Return to the M.B. Herald Vol. 35, No. 12
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Many Christians have rejected all scientific research as atheistic. We should, however, not throw the baby out with the bath water. What gives some individuals a feeling of security in rejecting science, alienates others from the church. My heart goes out to those who have left the church because of its lack of openmindedness. In Galileo's time, church officials would not even look through his telescope just in case it would prove he was right. They believed the earth was the centre of the universe.
There is no evidence for evolution. In fossils there are no transitional forms. No life could have come by chance in the time period since the singularity. The universe has existed for a very long time, while man has inhabited the earth for a relatively short time. Man has not evolved.
I agree heartily with James Toews on the atheistic fallacies of Carl Sagan. I would like, however, to see exposure to great scientists like Hugh Ross, who has done research in astronomy. He has organized a contingent of Christian scientists who put out creation material. His periodical Reasons to Believe is free for the asking (Box 5978, Pasadena, CA 91117).
Most of my adult life has been involved in teaching the sciences. God has become very precious to me through the observation of His consistent laws. He has never lied to me.
J.E. Cornelsen,
Kelowna, B.C.
Clearly, salvational regeneration, for which baptism is the external confession, only occurs in those judicially culpable for their sin (Titus 3:3-5, Ephesians 2:1), those beyond the "age of accountability". No child experiences the deep "godly sorrow producing repentance" involved in genuine conversion. Adam and Eve sinned as adults (Genesis 3:6-8,22), their culpability representing our own age of culpability, which occurs sometime following the onset of adolescence. The Jewish bar mitzvah and our society's laws reflect an instinctive understanding of this reality.
Dahl's view of Matthew 19:14 misses the point. This comment by Jesus deals primarily with justification before God and is conveyed to adults. Jesus refers to the innocence of childhood as an analogy for the justified state of the redeemed (Mark 10:15). The imputed "innocence" due to Christ's work compels believers into trusting dependence on God, similar to children's trusting dependence on their parents.
Jesus intimates that we should help prepare children for meeting Him in future conversion. However, no warrant exists to view Matthew 19:14 as ordaining child baptism.
Dwight Ropp,
Kitchener, Ont.
That the calendar is men's invention is news to me. The Lord made the earth circulate the sun, whence summer and winter come once a year. God told the Israelites when to begin the year long before Caesar came on the scene (Exodus 12:2).
"No one knows the hour" sounds less dogmatic when compared to I Thessalonians 5:4: "But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief."
When our brother mentions that it says "nowhere to wait for the antichrist", Matthew 24:15 comes to mind.
By 666, Ewert suggests that John meant Nero, and that his contemporaries knew it. The church father Irenaeus, however, says that the antichrist will not come till after the dividing of the Roman empire and the ten kings are established. Furthermore, he says that 616 was a mistake. "The Greek letter which expresses the number 60 was easily expanded into the letter Iota of the Greeks . . . those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]."
Quoting Irenaeus once more: "For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousandth year."
"We should stop focussing on the land of Israel" is a strong statement in light of Ezekiel 37:22 ("I will make them one nation in . . . Israel") and Romans 11:25-26.
The seven year tribulation is alluded to in Revelation 3:10, though I agree that New Testament evidence for the seven-year tribulation is scanty.
Jesus expressly tells us to watch for signs in regards to the end times: Matthew 24:14b,33. But I agree wholeheartedly that "While we wait for the Saviour, let us be joyfully about our Master's business." These other issues are of secondary importance and will not divide us.
John Penner, (E)
St. Catharines, Ontario
The dance was well supervised, there was no couple dancing and there were no slow songs. Without these elements, the only thing wrong with a dance is the way one conducts oneself. We don't see how moving to music is bad if we are not vulgar in our behaviour or sexually stirring others on. Sexual connotations are caused by people's free will, not music. These things can happen in anything you do, such as the way you walk or what you wear.
Shiela Redekop, (E)
Dalmeny, Sask.
Jeff Froese
Lanigan, Sask.
It was concerned Christian activity that eliminated slavery. Yet the present corporate method saddles the masses with the economic slavery of inflation, debt, needless unemployment and wars. In biblical times the economic slave masters were called money changers. J.R. Saul, in his book The Unconscious Civilization, explains how corporatism uses democracy to produce a subservient citizenry. This explains why most business types are motivated toward personal and corporate profiteering instead of making this world a better place; corporatism taught them that being ruthless is the only way to conduct business. The radio broadcast Abundant Life reported that a "Christian" landlord had decided to increase mission funding, financed by increasing rental fees. Large farm operators outbid small farmers for land.
