– What an illuminating interview with John Stott. It is a great service to readers to glean his wisdom, to remind us of the basics of evangelicalism. As a worker in a local ministry that connects Christians to the poor, I concur with his statement about the disparity between God’s concern for the poor and our own. Such concern “is not really on our evangelical conscience yet.” A remedy, he says, is to spend time among those living in oppressive poverty. One does not have to travel far. In every town and city there is an oppressed, elderly, disabled poor person, who needs the love of Christ–within ten minutes of where we work or live. One person can start a quiet revolution of loving neighbors as Christ has loved us.
D. E. Stribling Oklahoma City, Okla.
I have had a profound respect for Dr. Stott for more than 25 years. However, I was disappointed that he could not espouse the traditional position of the church on the matter of eternal punishment. Granted, it is a difficult and disturbing doctrine. Stott says his suggestions of annihilation are “tentative” because of “the awkward texts on both sides of the debate.” Might the same be said on other well-established doctrines, such as the full deity of Christ or the Trinity.
Jay Goodin Huntington Beach, Calif.
– It helped me a great deal to see that John Stott is an agnostic on eternal conscious torment for unbelievers. No one who has ever suffered from severe depression, that is, “conscious torment,” could conceive of God condemning someone to “eternal” conscious torment versus missing eternal life. Even though we cannot stand the thought of complete annihilation, it seems more just to us mortals who have lost unsaved loved ones. I’m sure the fact that Stott’s parents were not Christians has influenced his thoughts on this knotty issue.
This was a great encouragement to me–as the subject has been one of a struggle in my faith in God for years–just to know that someone like Stott is not sure, either.
Jay C. Bugg Greensboro, N.C.
– I found the interview with John Stott interesting, but I was disappointed with his comments on charismatics. It is apparent that the younger generation of educated Pentecostals is not being heard by the evangelical world.
Please consider hosting a “roundtable” discussion, perhaps titled “What Do Pentecostals Have to Offer Evangelicalism?” and invite a cross section of Pentecostals–pastors, teachers, academics. You’ll find that there are significant biblical and theological reasons why Pentecostals place importance on prophecy, healing, and tongues. You’ll find that today’s Pentecostals are strongly committed to an evangelical hermeneutic, and to the development of exposition from their pulpits. You’ll find that existentialism (reading the Bible in light of experience) is not a particularly favored option among Pentecostals (as distinguished from charismatics). You’ll find that educated Pentecostals tend strongly to dissociate themselves from things like the Toronto “blessing,” but will not condemn the movement for valid historical reasons. You’ll find that anti-intellectualism is not characteristic of today’s Pentecostals (though it might be of some charismatics).
John Horst San Diego, Calif.
– I greatly respect Dr. Stott’s integrity, but I feel compelled to ask about what feels to me like a painful contradiction.
In his comment about ordained women, he states his belief that headship is about responsibility, not authority. But then why must an ordained woman work under the supervision of a male team head? If she does not need his “authority”–that is, if he is not there to tell her what to do–then what is he? A father or husband figure to take “responsibility” for her foolishness, as if she could not? Is she allowed to receive guidance from her Lord, unmediated through her male supervisor? Must she ask him for “permission”? Did Mary Magdalene ask the unseeing disciples to take responsibility for her remaining at the tomb? What about all those evangelizing wives in Acts? What about poor Sapphira, whose death was related to her adherence to her husband’s false headship?
Or are we really, once again, seeing the reluctance of church leaders to perceive the wonderful freedom of God? These issues about gender and ordination are so often about salary, pension, and the need of a “senior” to pass disagreeable duties onto a “junior.” The fact, I think, is this: God is free to call whomever God chooses to call. We have a contemporary example in the hundreds of female pastors who shepherd small, unprestigious churches to which few men would go and where none would stay. God has raised up servants for the people in those churches, regardless of the opinions of male leaders.
I am an ordained woman. But please, please, do not limit the claim God has placed on my heart by demanding that I have a male “head.”
Rev. Carolyn Lyon First Congregational Church Ogdensburg, N.Y.
