Eutychus and His Kin: July 31, 1964

BRAIN SURGERY

As you must know (because I have told you very clearly before), the best columnist in the country is probably Bill Vaughn in Kansas City. He has had a hilarious time taking apart the television idea that any school boy would race all the way home from school, snuggle his dog with proper boyish sentimentality, and then run into the house to tell his lovely mother who has won out in the tooth-decay contest. How ridiculous could we get if we really believed any boy like that would run home with a message like that? I suppose they think we do believe it.

What ought we to think of the poor youngsters in the control experiment who were given the wrong toothpaste? Who has the right in our society to decide for the sake of “sales” some of our youngsters are to be forbidden the “right” toothpaste for their tooth-decay problem?

Almost anything today can be done in the name of science and justified because it is “experimental.” The word “experimental” is a good-sounding word, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it lies at one end of the same spectrum that at the other end justifies some of the nauseating and blood-chilling experiments of the concentration camps during the last war.

I ask again, Who has the right to “experiment” on our children? We withdraw with a shudder from any experiment that might hurt our youngsters. This raises a question about the areas in which children may be hurt. If we cannot stand to have their bodies hurt, how can we stand to have their minds hurt? Are we extremely careful about who takes out their appendix and extremely careless about who “experiments” with their minds? What would you say about “experimental theology”? Is there a “Way” of life, and is the departure from it, however experimental, suicidal?

John Oman was a man of the sea who was at home in the little craft that traveled back and forth from the Orkney Islands to the mainland of Scotland. He said that every line on a good boat has been discovered by the sacrificed life of a good man. “Now,” he said, “for speed we have changed the lines, and we shall pay for this again in life.” Maybe some things should not be tampered with.

EUTYCHUS II

COURAGE OF A RARE KIND

George Long’s article, “One Nation, Under God,” in the July 3 issue, is prophetic and urgently needed by church members all over our nation. We are in the midst and have been for many months now of a period approaching anarchy in the thinking of many people. The widely expressed fear and hatred of the federal government, the attacks on the courts, and the branding of all individuals who do not agree as un-American, and un-Christian, simply express the state of illness in which we find ourselves. Thank you for publishing this splendid sermon.

WILLIAM M. DYAL, JR.

Director of Organization

The Christian Life Commission

Southern Baptist Convention

Nashville, Tenn.

If the Constitution of the United States of America definitely states that all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government are reserved to the various states, why should the Supreme Court consider itself competent to reach decisions that contradict this assertion. After all, the United States of America was one nation under God for a considerable period when the federal government and the rulings of the Supreme Court considered it to lie in keeping with both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, that the various states be the final authority in certain matters. It would appear from across the border that if the original agreement is not now the desire of the parties concerned, that it be altered, not by courts twisting the meaning of words, but by congressional action.

R. KEITH EARLS

Cobden, Ont.

Congratulations.… The author shows intelligence and courage of a rare kind.

I must say I find it something of a mystery that professing Christians can be unconcerned about freedom and justice for all, or shut their church doors to those of a certain shade of skin, or honor those who defy our government, or encourage hate and murder, or seem to have no interest in seeking the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Apparently it is much easier to be conformed to this world than to put Christ above human customs and traditions.

DONALD T. KAUFFMAN

Westwood, N. J.

AMERICA

“The American Revolution: Revolutionary or Liberative?” in the July 3 issue was an excellent analysis of the religious foundations of the United States. The article, “Woodrow Wilson: Christian in Government,” raised many unanswered questions. My conclusion is that William J. Bryan was a far greater Christian witness in government than was Wilson. Bryan was one of the greatest Christian statesmen of the twentieth century. I felt the author’s reference to Bryan was discourteous and inaccurate.…

RAY ROWE

Edmonds, Wash.

S. Richey Kamm finds both the ends and the means of the American Revolution good—are they?

The ends are a “biblically oriented concept of freedom” with a “Calvinistic … separation of state and church.” Indentification is sought in the Israel of Moses, not of Christ. In Christ’s Israel, “vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord”; “be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”; “ye have heard that it hath been said … but I say unto you.…”

Is not “the final authority” (even for political function, if any) from the Creator for this new creation—“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake”.…

The means are “divine assistance in all of the colonies” and “the biblical psychology of emancipation.”

But the Bible says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal …” and “they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” “My kingdom is not of this world therefore.…” The sword for the disciple resides now in the sheath for “not all things are put under him.”

