Eutychus and His Kin: December 6, 1963

WHO’S FOOLING WHOM?

I try, but I just can’t get worked up over beer cans. Where I live there are full-sized billboards all over the countryside going into ecstasies over the discovery that a can of beer can be opened by a simple flip on the top. If I were going into ecstasies, it would be over the fact that I held the patent on this little gadget or had the advertising account. To consider seriously the millions and millions of dollars which are being spent to make us feel real good about this sort of thing makes me feel, on the contrary, very dismal indeed. This is not so much an argument about beer as it is about what people have come to think is important.

Some two weeks ago I was at dinner with friends who had a pride of children. One little boy made no contribution to the table talk one way or another from the beginning to the end; and, in a way, it was kind of a special research assignment just to see how he managed to get everything he wanted without saying “please” or “thank you” or even asking. I bear witness that he had a splendid meal. His one contribution at the table, and I can’t think now what triggered the remark, was, “You should have seen on television where the beer flowed clean up over the glass.” Whatever was on the boy’s mind—good, bad, or indifferent—this is the only thing that came out.

One whole family was slated to go to church because I was doing the preaching (true hospitality knows no bounds), but at the last minute there was a call for the oldest daughter to go as a baby-sitter. There was not one split second of decision as to whether baby-sitting should or should not outrank church attendance. The decision may have been a sound one (there was money in it), but I am sure that it was actually made on the basis of all the presuppositions about values for the whole family.

I shall never forget a little piece of cheating described at a dinner one time; this lovely church woman said exactly, “Well, you can hardly blame a man for $700.” I suppose that you can blame him for $70, and you can’t blame him at all for $7,000. Our religion loses more ground by default than by sober decision.

EUTYCHUS II

THE RACE REVOLUTION

Congratulations! At long last the article has appeared which many Christians must have longed to see in regard to the race question. I am referring to W. H. Anderson’s article “Evangelicals and the Race Revolution” (Oct. 25 issue).

Living in the South is wonderful, but the brightness is clouded over many a time when to me, who [have] lived for some years under the Nazis, language is used (actions too!) in regard to Negro citizens which are too reminiscent of the Nazi attitude to the Jews. There were also too many people in the German churches then who felt that the Jewish question was one of race alone which had nothing to do with the things of the Spirit; hence negligence became the order of the day too easily, and the cause of Jewish evangelism can only be approached with some genuine feeling of embarrassment today on account of this. Missionary work and the race question are closely related to each other.

LUDWIG R. DEWITZ

Dept. of Old Testament

Columbia Seminary

Decatur, Ga.

Thanks for finally printing an article on a social issue which errs because of the “white heat of deep conviction” rather than the deep drag of political and ethical caution. You are also to be congratulated on the same article in that the author is allowed to at least hint at the possibility that an evangelical Christian may have liberal political and social views. Admittedly a rare bird, but partly because he is practically outlawed in many evangelical circles in America.

EDGAR METZLER

Akron, Pa.

Many evangelicals are deeply concerned with the race problem but are unwilling to knuckle under the socialistic—and almost Communistic—approach of the liberal. There is evidence that there is considerable “red activity” inciting today’s racial revolution.…

I do believe … that the Bible teaches racial equality apart from forced integration. We must help educate and evangelize the Negro. For the record, we have experienced the privilege of having Negro members in our fellowship. They are first-class members. We are one in Christ! However, we have not promoted the one-race-one-world-one-church delusion which we believe to be Satan’s doings and not God’s design.

ERNEST L. LAYCOCK

North Syracuse Baptist Church

North Syracuse, N. Y.

We real Southerners fully realize that the Negro has not had a fair deal in many ways, but he has also failed to get it in the North. The difference is that we knew something had to be done, while in the North, the colored people were slammed into Harlem and other slum areas, and forgotten.

