Letters to the editor

Mennonite Brethren Herald welcomes your letters on issues relevant to the Mennonite Brethren Church, especially in response to material published in the Herald. Please keep your letters courteous, brief and about one subject only. We will edit letters for length and clarity. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, although we may withhold names from publication at the request of the letter writer and at our discretion. Publication is also subject to space limitations. Because the Letters column is a free forum for discussion, it should be understood that letters represent the position of the letter writer, not necessarily the position of the Herald or the Mennonite Brethren Church. Send letters to: Letters, MB Herald 1310 Taylor Ave. Winnipeg, Man.  R3M 3Z6 or send via e-mail. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.)

Not the time for rebuke

I was under the impression that Father’s Day was a time for finding the good in one’s father, not a time for recrimination. Dan Harder’s article: “The dad crisis,” (June 10) was at best, poorly timed. Is it really necessary to say to so-called bad fathers: “You are a failure and you better get on the straight and narrow”?

The article is unworthy of a God who redeems and sets captives free. Many men grow up without being affirmed, or being told they are of infinite worth. It is said that the love of God constrains us. That is to say: it is what motivates us, inspires us!

Being told yet again that one is a failure will not inspire fathers toward love and good deeds. It merely crushes and destroys the soul. What is needed for failing fathers, and for everyone, is to have an ongoing experience of being overwhelmed by the love of our heavenly Father.

Let me encourage the Herald to show God as being the loving Father that He is, and not to offer up such harsh rebuke at a time when honour is what is called for.

Nils Langhjelm,
Chilliwack, B.C.

Prayer misdirected

Re the editorial “Death of a pope” (Apr. 29). Although I live in predominantly Catholic Austria, where many Anabaptists have been killed for their faith by the Catholic Church, I never had an “uneasy relationship” with any Catholics because of what happened a few hundred years ago. To my knowledge, no Mennonite has been killed for their faith by a Catholic in my generation.

My problem is a different one. I comment on the second last paragraph. “His life of prayer was exemplary.” It may well be that the pope prayed much more than I do. But the question is to whom. He dedicated his life to Mary. He dedicated my home country to Mary as well. Not the Mary of the Bible (which would be bad enough) but to the “Mother of God,” the “Queen of Heaven,” the “Co-Saviour,” to name just a few of the blasphemous titles given to her by the Catholic Church. It seems to me that some Mennonites are willing to accept another gospel, as Paul put it, as long as the proponent is of high moral character and prays much, no matter to whom.

Wolfgang Binder,
Salzburg, Austria

New insight

I appreciated the article, “Is downloading theft?” (May 20) and I respond to “Copyright Act allows it” (Letters, July 1).

I understand where Benson is coming from. I also used to justify downloading music, movies, games and programs with the “try before you buy” argument. In some cases I was impressed enough by a “trial” version to buy a legitimate copy. But in more cases I was not. Yet I still kept the copy of something I would never have bought.

Going by my own logic of the time, I might as well have justified stealing a CD from a music store by telling myself that if I didn’t like it I would bring the album back to the store and leave it on the counter when no one was looking, or if I liked it, come back and pay for it. Put in that context, my argument is ridiculous.

Earlier this year, I was convicted that what I was doing was wrong and I threw away and deleted all my downloaded music, movies and software. It was a challenge at the time but now I don’t miss any of it and God blessed me for my obedience.

I’m glad Benson took the time to research the Canadian Copyright Act and he/she is absolutely correct – private copying is legal under the Copyright Act section 80 “for the private use of the person who makes the copy.” I believe that applies to the person who owns a legitimate copy of a recording. That does not apply to someone who makes a copy of a copy (which is what downloading does.)

The next paragraph of the Copyright Act, which Benson did not cite, explains that the right to copy something for private use “does not apply if the act described in that subsection is done for the purpose of doing any of the following in relation to any of the things referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) to (c): (a) selling or renting out, or by way of trade exposing or offering for sale or rental; (b) distributing, whether or not for the purpose of trade; (c) communicating to the public by telecommunication; or (d) performing, or causing to be performed, in public.”

I take this to mean the Copyright Act does not allow us to copy something unless we own the legitimate original; and I take this to mean the Copyright Act does not allow us to give away the copies we make under any circumstances (this would include through filesharing networks).

I agree it is annoying to have to pay levies on blank media such as CDs, tapes and DVDs. However, those are the laws of our country and we must obey them where they don’t go against God’s commands. I do not agree with Benson that they give me a “right” to download as I please. The only rights explicitly defined in the Copyright Act belong to the copyright owners, which the levies are designed to protect.

