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 turned on by article

Re “Christian sexuality” (Features, June). As a Christian who professionally coaches women on their marital relationships, I eagerly read David Eagle’s article. However, this disappointing article did little more than talk around sex, giving only the bare fundamentals about concepts that most of us already know.

If we’re going to do the serious work that it takes to curtail the disintegration of our marriages, we must be willing to have open and frank discussions on issues such as low libido, menopause, balancing children with a healthy sex life, and better communication in the bedroom.

Eryn-Faye Frans,
Kelowna, B.C.

Good sex talk

Re “Let’s talk about sex” (June). Thank you so much for such an honest, open look at the topic of sexuality and the church. The articles by David Eagle and Sherryl Koop were thought-provoking, intelligent pieces. I especially appreciated an article from the viewpoint of a single. We sure could talk about the issue of sexuality and singles a great deal more in our churches!

Sarah Kamp,
Abbotsford, B.C.

Love without exceptions

Re “Great Canadian neighbours win surprise gifts” (News, July). I can choose, with my will, to love my neighbour “as is.” We all have likeable or unlikeable idiosyncrasies. But we’re commanded to love our neighbour; no exceptions.

Hildegard Thiessen,
Abbotsford, B.C.

Get rid of marks

Re “Find mentors for cheaters” (Letters, July). Linda-Ruth Dyck believes that the answer to cheating in schools is mentorship. I believe the root of cheating comes from the competitive nature of education. My answer? Remove the grading system.

What do grades tell us? Is a grade point average an accurate representation of someone’s heart? Pastoral abilities? Missionary abilities? In school, we’re often discouraged from working together. Instead, we’re set up in competition against our classmates. And as far as memorizing facts for a test, how often do we need that skill in real life? If I don’t know the answer to something I can look it up or ask someone. If we spent more time trying to “understand” versus memorize, we’d find that information is recalled more easily.

Education should be approached with wonder and meaning-making, not as a contest to see who can get the highest mark.

Lyle Morris,
Winnipeg, Man.

Overheard

How have we become so profoundly dependent on medicine? When did we start associating it with health – and not on how we achieve health through the food we eat, how we live and work or treat each other?

—Joel Shuman, professor of Christian ethics, King’s College

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.

—Albert Schweitzer in Civilization and Ethics

The church as an alternative community can make a powerful witness when it chooses to live differently from the dominant society even at just a few key points. An important task of the church is to discern what are those key points at which to be different from the evil of the world.

—Lois Barrett in Missional Church

It’s easy to discuss ethics and even easier to be disgusted with people who fail the ethics test – especially when we have been violated by the wrongdoing of others. It’s harder to make ethical choices in our own lives.

—John Maxwell, There’s No Such Thing As “Business” Ethics