I am just finishing my degree in sociology at the University of Washington, and the last six months have tested my faith more than at any other time in my walk with God. I have questioned so many things, including the cultural context in which the Scriptures were written. Stott’s answers to the status and role of women as well as the issue of anti-intellectualism blessed my socks off. His references to God and the poor, the environment, the world’s oppressive poverty, and the misleading health and wealth gospel all ring true in my spirit as well as my intellect.
The challenging questions for the future do include homosexuality and the dilemmas of such things as genetic engineering. As more archaeological digs find additional supporting information on the beloved Scriptures, our spirits will again expand to include more information as God chooses to reveal it. This includes space discoveries, as probes are sent out. Ah, we see through a glass darkly.
Meg Tarble Bellevue, Wash.
LANGUAGE ISN’T ENOUGH
Charles Colson’s answer to the problem of our culture’s divisions (“Quit the Babel-ing,” Jan. 8) is typically evangelical and incomplete. Language will not be enough to unify our culture. It is true that our world desperately needs to hear the gospel as revealed by God in Scripture. But unless that world sees the gospel modeled, it will not hear. God has provided a means for humanity to see through a community that has been united in spite of many differences–the church. Pentecost can be thought of as the birthday of the church. God broke down the barriers that held us apart and brought us together in Christ’s body. Until the evangelical world recaptures a biblical view of the church, all the “articulating a biblical understanding of truth” will sound like a “babel” in the ears of our culture.
Charlie Clauss Minneapolis, Minn.
– Although I find myself agreeing with Charles Colson most of the time, he is wrong if he thinks that the O.J. verdict was the beginning of a “crescendo of voices” telling us that white-black experiences are different. African Americans have been telling whites–who would listen–this information for a long time. Maybe it took the Simpson verdict for some of us Caucasians to listen.
Creede Hinshaw Macon, Ga.
REDISCOVERING TRUTH ON CAMPUS
– “Been there, done that” comes to mind after reading “Truth Makes a Comeback in University Settings” [Jan. 8]. Why is it that today’s “children of Israel” must continue to cyclically rediscover truth when it’s all there in the Bible? Thanks to the work of Ms. Monroe and friends, Harvard students and others are once again learning what Christians have known all along–that God is Veritas.
Woody Faulk Atlanta, Ga.
Religious liberals do not like the disciplines of truth, so they find their freedom in living by their own minds. They can make their religion to be whatever they like.
Christian conservatives love the truth and yield themselves to it. However, Christianity cannot be made to be whatever they like, so Christians find their freedom in the knowledge of God’s Truth. The truth frees us from imagery, fiction, and idolatry. Christians certainly do not have to shatter their brains to follow Jesus, nor do they have to be crazy to be a Christian intellectual.
Marvin Wahlert Williams, Iowa
LET’S HEAR IT FOR CHRISTIAN FICTION!
– I just read “What’s Hot? Christian Fiction” [News, Jan. 8]. I want to point out that despite the lack of faith some critics of Christian fiction have in the general laity in America, many of us know perfectly well that this genre carries more entertainment than education. I have a college degree, teach public-school music, and I happen to be a worship leader and Sunday-school teacher at my church. I have done my share of Bible study and know how to measure things against Scripture. Most of my friends do, too.
There is no mandate against relaxing entertainment in the Bible, to my knowledge, and there are so few choices of entertainment in this world that are edifying, or could even be considered “good, clean fun.” I know, there’s Disney World, but I cannot afford to fly there every time I want to relax! Apparently some people will “theologize” themselves out of any fun at all!
Susan Densmore Somersworth, N.H.
Thumbs up to Frank Peretti and others who are following his style of writing. It is a godsend to a mother like me, knowing I can offer my son good reading material from a Christian author in a style he prefers.
E. Martinez Mission Viejo, Calif.
CULTS ARE A MAJOR ISSUE
I was dismayed that the top religion stories of 1995 [News, Jan. 8] did not include the March 1995 Aum Supreme Truth cultic gas attack in Japan that killed 11 people and sickened more than 5,500 others. Further investigation into the group by Japanese and American officials revealed a hidden arsenal, including the potential for biological weapons, which the group planned on using to implement its own apocalyptic vision of Armageddon. Unfortunately, it appears that secular psychologist Margaret Thaler Singer’s recent book, “Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives,” was appropriately subtitled. I had hoped that this event, coupled with the continued growth of cults on an international scale, would receive more attention in the evangelical world.
