A CHRISTIAN HUMANIST MANIFESTO Eternity magazine for January, 1982, features the subject of secular vs. Christian Humanism. It attempts to confront the cultural and intellectual movement which has dominated much of our society, and especially public education, with a statement of the Christian alternative. Secular humanism came to expression in the Humanist Manifesto I (1933) and II (1973). Like these documents, “the Christian Humanist Manifesto declares the place of the human species in the universe—man’s origin, duty, and destiny.” A number of Christian scholars assisted the Eternity editors in drawing up the manifesto.
In these days when secular humanism is so much in the news—for example, in the creation vs. evolution case in Arkansas—Eternity has rendered the evangelical community a real service. Readers are invited to revise or amend the statement and send in suggestions. To stimulate further reading and thought on this subject the Manifesto is accompanied by an article on “Who’s Who on Humanism Hill” which reports on developments in this area as reflected in decisions of the courts, and gives a resume of recent films, books, and journals which attempt to expose secular humanism and state the Christian position. In addition to this there is a two-page Glossary of terms, both Christian and secular, that are frequently used in the discussion of these issues: common grace, creation ordinances, cultural mandate, image of God, Humanism, humanistic psychology, naturalism, scientific humanism, scientism, secular and secularism.
SYNODALISM In De Wachter of January 19, 1982, the Editor has taken over an article by the Rev. Henry De Moor that appeared in the Dutch Centraal Weekblad of October 14, 1981. The Dutch title is “Synodalisme,” by which the author means rule of the church from above by synod and classes in a way that does not do justice to the local consistory and congregation. In a very interesting way he contrasts the procedures of our Christian Reformed Church, in which he served until recently moving to the Netherlands to serve a congregation of the Gereformeerde Kerken, with the way things are done in the GKN. For the benefit of his Dutch readers Rev. De Moor outlines how agendas for classis and synod meetings are published well in advance of the meeting and sent to all consistories. Important matters are publicized in the church press. From his experience he gives examples of church members who took an active interest in matters before classes and Synods. In this way, ideally at least, the decisions of the broader assemblies can reflect the positions of the churches at the local level. In contrast with this he describes how things are done in the GKN, where not even the delegates sometimes know what is on the agenda before coming to the meeting of Classis. He describes his frustration as minister of his church in trying to get information about some important synodical decisions. Decisions are handed down without giving any account of the opposition arguments. He states, “Men wordt, zoals bij een Vatikaans concilie, beslissingen toebedeeld waar men alleen maar op kan reageren,” which freely translated means that decisions are handed down after the manner of a Vatican Council, to which one can only react. There is no real input from the bottom up and views of the opponents are not expressed in official reports.
De Moor writes, (translation by E.H.O.) “People are often offended nowadays that in the Christian Reformed Church so many voices are heard who cannot any longer value the bond with the Gereformeerde Kerken. I would like to point out that there it is the assumption that decisions of our general synod are representative of at the least a majority of our church membership. The realization that a great gulf exists between synod and congregation only arises after one has been able to experience it for months.”
He also suggests that the problem may not be wholly the fault of the broader assemblies, but may result from lack of interest on the part of local churches and members. All in all, the article should alert us to a real danger in our denomination also, that while we have the democratic apparatus that seems lacking in the GKN, abuse by the broader assemblies and indifference on the part of local consistories and church members can easily result in the loss of truly Reformed church polity in practice.
BIG TROUBLE AT THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHURCH That is the heading of a news item in Christianity Today for January 22, 1982. Can you imagine a congregation with 200,000 members, 12 ordained ministers, 260 licensed ministers and 15,000 lay leaders? Those are some of the statistics about Full Gospel Central Church of Seoul, South Korea. It constitutes about one-third of the membership of the Assemblies of God denomination in Korea, with 450 churches making up the other two-thirds. The reason why this super–congregation got in the news, however, is not its size, building program (plans are to enlarge the building to hold 40,000!), nor its mission and television ministries. The “big trouble” in the church concerns the founding minister, Paul Yonggi Cho, who has been accused by denominational leaders of being a heretic because of his concessive stand on veneration of the dead. In the Orient generally parents are highly respected, and in several religions this respect carries over into ancestor worship. This has been a matter of controversy ever since Roman Catholicism came to Korea in 1625. Leaders of other denominat ions and missions have been drawn into the uproar about Paster Cho. The article concludes, “Certainly the surprising uproar over Pastor Cho’s remarks indicates that there is a need for the Christian church in the East to develop a theology that deals with ancestral rites.”
Elco H. Oostendorp is a retired Christian Reformed minister living at Hudsonville, Michigan.