Letters

A Real Eye Opener

William Eisenhower’s “Your Devil Is Too Small” [July 15] was articulate and scripturally sound. Hopefully, this article will be a real eye opener to many nominal Christians who simply equate the Devil with fairytale lore. I was raised in a church where, at times, chasing the Devil around seemed to be of more importance than seeking the face of God. However, Eisenhower has captured the necessary balance; if we truly believe in a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and who has promised to pour out his Spirit on all flesh, our greatest adversary will do all in his power to keep us from knowing and experiencing the Truth.

DAN SCHERLING

Tacoma, Wash.

Eisenhower refers to Satan as “your Devil” and “our Devil.” The words your and our indicate ownership or possessiveness. The only “our” in our lives should be Jesus!

MARIA HINES

Reno, Nev.

I agree: The Devil is alive and working hard to discredit our faith in Jesus Christ today. I know this is true, for he is constantly attempting to turn my head with business problems. Yet, our business continues to grow and prosper, for we have long since turned it over to our Lord. Thank you for such a fine article.

GEORGIA W. BANGE

Leesburg, Va.

Give us more graduate schools

W. Ward Gasque’s Speaking Out column [“Give Us More Christian Professors,” July 15] was both timely and on target. As a college student and new Christian in the 1970s, I craved the sort of faculty Gasque is calling for. As a new professor in the 1980s, I see the critical need for Christian scholars even more powerfully.

But assuming evangelicals act on Gasque’s challenge, where will they go for graduate training? With one or two notable exceptions, aspiring Christian scholars (unless they plan to be theologians) have nowhere to turn for biblically based graduate programs, especially in the humanities. Too often, the net result is a Ph.D. whose humanistic graduate program has either suffocated faith or reduced it to a merely private matter. Either way, the kingdom of God loses.

I want to “second” every one of Gasque’s suggestions, but add another. Christians must also work toward the establishment of graduate schools. There scholars such as Gasque calls for can be nurtured and trained to avoid the greatest danger to Christian learning—a lively personal faith coupled with thoroughly secular scholarship. The danger of the latter easily cancels the benefit of the former.

GEORGE N. PIERSON

Trinity Christian College

Palos Heights, Ill.

My husband is pursuing his Ph.D. in structural engineering at City College, New York. In the four years he has been preparing to teach at the college level, we have received little encouragement from the Christian community aside from family and several close friends. Yet we continue in the self-sacrifice to which Gasque refers because we believe it is God’s unique calling for our lives. It is regrettable that the church at large has failed to recognize the potential impact that Christ’s followers can have in teaching at the college level.

CAROL J. HEYMSFIELD

Williston Park, N.Y.

Positively Negative

Most growing churches, I am told, have a “positive atmosphere.” This means they accentuate the positive, highlight possibilities, avoid controversy, and, of course, don’t say anything negative. This last item is the one that requires today’s pastors to do the most creative phrasing.

Over the years I’ve learned to translate what positive preachers say—and what they really mean. For example:

“The elders and I are working closely together on this.” We could get something done if somebody would get me out of this straitjacket.

“Diversity is an energizing force in the church.” Abraham Lincoln had it easy compared to the civil war in this congregation.

“Ours is a close-knit church.” We haven’t had a new member in years.

“Everyone’s opinion counts around here.” But we all wish Mrs. Thundermuffin didn’t have quite so many of them.

“We’re building the kingdom.” Some of our best people are leaving us for another church.

“We want our music ministry to stand for excellence.” Get ready to give to the new pipe organ fund.

“We believe in friendship evangelism.” We can’t get anyone to do door-to-door evangelism.

If only Jesus had understood the importance of an upbeat atmosphere, he would not have talked about throwing tares on the fire, turning the other cheek, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I’m positive.

EUTYCHUS

Hospice: An effective response

Congratulations on a really fine article dealing with the hospice movement [“A Genuinely ‘Good Death,’ ” July 15]. It must be more than 20 years ago that I first became enthusiastic about the work of Cicely Saunders and have wondered why, after an initial surge of interest, the enterprise has not caught on here the way it should. Certainly, as your article suggests, this is one of the most effective ways for Christians to respond to the agitations for euthanasia and the widespread fears about medically prolonged dying.

I hope CT will come back to this subject often and persuasively—underscoring the very practical initiatives that can be taken by local churches.

RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS

The Center on Religion & Society

New York, N.Y.

Facing working moms’ problems

Almost daily I read about possible solutions to the myriad of troubles encountered by working women. Perhaps your article, “When Mothers Must Work” [July 15], would serve us better by more clearly differentiating between the problems faced by working women and working moms. Also, a clearer definition of the “must” in the title would be helpful.

