul.
Single young adults in a Rochester church got together several Saturdays last fall to take down screens and put up storm windows for old and handicapped people.
A black church and a white church in Chicago exchanged pastors and choirs several times during the year.
The daughter of an elder in a Phoenix church became pregnant out of wedlock, and other parents said, “That could have been our girl,” prayed for her, and collected money for the unexpected expenses.
EUTYCHUS VIII
Money Well Spent
M. N. Beck’s article, “The Myth of the Self-sufficient Man” (Sept. 23) has certainly made the rounds in our family. Today I received this letter: “Mom, I’m so glad you gave me a subscription to CHRISTIANITY TODAY. This week I read an article in my Psychology magazine which really disturbed me. According to the article, I was once again a victim, and the only hope for me or anyone was years of psychoanalysis, etc. The past was irreversible. Today, CT came in the mail and when I read the article entitled “The Myth of the Self-sufficient Man” my confusion resolved and I felt really great. It is so important to have a Christian viewpoint available in the secular world. Many times I know I don’t ‘buy’ an idea but I’m not sure of my intellectual reasons, only my emotional ones. I subscribe to three professional journals, the Psychology magazine and CT. I depend upon CHRISTIANITY TODAY to help me sort out and define the Christian view.” Now, wouldn’t any parent feel that their fifteen dollars was well spent?
VIOLA J. KLAFFKE
Sacramento, Calif.
Of Things To Come
Allow me to express my considerable pleasure upon reading “The Price of Praise” and “Christmas Is Coming” (Nov. 18). I was also impressed with “Of Heroes and Devils: The Supernatural on Film” (Refiner’s Fire). If these articles are harbingers of things to come under CHRISTIANITY TODAY’s new editor, count me as a continuing subscriber.
ARNE K. MARKLAND
Lutheran Campus Ministry
Salt Lake City, Utah
I am very grateful to Virginia Stem Owens for the delicate insights she offered in the article, “The Price of Praise,” in which she gave voice to the silent call which God, through the created universe, makes upon us all. In our increasingly man-made and man-centered world, it is a message of truly great importance which urges men to observe, explore, and ponder the world of nature—this: the Lord’s handiwork. The created world, in its forms, patterns, light, and purposes, never ceases to be that point of contact through which God is known, in a very real and present way.
JOHN F. WHALLEY
Bridgewater, Mass.
Paul Leggett’s article “Of Heroes and Devils: The Supernatural on Film” emphasized that films with supernatural themes contain within themselves an essential Christian view of good and evil. That may indeed be true. However, I must argue that such films also portray a brand of Christianity contrary to that set forth by the Word of God. Leggett suggests that the current Gothic films would serve as a warning for Christians to heed their messages. I find that difficult to relate to Scripture. If we believe the Bible to be our only rule of faith and practice, we must therefore turn to its pages rather than secular substitutes.… As I write this letter, I can think how appropriately the Dracula saga illustrates the fall of Satan and the ultimate sovereignty of God. Perhaps I can support Leggett to that point. Yet I must remind advocates of this view that Dracula and its sequels fall short in portraying a complete picture of the Cross … The Gothic films are exciting as mere entertainment, fulfilling the intents of the writers. Yet I fail to see why evangelicals should find interest in exploring the Christian concepts of such films when the intentions of the writers are purely secular. Perhaps we can find an evangelical answer to the Gothic film. Why can’t Christian producers make film out of the writings of C. S. Lewis or John Bunyan?
DENNIS K. CHAN
Portland, Oreg.
Rarely Seen Root
I wish to thank R. C. Sproul for his excellent article (“You Can’t Tell a School By Its Name,” Nov. 4) on the demise of Christian Colleges, especially his rare but significant insight that the demise of natural theology is a root cause. It is rare these days for an evangelical to see this historic position of the church in a post-Kantian world.
NORMAN L. GEISLER
Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, Ill.
