Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 37, No. 13 Home Page
My husband brought the Spring/Summer, 1997 Encounter home from a hospital waiting room recently. He thought I would be interested in your articles on truth. I was very impressed with many of the articles, but was highly offended by Maryann Tan's testimony because it painted the Catholic Church in a bad light.
The article implied that Maryann was taught by a Catholic convent to worship Mary, statues of her and statues of saints and that her bowing before them was a form of worship. Does this mean that when a subject bows before the Queen, that subject is worshipping the Queen? If you knew Catholicism, you'd have known that Maryann was not taught to worship Mary or statues. The Catholic Church honours Mary and the saints and their exemplary lives and asks them in prayer to intercede for them to God. Mary points us to Christ just as John the Baptist did.
As a Catholic, I do not agree with Mennonite doctrine that differs from our interpretations, but I would never give false impressions of your beliefs to others. I would like your magazine to clear up the false image you portrayed about the Catholic faith.
Meanwhile, I wish you all the best in your efforts to bring the truth of Christ to as many as possible. At least, we agaree on the most important thing: Jesus is our Saviour and Redeemer.
Name withheld
Tan did not say that what she was following was official Roman Catholic doctrine, but that that what she was doing was certainly Catholic practice and teaching where she was. There are some official Roman Catholic positions which we as Mennonite Brethren disagree with. There are also some things practised in individual local Catholic churches which are not official Roman Catholic doctrine and with which we also disagree. We think it is legitimate to critique practice as well as official doctrine. (The Mennonite Brethren Church is rightly critiqued according to both criteria, just as the Roman Catholic Church is.) We understand the distinction between "honouring" Mary (which the Roman Catholic Church officially approves of) and "worshipping" Mary (which the Roman Catholic Church officially does not approve of). However, we are convinced that making statues of Mary and praying to her, while acceptable as far as Roman Catholic doctrine is concerned, are both unbiblical and dangerously in error. They inevitably lead to people worshipping Mary. We do not deny your personal faith in Christ. On the other hand, we do not deny Tan's experience with the Roman Catholic Church and her subsequent coming to faith in Jesus. In presenting the truth about Jesus Christ, we were not trying to oppose Roman Catholicism per se. However, we feel free to oppose errors, whether official Roman Catholic doctrine or not, which some people practise and which act as barriers, preventing those people from coming to know Jesus. That people come to know and follow Jesus is our prime concern. Ed.
Omission causes hurt
I object to your practice of eliminating the names of children-in-law in the obituary of my mother, Edith Loewen, (May 1). One of the unique characteristics of our mom was that she did not differentiate between her biological children and the in-laws. When you eliminated the names of the in-laws, you invalidated that special quality. The in-law children mourn her every bit as much as the biological children. Please respect a family's wishes in naming those who mourn her.
Elsie Goerzen,
Chilliwack, B.C.
Why remove the pulpit?
Re Harry Loewen's letter (May 15):
I do not think the pulpit makes the sermon. Coming out from behind the pulpit makes one seem more approachable, and a pastor needs to have his sermon so well prepared that he does not need the pulpit. At first, I found it strange, as we grew up with the pulpit but I do not think we are moving from a Word-centred worship service to a man-centred performance. Pastors are getting closer to their congregation. I like it.
Name withheld.
Congregation democratic
John H. Redekop (March 20) and Peter Bargen (May 1) are both right and both wrong. The church is not a democracy, but it is a congregation using the democratic method. The church is not an episcopal church rule which says, "Where the bishop is there the church is." It is a brotherhood which says, "Where two or three are gathered, there I am in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). The body makes the major decisions, such as what we believe, do we have a pulpit or only a stage, do we sing only hymns? (I already introduced a chorus or two in the Portage Ave. MB Church 35 years ago.)
The church voted the pastor to be the leader and the congregation should have the final vote on major issues, not leave them from then on to the pastor and an executive. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. The majority is not always right, but it is a way of deciding issues unless we agree by consensus (Acts 15:22). Dictatorship is at times more efficient than majority rule, but we have seen what Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin have done. In the church, we use "persuasion" (Acts 18:4), not force.
I would also like to respond to Gareth Goossen's letter (May 15). Our format is to be taken from the New Testament, where the emphasis is on growing in the knowledge of Christ, and redemption and edification of believers. Everything David did in II Samuel 6 was wrong, copied from what the Philistines did (I Samuel 6). Dancing was connected with pagan forms (I Kings 18:26-28, Exodus 32:4-6).
Henry Baerg,
Chilliwack, B.C.
Ladies in waiting
I was doing an Internet search for infertility and God. I found eview this policy of sending all members a "free" copy. We all know it is not free. If you are afraid people will cancel if they have to pay directly, perhaps you could institute a nominal fee of $12 per year so that it would not be a financial burden to anyone. If people are not willing to pay for the Herald, then likely they would not read it anyway. We need to use our funds wisely.
We really enjoy the Herald. Keep up the good work.
Luke Stack,
Kelowna, B.C.
Worship
I agree with Isaak Eitzen (Letters, May 1)
1. Corporate worship is not meant to lead us into the presence of God, but to remind us that we live all aspects of our lives in the presence of God.
2. Worship is not what we do as much as who we are. The New Testament says almost nothing about the practice of worship but a great deal about the person of the worshipper. Worship in the New Testament is meant to be as radically different from worship in the Old Testament as the saint is radically different from the non-Christian. Old Testament worship came after the fall. If there is an Old Testament precedent for Christian worship, it must be found in Genesis before the fall, when man was created to work and have fellowship with God, but worship is not mentioned.
3. The New Testament establishes clearly as saints, work (doing good) is our worship, but worship is not our work.
4. Saints cannot add to God's glory (God is self-sufficient) but only proclaim (reveal to others) God's glory by doing good.
5. When work and worship are separated, we work at our worship but do not worship at our work (working with God to do good). Thus, our work becomes secular and our worship becomes separate from our work in the world. Thus, we must make our formal worship seeker -riendly in order to try to express our faith in the presence of our non-Christian friends.
6. When the New Testament concept of worship is lost, work loses its inherent worth and is no longer seen as rewarded by God. Work then becomes an activity by which we seek rewards that cannot be associated with worship. We worship to meet our spiritual needs; we work to meet our material needs. Thus, we decry our materialism but cannot reject it; we seek fulfillment in formal worship and cannot find it.
7. The Old Testament assigns a much higher priority to obedience (to God) service (with God), and reward (from God) than it does to worship. These were the three principle elements of the covenant relationship between God and Israel. When the Israelites failed to live up to the covenant, they always turned to pagan practices of worship as a substitute.
8. The New Testament assigns a much higher priority to love and obedience than it does to worship. Jesus summed up man's total responsibility toward God in a single commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself." The primary expression of love is obedience.
Peter and Lue Enns
Order is wrong
The Council of International Ministries consultation (News, May 15) issued a set of findings, which has as its first point "The essence of the gospel is Jesus Christ come in the flesh" and as its last point "The uniqueness of the Christian faith is grace, or Jesus' redemptive act on our behalf." I find the order and wording of these statements alarming. The essence of the gospel is not Jesus Christ come in the flesh (as important as that truth is), but rather the cross (that God presented this same Jesus come in the flesh "as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood"). The question of who Jesus is, is only important insofar as it uniquely qualifies Jesus to accomplish for us what He did on the cross (Romans 3:21-26). The gospel did not begin with Jesus' birth, but with His death; without His death, we are still in our sins. The opening statement should read, "The essence of the gospel is grace, or Jesus' redemptive act on our behalf."
Colin Suggett,
Burkina Faso
Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 37, No. 13 Home Page