This may be tough for some people to take, but as Christians we are called to walk a narrow path. God’s standard is higher than the standards of the world and it’s pretty black and white: it says stealing, in any form, is wrong. If we think we’re in a grey area, we may be, but grey is just white tainted with black.

Grant Warkentin,
Campbell River, B.C.

Extend acceptance

I hoped never to write on the subject of the same-sex legislation, but “Concern for society” (Letters, June 10) has once again forced me to think further and articulate my thoughts.

The phrase that caught my eye was “public policy implications that appear to seriously undermine the foundations of the family.”

When I tried to think of the foundations of my 50-year long Christian union (not to mention the generations before us) I think of the following: centuries of awareness of the love of God, Creator and Redeemer which have flowed to us through the Word and the Church; and decades, almost lifetimes of Christian teaching and character formation, including membership in, support from, participation in communities of faith. (Fellowship would be the word I would use if people did not so often trivialize that concept.)

I am sure that marriage, including joyful physical union, as instituted by God, has been a means of grace for both my husband Gordon and me.

I know that raising our five children has been another means of grace, but some of our Christian friends have chosen not to bear children, and others have been unable to; whereas many same-sex couples, Christian and secular, are raising children, and presumably experiencing the same blessings and challenges. As far as I know, there is no evidence that they are making more than the usual number of mistakes.

I really do not see how the passage of a law in Ottawa is going to “seriously undermine” the foundations I’ve identified.

I don’t assume that God made homosexuals, but I do assume that since the Fall, some, not all, were born that way, just as people are born with physical variations. We have learned not to punish the physically different. Can we not learn to extend the same acceptance to the sexually different? Wouldn’t that be for the “health of society”?

Donna Stewart,
North Vancouver, B.C.

Awareness of the world

I agree with the writer of “The church as a political reality” (July 1), that politics is something we are all involved in, in one way or another.

In the article Paul Doerksen also referred to “effectiveness” as something we “disavow as conventionally understood.” He goes on to explain that this does not mean disengagement, and gives some powerful examples of Christians who followed God’s principles in the face of tremendous political pressure.

This lesson cannot be over-emphasized. To ignore the political realities around us is to deny God the opportunity to extend your/our/God’s gifts into situations that need God’s love and care.

This does not mean marching on the streets or writing angry letters to our politicians. It does mean being aware of the world around us and injecting our understanding of God’s principles into the situations that our lives bring us to, as we walk with our Lord.

The effectiveness we seek is not one of social engineering (trying to control the effect of our actions), but one of bringing God’s principles of human relationships to bear “effectively” (having “effect,” though we may not know what that effect is) on every situation in which God’s options need to be heard and practiced. Your opinion, your insertion of God’s principles into this world, expressed with care and respect, is just what is needed in this very political world.

David S. Pankratz,
Winnipeg, Man.

Needs Scripture

The letter to the Prime Minister regarding the controversy about same-sex marriage is not at all what I would have expected from the leaders of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. You use no biblical references to support your view. How are government people to know what God says if you do not tell them?

Lillian Heichman,
Saskatoon, Sask.

Factual error

Much as I appreciate Bruce Guenther’s “Notes” and every effort to increase the knowledge of MBs of their own and general Mennonite history, I feel obliged to point out that a sentence in the June 10 instalment is factually in error and might offend other Mennonite denominations. It reads: “The first Mennonite immigrants in Canada were often called Kanadier.”

Many Mennonites of Swiss–South German descent immigrated to Ontario (about a century before the Kanadier), as United Empire Loyalists, during and after the American War of Independence.

William Schroeder,
Winnipeg, Man.

The letter writer is correct, but so were Guenther’s original “Notes.” We made a small edit for clarification, and created the error in the process. It was the first of those who came to Canada from Russia who were called Kanadier. Our apologies.

—Eds.

Denominationalism not of God

What do I think of denominationalism? (“Forum: On being Mennonite Brethren”, May 20). The Bible is clear on the issue. Denominationalism is wrong. It is not of God. The Word of God speaks against it in 1 Corinthians 1:10–13; 3:1–5; 3:6–23; 13:1–13.

However, names are only an address and should not be misconstrued as divisive. We should work together where the opportunity arises and when appropriate. We should not malign others or “name call.” We should affirm where we can. God is not an Anabaptist nor does He have a Mennonite perspective. God is not a pacifist.

George J. Baerg,
Rosemary, Alta.