The Bible says, “Peace I leave with you, peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” Abolition of war, though worthy, is not assured (Mark 13:5–10).…

Like teaching and health, government can be better. Is less than the best tyranny? What government is free of it? When is tyranny severe enough to call forth another with likewise some measure of tyranny? Where does the Word sanction “resistance to all forms of tyranny through responsible representatives by laws of God and the laws of nature”?

Therefore the third question: Are the ends and the means of the American Revolution (or any revolution) good? What one really wishes to know: How does God see it? The answer the evangelical believer gives determines how he fits into his society, into the citizenry, and into the local brand of patriotism.…

ELAM S. KURTZ

Lansing, N. C.

HIGHWAYS—UNHAPPY WAYS

Please accept my deep appreciation of your editorial “Peril on the Highways” (July 3 issue). Your frank and forthright stand on so many issues of public life that affect us all is to be commended.

But what can be done to get action? It is my honest opinion that a misguided leniency on the part of many of our traffic courts adds to the already frightening amount of irresponsible drivers.

While the violator does have (and should have) all protection under the law, the victim and the public should at least be entitled to equal protection. This seems to be missing in so many cases.…

GEORGE C. KREBS

St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church

Minneapolis, Minn.

VALIANT SERVANTS

I wish to thank Mr. L. Nelson Bell for his article (A Layman and His Faith, July 3 issue) on “The Forgotten Man”—the chaplain. I have had contacts with chaplains, and I know the trials they have. I am … a Gideon, and it is my privilege to hand out Testaments with other Gideons at the Induction Center here in Minnesota. This past year we gave out 13,300 Testaments to servicemen and women, and this is being done all over the United States at induction centers.… Many a boy never had a Testament before.… There is many a man who is preaching the Gospel, doing missionary work, teaching Sunday school, and so on, because [of] what a chaplain has done for him or what a Testament has done for him.… Pray for the boys.… As they leave home they step from childhood into manhood with greater temptations than ever before.…

VINCE HERMSTAD

Minneapolis, Minn.

The article … was excellent.

Churchmen of every denomination ought to thank God for the many valiant servants of the Lord who carry on so manfully in an often forgotten ministry.

ARTHUR M. WEBER

Armed Services Commission.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Washington, D. C.

TEACHER FROM AFAR

When I read the announcement (The Minister’s Workshop, July 3 issue) concerning the retirement of Andrew W. Blackwood from [some of] his responsibilities with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, it was necessary that I write this letter.

Although I never sat in any of Dr. Blackwood’s classes, I can say that I studied under him and got as much from him as I did from any other one man. It was in 1946, upon my return from overseas and discharge from the Army Air Force, that I was introduced to … his writings. During the military service, I came into contact with a fine group of people in Nebraska, and it was in that state I completed my undergraduate education. I accepted an appointment with the Nebraska Annual Conference of The Methodist Church as a student pastor.…

When one has a church on his hands and two years of college yet to complete, he tries to find help. My help came from a number of books written by Andrew Blackwood. His Pastoral Work and Planning a Year’s Pulpit Work and others filled a gap and helped me through a very difficult time. Some years after that I wrote to him and thanked him. He took time out from his busy schedule to write a note to me. It was not until years later that I was able to meet him.…

ROBERT L. WENDT

Assoc. Prof. of Sociology and Economics

Salem College

Winston-Salem, N. C.

LOCATING THE SCANDAL

“Reunion and Reformation,” by Franz Hildebrandt (June 19 issue), was worth the one-year subscription price. It put the difference between Rome and the Protestant in the right perspective. May I quote one statement from the article: “The ecumenical lessons to be drawn from all this are obvious. First, the scandal of our divisions is not, as we are persistently told to believe, the mere existence of separate denominations as such.… The real scandal, right across all denominations … is the absence of the Gospel from our pulpits … that makes it impossible for men to hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.”

Who has not listened to sermons of men who seem to be blind leaders, who feed the church with stones instead of bread.

May all our hearts weep [over] this great scandal and [may we] do something about [it].

D. KORT

Oaklawn, Ill.

Reformation and reunion will truly be hastened as the people of God listen to the voice of the Spirit in the Word in the measure which this article suggests.…

WALDO J. WERNING

Exec. Sec. of Stewardship and Missions

Southern Nebraska District

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Lincoln, Neb.

