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Brief letters that include the writer’s name and address are welcome. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, though we may withhold names at our discretion. Letters may be edited for purposes of length or clarity. Send by regular mail to:
Letters, MB Herald
3-169 Riverton Ave.
Winnipeg, Man. R2L 2E5 |
or by e-mail to mbherald@mbconf.ca.
Please ensure that your mailing address is included in your e-mail correspondence. |
School time is nurturing time
I respond to “Public School: Should we abandon it”? (Sept. 24). I’m glad that his daughters were able to stand up for their faith in the public school system. However, I know of several Christian families who took his viewpoint and do not have the same testimony. The strength of the family is very important. If a mom and dad are deeply committed to one another and to their children, and spend time over these issues, and their children have strong faith, then maybe they’ll be able to withstand the pressures of the public system.
Many of our friends decided to put their kids in the public school, and their kids made wrong relationships that were harmful to them. They faced rebellion, compromise, etc. Some of the choices these kids made were lasting, and I know of a few who, even at 40, still haven’t come back. There may have been problems at home, in some of these cases, but that should be all the more reason to put them in a “Christian school.”
A child, like a young plant, should be nurtured and protected until strong enough to stand on its own. Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
We have chosen to keep our four daughters in Christian school. Two are on their own now, both serving the Lord fervently. The oldest has a desire to go on the mission field after nursing training. Our second is married to a wonderful Christian man, and they have a beautiful daughter. Our third, graduating next year, went to Trinidad on a missions trip last summer, and our fourth is in grade 9.
Both are at Valley Christian School, and both love the Lord and are a witness to their friends.
Their school is in no way perfect, and neither are the kids that go there. But I support Christian education; our children have enough challenges in their day-to-day lives to worry about when they’re young.
It grieves me when parents seem to take a chance with the one gift God gives us that we can take with us to heaven.
We have never been wealthy, it has been a very big sacrifice but God has always been faithful and provided the money, sometimes miraculously.
Val Pankratz,
Mission, B.C.
Movies and sex
W.T. Dale Enns writes (Letters, Sept.10) “There are also some excellent, quality films where sexual relationships, or scenes with some nudity, are a natural outflow of the story. Since sex is a part of our lives, I see nothing wrong with watching a quality film that addresses sex in one form or another.”
I challenge Dale’s position with Scripture. An “excellent, quality film with some nudity” would stimulate illicit lust in the viewer. Therefore, the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:28 (“Whoever looks on a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”) must apply to the viewer of sexual nudity. Furthermore, how would such viewing fit in with Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things”? To look on scenes of nudity could hardly be classified as pure and virtuous.
Christians today need to have warning flags raised in the whole area of sexual immorality, and we should guard against the kind of reasoning that Dale proposes.
Art Isaac,
Abbotsford, B.C.
Line must be drawn
I very much disagree with W.T. Dale Enns’s letter (Sept. 10) that it would be all right to watch movies with some nudity. Being a Christian means I have to strive for a life of purity. I Corinthians 6:12 says, “All things are permissible for me but not all things are beneficial.” This means that everything out there is available for me to watch, but not all of it is beneficial. I don’t care if sex is a part of our everyday lives, seeing people having sex on TV is no more beneficial than watching people kill each other. Murder is a part of our everyday lives, so is abortion, abuse, homosexuality. Are these okay to watch on TV if portrayed in a “quality film”? I think not. To watch sex on TV or in movies has more power to stimulate unpure thoughts than to benefit the person. In the latter part of I Corinthians 6, it tells us that we are the temple of God, so we should try not to let anything unpure enter our bodies.
Andrew Fast,
Winnipeg, Man.
Challenge more than transition time
John Redekop (Sept. 24) says that for teachers, “The September transitions mark our progress from initiation to retirement.” The statement is true, of course, but there are much more positive ways for a teacher to approach September. In 41 years of full-time and part-time teaching, I cannot recall a year in which September was chiefly a step towards retirement.