Churches can choose to work with the symptoms of the problem (providing day care, maternity pay, teaching “joint parenting” of husbands) or face the source of the problem (lack of support for women who stay home). If churches are “empty during the day,” then the homemakers are being slighted. If “the family must be preserved, and the welfare of our children be seen as a top priority,” does the answer lie in encouraging more moms out of the home?

MRS. MARILYN PASSWATER

Redlands, Calif.

I fear Ruth Tucker seems more committed to keeping pace with current social trends than with maintaining spiritual ideals. I wonder why she even bothers to cite the apostle Paul’s admonition to older women to teach young women to be “keepers of the home,” since she apparently regards it as an anachronism to be ignored by up-do-date preachers busy calling for more day care.

BRYCE J. CHRISTENSEN

The Family in America

Rockford, Ill.

I guess I’m one of those old-fashioned men. Even though we had to buy our clothes at the Salvation Army and the only meat we saw for months was the cheapest hamburger sold, nevertheless, the greater necessity in our family was that the children should have a mother at home to help. I never saw this issue dealt with in Tucker’s article—the need small children have for their mother during their formative years. A big house with the best of appliances is far less comfortable and far less secure when a mother is not there for her children. The greatest necessity is for mothers and fathers to become more involved with the raising of their own children.

MOISHE ROSEN

Jews for Jesus

New York, N.Y.

We are not the sort of mothers who think women should be chained to their children around the clock and never consider work outside the home, whether for financial gain or personal enjoyment. But we wish Christians today would slow down in their acceptance of the notion of the “working mother” long enough to pay attention to: (1) the effects of day care on their offspring, (2) the Pauline call to women to be “keepers of the home” and how that can be lived out in today’s world, and (3) the need for courage and self-sacrifice—a concept almost totally lacking in feminism and, unfortunately, Tucker’s article.

GAYLE SOMERS

Essex, Mass.

LESLIE GURLEY

Alexandria, Va.

Tucker’s rhetoric is common in misguided feminist and secular literature, and is now apparently infiltrating Christian thought. As a woman with an M.B.A. who is also a nurse but has chosen to stay at home, I feel I must continually defend my lifestyle.

I spend my days interacting with my toddler and caring for a busy husband, providing them with a neat, peaceful home environment. I bring meals to sick neighbors, witness the gospel to unsaved friends during play groups and coffee Matches (the homemaker’s version of “power lunches”), direct the women’s ministry program at my church, volunteer in the community, and hold office in Republican women’s clubs as well as assist in political campaigns. You are invited to stop by my home anytime. I doubt you will find me at the television set.

Darlene Parsons

Durham, N.C.

The idea of “keeping women in the home” I find mildly humorous. To me it’s a privilege and something I often thank God for. What other job would allow me the freedom to change my schedule at will, take a nap along with the children, spend half a day cooking a special dinner or baking delicious bread, or chuck it all and head for the beach for the day, while spending time with the most important people in my life—my kids? At least as a wife I have the choice to stay home, while virtually every husband has to work.

DEBBIE DEHART

Beacon, N.Y.

Women must be prepared to help support the family unit if the husband loses his job, dies, or divorces. All three of these fates could await any family in our day and time. That is one reason I went back to school and became a registered nurse. Though my family unit is strong, we’ve known times when there was no job and little money. I pray and work toward some security.

But most important, I think, is I’m called to serve. I’m called to tend the sick, comfort the dying, and support their families in Jesus’ name. In an intensive care unit, the Lord provides many opportunities to serve. This makes me no less a mother to my children.

CAROL A. GOOTEE

Louisville, Ky.

Two types of Puritans

I’ve a few comments on the book review on Puritans [“Plymouth Rock Revisited,” July 15]: The reviewer noted that the Puritans did not really experience the Spirit. The question is which Puritans. This certainly is not true of the revivalist Puritans described in Ian Munoy’s The Puritan Home. Apparently there were two types of Puritans; the revivalist Puritans had extraordinary experiences of the power of the Spirit falling again and again.

DANIEL C. JUSTER

Union of Messianic

Jewish Congregations

Gaithersburg, Md.

More balance wanted

Your article on the Oral Roberts University medical scholarship situation sounded as if it could have come from the Tulsa World or Tulsa Tribune. While I consider some of it indefensible, I feel a more balanced view should have been given. To paraphrase what Richard Wurmbrand once said to liberal Christians: “If you can’t support your Christian brothers, at least don’t side with our tormentors.” Maybe I have missed it, but I have never seen in your publication an article giving a true complete picture of the ORU Medical School with its unique implication for the Christian world at large in its endeavor to reach the world for Christ.

CAROLYN L. BLIGHT, M.D.

Tulsa, Okla.

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