Letters

Racism Isn’T Regional

I was much intrigued by Philip Yancey’s article “Confessions of a Racist” [Jan. 15]. As a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a Confederate reenactor, I also can appreciate King’s impact in changing society and its discriminatory practices. However, I must remind Yancey that racism was, and is, not solely a regional problem, but a national one as well. Furthermore, as a Southerner and a Christian, I can still cherish the beloved symbols of my region without consenting to the practices and philosophies of racist organizations.

Arnold M. Huskins, O.D.

Killeen, Tex.

Yancey’s apologia for Martin Luther King was excellent. Few could write such a piece. Fairness shows. I come from a quite different position, living in Houston at that time and watching developments in Texas. I have long rejected King as phony, mainly because of a heavily armed group of his followers in the Beaumont, Texas, area. What weapons does one take on a nonviolent demonstration? Your discussion touches this lightly. Is it possible the armed groups never had King’s approval? More might be said to set straight the records of that time.

Harold A. Palmer

Nacogdoches, Tex.

I felt Yancey’s article was timely and appropriate. I do, however, take issue with his conclusions concerning King’s sexual immorality. A review of those “heroes of the faith” in Hebrews 11, and Yancey’s list of “moral deviants,” such as Noah, Abraham, Samson, and David, cannot bring me to agree that King can be followed as readily as they. I agree that King opened the minds of many people on the racial issue, but he can never be considered as a spiritual leader like those previously mentioned. We must be careful not to make King more than he was, a man with great qualities for leading his people from racial bondage, not spiritual bondage.

F. Don Dunlap

First Church of the Nazarene

Marietta, Ga.

Yancey is, obviously, impressed that King once said he heard the Lord saying, “I will be with you.” He says King’s long view was that “God reigns.” And he says King “stayed faithful.”

But, sad to say, when judged righteously, in the moral realm, by his fruits, King couldn’t have been a Christian, because if he was, the Bible lies. Scripture makes clear that in the saved, regenerated person, sin does not reign. The saved person does not continue to sin, but is “free indeed” from the power of sin. Yancey notes that King once told demonstrators “that moral change is not accomplished through immoral means.” Amen!

John Lofton

Laurel, Md.

Yancey’s article was splendid. In my experience, the mention of King’s name typically evokes one of two polarized reactions. One is to completely discredit all that he was—his philosophy, his Christianity, and his work—because of documented sexual sin he had participated in. The other is to ignore and even deny King’s reputed sin, refusing to believe he was anything other than a righteous and sanctified super-saint, doing God’s work among those who would make him a martyr. Yancey’s candid portrayal resolves the dilemma: King was a man with passion for the justice and truth he felt God had called him to pursue, and he was a man who fell to the temptation of sin. His sin is not to be excused, but neither should his work be discredited. This article gives hope to those who struggle with sin as they daily obey the call of God on their lives.

David R. Lapp

Schaumburg, Ill.

The Pitcher’s Mound Is Slippery

Aside from the usual sore arms, our first softball practice went pretty well, except for one major-league problem: Chuck Koontzma’s daughter, Debbie, showed up. With a glove and spikes. Debbie was not, it was clear, volunteering to be our scorekeeper.

This being the first practice, we let her play, though no one told her about breakfast afterwards at the Pancake House where finally we could talk.

“The way I see it, if we don’t let a woman preach in our church, we don’t let one pitch,” Rob Hosenoy guffawed to a chorus of laughter.

Lee Ernsch disagreed. “Come on, guys, we went 0-for-14 last year. Besides, wasn’t it Chuck’s girl who pitched a no-hitter for Eastern U. two years ago? Better she play for us than First Church—or don’t you guys remember how they whupped us last year with three women on their team?”

Slim had a point. Fast-pitch softball depended on good pitching, and since all the schools have women’s fast-pitch teams, the best pitchers come from those teams or a declining bullpen of older men. Other churches either recruit a few distaff hurlers or drop down to the slow-pitch league. Ugh. Talk about a dilemma!

By the second cup of coffee, Debbie’s status on the team was looking up. The hardliners were convinced having a girl on the team wasn’t necessarily a liberal thing to do. And all of us were sick of losing. Even Scruff McMorton was ready to integrate the dugout, until someone asked what Debbie was doing these days. I couldn’t lie.

“Um, I hear she starts her final year of seminary next fall.”

It’s gonna be another long season.

EUTYCHUS

Straw Man?

Will CT never tire of making a straw man out of Christian liberals? In your editorial (“Agenda for the Nineties,” Jan. 15), you state: “While liberal Christians relax into a generous-sounding openness toward all religions as pathways to God.…” That is an unfair and untruthful attack! Why didn’t you state your sources, and list several liberal denominations that have officially adopted such a stance? Your editorial generalization is unworthy of a magazine of CT’s stature!