September is a time of challenges and new beginnings for a teacher. There may be the challenge of a new course, perhaps one that is so different from what we have been teaching that we must become students again. We may be wondering how the revisions we have made in a course outline will work out in class. There may be the need to approach an old familiar course with new vigour to overcome the flatness that both we and the students felt about it last year. Three times in my career, September meant not just a new course but a new country, with students from a new culture. Added to all the academic challenges was the challenge of finding how we were to make a contribution to the local church.
Let’s look at all the transition points in our lives as exciting opportunities, not just as mileposts to the end of life.
George C. Bush,
Bedford, N.S.
Weigh-down needed
I appreciated your report on The Weigh Down Diet (Gwen Shamblin), which has been the catalyst of a personal revival for me. I was a “slave” to food for years (without a significant weight problem, so no one would have guessed). Although I love the Lord Jesus Christ, food had been my god for years. I tried to meet my needs by eating when sad, lonely, bored, excited or depressed. The book (I have not attended a workshop) outlines what is, essentially, the gospel applied to eating. There is only one true God, and He is the One who breaks our slavery to other gods when we turn to His Son Jesus.
I was saddened to see David Bergen’s letter of Sept. 24 that cautioned people about the Weigh Down program. There are so many of us who are in terrible bondage to food and need the freedom of Christ as taught in the program. I would hate someone to be steered away from the program by semantics. Truly, as Bergen stated, God is not a commodity. In no way is He presented as such in the W.D. program. Possibly the misunderstanding comes because Bergen doesn’t understand that food can be a god. Many people without an addiction to food cannot appreciate how awful it can be to be enslaved to a small god, like food, that only steals and destroys one’s life. Instead, God is presented as the Lover in Hosea, who woos us away from our adulterous affair with food into the desert, where we learn that He is our True Husband who desires to meet all of our needs. That is an incredible piece of Good News!
I am so tired of the church’s socially-acceptable addictions of caffeine, gossip and food. Someone who is addicted to alcohol, nicotine or street drugs is definitely not acceptable, and yet we can grab a coffee at Sunday school with a shaking hand, bad mouth our boss to a pew mate and stuff our faces with food at a church potluck and experience no bad rap.
The hypocrisy is ugly. We were not created to be obese, nor addicted to any drug, be it caffeine or cocaine. God is our freedom through Jesus. Without Him, there is no power for the obedience necessary to die to the false gods who would destroy us. We cannot judge each other’s love for God based on these addictions but must be realistic enough to say we all need more of Christ’s regenerative power at work in the “everydayness” of our problems. Jesus said He did not come for the healthy but the sick. I am so glad He did!
Verlynn Alexander,
Main Centre, Sask.
No reason for article
I was dismayed to read the Sept. 24 article entitled, “Information.” God gave a command, not information, that Adam and Eve should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The “knowledge” is experiential. They would know the difference between good and evil by doing evil, not hearing about it. The sentence, “The Bible offers many examples that the acquisition of knowledge is dangerous, but gives almost no explanation of why,” is also not true and is, in fact, dangerous. I can see no plausible reason for writing this article or publishing it in a family magazine.
Vernon Stobbe,
Surrey, B.C.
God’s Word final authority
Re “What about abusive marriages”? (Letters, Sept. 10). I in no way assume I understand the possibly very harsh circumstances that the writer was in, but I must respond to the false application of Scripture to justify her decision. She stated ,”For some people, divorce is ever so much easier than being in an abusive marriage.” It may be easier, but is it obedient to the Word of God? I Peter 3:1-5 is what God calls the wife of a sinning husband to do. The “in the same way” statement of I Peter 1:3 refers back to I Peter 2:18-22. As the slave of a cruel master is to submit to his/her master, so the wife is to be in submission to her sinning husband so that he may be won by her obedience to God. Yes, for the physical health and safety of herself and/or for her children, she may have to separate herself from her husband for a time, but only to bring safety to the situation, not for the opportunity to divorce.
