In the issue of June 1, The Banner editor makes a plea for openness, honesty and integrity. “We should all calm down, be open and honest with each other, argue with each other, never stop loving each other. . . .” He also states “that The Banner does not sell pages for messages of prophets […]
DR. SIERD WOUDSTRA REPLIES Dear Rev. DeJong: Please permit me to set a badly flawed record straight. I have in mind a number of things in the April i981 issue of Outlook. In your lead-article “Time to Break Fellowship” you charge me with saying that in my Nov. 24, 1980 Banner article on Isaiah 14 […]
Having read Neal Punt’s book, Unconditional Good News, I have so many question marks and disagreements, it’s hard to know where to begin in trying to analyze and critique it. (As an aside, I find it hard to believe that Dr. A. C. DeJong, who wrote a foreword to the book, should be able to […]
This question cannot be answered in a simplistic manner. It’s not a matter that can be determined by statistics only, e.g. how many “cases” come to Classis (though everyone knows in today’s world that when large congregations seldom or never come to Classis with a discipline case, there is something drastically wrong—either discipline is not […]
It is fashionable nowadays to say that all heresies are only a matter of different interpretations of the Scriptures, and that those who propagate such heresies wish to bow before the truth of God’s Word as much as anyone. Well, I’ll be very plain and say that I don’t believe a word of that. There […]
PUNT’S “BIBLICAL UNIVERSALISM” Dear Editor: I greatly appreciate the fairness and accuracy with which the Rev. John Vander Ploeg presented the premise of my book in his article “Punt’s ‘Biblical Universalism’” (Feb. ’81). The most important question, however, is whether my exegesis of the so-called “universalistic” texts is biblically accurate. The article says nothing about […]
ON THE VOS LEGACY It was good that the Outlook carried the article by Peter De Jong on Geerhardus Vos and J.G. Vos. Some scholars feel that G. Vos was the greatest Reformed theologian the western hemisphere has produced. They consider that the mantle of Calvin fell on his shoulders. And J.G. is not only […]
Two little items in the local paper caught my eye the other day. Inwardly I thought, How can people be so stupid? Why don’t they smarten up? The first item dealt with new modern “stylish” shoes, and what they are doing to our feet and backs. People, says the author, “will put up with a […]
REACTIONS TO THE SYNOD The Verhey Case Dr. Verhey, a minister of the Christian Reformed Church who teaches at Hope college in Holland. Mich., questions the speaking of the serpent in Gen. 3 and the reality of the earthquake in Matt. 28:2. Synod was asked to make a final decision of this matter this year. […]
Anyone who is not a stranger in Jerusalem nowadays realizes that on the part of a very vocal minority in the CRC there is a great deal of pressure to get women into ecclesiastical office. Of course, for the present it is largely limited to the office of deacon(ess), a request which the Rev. Bill […]