Progress was being made in the South—slowly, but being made, just the same. So many Southern people, who do not care whether their actions are judged by Mr. Anderson or not, have been gravely hurt by the unsympathetic attitude of so many witch hunters. Why help could not have been offered instead of abuse, Southern people cannot quite understand. But we know that love and respect cannot be the outgrowth of recrimination and physical violence, or the invasion of states by federal troops.…

That I am not speaking out of turn may be testified by the fact that I have worked with Negroes all my ministry, both spiritually and materially. I have many Negro friends. And there is something that I can say that many of those who condemn my position cannot say: I have received the Holy Communion from the hands of a Negro priest, and I did it happily.…

JAMES M. STONEY

Ret. Bishop, Protestant Episcopal Church

Albuquerque, N. M.

Should confront conservatives everywhere with the necessity of making a decision. We must either stand for justice and love or admit that we lack the courage to do so.…

As an evangelical who was asked to leave a pulpit because of a conflict over the race problem I heartily endorse Dr. Anderson’s outstanding article and would encourage every reader to stop evading the decision to which it calls us.

JOHN ELLINGTON

Decatur, Ga.

Does the fact that the Communists are directing the “race revolution” automatically mean that evangelical ministers and leaders are to take up the poor benighted Negro’s cause?

BEN A. BYRD, JR.

Prof. of Church History and Polemics

Tennessee Temple Schools

Chattanooga, Tenn.

We evangelicals have soft voices when it comes to issues involving the plight of people—slums, center-city, race problems, etc. We just don’t seem to be interested in them or their problems. Sometimes, we’re against them; more often we just don’t get involved. There is little doubt in my mind why young people don’t want our “selective involvement,” that is, involvement with Christ but not with the masses and their problems.

HERBERT WAGEMAKER

Dept. of Surgery

University of Florida

Gainesville, Fla.

The manic preoccupation with integration and the drive for cheek-to-cheek coexistence which has, with some ministers, replaced the Gospel, is becoming nauseating.

Materially, the American Negro is better off than most white people of the entire world. As for his spiritual condition, ministers would do well to review the Sermon on the Mount and repeat daily, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” before they degrade themselves by joining in with some of the absurdities of current Negro demands.

M. MCCORMICK

Louisville, Ky.

Thank God for a relevant word on race to evangelicals! William Henry Anderson’s article … points up the tragic failure of conservatives to “become biblical and assert the oneness of all believers in Christ.”

ROSS COGGINS

Director of Communications

The Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

Nashville, Tenn.

THE STATE OF METHODISM

I especially appreciated your fine article in the October 25 issue, “The Predicament of Methodism.” It is a penetrating but sympathetic look at Methodism today. As a pastor of live years’ experience, and as a student now enrolled in a fine Methodist seminary, I am involved in the crisis of which Mr. Robb so ably speaks.

CECIL D. CLIBURN

Dalton, Ga.

Even a hasty check of Methodist literature today will reveal that although contemporary theologians are making their mark, a large amount of material by and about the Wesleys is flooding the scene. A neo-Wesleyan movement is surging today which can be attested to by casual reference to the gamut of Methodist publications. We Methodists and all our Christian brethren should rejoice in this.

Granted the stigmas of salary and seniority are too much in our organizational structure. But the solution does not lie in reforming the structure away from episcopal authority, but in returning to it. We are now too much controlled by power blocs and theological and ecclesiastical cliques both at the local church and annual conference level. But these develop where the episcopacy is weak administratively. If our bishops could act with the decisiveness of early American Methodist bishops, this aspect of our predicament would be resolved. The suggestion of … Robb is likely to take us even farther into the predicament and further [to] accommodate to the cultural norms of a materialistic secular society.

… Robb’s article might have been quite valid some five years or so ago, but it fails to portray Methodism’s predicament accurately at the present time.

RICHARD BOWYER

Director

Wesley Foundation

Fairmont, W. Va.

Maybe one of the shames of the church is that the world has so infected her ranks and point of view that we have to talk about promotions and demotions at all.

HAROLD E. MILLER, JR.

The Community Methodist Church

Massapequa, L. I., N. Y.

His thoughts reflect the thinking of many Methodist ministers and laymen. Perhaps those in authoritative positions in The Methodist Church—bishops and heads of general boards—would do well to consider Mr. Robb’s suggestions, lest the church continue to fall toward a state of mediocrity.

CARL HERNDON

Warrington Methodist

Warrington, Fla.

