Missing the Point?
“The Bakker Tragedy” editorial [May 15] is one more voice that has missed the point: There is no ministry to be saved. The Word is plain: “We preach Christ crucified,” and “we do not preach ourselves.” If a work is not born in heaven, does not fulfill the clear scriptural commands, nor bears fruit (properly understood), it is not valid. One cannot justify before God the attention given to personalities, projects, and fund raising. Once we leave the cross, we have deviated. Christ crucified cannot be enhanced.
The rush by major television figures to save PTL, even those who labored in conscience and truthfulness to expose sin, has been based on what is perceived to be necessary. Is the hand of the Lord so short that he is unable to preserve what is his? Or may it be that judgment has come to the house of the Lord?
REV. STEPHEN J. MYERS
Bethel Church
Vandergrift, Pa.
At first, I thought Terry Muck’s editorial was on love and forgiveness, and not judgment. Then, as I read, I saw the word but: “We have been hurt by our brother and hurt badly. The world snickers.” He goes on to say that “questions about one minister’s morals impute suspicions to others.” I fail to see any suspicion of my own pastor because of this, nor any of you or yours. I thought there was to be love in the middle of Muck’s article; however: “The gospel teaches that we must be willing to accept the shortcomings of our brothers and sisters in Christ.” Then, but again: “… wholesale acceptance and forgiveness is not enough.” And finally, judgment: “The sin must be denounced, the sinner must repent; a price must be paid.” Who are we to judge? “Giving up the leadership of PTL is a high price. Yet.…” How can we, mere humans, exact judgment? I firmly believe that as professed Christians, we should be forgiving, and not judgmental, of our brothers and sisters.
CLAUDE A. FRAZIER, M.D.
Asheville, N.C.
Thank you for your concise treatment of the Bakker situation. While I am sure you will receive much mail calling you judgmental, I applaud your biblical guidelines concerning repentance and restoration. We, as the church, love Jim and Tammy Bakker. But God loves them more, and expects them to adhere to his commands—not only to evangelize, but also to be subject to his loving discipline.
REV. DAVID ROSALES
Calvary Chapel
Ontario, Calif.
In your “Bakker Tragedy” editorial you state “we have had just enough success with television evangelism to know it can work.” You note that it takes $130 million per year to keep just the PTL ministry on television. What kind of success are you referring to? Does TV evangelism account for even 5 percent of the growth of the church?
In her article on the church in China [“The Church the Gang of Four Built”], Sharon Mumper notes that during the past 20 years that church grew from 700,000 to something like 50 million. That’s a seventyfold increase. I am not aware of a single TV evangelist ministering in China during that time, are you? No multi-million dollar budgets, no “superstar” evangelists were required to produce “the most remarkable growth in 2,000 years of church history.” The juxtaposition of your Bakker editorial and the article on the church in China is full of meaning. Is anybody paying attention?
REV. DAVID H. WICK
Grosse Pointe Baptist Church
Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
Having read Muck’s editorial, I must ask whether 1 Corinthians 6:9f is in the Bible read by CT editors. These verses make me pause before claiming Jim Bakker as a dear brother who has fallen into temptation. Also, how can David be the paradigm for Bakker? David repented when he was confronted by his sin. Bakker blamed others for what he admitted, denied the rest, and seemed sorry for the loss of salary and perks, not for sin. I cannot deny Bakker’s faith; that God knows, not I. But I cannot affirm his faith, either.
DAVID F. SIEMENS, JR., PH.D.
Mesa, Ariz.
Not a word was mentioned about the manner in which God’s money was mismanaged. Or is a member of the cloth free to do what he desires with funds given to advance the gospel? Followers of Christ are instructed to deny themselves, not live in opulence.
PAUL W. JACKSON, M.D.
Media, Pa.
I wish our theologians and spiritual leaders would have taken, and will, in the future, take men aside who may be preaching the gospel but living a lie. Let us put our theological genius to practice in life application, and not just in rhetoric. I believe Bakker and others have done more damage to the Christian witness with their actions than Tony Campolo ever did with his theology. A meeting similar to the one with Mr. Campolo might have stopped some of the recent damage to the Christian name.
ANDREW BALES
The Door of Faith Mission
Des Moines, Iowa
Unfortunately, you recognized the Bakkers as Christians. Their doctrine, lifestyle, actions, and words declare that their “God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Phil. 3:19).
REV. BOBBY GLENN SMITH
College Lakes Baptist Church
Fayetteville, N.C.
Christian Sniglets
A “sniglet,” as you may well know, is defined as “any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should.” This set me to thinking about some possible Christian sniglets, words to describe those awkward or embarassing moments associated with church life, such as:
Boiked—What an usher feels after going out of his way to take an offering plate to someone alone in a pew, and the person has nothing to contribute.