Furthermore, the sub-affluent on occasion are insulted with the "Howard Hughes syndrome", which states that because some became wealthy, then anyone can become wealthy. Christians never think that way, but work to help the struggling and change the economic environment so that poverty can be reduced.
What is a Christian to do? To begin, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Lance Secretan, in Reclaiming Higher Ground, states corporations have a moral obligation to devote at least 10% of their profits to determine community problems, then work to reduce them.
Thanks to John Redekop for a worthwhile proposal. The world is in great need of people like him.
Stuart Makaroff,
Saskatoon, Sask.
I, too, can remember when drinking alcohol, shooting pool, bowling, going to shows and wearing lipstick were sin. In fact, I remember getting the strap in grade 5 for refusing to learn a French-Canadian folk dance--as a young evangelical (not a Mennonite), I was not going to sin, at least not knowingly!
Since then, my four children have children of their own. Having taught school for 30 years and having had to supervise many school dances--something I found very distasteful--I have learned that there are two kinds of dances. In elementary school (before bursting hormones), dancing is jumping around in the sheer delight of being alive in the company of friends. In high school, dancing is like holding a juicy piece of meat in front of a hungry dog; just as the drooling dog is about to sink his teeth into it, the meat is jerked away. My job as a supervisor was to make certain that no one ate of the forbidden fruit--at least not in the school (I was afraid to go out into the parking lot).
Around our dinner table, I explained how the lights were turned almost out, how the music was turned up to the point that I could actually feel the beats thump against my chest, how the students used their bodies to tease and excite each other, and how terribly unfair it was for me to tell them they could look but not touch. My point was to make certain that my children would know what really was involved in high school dancing and that this was no place for a Christian. In fact, I said the definition of this type of dancing is "a vertical expression of a horizontal desire".
Nevertheless, one of my sons just loved to go to these dances. The other sons went the odd time, but to them it was no big deal. As parents, we felt we had to trust them, so we asked them to tell us where they were going afterwards and when they would be home. They did not find this unreasonable or onerous. Just before graduation, an important dance was coming up, and the one who loved dancing could hardly contain his excitement. He dressed with great care and left. Within the hour, he was back. When I asked him what had happened, he said it wasn't fun anymore. He said that as a Christian he did not feel comfortable with all the drinking and drugs that were a necessary part of dancing. He never went to another dance. That night, we prayed a prayer of thanksgiving.
In our parenting, we did not shout or outright condemn, but rather we tried to explain with reason, with appropriate Scriptures (if there were some), with our experience (if we had some), with thinly veiled frustration and sometimes with tears.
Harold H. Hiebert,
Kamloops, B.C.
By 666, he says "quite likely John meant Nero." If we believe that the Holy Spirit is the author of Scriptures, then it is irrelevant what John or I or David Ewert thinks.
Why should we "stop focussing on the land of Israel"? Israel is God's chosen people and the land they have regained (in fulfillment of God's promise) is the land God has chosen for them to keep forever. It is also where Revelation 16:16 will be fulfilled.
The Bible speaks of increased crime, an increase in earthquakes, etc. There has been a steady increase in earthquakes during the last century. In the 1890s there were only two major earthquakes (over 6.0 magnitude). This increased steadily until there were over 130 earthquakes of the same magnitude from 1990 to 1995.
Ewert asks, "Where in the New Testament is there a single reference to a seven-year period of tribulation?" If God's Word is true in the New Testament, it is also true in the Old Testament. So what difference does it make if Jesus doesn't refer to it?
I differ with Ewert that "people whose minds are constantly on the end times, tend to become very pessimistic about the present". It is the greatest joy that I have--the Lord is coming soon, and I must be about my Father's business!
Peter Hamm,
Kelowna, B.C.
The abuse of the paid pastorate. In his commentary on Ephesians, William MacDonald says: "Christianity began as a company of lay witnesses; it has become a professional pulpitism, financed by lay spectators! Nowadays we hire a church staff to do full-time Christian work and we sit in church on Sunday and watch them do it."
I recognize it is unfair to paint all churches with the same brush, but limiting a person's spiritual activity because someone else can do it better will stunt that person's spiritual development. People who want to learn to play the piano must practise daily; listening to lectures about keyboard techniques will not make a person a pianist.
Obviously, we will not revert to the lay pastorate, but we should explore more productive ways of using our pastors. One suggestion would be for the pastor to teach four people who in turn disciple four others who disciple four others.
Cheap grace. It has been said that we practise forgiveness without repentance, church membership without discipline, Christ without the cross. In the book Power Religions, Bill Hull writes: "Today people can be happy, healthy members of evangelical churches without ever having to face a God who is anything more than a "buddy", a Saviour who is anything more than an example, and a Holy Spirit who is anything more than a power source."