Dr. Robb’s discussion on the “liturgical crisis” is the weak point in an otherwise challenging article.…

A liberal cannot be a High Churchman, and it was long after Aldersgate that Wesley described himself as “a High Churchman, the son of a High Churchman.”

The confusion of aesthetics with liturgies was part of the so-called “enriched worship movement” of the 20s and 30s but is certainly not characteristic of the liturgic movement of the present time.

The supposition that the present-day return to Wesley is based on principles which Wesley repudiated is easily corrected by looking at the dates of those writings which have been the inspiration of the present movement. “The Sunday Service” was issued in 1784. “The Duty of Constant Communion” was published by Wesley in 1788. “The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice and Hymns on the Lord’s Supper” was published in 1745 and republished nine times during Wesley’s lifetime with a tenth edition shortly after his death. Wesley’s Aldersgate experience was in 1738. The dates are sufficient refutation of Mr. Robb’s thesis.

MILTON JAY PEDEN

First Methodist

Macon, Miss.

Mr. Peden’s letter contains several mistaken assumptions:

Nowhere in the article do I equate High Churchmanship with liberalism. Rather, I imply that it is a weak and insufficient answer to the vacuum left in worship by liberalism.

The High Churchmen that I know certainly put a premium on aesthetics.

While Mr. Wesley continued to have some High-Church prejudices throughout his ministry, the High-Church spirit had no significant influence on the revival. It was the preaching of the evangelical Gospel and the singing of the great Wesley hymns that were used of God to bring revival.

The early Methodists followed their leader in the warm evangelical faith but were not significantly influenced by the High Church he maintained.…

In the biographical sketch under my article I was incorrectly listed as chairman of the Board of Evangelism of the North Texas Conference of The Methodist Church. It is the Northwest Texas Conference.

EDMUND W. ROBB

St. Paul Methodist Church

Midland, Tex.

Criticism of the divided chancel because it was “unknown in Methodism a generation ago” is terribly narrow. Where the chancel is divided the cross is central and the minister is not the focus of attention during worship. I should have thought that Mr. Robb would prefer the centrality of the cross, especially in light of his dissatisfaction with modern Methodist theology.

CHARLES A. GREEN

Cambridge, Mass.

A shocking but fair appraisal of the great issues at stake in Methodism.

We hear reverberations coming from the younger ministers like: “I don’t believe in the Holy Spirit and all that jazz,” and “I was not called to the ministry but have chosen it as a profession.”

Where are the district superintendents when the younger ministers flounder in a sea of confusion; when they show such utter lack of mature judgment?

The Methodist Church needs, as it has needed for a long time, a voice like … Edmund W. Robb calling primarily for a re-evaluation of the theological beliefs of The Methodist Church at the pulpit level. The pendulum has swung so far to the left, liberal wing that anybody now who still believes in the Virgin Birth is considered a fundamentalist.

The truth of the matter is that the liberal influence is so predominant in The Methodist Church that there is no longer any equalizing influence.

If the basis for Christian belief in The Methodist Church continues to be based primarily upon intellectual comprehension, we might just as well join the Unitarian flock and receive “A” for honesty.

ROBERT ERICSON

Shelton, Conn.

Hit the nail on the head, and, we hope, hit those in responsible leadership on the head hard enough to awaken them. This article ought to be published in Methodism’s Together, or at least our Christian Advocate. Dr. Robb is to be commended for his courage of conviction.

VERNON F. CALE

South Side Methodist

Huntington, W. Va.

Mr. Robb said, “Barth emphasizes the transcendence of God to the neglect of Christian experience. He stresses the holiness of God but has little to say about holiness of life.” Barth’s position is no longer that which Mr. Robb enunciates, but rather Barth has changed, maybe grown is the word, to the point where he wrote an article in 1956 entitled “The Humanity of God.”

SUSAN T. HOLLIS

Millers Falls, Mass.

