VERDICT IN ECCLESIAN
Please ask your readers to be patient. It may be several weeks before those who have completed the first lesson in Ecclesian will receive their papers. I am still correcting the first one, where there is some confusion with Pennsylvania Dutch.
In the meantime, I am enclosing a supplementary exercise for advanced students. This remarkable document is the written verdict of a jury. The foreman happened to be an Ecclesiast with a strong background of committee work.
Translate from the Ecclesian:
Our community experience of common obligation in the preparation of a verdict has been profoundly enriched by a stimulating diversity of viewpoint. The values of the course of action urged by the prosecution have been shared with us by several of our number, while the problems inhering in such a procedure have been called to our attention by other members of our group. An arid conceptualism of formulation would have most divisive consequences, even endangering the unanimity of our response. However, only the fullest facing of the issues can remove the schismatic, not to say fissiparous, potential of dormant misunderstandings. In the dynamic situation of this confrontal, we of the jury became gradually aware of the emergence of a totally new factor. We found that we were bound together in the context of a full engagement with respect to our differences, and this context provided a fresh setting for our common appraisal of these problems. This climate of opinion, this atmosphere of togetherness, has proved decisive in the attainment of full unanimity in the presentation of our verdict. Since in his very innocence the defendant is guilty, and since we acknowledge our solidarity with him in this existential predicament, our verdict is that the defendant is guilty of innocence and therefore innocent of guilt. As implicated in this crime we recommend extreme clemency: sentence him, your honor, to life.
EUTYCHUS
FISHING WITHOUT BAIT
While reading D. W. Baker’s “Did Jesus Use Bait?” (Jan. 6 issue) I could not help smiling as I thought of fishermen trying to angle without bait. Does Mr. Baker also object to the fishers of men using hooks? Serious-minded Christians should think twice before turning over the ministry of healing to the Catholics and Christian Scientists and let them reap the converts.… Of course we need more power in our preaching, but while we are seeking it, let us use all fruitful methods to save men.
Assembly of God Church
Shawano, Wis.
GOLDEN CALF, PAPER SCRIP
Your seeming worship of gold as the only basis of money is as silly as the golden calf Aaron provided for silly Israelites. On the basis of your editorial our coins should have “In Gold We Trust”.…
Monmouth, Ill.
Although excellent on the moral implications of inflation, when it comes to the economic causes the article is confused and misleading.… What is a rise in prices if it isn’t a decline in the value of the dollar? The two are one and the same thing. If a rising price level isn’t inflation, then what is?…
Dean
Marion College
Marion, Ind.
I am not in favor of inflation; its evils are spelled out very well in the editorial. I am … objecting to the naive assumption that the gold standard is the answer.… If we had not abandoned the gold standard or made some other provision for the expansion of money and credit, our economy would have long ago ground to a halt; in other words, deflation would have resulted, and that is just as great an evil.…
Eastlake Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Wilmington, Del.
I must criticize … its unfair treatment of politicians and … its faulty economic reasoning.…
You have … taken one group of men out of society and inferred that they run our society by themselves.… Our government is still a Republic; … no matter what pressure groups may exert undue influence in it, these representatives … are elected … and are governing for the people. Since we still vote (no matter how little it may mean in the face of power wielded by various pressure groups) the whole people determine our governing organization, not just a group of “politicians”.… Hence … we all are responsible for conditions in which we find ourselves.
My second criticism has to do with your cure for inflation … a return to determining the money supply on a basis of the quantity of gold held in the country. You seem to think that use of such a convention … is an alternative to human control over the money supply.… The gold stock flow as a device is by no means a self-regulating means of control over the economic system.… The theory is that the flow of gold into a country increases the money supply and leads to price rises and deflation. This … has validity; however … conditions … in the American economy … render a free floating gold supply as a means of promoting stabilized prosperity by itself inadequate.… Most economists agree that control of the money supply by men has certainly helped to pull us out of depression and to maintain a prosperous economy.…
Princeton University
Princeton, N. J.
A copy of your editorials “Inflation and the Breakdown of Trust” and “Technicality A Vicious Device for Outwitting the Law” should go to every Senator and Congressman in Washington, and to every Governor, Mayor and Judge in the land.…
Northern Baptist Theological Seminary
Chicago, Ill.
Your editorial … reveals an exceptional degree of economic insight concerning the intricate nature of money and credit. It is a brilliant analysis of the ultimate effects of the government practice of debasing our currency.…
Economics Dept.
Grove City College
Grove City, Pa.