She also stated, “There are only two choices in life: God or the devil.” She is right about having choices, but the moment we compromise a clear teaching of Scripture, we are no longer choosing God’s way. She says, “I had to choose between my marriage (dysfunctional, abusive and depressing), and God.” Is there any marriage that is completely perfect? We all struggle with dysfunction, various forms of abuse and depressing times. But none of these are mandates for divorce. I see only two clear reasons for divorce: If an unbelieving spouse leaves (II Corinthians 7:15) and if infidelity has occurred (Matthew 5:32). Even with these choices, God’s higher call to each of us is forgiveness and restoration, but in these two circumstances He frees us to choose.
Here lies the all too common problem. When our circumstances become the lens that we use to interpret God’s Word, we can then justify any decision we make and call it God’s will for our lives. This is a form of idolatry, because we and/or our circumstances become the final authority, not God. Our call as God’s children is to obedience not compromise, especially in the tough times. Obedience shapes and matures our character to conform to God’s holiness. Compromise can never do this.
Brian and Karen Anderson,
Abbotsford, B.C.
Balanced coverage
Jim Coggins deserves credit for his courage in making the case for Christian parents sending their children to public schools (Sept. 10). As a mother with four Christian adult children who attended public schools and now serve in public institutions, I particularly appreciated his recognition of such people.
When I taught in the public system, I thanked God regularly for the witness of my Christian students. They could say things that I couldn’t, provoking helpful discussions. They could also ask questions that I was free to answer from my personal faith position. We were all building courage for the work God would have us do in the world, the witness God would have us be.
I was glad that his own article and the others stressed that the “right” decision would vary with the child and the individual circumstances. Thank you for a balanced treatment of a relevant issue.
Donna Stewart,
Vancouver, B.C.
Benefits of Conference membership
The editorial “What good does a conference do anyway”? (Sept. 10) caught my attention. Having had a firm belief that the positive far outweighs the negative, there are a few benefits that I was not previously aware of.
The editorial states that the Conference “offers the services of Conference ministers and other mediators.” The fact that some leaders wear a number of different hats makes it unnecessary for other Conference leaders to ask questions in church conflicts since they have been provided with all the answers. This speeds up the process and provides for a quick resolution to the perceived problems, the benefit being that resources will be spent on ministries with a greater priority than on an impartial mediator who would create a positive atmosphere for reconciliation.
The editorial states that the Conference provides “safeguarding of assets.” This gives the Conference the opportunity to “teach the church a lesson” by changing the locks on the church doors when the congregation decides on a course of action that the Conference leadership do not agree with. It also provides “those who have donated money to build and maintain it over the years” the opportunity to test their faith and character by having to find another fellowship since they no longer fit into the plans of the Conference leadership.
The writer is correct that “The local church is a member of the Mennonite Brethren Conference in ways it can never be a member of a para-church agency.”
Walter Loewen,
Warman, Sask.
Forgiveness extended
I feel compelled to share my reaction to Craig Hallman’s letter (Sept. 24). For the duration of the “Clinton scandals,” I had felt continual anger, even at the mention of the man’s name. I considered this to be “righteous anger,” as Clinton had come to the presidency under the guise of being a Christian, but the recent investigations had revealed that he had had a sordid past, and that that same lifestyle had continued up to the present.
What I did not realize is that my own heart was hard towards him, and extremely unforgiving. The anger which I was harbouring was not at all “righteous,” and was indeed sin.
Fortunately, a good friend pointed this out to me. Through discussion we were able to come to the root issues behind my anger, and through prayer we were able to dispell it. God has graciously forgiven me, and with that same grace I extend my forgiveness to Bill Clinton.
Joyce Keliher,
Lower Sackville, N.S.
Congrats!
I’m enjoying the Herald on the Web site. I congratulate you on a great job. You’re so up-to-date now. Thanks.
Dave Schellenberg,
Ex-editor, EMC Messenger,
Steinbach, Man.
Previous | Next Last modified November 16, 1999.
© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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