More and more of our young people have serious unresolved spiritual issues and lack a "head-on" confrontation with the God of the Bible. We parents need to ask ourselves some brutal questions re how we model Christianity.
Crisis in leadership. I quote from J.B. Toews's A Pilgrimage of Faith: "Today we share with the larger Christian community a crisis of leadership that finds itself shorn of stature and authority."
Instead of focussing on Banff '95, let each of us examine our hearts in brokenness before the Lord, asking ourselves if we are in danger of leaving our first love (Revelation 2:1-5).
Peter M. Friesen,
Winkler, Man.
The next time the magazine came, I was concerned who should have it this time. At the time, I had a guest from B.C. who read it and asked if she could take it along. I saw in each case the leading of the Lord.
The articles were so suitable to share with others. Thank you and may God continue to guide you in your work.
S. Unruh,
Winnipeg, Man.
My experience is that Mennonites are wary of outward signs of the moving of the Holy Spirit, including spiritual dance. However, Banff '95 and the letter stating that dances have been part of Mennonite school grads imply that our leadership okays dance that is instigated by us, not the Holy Spirit. I grew up in a charismatic church where dancing in worship to God was accepted but going to dances, even at a church, was considered a dangerous activity. Coming from an unsaved home, I had no trouble understanding that.
Scriptural cases of dancing before the Lord have little bearing on this debate. There is a great deal of difference between a person being so filled with the Holy Spirit that their whole being worships God and holding a planned dance complete with balloons, disco lights and secular music.
Allowing my teen to attend a dance after we have discussed the details and voiced our concerns is one thing. The leadership of a denomination planning a dance at a spiritual retreat without any input from parents is quite another. This is not the kind of issue we want the Board of Christian Education Ministries to decide for us. It undermines parental respect and the family's values and convictions.
If Banff '95 was the outstanding spiritual event it was reported to be, why was a dance necessary?
A standing ovation to Jim Coggins for writing the best article on the question of dances available (editorial, April 19). His reasoning exhibits godly wisdom, genuine concern and love.
Keep up the good work. I always enjoy and learn something from the Herald.
Laurie Trithardt,
Grand Forks, B.C.
My wife Mimi and I are immigrants from Holland, and our parents live there. In October, 1994, my sister phoned to let me know that Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had between 6 months and 2 years to live. In the first week of November, I asked my heavenly Father: "You know all things. You have the blueprints of our lives. When do you call my dad home?"
Six hours later, while I was working in the garden, I was surrounded by God's peace, and I "saw" my dad in his bathrobe, sitting in the living room, the late afternoon sun shining in, and a date, December 4. I told my wife and she felt, too, it was right. Like Gideon, I put out a fleece. "Father, if my brother phones on that date, I will go." (My brother had not phoned in years.) On that date we were out, but the next day my brother phoned to let us know he had phoned and that they had given my dad a catheter. I knew that God would call my dad home the next Sunday, but He had given me a week's grace to arrange a flight. I arrived Friday, December 9 in Amsterdam. I had a wonderful time with my sisters and visited Mimi's mom in Utrecht. Sunday the 11th in the afternoon, I went by train to Tilburg, where my parents lived. I had a wonderful time with my mom and dad. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the sun was shining in, and we had a beautiful two hours. Then my dad asked me whether his grandchildren knew Jesus Christ, and I shared with him how our five children gave their hearts to Jesus. My dad turned to my mom and said, "See now where the seed of faith is at?" After my dad knew that there would be a next generation of believers, he started breathing with difficulty. I phoned an ambulance. My dad passed away peacefully that same evening.
Wim Hunfeld,
Whonnock, B.C.
1) The organizers of Banff '95 erred, not just by failing to notify in advance of the dance, but in having the dance at all. By organizing the dance they have committed the Canadian MB Conference to supportive position on dancing. This was not their responsibility.
2) Dancing is "wrong" for me personally. I will not impose my position on my friends and acquaintances but will choose to live by this conviction personally.
3) I will continue to discourage my children from participating in dances because they are held in a secular environment, with secular (and rarely edifying) music and can be the source of much negative influence in their lives (hormonal and peer).
I am concerned that the MB Conference is slowly becoming so interested in making salvation acceptable to the world that we have forgotten that God called us out of the world. If Christians cannot distinguish themselves from the world, what do I have to offer the non-Christian?
Romans 14 is worth reading by all who have a strong position on either side of this dancing issue. My summation would be: It is best to be conservative and loving in actions and opinions.
Arden Walde, (E)
Maple Ridge,
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