HE WAS METHODICAL

I feel sure that Methodism would be pleased to own Charles E. Jefferson as one of its great preachers (“Have Ye Not Read?,” June 19 issue). Jefferson was not a Methodist, however. He was a Methodical Congregationalist.

JOHN LEWIS GILMORE

Miner Congregational Church

Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

THE BECKER AMENDMENT

I find that your cogent cognitive analysis compels respect when you deal with such an explosive issue as the Becker amendment, (Editorials, June 19 issue) even though I judge your conclusions to be unapplicable. You presuppose an honest, not a surreptitious, neutrality. Ambiguous decisions of the Supreme Court preclude a “true neutrality.”

ALEXANDER BODA

Cambridge, Md.

May one who has hitherto followed you with great appreciation question two of your statements in your editorial on the Becker amendment.

You state that the Supreme Court did not remove all prayers from the public schools. Is not that an ambiguous statement? Did not the court forbid all prayers in matters that were before the court? It is the hope of some of us that the court did not forbid prayers of a voluntary nature advocated by the local community. But if so, it was because the issue of such prayers was not before the court.

Again you state that in our history no amendment to the Bill of Rights has ever been adopted. But you well know that the Fourteenth Amendment has radically amended the Bill of Rights. Under the First Amendment as written prayers provided by a state could not have been ruled out by the federal Supreme Court. This was only possible because the First Amendment was amended by the Fourteenth. The Tenth Amendment has been virtually emasculated by the Fourteenth Amendment. The rights reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment are being constantly absorbed by the federal government under the Fourteenth Amendment as interpreted by the current Supreme Court.…

WM. CHILDS ROBINSON

Columbia Theological Seminary

Decatur, Ga.

• In answer to Dr. Robinson’s first question, it does not seem ambiguous to us to say that the Supreme Court did not remove all prayers from the public schools. As we have studied the decisions, they seem to be directed at the practice of a state body’s writing a prayer and prescribing its use and state or other official authority’s prescribing devotional exercises.

We recognize the force of what Dr. Robinson says about the amendment of the Bill of Rights. Technically our statement was correct.—ED.

COLLEGIANS AND MORALS

Thank you for the presentation of “The Morals Revolution and the Christian College,” by David McKenna (June 19 issue). It was a pleasure to note that the president of a Christian college regards his students as more than uninformed and unimaginative graduates of nineteenth-century Sunday schools.

This revolution in morality presents problems that the Christian student must solve with his own spiritual and intellectual resources. His attitudes must be personal. Four years of indoctrination at the level of the Christian college and Bible school have often produced deplorable results. Let the college administration prepare a wholesome and complete environment, but then grant the students freedom of thought and expression to meet the challenge which is by far more their struggle than that of their parents, pastors, or professors.

ROGER W. BROBERG

Storrs, Conn.

The assumption is that the less restricted sexual expression of the present day is a much worse sin than the constricted and distorted sexual expression of Victorian times. The neglected fact is that both are sin and probably bring an equal amount of human suffering. Sex is neutral; what makes it good or bad like any other aspect of human behavior is the motivation behind it. What characterizes the “freer” sex of today is that it is extremely selfish. The emphasis is on the individual erotic pleasure with little regard for the immediate or long-term effects on the other person.

Though the author raises the essential question he comes no closer to solving it. How will he promote better self-initiated self-control in the adolescent who is confronted with social stimulation from without and a very forceful desire from within, and at the same time leave the individual with a mental set which allows him to thoroughly enjoy healthy sex in marriage? Sexual expression is a part of the whole person who is patterned mainly before the age of five. It seems unlikely that lectures to college students will help them very much. Done wisely they may become better parents and thus promote in the next generation healthy controlled sex.

The pendulum of society’s attitude to sex has swung from era to era and too often drawn Christian thinking behind it. The Christian attitude should be that sex is not only a necessary aspect of human biologic function but a joy and pleasure for which God should be thanked. It should never have been that sex was regarded as dirty and indecent by Christians, something hidden and feared. It should always have been something that within the bounds of marriage and under the law of love a Christian so enjoyed that he sang his praise to God and prayed his thanks while having intercourse.

P. G. NEY, M.D.

Montreal, Que.

BUT POLLSTERS ARE IN ILL REPUTE

I note with amusement that Elton Crowson, in his letter decrying the civil rights resolution recently passed by the National Association of Evangelicals, writes (Eutychus, June 19 issue): “No group of a few hundred individuals can fairly and honestly represent a nation-wide constituency on such a controversial secular matter and it was arrogant effrontery for them to pretend to do so.”