John W. Morehead, Director American Religion Information Center Sacramento, Calif.
RESOLUTION “UNNECESSARY, REDUNDANT”
The news article “Renewal Group Wary of Unity” in “North American Scene” [Dec. 11] closes with the statement that “The general assembly [of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)] defeated a proposal asking for assurance that congregations refusing to participate in COCU would not be penalized.” The proposal, or “resolution,” requested that congregations and ministers who choose not to participate in COCU be protected from specific penalties named in detail in the resolution. Congregations and ministries are already protected from the named penalties by a statement in the Design for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), rendering the resolution unnecessary and redundant.
I was alarmed to see this statement at the end of the article without explanation. It is deceptive and misleading in its vagueness. This issue is particularly divisive for our denomination, and a lack of clarity can be destructive.
Rev. Lisa M. Caldwell-Reiss Burgin, Ky.
MARY’S MOMENT OF DESPAIR
– I found Wendy Zoba’s treatment of Mary very interesting [“A Sword Through Her Soul,” Dec. 11]. I agree that, for a mother, there are many of those “sword-piercing” moments, and I have experienced not a few myself. I, too, have been pondering lately the terror Mary must have felt during those horrible three days when Jesus was at the temple, relating to my own terror when my then three-year-old “went for a walk” from our own front yard and was gone long enough for the neighbors to have joined our search, and the deputies to be there, before being returned by a kindly stranger who “happened” to notice her wandering many blocks from home.
But while I agree with much of what Zoba has said, I must say that I look slightly differently at that moment when Jesus gave Mary to John. To me, this is the moment of impaling on that final sword.
For until that moment, there was still the chance that death would not take him from her. He could still be planning some miracle, have needed somehow to suffer before showing his great power. But when he gave her up, when he spoke to her the words that both affirmed and severed that connection with her, she knew he would die, for never before, even when he was most brusque, had he told her to depend on another, had given her care into the hand of someone else. This was surely the moment of greatest despair for her.
Susan Wilson Tullahoma, Tenn.
OF SHAME AND GRACE
Philip Yancey’s question, “Is there room for both shame and grace?”
[“A Tale of Two Sisters,” Dec. 11] is one I’ve mulled over for years. When dealing with children, with friends who’ve fallen into sin, with my own wavering heart–is it the goodness of God or his justice that leads us to walk with him?
Micah 6:8 sheds light on the balance for me. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Justice. Mercy. Balance.
And yet–take note: Sure, we are asked to do justice; however, we’re told to love mercy. When there’s doubt as to which to apply, I’d rather err on the side of excessive mercy. For there, I believe, is where God’s heart also leans. It is my just Father’s love of mercy that humbles me, makes me long to walk with him. Why should it be any different in our families?
Becky Freeman Greenville, Tex.
CHINA’S CHURCH: A “LOPSIDED” VIEW
Your usually well-informed and nuanced magazine surprised me by printing on November 13 a totally uncritical interview with Jonathan Chao [Conversations, “China’s Cross”] where he gives a lopsided and incorrect picture of the official church of China (Three Self Patriotic Movement, TSPM, or China Christian Council). China is a vast country, and conditions vary over time and space. But it is uncontestible that the persecution in the sixties and seventies also really hurt the TSPM, and hundreds, if not thousands, of church leaders were imprisoned and suffered harsh treatment. I have personally met several of these, both in our mission center here in Norway, and on visits to China.
It is furthermore my impression that there is a growing interaction between the unregistered churches and the TSPM churches, and in some areas Christians regularly worship in both places.
TSPM may have made grave mistakes (as have house churches). But the fact that most TSPM Christians express love for their country is no more unchristian than most American Christians’ pledge of allegiance to the flag of the U.S.A.
There are complicated relations between the TSPM and the Chinese bureaucracy. However, Chao’s harsh judgment on between 17 and 60 million Chinese TSPM Christians is not in conformity with reality in China today. There is no doubt that the TSPM is a genuine Christian church with a tested, and in many respects even evangelical, theology.
Kjetil Aano Norwegian Missionary Society Stavanger, Norway
CORRECTION
Manny Ortiz is affiliated with the Philadelphia campus of Westminster Theological Seminary, not the campus in Escondido, California, as reported in the January 8 issue on page 70.
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