Letters

A Good Word

Bless you, Wally Metts, for putting in a good word for one of the two endangered species (unborn babies being the other) that do not presently enjoy any special protection under the law [“Home-grown Kids Need a Full-time Mom,” Speaking Out, March 6]. We who struggle to get by on one income to give our children the benefit of a full-time mother are accustomed to the scorn of a secular society; but when we encounter the same mentality in the church, things have gone too far.

LUCY RUDENBORG

Menomonie, Wis.

Right solution, wrong road?

Charles Colson arrived at the right solution but by the wrong road in his column “Lawsuits: The Great American Plague,” [Mar. 6]. Consider this: a list of socially irresponsible manufacturers could go on and on, page after page. If the insurance companies, which basically work for the large manufacturers by selling so-called retro-rated policies, have their way, the responsibility for injurious products will be passed to the user who suffers loss of property, physical injury, or death. The public is better served by having available a place and personnel able to bring the responsible party before the lack of concern and absence of social responsibility.

DONALD L. WHITE, Attorney at Law

Louisville, Ky.

Aborting thousands; keeping one

“What Is the Future for Surrogate Motherhood?” [Mar. 6] was excellent and timely. It was reported in Michigan last year that 73,000 babies were slaughtered by abortion. Now you tell of a fight to keep just one.

DANIEL AUGUSTINE MARQUES

Cheboygen, Mich.

The article states, “Roman Catholics reject artificial insemination by donor under all circumstances.” As a Protestant brought up to be suspicious of Catholicism, I have belatedly come to appreciate its staunch moral positions. We need to sit at the feet of some good Catholic theologians until we again realize God isn’t about to lower the standards of his holiness and morality to fit our “modern” situations.

LAURENCE A. DAVIS

Wichita, Kan.

Small steps are important

Philip Yancey may have spent the afternoon caulking the windows of his home while the abortion of millions and the outrage of South Africa faces us, but his article demonstrates that one man can make a difference [“Caulking While Rome Burns,” Feb. 20]. He gave me fodder for a talk on abortion that I gave in a small town in Canada: he provided the conclusion to a speech I had been working on the day I read his column. The danger facing us all is the lie that because I cannot do something large, it is not worth doing something small.

REV. ANDREW WOLSTENHOLME

First Baptist Church

Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada

The Bible: No baby bottle

Thank you for admitting there are “Problems Inerrancy Doesn’t Solve” [Feb. 20]. Too many evangelicals fail to face up to the necessity of interpretation. They think the Bible is a baby-bottle of instant truth to be emptied into one’s mouth, forgetting there are parts of it we do not understand or apply to ourselves. The fact is, the Bible is like a prepared and defined pasture in which we graze. It is the sufficient and only source of regulative information for pleasing God, but it is the belief system in our memories that controls our actions. The issue is not only the battle of the Bible, but also the battle of the Faith.

WINN T. BARR

Orange, Calif.

As chairman of the ICBI drafting committee of the “Chicago Statement on Biblical Application,” I was disappointed with your recent article on the conference. Your readers deserve to know what the statement actually said, not one observer’s skewed interpretation of it. When will the press—Christians included—get back to reporting, not creating, news?

NORMAN L. GEISLER

Dallas Theological Seminary

Dallas, Tex.

Midnight Madness

Department stores somehow manage to come up with a different sale to advertise every week of the year. In order to have occasions for these continuous sales, they encourage us to celebrate everything from Ground-hog Day to Flag Day, and invite us to draw the curious conclusion that the appropriate way to honor George Washington on his birthday is to buy bed linens.

It seems to me that Christians could supply these apparently desperate sale-creators with a whole new array of events.

Wouldn’t a Transfiguration White Sale make sense? How about a Rapture Clearance Sale? Why not have a Burning Bush Fire Sale, where “prices are hot but payment terms aren’t at all consuming,” or an Exodus Liquidation Sale where “everything must go”?

A special Noah’s Ark Sale could offer “two for the price of one before the flood of price increases,” and a department store featuring a Zaccheus/Arbor Day Sale could run specials on ladders and short sizes.

Sales like these could be excellent public relations for church history or general biblical awareness, but knowing Madison Avenue’s tendency toward hyperbole, we might get more than we bargained for. How long would it be before all other sales were replaced with one huge Millennium Sale featuring the best prices for a thousand years?

EUTYCHUS

Isolated from poverty?