He then assures us personally that the Evangelical Methodist Church “does not join its voice in such an expression.”

I wonder if Mr. Crowson polled the entire membership of the Evangelical Methodist Church and received 100 per cent approval before he spoke with such certainty in its behalf.

Or, perhaps, the title “Publicity Chairman” gives him a special divine dispensation to speak in behalf of a church which is withheld from a council of churchmen.

DON MCEVOY

Decatur, Ga.

FOR THE MORMONS, LOVE

In your June 19 issue in the article on “The Latter-day Saints Today” (Books in Review), I noticed two errors that quickly indicate to a Mormon that someone is not very familiar with his subject:

1. Elder is not the lowest rank in the Aaronic priesthood; a deacon is. Elder is the lowest “rank” in the Melchizedek priesthood.

2. The issue on the baptism for the dead is found in First Corinthians 15:29, not 15:24.…

I am sure the author had the best of intent, but I am acutely aware that what is needed more than books about these people is godly love for them. In the years that I have been away from the L.D.S. Church I have yet to see one Mormon moved by the reasonings I was able to bring against him (even though I was one with them). Many have I seen touched by His love for them though.

JOHN W. KUTZ

Bellevue, Wash.

THE LIVING END!

Re: Current Religious Thought, June 5 issue. “The pastorate itself is the live end of the whole church enterprise.”

Really! There is the M. U., the men’s fellowship, the Sunday school teachers.

A little more humility, Mr. A. H. Leitch!

S. G. QUILTER

London, England

HOMILY PLUS HUMILITY

I found William Samarin (“A Layman Speaks to the Pulpit,” June 5 issue) admirably facing up to one of the most serious problems of the Christian Church today when he laments “that we often tolerate an abundance of nonsense to get a few specks of substance.”

We evangelicals have spent too much time and energy berating the emptiness of the preaching in liberal pulpits. Indeed one standard of “sound gospel preaching” has been that which does little but boast about how much better we are than the liberal church across the street. But more disturbing than this shallow form of evangelicalism is much of that which masquerades as “deep” and “Spirit-filled.” This preaching claims to be doctrinally sound and scripturally commanded but is, in the words of Samarin, “irrelevant today because, although biblicistic, it fails to be truly and powerfully biblical.” It appears to speak with the voice of authority but gives forth nothing but words, words of no relevancy to the real, daily spiritual problems of the members of the congregation. It often exhibits gross negligence in preparation, with less substance than one would get from a layman with no theological training. Worst of all is that, although it encourages the rustling of Bible pages during the sermon, its message is nearly as vague and unbiblical as that of the existentialists they claim to abhor.…

Certainly, most of us who are teachers by profession recognize that there is always room for improvement in our teaching, especially when a class doesn’t seem to come up to our expectations. Certainly we ought to expect at least this degree of humility from the man in the pulpit.

WILBUR L. BULLOCK

Professor of Zoology

University of New Hampshire

Durham, N. H.

He makes the statement: “The sheep, more discriminating than they are often given credit for being, are not responsible for the present situation.” I would like to disagree with this statement. All of us as pastors would like to preach better sermons. We would like to spend more time in the study, searching the Word of God and finding truths that are relevant to the present situation; but when our laymen and laywomen in the church keep us occupied with guilds, fellowships, committees, commissions, and an endless round of unnecessary calls, we find our time is greatly diminished. Many a faithful pastor I know wants to be a prophet in his pulpit, but he has to spend too much time “playing politics” with his church boards to get his program across.

WARREN W. WIERSBE

Calvary Baptist

Covington, Ky.

Permit … a few observations on the subject by a layman who agrees that “when preachers reject logic for the questionable purpose of getting their point across, they do an injustice to the Word of God, insult the intelligence of the audience, and fail in what they ought to do”!