Pliturgist—The man or woman who is always half a second ahead of the rest of the congregation during a responsive reading.
Jobbling—The gradual rising of the congregation during the final hymn, after the pastor has forgotten to say, “Please rise.”
Pleech—A joyful congregant’s first note of verse four, when the bulletin said to stop after three.
Scruggles—The scattered, congregational coughs that follow inevitably after someone gets them started.
Grooncher—A 240-pound greeter who thinks his job is to crush hands, not shake them.
Gerbilalia—The utterances of a rookie charismatic who thinks he is speaking in tongues.
Schwoofing—Usually associated with choir members; the act of going from middle C to high C while hitting all the letters in between.
Scrigling—The act of wasting one’s time thinking up Christian sniglets.
EUTYCHUS
Premature celebration
True, when people start reading the Scripture there is no limit to the truth they can assimilate. We do need to rejoice with Rene Padilla [“Liberation Theology Is Remarkably Protestant,” Speaking Out, May 15] over the “base communities’ ” interest in the Scriptures. But let us not celebrate our brotherhood prematurely. Liberation theology’s roots and direction are both skewed. Scripture may be a good correction to those truly open to its message, but until it shows that result, I’ll leave my red carpet (no pun intended) in the closet.
REV. KEN LEWIS
First Baptist Church
Willmar, Minn.
Had Padilla’s remarks only pointed out that liberation theology and Protestantism diverge from the Roman Catholic Church at certain shared points, I would have had no problem. But to point to those similarities as reasons to take this theology and its theologians into our bosoms is muddy thinking. It is not the similarities but the differences that are all important.
I share many similarities with a goat. We both have two eyes, two ears, four limbs, a beard, and teeth. But it is precisely our difference that determined the reason my wife would choose to marry me and not a goat. Do the writers really believe Boff’s only heresy was teaching the fundamental equality of believers in the church? Do Padilla and Tapia really want an evangelical brand of liberation theology, or an evangelical alternative to liberation theology?
JACK L. GRAVES
Overseas Council
Greenwood, Ind.
It is hard to find positive evangelical outlooks that will help us evaluate this movement. But I was irritated at the article’s focus on the “Protestant-ness” of liberation theology. I object to the subtle anti-Catholicism of this tone. Since when has “Protestant-like” been a requisite or guarantee of authenticity? As someone deeply involved in evangelical parachurch ministry and who fellowships at a Roman Catholic church, I face prejudice from both sides. When will we all recognize that affiliation is not what makes movements, theologies, or individuals Christian?
RANDOLPH DELAY
Missoula, Mont.
Padilla’s defense of liberation theology is of a most deceptive and dangerous kind. By pointing out some common aspects of liberation theology and Protestant roots, he creates the illusion that this authenticates a system of thought which, at its roots, is totally non-Christian. The ploy is similar to comparing a house cat to a lion: there are many similarities, but the differences are devastating!
REV. DAVID TOLLADAY
Koinonia Christian Fellowship
Hanford, Calif.
In paralleling three aspects of liberationism with the Reformation, what Padilla’s article does not say is troubling. Concerning “the priesthood of all believers,” Padilla fails to mention the fundamental premise of liberation theology that God is incarnate in all men—that is, in the socio-historical consciousness of a people. If people themselves become the wellspring of divine revelation, then it is no wonder that the “priesthood” of all is defined in liberation’s base community groups. And then Leonardo Boff is passed to us as something of an evangelical ally speaking of radical biblical critics in all Latin America, and that this critical approach to the “myths” of the Bible premises the base community studies. I appreciate Padilla’s desire to build bridges, but let us not abandon our foundations.
SCOTT HORRELL
Mesquite, Tex.
Head knowledge is cold comfort
Three cheers and hip, hip, hurray for Paul DeVries [The Deadly Sin, May 15]. I am particularly helped by the section on comfortable numbness. I have wrestled with the problem for at least 20 years, written a book about it, prayed, bought and read a whole library of books on meditation and mysticism, studied the passages of Scripture in which God manifests himself to human consciousness, and got nowhere satisfying. I have come to the conclusion that my whole approach to the Bible is at fault. Reading the Bible with the head leaves one in the first chapter of Romans. One is intellectually convinced of the existence of God from the book of nature. This may be just what I need to carry me through a difficult crisis of morality, but it is very cold comfort in overwhelming grief and crushing disappointment. Only the awareness of God’s presence will do in a time like that.
DAVID S. LANDON
Chicago, Ill.