You then completed your accusations: “We must vigorously affirm that Jesus is the only name in whom is found redemption—for us and for all.” Right on! So say even the most liberal on your list of disliked denominations. It would have been a courteous gesture to have acknowledged that even the National Council of Churches—which you deprecate incessantly—requires every affiliating denomination to concur constitutionally that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Leslie Conrad, Jr.

Richardson, Tex.

The Truth About Casolo

In Randy Frame’s article “Violence Comes to the City” [Jan. 15], the case of Jennifer Casolo, an American church worker in El Salvador, was discussed briefly. He stated that “If Casolo is not guilty” of storing arms and ammunition in her back yard for the terrorists, “one possibility is that she was unaware of the rebel weapons being stored near her residence. Her supporters are inclined to believe she was framed.”

It is obvious from the way the American media have handled this case that the truth of Casolo’s involvement with the FMLN terrorists is not generally known. We encourage you to provide additional information for the benefit of your readers, such as a recent report issued by Accuracy in Media.

Robert L. Madeira

Elizabethtown, Pa.

SPEAKING OUT

Why Should Missionaries Beg?

Consider this ad: WANTED: Pastor for a thriving church in the Midwest. Applicant must be a college graduate and preferably seminary trained. Personal qualities should include linguistic competence, cultural sensitivity, humility, and a disdain for the things of this world. The prospective pastor will be required to solicit salary pledges (as well as moving expenses) from among our church members. This process will take approximately 18 months, during which the pastor and his family must live “by faith.” If interested in this exciting opportunity, write today for our ten-page application form.

Anyone reading this fictitious advertisement is likely to smile; surely no pastor worth his salt would even consider the offer. Most pastors would feel degraded by such a demand.

But change a few words in the ad: Replace pastor with missionary. Make the Midwest read Japan. Suddenly it all makes sense. This kind of “opportunity,” with its demeaning method of raising support, is reserved for the foreign missionary.

Something is wrong, and it needs to be addressed.

In my 28 years of active Christian service, I have never met a missionary who relishes the responsibility and hassle of this financial aspect of missionary work. We end up feeling we are a strange breed of sanctified beggars, not unlike the Buddhist monks I have observed making the rounds of Bangkok shops with their bowls.

Some will defend the system, pointing to the deepened faith missionaries gain from “trusting the Lord” for required pledges. While not denying this, I still ask, “If the system is so great, why don’t American churches adopt it for their pastors?”

I never felt any intense spiritual vibes as a 22-year-old novice, trying to instill enthusiasm in the saints to support my work. But I can remember feeling shame and humiliation, especially when I was asked repeatedly when my wife and I were actually going to depart for Bangladesh. I wanted to reply, “We’ll leave as soon as you and others meet our support needs.”

With gratitude, I can say my support-raising activity lasted only eight months. But I have seen many sharp, well-educated young people cringe at the thought of laying their needs before friends and potential supporters.

The system of voluntary support has benefits, of course. The close relationship between supporters and those supported, for example, is special. This is often missing when missionaries are supported from a denominational budget.

But we could reduce the fear, hassle, and shame of soliciting in the present system without sacrificing this benefit. We could, that is, if Christian laypersons and churches began to treat missionaries’ financial needs as they do their own pastors’. After “approving” their missionary, they could assume complete responsibility for his or her support needs. This may not always be possible for one church, of course. But it could be undertaken by a consortium of five or six churches in one area.

My home church, Highland Park Baptist Church in suburban Detroit, has pioneered such an approach. Any approved young person growing up in one of the five consortium churches can feel assured of a complete support base if the Lord calls him or her to be a missionary. There is no need, then, for the missionary to travel across the United States seeking support from 30 to 40 churches and individuals.

I appeal to our mission-minded churches and laypeople to think anew about innovative procedures that can lift an increasingly heavy burden from the backs of missionaries. If they do, our mission boards will also be freed from spending time defending a financial system that often repels rather than attracts the best from our Bible colleges and seminaries.

Phil Parshall is presently director of SIM International’s Asian Research Center in Manila. He has authored five books on missions.

Speaking Out offers responsible Christians a forum for their views on contemporary issues. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Confronting Protesters In Love

I was intrigued by Charles Colson’s column “How Prolife Protest Has Backfired” [Dec. 15, 1989]. It echoed many of the inner wrestlings I have struggled with in the whole abortion debate. While I am wholeheartedly opposed to abortion, I am aware that we, as Christians, have not been at all effective in the area of changing the hearts and minds of our countrymen in this area.

I serve on the board of our local Crisis Pregnancy Center. Recently, we were picketed by some prochoice folks holding signs proclaiming us a “bogus clinic.” Our director did a good job of keeping the whole affair low-key—actually, one of the local pastors had suggested that we be ready with coffee and donuts when the protesters arrived! The article echoed some of his sentiments.