Empty pews! Echoing wooden pews! The nightmare of the preacher, the despair of church boards, profitable copy for magazine writers, an economic waste! Some say it is the tendency of our day, the symbol of irresponsibility of a moving-picture and TV mentality. Christ crucified afresh each Sunday on hard, wooden, empty church pews, yards of them.…

Why do we have empty pews? Why does the multitude pass by? Is this not a challenge to ministers to improve the quality of their sermons?…

Too many sermons are blighted with a blasting and a mildew, are “sickl’d o’er with the pale cast of thought,” differing one from another by delicate shades of monotony.…

In general, preaching is not composed of certain pious commonplaces wrapped in a pleasing or catchy form. It is not merely telling an audience what they already know. If it were that, there is perhaps no office or function that would require less strain of intellect, less labor of preparation. It is something nobler. The sermon is meant to be arrestive, illuminative. It is meant to instruct men, to lead them into ever-enlarging views of truths that evoke richer life, truths that enclose the Gospel in its magnitude and majesty. It is meant to transform by the renewing of the mind. We have no belief in anything doing good except the truth. But it is quite absurd to expect that God’s Spirit will greatly bless superficial, unreasoned, feathery presentations of truth that lack a serious, substantial prophetic message!…

JOHN F. PALM

McGregor, Minn.

THE PEACE CORPS

The editorial … “Religion and the Peace Corps” … in the April 24 issue has been brought to my attention.

It has always been basic Peace Corps policy that Volunteers are not to engage in religious proselytizing. It has also been basic to the Peace Corps that Volunteers not be compelled, because of the nature of their assignments, to participate in religious observances contrary to their own faiths. We respect the freedom of a Peace Corps Volunteer to hold his own religious convictions. We insist, however, that Volunteers behave in a manner which will not violate the standards of the institutions to which they are assigned.

These policies are made clear to Volunteers in their training. They are discussed with Volunteers overseas. They are also discussed with the institutions which will be employing Volunteers. If a headmaster or mission head should object to the behavior of a Volunteer, the matter would be promptly investigated by the in-country Peace Corps Representative, who has the power to reprimand or remove the offending teacher.

It is quite true that some Volunteers are not committed to Christian truths as they are understood in the mission school where the Volunteer may be working. For example, some Volunteers may be Jewish or agnostic. To a missionary of one denomination a Volunteer of another church may not seem to be committed to Christian truths as the missionary understands them. It is out of this context that our Peace Corps policy of having no religious tests has come.

The service of every Volunteer in the Cameroon has been requested by the government of the Cameroon. These Volunteers are working under the supervision of the Ministry of Education to fill a critical teacher shortage. They are also helping the government to develop its corps of qualified teachers.

In West Cameroon, as in many parts of Africa, schools founded and operated by missionary groups constitute the major segment of the public school system. The government of the Cameroon supervises their curricula, helps direct their operations, and supports them financially. It prescribes examination standards. Each school is required to be open to all regardless of religious affiliation.

Peace Corps Volunteers are assigned to schools in the Cameroon by the Ministry of Education, in consultation with the individual school and the Peace Corps Representative. In no case is the religious affiliation of the school or of the Volunteer to be taken into account in making assignments. Many Volunteers are assigned to schools with religious affiliations, but there is no other way of responding to Africa’s urgent need for Peace Corps Volunteer teachers.

It is true that most of our Volunteers are young. Many indeed are teaching for the first time. But before they are assigned, the government of the Cameroon Republic is told of their qualifications and participates in their selection.

In no instance is a Peace Corps Volunteer holding a job that could be filled by a Cameroonian teacher deemed qualified by his own government. In reviewing the work of the Volunteers, the West Cameroon Director of Education, the Honorable A. D. Mengot, recently stated: “Their [the Volunteers’] arrival has permitted us to open ten new secondary and teacher training schools and greatly expand the enrollment of existing ones.”

For a Volunteer to hold a position that could be filled by a Cameroonian teacher deemed qualified by his own government would be a contradiction of Peace Corps purposes. The government of the Cameroon has formally requested the Peace Corps to supply more teachers to West Cameroon this year. Before sending this request to Washington, our field staff discussed it fully with school directors, mission officials, and members of the Cameroon government. It is difficult to see how responding to requests of this kind could be considered “dumping.”

I would agree that many Volunteers are “finding themselves” in Peace Corps service. I would suggest, however, that this is in keeping with one of the goals of the Peace Corps—that of getting to know peoples of other lands, acquiring a sense of another culture, and growing in the context of this learning.

SARGENT SHRIVER

Director

Peace Corps

Washington, D. C.

• The editorial to which Mr. Shriver refers was written by a member of our staff on the basis of on-the-spot interviews in West Africa. We appreciate Mr. Shriver’s enlightening comment on the problem in West Cameroon.—ED.

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