INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY. Under the sponsorship of this organization a Congress On The Bible was held in San Diego, California in March. The report on this meeting in the April9, 1982, Christianity Today informs us that some 2,500 attended. The “event was designed to infuse the evangelical movement with renewed enthusiasm for the authority and reliability of Scripture.” Many prominent evangelical leaders spoke on a variety of subjects related to the authority of the Bible and developments in this area in present day theology. A very striking testimony was given by Rev. Josif Ton, a Romanian Baptist minister who was exiled from his country last year for his vigorous efforts for the faith. He told how he had lost his faith in the Bible as a r esult of reading English theology books written by liberal scholars. “My faith wasn’t killed by Marxism and communism. My faith was killed by liberal theologians,” he said. He concluded with the strong statement: “Liberal theologians who undermine the faith of their nation in the Bible work for a Communist takeover of their land.” All in all, the report on this large conference is very encouraging as indicative of a growing emphasis on the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible.
JONI EARECKSON, well–known quadriplegic author, will marry in July, according to an item in Christianity Today, April 9, 1982. Her future husband is Ken Tada, a high school teacher and coach in Special Olympics for the handicapped. Readers of her book Joni will recall that she had other proposals to marry, but considered marriage not advisable at the time. Miss Eareckson was paralyzed in a swimming accident 15 years ago.
ARE CONFESSIONS ARCHAIC? This is the question answered in the negative by Dr. David P . Scaer, professor in Concordia Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Missouri Synod Lutheran) in an article in Christianity Today of April 9. Although writing with a definitely Lutheran emphasis he champions a position all too rare in our day. Contending t hat confessions preserve the apostolic faith, he repudiates both the fear t hat many evangelicals have of “confessionalism,” and the modern ecumenical indifference to denominational distinctiveness. There is need for such loyal subscription to our doctrinal standards and historic confessions also among many in the Reformed tradition.
CHURCH AND SCHOOL. The Grand Rapids Press for April 17, 1982, reported that the Rev. James Binney of the Rose Park Baptist Church in Holland, Michigan, had been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to bring his Rose Park Baptist Academy up to state fire code regulations. “Binney testified he believes God has chosen the Rose Park Church as the place for his ministry and that to move the school, located in the church, or to change the structure, would be a violation of God’s will.” The pastor maintains that fire code regulations for schools do not apply since the day school is a ministry of the church just as its Sunday School and other church activities are. The church has appealed the ruling to the State Court of Appeals, and is supported in its efforts by a group of fundamental Baptists who seek the same freedom from state interference for their schools. Although one must admire men like pastor Binney for their convictions and zeal, there is no doubt that he is mistaken in his insistence that the state cannot regulate education in any way when it is church related. The proliferation of such cases throughout the country confirms the wisdom of the parental-society supervision and support of our Christian Schools. From our Calvinistic standpoint we would say that Baptist Binney can profitably learn something about “sphere sovereignty!”
SMOKING, A POLITICAL DISEASE. Evangelical Newsletter quotes from an article by Dr. Raymond Downing in The Other Side which points out some interesting and disturbing facts about the tobacco industry and the evils of smoking. “Lung cancer has grown from the eighth to the second leading cancer killer in women in the last twenty years.” U.S . tobacco companies produce over half a trillion cigarettes a year and they export over 70 billion of them. The Federal government spends some $50 million annually on anti-smoking efforts and an equal amount to finance price-support programs for tobacco farmers. Dr. Downing calls upon Christians not only to oppose the evil of smoking on a personal level, but he concludes, “Smoking is a political disease, a form of social and economic exploitation. It is as worthy of our attention as any other social evil.”
“WHAT DISHONESTY COSTS YOU.” Conservative Christians usually react to the breakdown of the moral standards taught in the Bible as it manifests itself in the area of sins against the seventh commandment. We are properly alarmed by promiscuity, premarital sex, prevalence of divorce, and the many abortions which in large part reflect illicit sex especially by young people. A challenging article in Eternity for April, 1982, calls attention to the fact that this breakdown of morality and departure from godliness are also reflected in sins against the commandment, “You shall not steal.” Mrs. Betty G. Ulrich tells us various forms of employee dishonesty account for loss to business of some $40 billion a year. Shoplifting adds many additional billions to the cost of what we buy. Even more serious is what she calls “time pilfering,” when employees do not put in full time at their work; it has been estimated that this may total as high as $100 billion a year. These losses ultimately are paid for by the consumers, and we pay about five percent for such “retail shrinkage.” She quotes a large construction contractor as saying that failure to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay on the part of many construction workers adds as much as a third to the cost of a house. She challenges us by saying, “Perhaps one of the most important contributions God-fearing people can make to the society in which we live is to be scrupulously honest in every detail of our lives; to employ only truth in our dealings with others; to teach our children once more some proverbial moral precepts.”
