Dear Rev . DeJong,

In the September Outlook you quote Rev. Vander Kam on page 8 to the effect that “Ecclesiology, has not been taught. . . in the department of Dogmatics for the last 15 years!” I do not wi sh to take exception to the statement as such, but the implication seems to be that graduates of Calvin Seminary spend no time studying Ecclesiology. The curriculum does in fact include such study. There is an entire division called “Church and Ministry” in which I was required to take a course which included much reading and class discussion of Berkhof‘ s Systematic Theology on the church. There were also several other courses on missiolgy, the relation between church and kingdom and study of the organization of the church for ministry, and more.

While your point does not stand or fall on this concern we should not leave such an implication hanging.

In Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Vos, Prairie View, Kansas

WOMEN IN OFFICE

Dear Brother De Jong,

As a reader and subscriber to the Outlook for many years. I want to express my profound appreciation to the Reformed Fellowship, its publishers, for the many splendid articles on “women in office” (June. 1984), an issue which has long created controversy in our churches. The Outlook doesn’t have to take a back seat when it comes to putting together a well–articulated periodical. I congratulate Laurie Vanden Heuvel for her courageous writing on this issue.

All of the reasonings advanced by those in favor of women in church office arise not from a Biblical theological perspective , bu t from sociological and psychological considerations which lack any Scriptural basis. One is amazed at the way in which the worldly “women’s liberation movement” has captured the minds of CRC women, and men too. The churches. including ours, are being infiltrated by modern “Eves.” It was a sad day for the denomination when past synods succumbed to pressures and began appointing one committee after another to discuss matters on which the Bible’s answers are so obvious and complete. The Christian Church is supposed to be the repository of the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Word. It is sometimes hard to detect that in our synods actions. They don’t seem to have any clear–cut answers. How long will it be before some synod appoints a committee to study whether Jesus is God or only a figment of the imagination, or whether heaven is a place, or whether there is really a hell.

For many today, to question everything in the Word of God is equated with reformation , and so they question instead of preach and defend the Scriptures. The signs of the “falling away” and the apostate church appear in all denominations. including the CRC. Men of God, rise up.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Sluys, 912 James St., Kalamazoo, Ml 49001