Bobbe Pennington

So. Burlington, Vt.

Colson got me this time! “How Prolife Protest Has Backfired” was right on the money. I’m tired of having to explain to my nonbeliever friends the vicious assaults on human dignity that he describes so graphically.

God bless the women of the pregnancy counseling center in Michigan for their loving, godly tactics. And God bless Chuck Colson for saying things I need to hear whether I agree or not!

Butch Nelson

Vancouver, Wash.

Bibles From Open Doors

In Terry Muck’s “Under the Eye of the Big Red Machine” [Dec. 15, 1989], the picture showing hands outreached to receive free Bibles carried no reference in the text to this distribution. Neither did the caption indicate that 20,000 Russian-language New Testaments were donated by Open Doors with Brother Andrew for use in Luis Palau’s evangelistic campaign.

Robin M. MacKelvie

Pictou, N.S., Canada

Creation Still Groans

Philip Yancey’s column “Hymn to the Polar Bear” (Jan. 15) contains a quotation by Walker Percy that fails to make an important distinction between ability and morality. The evidence of design in creation is mind boggling—that has to do with God’s ability. The evidence of cruelty and violence in nature shifts the argument into the area of morality.

It is clear that God did not act amorally in Creation. Scripture indicates that in the original creation no creature preyed on any other—all fed on vegetation (Gen. 1:20–30). It was, in other words, a totally benevolent creation. The Fall, however, had catastrophic consequences; creatures became predators, with resulting cruelty and violence. Creation therefore groans, as Yancey points out, awaiting its redemption, when predators shall be no more (Isa. 11:6–9). Meanwhile, we can continue to marvel at God’s wonders in creation.

W. S. Cummings

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Yancey’s well-written article would have been more helpful had he emphasized the clear teachings of Scripture, that the present message nature conveys is confusing because of the ruthless interference by an enemy. Christ himself points to the weeds in the cornfield as the result of an enemy’s intrusion.

Reinhold Klingbeil

Foresthill, Calif.

Less Study Time Needed?

I was interested to read [the Speaking Out] column “We Ask for Poor Sermons” [Dec. 15, 1989]. I believe Christians would be more uplifted if they would listen, or see and listen, to “great” biblical expositors who have already proved themselves—such as J. Vernon McGee and Chuck Swindoll—by audio- or videocassette.

I personally have received far more edification or encouragement in the Christian faith from one half-hour of [such tapes] than from 10 or 20 sermons from many a local pastor. I believe a local pastor should refrain from so much preaching and teaching, and spend more time in ministering to individual needs by counseling sessions.

Arthur Taylor Falch

Fresno, Calif.

While I agree with Miller’s article, I do not agree entirely with his solution. A pastor’s preaching should put people to work. It did in the case of Paul, without him asking them.

A preacher who cannot prepare good sermons because he is so busy should be honest enough to resign. The very fact that a preacher has let that happen to him [reveals that] he has unequivocally proved to himself and his congregation that he was not called to preach.

H. D. Schmidt

Pleasant Hill, Calif.

Tart Grapes?

I assure you and your readers that developments at SCP are not as your recent article portrayed them [News, Jan. 15]. There is no “ideological shift” and no “radical swing” in any direction, despite fears expressed by some whose grapes may be a bit on the tart side.

The recent policy dispute at SCP was a reprise of issues first raised and settled over ten years ago, involving some of the same people. Then, as now, the proposal was to turn SCP into a generalist ministry of social commentary with a vaguely defined purpose and an even more vaguely defined audience. In contrast, I and others felt that the organization should retain its conservative, evangelical focus, and its emphasis on discerning forms of spiritual deception. In particular, we felt the ministry should continue to be an extension of the gifts and calling of those who actually minister, and should not be shaped by ideological definitions.

That issue was settled once, but apparently not settled for good. Now it has been settled again. That’s all there is to the “story.” SCP has reaffirmed its traditional orientation, not departed from it.

Brooks Alexander, Founder

Spiritual Counterfeits Project

Berkeley, Calif.

I was pleased to see your brief article about SCP and Tal Brooke and his associates. As a long-term, Christian-based religion researcher, I find your report concerning the conflict occurring within this organization quite revealing.

Rev. Robert Owen Robbins

The Eternal Truth Ministries

Winfield, Kan.

New Attitude Toward Messiah

I recently read and shared with my music people Philip Yancey’s article on Messiah [Dec. 15, 1989], ’Twas wonderful! Thanks for insight into the entire production. Perhaps I’ll find a full-fledged production next season and go with a new attitude.

Bufe Karraker

Fresno, Calif.

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