Defining Evil
In the article “ ‘Star Wars’—Space Gondoliers” (Sept. 23) Harold O. J. Brown states that “There is evil in Star Wars. Yet curiously, as in Tolkien’s Ring series, it is undefined and unclarified.” This statement is, however, in error. Evil, except in a theology book of which Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings are neither, can only be defined as the opposite of good and by its actions. In the Bible evil often refers to evil men, evil thoughts, evil desires. One of the basic things behind evil is that it is in opposition to God and his nature which are good. Darth Vader, the leader of evil in Star Wars, Sauron, the evil ruler in The Lord of the Rings, and Lucifer, the devil, are very much alike. All were at one time good but were corrupted. Their main characteristic is greed for power and dominion. Lucifer wanted to be like God, Sauron wanted complete mastery over Middle-earth, and Darth Vader wanted control over the galaxy. All of them work in much the same way through deceit, fear, and brutality. So due to the fact that Sauron and Vader are very much like Satan, which is recognized by many people, they are thought of in much the same way. Therefore, the evil in Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings is defined because it is opposing the characters we know to be good, because of its actions, and because of the likeness to other things that are evil that we are already familiar with.
ERIC POTTER
Vienna, Va.
Unjustly Accused
I write to you as a brother in Christ, who has been unjustly accused, to ask for justice. It strikes me as almost irresponsible that an editorial in a Christian magazine would repeat a theological quotation taken from a secular newspaper and draw far-reaching conclusions from it without checking as to its accuracy with the primary source—the custom in professional journalism. I refer to the quotation attributed to me by John Dart of The Los Angeles Times in his extensive article on “Did Jesus Rise Bodily? Most Biblical Scholars say ‘No’,” (Editorials, “What Seminaries Don’t Believe,” Nov. 4).
In his article, Dart treats two subjects: (1) the divinity of Christ, and (2) his resurrection from the dead. From the context of the quotation attributed to me, it might seem that I was questioning both the divinity of Christ and the reality of his resurrection. I am writing to you to proclaim that I believe Jesus is God and Man and that he was truly raised from the dead by the Father’s glory.
In the hour-long interview with Mr. Dart by telephone, I was never asked about the divinity of Christ; hence, I was given no opportunity to affirm my faith in it. During the interview, I simply tried to explain the difference between the resurrection of Lazarus back to mortal life and Jesus’ resurrection into eternal life. In so doing, I stressed repeatedly the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, even though it was not the same as Lazarus’s. Unfortunately, the distinction was lost in Mr. Dart’s article, and as a result my remarks lost their meaning.
I assure you and your readers that as a Christian and as a Roman Catholic priest I do believe wholeheartedly and unreservedly in both the divinity of Christ and his glorious resurrection from the dead.
JOHN BURKE, O.P.
Executive Director
National Congress on Evangelization
Word of God Institute
Washington, D. C.
Revealing Interview
Thank you for the remarkable interview with Ruth Carter Stapleton (Nov. 4). Despite the ineptitude of the interviewers, Stapleton’s susceptibility to humanistic psychology and its accompanying narcissism is starkly revealed. The imaginary “christ” of her “theology” may “heal” us of a “poor self-image” by fanning into flame the “dormant spiritual part” of man. Certainly he is not the Christ of biblical, historical, and evangelical witness: the strong Son of God who gave himself for us and who by his life and work on the cross—and not by our life and works—saves us from all the penalties and guilt of our sin.
JOHN W. BETZOLD
Riggins, Idaho
I certainly agree with Ruth Carter Stapleton that it is “best to concentrate on love, on good, and on Scripture,” and yet, at the same time, to recognize the presence of evil as a force in the world, a force which can be cancelled out by … love.
This extremely talented, gifted woman who radiates the spirit does … much to enhance the message of Jesus for humankind through her ministry of inner, emotional healing. One can only wish there were more like her.
J. J. KAUFMANN
Honolulu, Hawaii