I have not read a better analysis on the subject of inflation.… I shall never forget the reprehensible act of our government at the instance of Franklin Roosevelt in debasing our currency by the abandonment of the gold standard. It was nothing more than legalized thievery, for it robbed many of our citizens of a great part of their savings and transferred to others who had not earned it the fruit of another’s labor and thrift. How many times I have heard people say in recent years, “I might as well go ahead and spend what I have because it looks like money won’t be worth anything anyhow.”
Continental Investment Corp.
Memphis, Tenn.
Overwhelmed as we are by all the balderdash written and spoken on the subject of inflation, it was a rewarding experience to read your cogent editorial.… In truth, it was a refreshing experience to read such a well-written piece which tersely viewed inflation in its historical perspective, gently debunked the word-mongering of the uninformed, put inflation in its proper place as “primarily a moral problem” involving elements of “lying, coveting and stealing,” and bringing into sharp focus the simple truth that the “cause is the increase in the quantity of money and credit” and hence “government must be held strictly accountable for inflation, because government, and government only, is responsible for the money supply.…”
Managing Editor
Christian Economics
New York City
Please permit me to express my appreciation for your vigorous editorials on inflation and outwitting the law.… Your courage and clear thinking are both admirable.…
Nazarene Theological Seminary
Kansas City, Mo.
I was delighted.… Labor is blaming business for high prices and business is blaming labor because high wages increase cost and thus force up prices, but neither of them seem willing to admit that the real cause of inflation is an increase in the money supply and credit expansion. Both result from government action which your editorial made clear.…
There is a moral problem involved in inflation and, therefore, a paper like yours is obligated to speak against it. Inflation appeals to men’s greed by promising them something for nothing. In the end it gives them nothing for something!
The recently announced policy of our administration to resort to more inflation means that our nation is sliding down a broad path to destruction. Thanks for your warning, but I fear that it will fall upon deaf ears. Most people will prefer “riotous living” hoping to escape the disastrous consequences which no nation in history has ever avoided.…
Christian Freedom Foundation
New York City
May I express my hearty approval of the editorial in your January sixth issue, “Inflation and the Breakdown of Trust.” It is an admirable analysis, both of the economic and moral aspects of inflation, and you are to be congratulated on your courage.…
Newsweek
New York City
MORE ON THE VIRGIN BIRTH
Dr. Douglass’ critics confuse me. They disbelieve our Lord’s virgin birth. Yet it is my impression that most churches endorse the Apostles’ Creed. What happens when their congregation recites that creed and reaches the phrase “born of the virgin Mary”? May I assume that the pastor remains silent, rather than affirm what he believes to be untrue? What about the congregation? Do they repeat it thoughtlessly or is there a moment of silence for a dead tenet?
Hyattsville, Md.
Is it not true that the Lord himself spoke of this matter in Matthew 22:42–45?
Chimayo, New Mex.
THE GOSPEL ON RADIO
The report on “Evangelical Broadcasting Outlook” (Jan. 6 issue) will be encouraging to those who, like myself, frequently dial in vain to find a religious broadcast worthy of the Christian Gospel. The airways are filled with what purport to be “evangelical broadcasting programs.” Of course, there are a few notable exceptions, but most of them are unholy compounds of jazz, hillbilly music, pleas for money “to keep us on the air,” and rambling harangues by countless “radio pastors.” Word that the going is getting tougher for these exhibitionist cowboys is very good news for which some of us have been hoping for a long time.…
The Methodist Church,
Deland, Ill.
CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 6 issue) quoted a “spot check” conducted by United Evangelical Action as follows: “In Columbus, Ohio, evangelical paid broadcasts were eliminated because of pressures by the Council of Churches which holds that ‘a disproportionate amount of time in religious broadcasting is given to that type of commercial programming which does not reflect the theology or the worship practises of the main body of the American people.’ ”
That “spot check” contains two major errors of fact.
First, the portion of the above quotation in single quotes was a conclusion arrived at by a committee of the Ohio Council of Churches after that body had conducted a state-wide survey.… The Columbus Area Council of Churches had no part in arriving at this conclusion.
Second, “evangelical paid broadcasts” have not been eliminated in Columbus. There has been no such influence exerted by the Columbus Area Council of Churches. One station did change its policy with regard to the sale of commercial religious time, but this was a matter of station policy and not because of pressure exerted by the council.
