Letters to the editor

Restructuring needed

Why should the joint conference of Canadian and US MB churches be abolished? Does God not bless its work? The Conference should be abolished if God does not bless its work, but it should not be abolished for the wrong reasons. Will giving for missions improve when the supporting congregations stop meeting?

It may not be necessary to abolish the Conference, but it must be restructured. Delegates complain that the supporting congregations have little or no input into the decision-making process of the Conference. Important decisions are made beforehand, and questions at the convention are discouraged. Is it any wonder when delegates lose interest in the Conference and find better things to do with their time and money than sitting on the sidelines at a convention?

It has been suggested that the two most powerful MB conferences are ganging up on the weaker ones. If that is true, then it is time to restructure the Conference or abolish it. God did not bless us and make us strong to dominate, but to serve in the name of Jesus and to help the weak become strong to serve God and each other.

Henry Koop,
Winnipeg, Man.

Grace, not works

The letter by David Graves (Feb. 7) was thoughtprovoking. The father of lies, the devil, uses good works as one of his greatest forms of deception (John 8:44).

An Angus Reid Poll indicates that 63% of Canadians and 84% of Americans intellectually believe that Jesus lived, died and was resurrected. I wonder how many of these have actually had their sins forgiven and received Christ's righteousness. Grace is what God does for us. If we can earn it in any way, then it can't be grace (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 8, 11:6, 4:4-5). No work, be it church membership, baptism or even spreading the gospel, has any merit in obtaining one's own salvation (Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 4:2-5). Justification is exclusively a work of God whereby He gives the righteousness of Christ completely the moment a believing soul places faith in Christ. It can't be added to, improved upon or revoked. It's given strictly on the basis of faith (Philippians 3:8-9).

Our knowledge of our failure to please God has brought fear of punishment, fear of rejection and a loss of self-esteem. There is no way to have these psychological barriers removed between ourselves and God until we accept as true that God is now at peace with us because He has justified us once and for all (John 8:36).

Ken Miller,
Saskatoon, Sask.

Shouldn't God speak for Himself?

In Encounter, I was impressed that the Bible verses are actually written out and not just "referred to". Could those who contribute to the Herald do the same? If God, through His Word, is taken into our correspondence, shouldn't we let Him "speak" for Himself and not confine Him only to book, chapter and verse? I wonder how many readers take the time to look up the references so often given?

Gerhard Wall (E)

Legal immigrants

I enjoy the Herald very much. You have good, to-the-point editorials and personal opinion articles.

I draw your attention to "His mysterious leading" (Feb. 7). The explanation of "Umsiedler" as Mennonite refugees fleeing the USSR and resettling in Germany seems incorrect. I have many relatives among them; they started to leave the former USSR in the early '70s, as legal immigrants to Germany. They were citizens of their country and left by legal means. The word "resettlers" seems to describe the immigrants to Germany well.

A former refugee, who fled the Ukraine during the war, I immigrated to Canada in 1949.

Helen Wiens,
Abbotsford, B.C.

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