Theologically The Methodist Church has degenerated from teaching the Gospel of grace to a humanistic philosophy of good works as the basis for salvation; from the Scriptures to books about the Scriptures; from leading men to realize that, before a holy God, they are sinners in desperate need of God’s redeeming love into some kind of vague “togetherness” that requires only that joining the church is similar to becoming a Democrat or a Mason.…

I was reared in the Methodist parsonage. I loved The Methodist Church, for it was under its concern that I became a Christian when a lad of eleven years. Under the ministry of Wilbur Chapman in 1907 in New England, and through the combined effort of the churches of the city, I was led to see that I needed to be born again, born from above. For the past twenty-four years I have vainly sought for a church home, of the Methodist persuasion, wherein the Bible is preached and taught to the extent that it was revered and obeyed in other days. So, I have settled for a home church of another denomination all these years.

May I close with the heartening note that it was blessed to my soul to read of the cooperation and the devotion of Bishop Kennedy to the recent Billy Graham Crusade here in Southern California.

W. W. SPEAR

Culver City, Calif.

Edmund W. Robb’s look into the soul of Methodism is tantamount to laying bare the significant needs of the larger denominations of Protestantism in general which have suffered the same damages of liberalism and the concurrent attempt to do “repair work” but with inadequate materials.

The spiritual life of the traditionally liberal churches is heart-breaking, and the wounds are healed only when we see these churches so joyously receiving the biblical witness and worship which is understandable to the common man.…

Let us pray that the “awakening” in Protestantism (particularly that of the liberal persuasion), evident by the continuous “recognition of problems.” continues to gain momentum until a world-wide revival of the Church becomes an irresistible, God-sent reality.

ROBERT S. HESS

Medway Village Church (Congregational)

Medway, Mass.

It was a tremendous spiritual encouragement to see “The Predicament of Methodism” examined so carefully and accurately.…

As a minister, planning to spend a lifetime in The Methodist Church, I am glad to see that others are aware of this “predicament.” Now let’s do something about it!

REID W. STROUD

Philadelphia, Pa.

May this choice article serve as notice to the world that Methodism is far from being dead. Many of us realize there is much wrong within The Methodist Church, but nonetheless there remain hundreds of Methodist pastors yet declaring the Word of truth and yet holding high the bloodstained banner of the Cross. Thank God for men like Edmund Robb and magazines like CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

PAUL GEORGE

Harlem Springs Methodist Church

Harlem Springs, Ohio

SAID A LOT VERY WELL

The lead article in the October 25 issue entitled, “How To Resolve the Quarrel Over Evangelism” by Jesse Baird said a lot very well.

He has used some very convincing logic and testimony to persuade some of our quarrelsome brethren to the evangelistic position. One was mightily disappointed, however, to look in vain throughout this entire writing for the most basic, immutable, and irrefutable reason for evangelism—the commandment of the Head of the Church who said, “Go … preach the gospel.…”

ROBERT F. RAMEY

Detroit Bible College

Detroit, Mich.

Of the many articles I have read, few, if any, have warmed my heart as did the article by Dr. Baird.…

O. E. SANDEN

Minneapolis, Minn.

GNORAMUSES DIMINISHED

In your October 11 issue (Eutychus) Merrill C. Skaug says that “on Continental Europe and the British Isles the minister must have four or five degrees or he is regarded as an ignoramus.” The Church of Scotland has always believed in a well-educated ministry, but it is no contradiction of that fact to point out that only about 5 per cent of its ministers have more than two degrees. The percentage is rather less in the Church of England.

J. D. DOUGLAS

London, England

FOR THE RECORD

In my recent review of The Reality of the Resurrection by Dr. M. C. Tenney (Aug. 2 issue), an omission was made that has called my orthodoxy in question. The statement that “Psalm 16:10 probably voices confidence that God will deliver the righteous sufferer from death before it occurs, not after.” was followed by this further omitted statement: “Peter’s application to Jesus’ resurrection rests on pressing the words to their fullest possible sense, legitimately since throughout the New Testament righteous-sufferer psalms are heightened in meaning by application to Christ, the righteous sufferer par excellence.” I mean simply that in such passages the Holy Spirit intended much stronger and more literal meanings with reference to Christ than the human author did with reference to himself.

ROBERT H. GUNDRY

Santa Barbara, Calif.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.