I was dismayed to read that the executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals was less than supportive of the Catholic bishops’ pastoral on economics [“Mainline Protestants Help U.S. Catholic Bishops Speak Economic Message,” Feb. 20]. When he admonished the bishops to stay out of politics, he is quoting a conservative line I’ve seen for over two years that calls on the bishops to stick to their knitting—to stop meddling in economics. It seems evangelicals who are largely insulated and isolated from the problems of poverty and urbanization have a genius for either ignoring these issues, or deprecating nonevangelicals who get upset about these issues. Strange, isn’t it, that evangelicals could miss the clear evangelical note the Catholic bishops sound in their treatise?

JOHN K. KREIDER, M.D.

Philadelphia, Pa.

While the executive director of the NAE states, “In responding to the needs of the poor, it is not the role of the church leadership to dictate specific public-policy prescriptions …,” we find precisely the opposite stance held by our evangelical leadership when the issue is abortion or sexuality. For example, “specific public-policy prescriptions” (“moral legislation”) are fervently advocated and pressed upon our legislatures.

PHILIP W. GILMAN

Asbury Park, N.J.

Reconstructionists: Valued contributions?

Rodney Clapp’s assessment of Reconstruction dogma [“Democracy as Heresy,” Feb. 20] perhaps needed to be written. Nevertheless, in the process fundamentalists, charismatics, the Religious Right, and Christian conservatives are treated invidiously. It is my impression that these groups are doing work probably perceived by most evangelicals as valued contributions to the church and the world despite some reservations.

ALAN SMITH

Osawatomie, Kan.

Every American interested in preserving the free agency we enjoy should read this article. Coming from a Mormon heritage, I have heard it all before.

ERIC MICHAEL TABELING

Cottonwood, Ariz.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight: Those radical Reconstructionists are dangerous types because (a) they dare to think we can only approach reality presupposing the truthfulness of the Bible, (b) they actually prefer God’s law over traditions made by men, and (c) they actually believe the fields are ripe for harvest and that evangelism blessed by God’s Spirit will be (dare we say it?) successful!

REV. BRUCE A. RAY

Junita Community Church

Kirkland, Wash.

How can R. J. Rushdoony and Gary North ask the rest of us to adhere to the minute details of the Old Testament Law when they do not even speak to each other?

DEBRA A. BELL

Palmyra, Pa.

What is wrong with obeying the Law of God?

MARK MURATA

Kirland, Wash.

I’ve got to say what you left unsaid: “This is sheer madness.”

HOWARD L. COGSWELL

St. John. N.B., Canada

You incorrectly listed Douglas Chismar as a professor of Ashland Theological Seminary when in fact Dr. Chismar is a faculty member and head of the philosophy department at Ashland College. Ashland Theological Seminary is not associated with the Reconstructionist movement and wants that clearly understood.

DR. FREDERICK J. FINKS

Ashland Theological Seminary

Ashland, Ohio

The insert “The Armenian Connection” repeated an oft-heard error regarding the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church never has taught that Christ had only one nature, and that the divine. Such a teaching is attributable to one Eutyches whom the Armenian Church has always condemned as a heretic.

REV. FR. VARTAN KASPARIAN

St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church

Yettem, Calif.

The Presbyterian Church in America’s general assembly did not decide, as reported, that “the Reconstructionist position was not heretical.” Your mistake is understandable since the official denominational Minutes dropped the crucial line.

REV. O. PALMER ROBERTSON

Wallace Memorial Presbyterian Church

Hyattsville, Md.

Until I read Mr. Clapp’s article on Reconstruction theology and theologians, I could never understand why many Americans blanch at the idea of a Christian-dominated society.

JILL R. WALKER

Chicago, Ill.

Oral arguments

Concerning the cartoon accompanying the news article “Fund Raising: Did Oral Roberts Go Too Far?” [Feb. 20], I am offended by the flippant manner in which your publication handles the beliefs of this or any other respected man of God. You have done Roberts and every Christian an injustice. You have helped to divide the body of Christ.

REV. RON HAMMONDS

New Life Fellowship

Ruston, La.

I see Oral Roberts says he has already received 7 of his 8 million dollars, so he’ll be around “on April 1”—you know: April Fool’s Day.

DON SCHENK

Allentown, Pa.

Persecuted Nicaraguans?

Regarding CT’S recent news coverage of Nicaragua [Jan. 16, Feb. 6]: You are no doubt aware of a recent interview with evangelical missionary John Stam who says he has been unable to find evidence of religious persecution in Nicaragua, though there has been political repression of some religious leaders who have supported the war against the regime. In general, he believes the Sandinistas would not be an especially repressive regime if they were not in a state of war. Stam could be wrong; but the perspective from a responsible evangelical is an important one. Why does CT choose to report almost solely one side of the issue? You appear unwilling to raise any question about the Reagan administration’s policy of financing widespread killing in order to bring down the Nicaraguan government.

GEORGE M. MARSDEN

Duke Divinity School

Durham, N.C.

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