I was a member of the sub-committee of the Central Committee on Public Relations of the Ohio Council of Churches which conducted the survey … We were … concerned with programs conducted by people whose only claim to such time was the fact that they had money to purchase it.… Without doubt even Dr. James DeForest Murch would agree that commercial time should not be made available for religious “quacks” and charlatans any more than … for medical “quacks”.…
Third Avenue Methodist Church
Columbus, Ohio
You have been misinformed … about the Council of Churches here in Columbus … and their attitude regarding the paid religious broadcasting of fundamental folks.… We have been broadcasting here in the city for seven years and there has never been any threat whatsoever regarding our broadcasting.… Dr. Montgomery … serves in charge of the broadcasting commission of the Council of Churches.… We have had the privilege of serving on that committee.… Everything that he has done has been that of a most generous spirit, impartial as it could possibly be.…
Indianola Church of Christ
Columbus, Ohio
ECUMENICAL TENSIONS
Your editorial “Theology, Evangelism, Ecumenism” (Jan. 20 issue) is the most recent example of your typical lukewarmness.… The ACCC is dismissed with calculated indifference to … its radio and audio film commission, its commission on chaplains, its anti-Communist rallies and its protest against an ambassador to the Vatican.… The Free Press is characterized as a “semi-private” paper.… The paper is published by “The Committee for True Presbyterianism” which includes several ministers. That sounds more like a “ward” than “semi-private”.… As for the Bible Presbyterians … a dissident group … did withdraw. The majority … are affiliated with the ACCC through the Bible Presbyterian Church Association, and the latest ACCC statistics set this forth very clearly.…
Bible Presbyterian Church
West Chester, Pa.
Billy Graham is depicted as a superman … notwithstanding his blatant compromise with the enemies of Christ.…
If the Christian Beacon is a smear sheet, then … much of the Bible must be classified as smear sheets also.…
Pitman, N. J.
On page 38 of the recent issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 20) you carried an ad about one of Dr. Machen’s books. This of course is very good, for Dr. Machen was a great man of God, and a real contender for the Historic Christian Faith. Yet strangely … on page 23 … you deliberately smear one of Dr. Machen’s most outstanding students, and one of America’s greatest contenders for the faith, Dr. Carl McIntire. This indicates to me that you are not consistent.… You pretend to be a fundamentalist but you are not. Therefore you are in my opinion, either a hypocrite, a coward, or both.… I think you are also an outspoken liar.… If you are looking for a good fight—why not pick on some of the Modernist bums.…
Englewood, Colo.
You state: “The Christian Beacon was not simply an ACCC house organ; it became a religious smear sheet in the worst traditions of yellow journalism.”
No one with a sense of decency can deny the latter part of this statement and it is a matter of great embarrassment to us who have become identified … simply because we are members of ACCC churches. However, I should appreciate the opportunity of correcting the former portion.… Neither the Beacon nor any other publication was ever an official house organ.… The Beacon appeared to be such (and was de facto) and this was the fault of both Carl McIntire who wanted this and the other officers who allowed it.… This gave McIntire a tool to make the ACCC exactly what he wanted. In addition to the official ACCC statements (usually not too objectionable) he pushed personal hobbies and they appeared to be ACCC dogma.…
But the Holy Spirit hasn’t forsaken even the ACCC and we have been blessed in spite of some of us.… Perhaps we can make some headway if you don’t blame us for any more than we actually deserve—and God knows that there is plenty of that!
Grand Rapids, Mich.
PERSPECTIVE ON ECUMENISM
Particularly valuable are the four articles relative to the Greek Orthodox Church. I’m … grateful for the well-rounded, or at least varied, approach to the subject.…
The Navigators
Washington, D. C.
Episcopal Church missionaries went into Greece in 1829 and 1839 and established schools in Athens, notably the girls’ school. I refer to the Rev. and Mrs. John R. Hill, and Mrs. Solomon Bingham. These missionaries did not attempt to start a “new” church in Greece, but worked with and for the old Greek Orthodox Church of the country.…
Atlanta, Ga.
Dr. Paul Woolley offers ambitious … summaries of … various Eastern theologians, mixing in together Church Fathers and heretics, and laying all at the doors of the Holy Orthodox Churches. The implication is that these Churches have departed from Apostolic Faith. Let us remember the difference between the catholic consent of the Church (Orthodoxy calls it “sobornost”) and the privately held opinions of individuals.…
St. Luke’s Church
Eddystone, Pa.
The article “Orthodox Agony in the World Council” leaves me with the desire to see all churches in ‘agony’ until the 235 divisions of our Christendom find some firmer, wider basis for unity.
Winnipeg, Canada
