Which Family Is First?

The article “Is the ‘Traditional’ Family Biblical?” [Sept. 16] sounds like the answer to every problem that faces today’s beleaguered family. Unfortunately, its idealism doesn’t always translate to healthy family life, if my experience is any indication. My husband and I, very young and idealistic, raised our children exactly as this article recommends. Our ties with our church family were more important than blood family ties. It was years before my husband and I, thoroughly inculcated with the “First Family” mindset, fully understood what our children had experienced. In some strange way, the church members became the enemy who robbed them of their family’s importance.

Our experience proves that to submerge blood family ties into a “First Family” is confusing for children. Children find their identities within the blood family unit.

ARLENE ANDERSON

Wheaton, Ill.

Amen to Clapp’s article. Over the past ten years I have had a nagging sensation that the family altar has become just that—a place to worship the family. As a pastor, I continually see the needy neglected in the name of “family.” As Clapp pointed out, the family of human blood and the family determined by the blood of Jesus are not in opposition to each other, but can only work when the blood of Christ is deemed greater. REV. RANDALL D. AHLBERG

Oxlip Evangelical Free Church

Isanti, Minn.

Clapp’s message is especially important for the church in light of the response to Ruth Tucker’s “When Mothers Must Work” [July 15]. Evangelicals are in danger of idolizing the traditional family to the point that they ignore their true responsibilities and potential ministry to working mothers. Judging by the response to Tucker’s article, Christians can’t seem to agree on the statistics of how many mothers work and for what reasons. But the issue is that many mothers work—for many reasons. And the confusion over statistics indicates that few Christians are aware of the social and economic realities for women in America today. Perhaps the best environment for children is not one in which the mother stays home, but one in which the whole family, as part of the larger family of God, reaches out to meet the needs of others.

JERON ASHFORD FRAME

West Chicago, Ill.

God’s vengeance and Universal Studios

Thank you for printing excerpts from your interview with Paul Schrader, who adapted the novel The Last Temptation of Christ for Universal Studios, and for your thorough reporting of the ongoing controversy [News, Sept. 16]. It hurts me to see my Christian brothers and sisters seeking to carry out what they believe to be God’s vengeance on Universal and MCA, especially in light of Paul’s admonitions to “bless those who persecute you” (Rom 12:14).

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I applaud the NAE for having arranged to screen the film prior to publishing their statement. I also appreciate their balanced judgment, their noncondemnatory recommendation to Christians not to see the film, and their support of Universal’s right to make and distribute the picture. Truly, if one goes to the film wanting or expecting to see the Jesus of the Bible, one will be disappointed and, probably, disturbed. But if one is open to the possibility that through the vehicle of this film, we can join Kazantzakis in wrestling with the relationship of flesh and spirit, this film might just bring us to the conclusion—as it did one prominent film critic—that, if Jesus could be tempted as we are and yet resist that temptation, there is hope we can, too. I pray that those who have been called to see this film might grow in grace, even as those who have been called to oppose it.

REV. DOUGLAS A. ASBURY

Mount Hope United Methodist Church

McHenry, Ill.

Our brother’s keeper

George Brushaber [“Minding Someone Else’s Business,” Sept. 16] is one of those refreshing writers who reminds us that we are “our brother’s keeper.” I agree thoroughly that unless a Christian puts himself into the biblically prescribed discipline of the body (whether as disciple or discipler), he will be “unsuccessful” as a Christian, with all that may portend.

RUSS BURCHAM, JR., D.D.S.

Kennet, Mo.

Sweet Dreams Of Success

I was sleepily watching TV late the other night, catnapping between old reruns and grade-C movies, when I thought I came across a fascinating religious talk show.

The first guest was a pro football quarterback—third string. A low draft choice out of a small college, he’d bounced from one team’s bench to the next. He didn’t have much fame or fortune to gush over, just a full measure of faith that had carried him through injuries and disappointments.

Next came an attractive young woman who had competed in this year’s Miss America contest. No, she hadn’t won. In fact, she hadn’t even made the finals.

After being introduced, she sang a classic hymn in a simple, straightforward style—and without commentary. The song wasn’t on her latest album. In fact, she’d never recorded an album. She sang because she enjoyed it.

The third guest was the pastor of a church that had grown by only one member in the past month—a man who had finally responded after 20 years of loving, patient witness by members of his congregation.

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And the last guest …

“Euty, wake up,” my wife said as she jostled me on the shoulder.

“No, it can’t be,” I mumbled to myself.

With a click on the remote control I blackened the snowy TV screen and shuffled off to the bedroom—eager for a rerun of my dream.

EUTYCHUS

Paranormal: Real or unreal?

