Moore on the Margins, p. 30
I read the article in its entirety and have a greater respect for Russell Moore. As we see American culture change swiftly to one that mirrors the Roman Empire, the biblical truth that we are exiles and strangers from our heavenly home rings truer and louder than ever.
It was the belligerent, crass approach of the late Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority that made me leave evangelicalism for liberal Christianity when I went away to college. I would be an atheist today if not for Christian classmates who practiced the kind of biblical faith that Moore does.
Rich Rodriguez (Facebook)
Honolulu, Hawaii
I’m 87% sure @drmoore is our Obi-Wan Kenobi.
@ChadPoe (Twitter)
A Necessary Refuge, p. 27
As I read Christena Cleveland’s column, I was cut to the heart by the stories of how white people (Christians) had inflicted serious emotional pain and disgrace upon Cleveland and her sibling at a Vacation Bible School at a predominantly white church. I wept over the misunderstandings, poor treatment, and all around prejudice that tainted her views of the predominantly white Protestant churches in America. I feel strongly that this emotional chasm must be addressed in the church before Jesus returns.
As a representative white person, I want to humbly ask black Christians for forgiveness, for the despicable way some white people have treated Cleveland and her friends and family members. Please be patient with others—whites, Latinos, etc.—as we look for ways to build bridges and to let the healing begin.
Thomas A. Henley III
What hope is there for racial reconciliation if the experts tell us that “anti-black racism [is] part of the DNA of the white American church”? Is this not in itself a prima facie racist remark? It doesn’t offend me as much as it tells me how hurt Cleveland is and how much that hurt bleeds into her rhetoric.
So where can we start to offer reconciliation and forgiveness? It’s obviously a deep and challenging issue. But let’s start by turning to Christ and asking what he wants from us.
As a former pastor in a large multiracial church in the Bible Belt, I suggest that 30 years of worship together helps a lot. This church is multicolored, not multicultural. What has evolved is a multiracial church with a blended culture that is not focused on race but on Christ and his Spirit. Within that culture are various tribal and racial expressions. But what is celebrated is our unity in Christ. When multiculture trumps multicolor, race trumps our identity in Christ.
Deane Parker
Did Jesus Get the Bible Wrong?, p. 28
Thank you for constantly challenging Christians to think as well as to believe. Andrew Wilson’s column should be required reading for so many of us. Sometimes the right answer is less valuable than the question. When Francis Schaeffer asked, “How should we then live?” he inspired us to test every matter. We must always, “think, search, meditate, read, learn—and be ever filled with awe,” as Wilson suggests. Christians are supposed to be the most thoughtful and meditative people on Earth, not merely the ones best at publicly justifying our rightness.
Walt Pickut
Jamestown, New York
Giving Our Final Days to God, p. 40
As I read Kim Kuo’s article, I agreed with the notion that basically every breath we have is a gift of God and can be used to the very end. Assisted suicide certainly stands in opposition to this.
Kuo stands strong on the idea that assisted suicide is playing God. But nowhere does she note the reality that many of our efforts to prolong life—pharmaceutically, surgically, or with other treatments—are also “playing God.” The physical, relational, and financial pain that comes with decisions to keep treating such illnesses is also playing God, is it not?
One cannot question and critique the ethics and theology of assisted suicide without also questioning the acts and decisions the medical and spiritual community commit to prolong life.
Brad Haws
East Earl, Pennsylvania
While I do not support assisted suicide, it is unfair to describe a 10-year illness without addressing the cost [of prolonging life], which would have bankrupted many Americans. (I noted that the author’s family photo was taken at a resort.)
At a time when college has become increasing unaffordable and the middle class is struggling, [the cost of] care for dementia patients and others at the end of life is astronomical. You could send a child to college for the cost of two years of nursing care. Caregivers’ lives are seven years shorter than those of non-caregivers. To somehow think the problem is dealt with by saying that God has a plan for every minute of life is insufficient; it understates the human and financial cost.
Patricia Hunt
Staunton, Virginia
The Joy of Ecclesiastes, p. 56
I share “The Joy of Ecclesiastes” with J. I. Packer. It became my favorite Old Testament book during five days in 1970. I was ordained to the ministry on Friday, and my dad was there to share my joy. Dad died in his sleep that night. A time of joy and a time of sorrow.
The funeral was on Tuesday. My pastor chose as his text the famous passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1–11: “To everything there is a season…” His message was that my father had died in joy, and that my experience of the two events so close together would make me a better pastor to people who are hurting. That realization has strengthened my appreciation of the original words recorded by Qohelet in verse 11.
Roger Newton
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Missionaries Uncensored, p. 76
Great article. After working as a missionary for over two decades, broken, I went back to school to get a degree in clinical counseling in order to go back and “help the helpers.” Those back home idealize the life of missionaries and have no clue about the real problems in the field.
Cristina Brown (Facebook)
In courtesy, we should note that 200 years of idealistic, perhaps repressed missionaries, whose persona Amy Peterson finds wanting, did manage to set on course the conversion of Latin America, Africa south of the Sahara, and much of Asia. I’m not sure our highly self- conscious generation even aspires to, never mind achieves, anything so grand as “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” Maybe we could use more persona and less personality.
Bo Matthews
Wilmington, Delaware
One of my favorite missionary biographies is Elisabeth Elliot’s These Strange Ashes. It spoke so powerfully to me about the eternal perspective on what we do in life, especially during times of failure or discouragement. In fiction, The Poisonwood Bible gave that same message in a more twisted way. But still—it is not just about us or our story, is it?
Jamie Janosz (Facebook)
CORRECTION
The September interview with pastor Thabiti Anyabwile indicated that his church is outside Washington, D.C. In fact, Anacostia River Church is located in the District.