I do not agree with DeVries’s position. Biblically, the word doubt does not have positive connotations. It refers to a lack of faith as doubting; and faith, not sight, is our posture as Christians. Questioning has never been a sin in itself; however, doubting goes one step beyond honest questioning. I think the problem I have with DeVries’s article is its apparent attempt to precisely redefine the word doubt to suit his argument. We must be careful not to allow our minds to play tricks on us, allowing us to excuse doubt on the premise of enhancing our Christian walk, thus opening us to satanic manipulation. The life of faith is a life of searching, but finding our answers within the life and teaching of Jesus. There is no doubting in the life of an individual who knows that Jesus holds the answers to all of our questions.
MARTHA M. HORN
Savannah, Ga.
God has no money problems
I was saddened by the Christianity Today Institute on “Financing the Great Commission” [May 15]. Recently at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Ray Bakke explained a strategy for evangelizing world-class cities on no budget. By mobilizing existing forces and working through local churches and Christian agencies, he demonstrated that evangelizing large groups of people is not a matter of finances. This appears to be one more example of American “know-how” and technology overruling the power of the gospel.
It seems to me that a much more appropriate approach would be to call on God to pour down his blessing from heaven, and to mobilize human resources rather than financial resources. It is important that we remember that we have money problems, but God does not.
PERRY G. DOWNS
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, Ill.
Your articles on fund raising and giving were excellent and much needed. I especially liked the comparison of “health and wealth” ministries with the sale of indulgences. One would think no saint would ever lose his hair, his vision, his hearing, or ever die.
Also, contrary to popular myth, George Muller was not against letting believers know about the needs of 2,000 orphans on Ashley Down. In fact, he held public meetings each December and published an Annual Report with financial details. He also wrote A Narrative about his work, which expanded into four volumes.
Müller let the needs be known in this manner, but never solicited on a weekly or monthly basis because he wanted to prove that God would answer believing prayer.
WILLIAM MESSINGER
Whiting, N.J.
We need to remind ourselves, as Kantzer did so well, that there is no substitute for Christlike leaders. Fund raising will always raise skeptics. Yet, when one is marked by Christlike integrity, even the critics will find themselves being silenced.
STEVE RACHKE
Los Angeles, Calif.
We, the targets, are disturbed, frustrated—one might even say desperate—at the daily flood of requests (demands) that stagger the letter carrier on his rounds, and overflow our mail boxes. We are tempted to cross many organizations off our lists. About six months ago, nearly all of the associations to whom I contribute began to send frantic letters, admitting that their funds had suddenly become “drastically reduced.” I wonder if many persons have become so frustrated at the repeated requests, and the insultingly unreasonable amounts that are printed on the return forms, that they have decided to drop many associations, and give all their support to a few.
NORMA S. ASHBROOK.
Flourtown, Pa.
David L. McKenna’s “Financing the Great Commission” has, perhaps inadvertantly, shown itself to be part of the problem. We do not “invest” in the Great Commission; we go and do it. Third World leadership training is not a “risk venture”; it is an equipping for ministry. The article is rife with the language of financiers, and that is precisely the reason that I (and many other Christians) are leery of “Christian fund raisers.” They may speak of doing God’s work; but their words and actions show themselves mired in the world’s viewpoint and methods.
NORM LE BLONC
Riverside, Calif.
McKenna’s article contained a glaring error that needs correcting. He reports that “corporations and foundations [are] the major givers to charity in the United States.” Not true. The American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel’s Trust for Philanthropy in its 1986 report, “Giving USA,” documents that individuals gave $71.72 billion of the $87.11 billion donated to charity in 1986. As with many endeavors in this country, it’s the individual citizen who makes the biggest contribution to charitable causes.
TIMOTHY BURGESS
Seattle, Wash.
Peace and freedom
The NAE in its Peace, Freedom and Security Studies [“Weaving a Seamless Garment Out of Peace, Freedom, and Security,” News, May 15] needs to convince the [Soviet] leaders that peace, freedom, and security are basic human rights. The millions under their brutal control have peace, but they do not have freedom or security in their daily lives.
Because Hitler was convinced that freedom-loving nations in the 1930s were too weak to defend freedom, he broke the peace and tried to conquer the world. Most historians agree that had we in strength repudiated Hitler at the beginning, we might not have had World War II.
REV. BOB SUTTIE
Temple Hills, Md.
In reference to the question of the U.S. and the USSR being morally equivalent, I would simply like to ask this question: If all systems of government are morally equivalent, why is a strong church in a totalitarian state always seen as a threat, while a strong church in a democracy always strengthens that democracy?
JAMES I. LOUIS
Carol Stream, Ill.
Letters are welcome. Brevity is preferred, since only a selection can be published. All are subject to condensation. Write to Eutychus, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188