Thank you for printing the Hexhams’ article on the dangerous New Age mythology [“The Soul of the New Age,” Sept. 2]. Their description of New Age beliefs as well as their assertion that many of these heretical beliefs rest upon evolutionary assumptions is helpful. However, they note the importance of recognizing that many paranormal pieces of the New Age belief system (such as stories about UFOS, ghosts, occult encounters, and miraculous healings) are not real, but frauds. This is true; but if they are suggesting there are never any real paranormal experiences of the types above currently happening in our world, I disagree. The Bible and Jesus Christ clearly teach us the existence of real, normally nonmaterial entities, known in our world as God’s angels and Satan’s demons. The experience of many people today, including my own as a pastor in occasionally exorcistic ministry, validates the real existence of these entities. REV. MARK WINSLOW

First Mennonite Church

Allentown, Pa.

So often we speak of UFOS, “fauns and spirits, who control both nature and human destinies,” and occult experiences of many kinds as if they were not real, did not happen, could not happen, and are to be explained away with “the truth.” The trouble is, they are true. Saul went to the witch of Endor and called up Samuel. But the Bible also says this is not of God and not to be done. When do we come to the point of saying yes, these things are so, but we are not to deal in them? Satan has not yet been chained, even though Christ has been victorious over him, and we can be, too.

As the Hexhams mentioned, there are a lot of uninformed and confused Christians, or almost Christians, who can be snatched from Satan’s grasp before it is too late. JERRAL B. WIMBERLEY

Buhl, Idaho

Many serious Atlantis scholars equate the fabled lost city (not continent) with the sunken “Tartessus” near Cadiz: “Tartessus” in turn is identified with “Tarshish.” If this is accurate, Atlantis is not only historical, but a biblical reality as well. H. L. JONES

Montclair State College

Upper Montclair, N.J.

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One of us?

I noticed that the article on Pannenberg [“Reasonable Christianity,” Sept. 2] tended to treat him as if he is “just one of us.” This was truly courteous, but could also be misleading. In his Anthropology and Theological Perspective, Pannenberg does not acknowledge the personality of the Holy Spirit, accepts evolutionary assumptions, and treats death as a result of our humanness rather than as a result of the Fall. Would not a more balanced perspective have been more helpful to most readers?

VERNON C. LYONS

Chicago, Ill.

Is Satanism alive?

Katherine Kam’s article about Satanism [News, Sept. 2] was unfair to Edward J. Gallup. To place his photo alongside the headline, “Ritual Killings Have Satanic Overtones,” and to quote prosecutor Bill Lasswell that “children have alleged chanting, wearing black robes, and burning of candles” cruelly insinuates he is a practicing Satanist. What could, and should, have been added was that despite exhaustive investigations and searches of the Gallup homes and schools, no evidence was collected to support these or other allegations. Many of us are praying, as are the Gallups, that justice will ultimately prevail. L. A. SUITER

Nampa, Idaho

Following a severe depressive breakdown, I have been in Christian psychotherapy for three-and-one-half years. Memories of ritualistic abuse surfaced, which I had long repressed. I have found few people in the church to talk to about the pain I suffered. Most American Christians believe these things only happen elsewhere (Haiti, Africa, etc.), and Satan is primarily active here in X-rated films. How spiritually blind many of us are! The abuse is hard to believe, but I believe it has been and is occurring.

NAME WITHHELD

Teaching in L.A.

The honesty and fairness one expects in CT was absent when Stand and Deliver was reviewed more as a documentary than a film 8 based on a true story [The Arts, Sept. 2]. To highlight the protagonist and introduce conflict and tensions, script writers take much dramatic license, and the words according to the film should thus have preceded the statement “The reigning wisdom at Garfield High dictates that Hispanic kids are dim bulbs.” By itself, that statement is a lie. Advanced Placement (college credit) classes are not uncommon at Garfield. Future-oriented clubs are sponsored. (Significantly, our library was rejected for the film because it was “too modern.” All library and other indoor shots were taken at another school.)

Escalante is without question an outstanding teacher; but ignored for the sake of the story line are some of the most creative teachers in Los Angeles.

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BETH BARNHART

Garfield High Teacher

Los Angeles, Calif.

Ministering to the disabled

Cheers for the three-day congress on the church and the disabled held in July [News, Aug. 12]. Human disability cuts across every boundry of denomination and label. It is not quite accurate to claim the congress as a first-of-its-kind event, however; I attended a similar gathering at Kansas City in 1981 sponsored by the American Lutheran Church.

We need to learn about, respect, and coordinate better the church’s various ministries; further, we need to aim them more at activities with, instead of to, those living in handicapping conditions. The chronically mentally ill—underserved by all—represents one starting point. STEWART D. GOVING

Pacific Lutheran University

Tacoma, Wash.

Letters are welcome. Brevity is preferred, and all are subject to condensation. Write to Eutychus, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.

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