January 1964
“It is oversimplification to contend that the government teaches only the ‘secular’ – it teaches one of several controversial views of the secular, namely the secularist or man-centered view.”
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“Excluding, by de-emphasis, traditional attitudes from so much of life only holds the probability of eventual disappearance of such attitudes.”
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“…government cannot avoid establishment of belief or values so long as the government insists on prescribing the school with humanistic education, rather than the student, as an object of tax aid.”
Freedom in Education William D. Valente
March 1964
“The doctrine of a limited, but nevertheless definite atonement is the proper antidote to the cold universalism of Arminianism.”
Christ’s Particular Love Martin LaMaire
April 1964
“The Bible is human enough so that it deals with our experiences and not an angel’s, and it is divine enough so that we have a complete surety as to the trustworthiness of the answer.”
Does a Human Bible Mean a Fallible Bible? Edwin H. Palmer
“While the titanic movements in church and state are whittling away at our liberties today, we lull ourselves to sleep with the pleasant thought that at least tyranny won’t threaten us in our time.”
Are There Winds of Change Within Rome? Peter Y. De Jong
“Today we are indeed witnessing an all-out pursuit of happiness on the part of Americans. In the worst sense of the word we have become a ‘pleasure-mad’ people. Billions are spent on gambling, vacations to far off places and luxuries we could well afford to forgo. Securing status symbols of one sort or another has become our mode of life. In this mad pursuit too many who name the name of our Lord Jesus Christ also seem to be swept up. And when their lovely little world – erected on the things which self has so selfishly acquired—tumbles in, they wonder why it is so hard for them to reach out and touch the healing hem of our Savior’s blessed promises and presence. Too long have they been majoring in the minors of life. They have cultivated fun at the expense of faith. Therefore they will fail to experience the blessed joy of possessing Him who never fails or forsakes.”
Solid Joy Peter Y. De Jong
May – June 1964
“Remember Jonah? The threatening storm did not come upon the ship because of the wickedness of the sailors; it came as a judgment upon a recalcitrant prophet who refused to preach the Word of God.”
Let’s Go Promiscuous Christian Huissen
“How are we to deal with complementary truths, whether paradoxical or not, in the Word of God? The supreme principle to be observed is that we must subject our logic to the divine Logos.”
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“Never may we uphold one of these truths so as to deny the other. To do that constitutes outright heresy. But neither may we stress one of these truths to the minimizing of the other.”
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“…heresy often begins with an erroneous emphasis.”
Some Conclusions as to The Love of God R. B. Kuiper
September 1964
“Teaching that which is false is hardly a good method by which to gain devotion to that which is true.”
Is This Sound Pedagogy? Edward Heerma
“No one has the right before God to appropriate the blessings of living in a democratic order while considering it a bore to assess candidates and platforms and a waste of time to cast his vote.”
The Christian and the Coming Election Peter Y. De Jong
“Today various voices, all the way from the World Council of Churches down to the misinformed and ill-advised members of the church, call for such things as youth Sundays and youth services and young peoples’ and children’s church. All of these serve to create in the congregation of the people of God a division and separation which our covenant God never made nor intended. Such methods create a class inside of but yet separate from or even alongside of the church. When this artificial and false division is introduced, the church is divided and children and young people are placed in a class by themselves instead of in the church where they belong, for they as well as adults are members of the covenant and church of Christ.”
Are Catechetical Classes Obsolete? Rein Leetsma
“When it comes to the matter of screening all knowledge through the Word of God, pupils will become no more proficient in the practice or persuaded of the principles than their teachers before them.”
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“Weakness on the authority, infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible in the college classroom or private conference session must inevitably vitiate the effectiveness of the Christian school, so that it will miss its destiny and no longer be worth the cost. Whether that weakness be the result of enchantment with modern ‘biblical theology’ and criticism or whether it be the result of liberal thinking in other realms that rejects the idea of objective authority, it is poison in the system of Christian education.”
The High Destiny of Christian Education Ronald P. Brown
November 1964
“Who determines what is extreme? Surely, no one believes he is an extremist! If a person has strong views regarding a certain matter he considers himself to be a man of conviction. Those who do not agree with these convictions brand such a person an extremist.”
What Is Extremism? Henry Vander Kam
“…the rediscovery of the Bible, and through it the rediscovery of salvation by grace alone through Jesus Christ, required the reformation of the church not only, but the reformation of all of life and not least the reformation of theology as well.”
The Reformation and Theology Fred H. Klooster
“No wonder much preaching…is about the most irrelevant influence in the lives of countless church people. It no longer strikes home. It so seldom speaks about man’s personal relationship and responsibility to God. It only skims the surface of people’s lives. It misses the depth-dimension of the Bible. And what could possibly be more irrelevant than that?
The Christian and His Guilt Complex Peter Y. De Jong
December 1964
“It is certainly true that one’s relationship with the Lord will determine what kind of spiritual life he will have. And it is also true that the only way in which one can cultivate spiritual life is through the Word of God. Therefore, by the study of the Word, one displays his interest in maintaining a strong and personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.”
A Spiritual Thermometer Henry Vanden Heuvel
“The music of the church should be liturgical. In spirit, form, and content it must be a positive expression of Scripturally religious thought and feeling. It should serve the ministry of the Word.”
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The music of the church should be beautiful. Its religious thought or spirit should be embodied appropriately in the poetry as poetry, in the music as music, and in the blending of these in song.”
Of Men and Angels Henry A. Bruinsma
“Verbal inspiration does not imply that God gave the human writers all knowledge. It does imply that they wrote what God desired them to write, so that the Bible can be called God’s Word.
What Verbal Inspiration Is Not! Edwin H. Palmer
“Somehow the illusion has crept in that love for God and our fellow man can only grow in proportion to our lack of doctrine from the pulpit. Doctrine is supposed to be good for the head but kills the heart. Whether this fallacy accounts for our surge of spineless preaching, I do not know; certainly it has influenced it. However, any sincere Christian knows the error of such thinking.”
Clowns in the Pulpit? Simon Tuininga