CHRISTMAS IN A TIME OF CRISIS

Once again the season is at hand when we consider the Savior’s birth. The loveliness of the manger scenes, the angels’ song, the shepherds, the Virgin Mother, Joseph, the Babe in swaddling clothes—all of it will again pass in review. The lovely music of the carols will be mixed with the tinkling of the cash register in department stores; dance halls and taverns and night clubs will blare it into the streets.

It was a wicked world into which Jesus came. Its heartlessness and violence matched that of the ante-diluvian period. But this manger and all it stands for was diametrically opposed to all this world cherished and loved. Jesus was the stone released from the mountain to demolish the image with the feet of iron and clay in Daniel’s vision. We need not now belabor the point whether it was a time of crisis; certain it is that it produced a perpetual crisis. From now on the world will never be the same.

It is a commonplace remark when heads of governments claim that we are living in one of the most critical periods of history. Crises and tensions so fill the air that those who speak of them almost bore us. International tensions fill the headlines of every newspaper. And there are others not so immediately apparent. There are crises in modern thought. A speaker of some renown addressing a graduating class in one of our leading universities said that there are no absolute standards of truth and morality in this world. “One man’s truth is another man’s falsehood,” he said. To which he might have added that today’s truth is tomorrow’s falsehood also.

This crisis in philosophy produces a crisis in morals. Rebellion and rioting among teenagers and university students arc becoming the order of the day. In 1960 a serious crime was committed every 15 seconds. There was a murder every 58 minutes, a forcible rape every 34 minutes, an aggravated assault every four minutes. For the past five years, according to the FBI, the crime rate has been rising more than four times as fast as the population. And to mention just in passing the sordid record of our sex-ridden age: between 1950 and 1958 illegitimate births increased over 45 percent; in 1958 alone 79,000 of the 308,700 illegitimate children were born of teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19.

Well, you say, what has all this to do with Christmas? Much and in every way. Christmas no longer produces the crisis. O yes, Herod and the Roman Emperors understood it, Russia and China understand it well. But a large section of the godless world, or should we say the so-called Christian world, inspired by an apostate church, no longer disowns this Manger. Instead it annexes it. Don’t we boast of a religious revival? Aren’t we very pleased with ourselves that church membership is at an unprecedented high? Are not fabulous sums expended on costly churches. and arc not vast treasures earmarked for religious and philanthropic causes? And this coming Christmas all of this ,vill get another shot in the arm. A “religious” revival plus a rise in crime and a decline in public morality! Secularism and debauchery and “religious” revival seem to go hand in hand. Can you conceive of a greater anomaly? Are the words of Jesus no longer true: “for judgment am I come into this world”?

Where is the voice that will proclaim once again, loud and clear, that the Manger is the world’s judgment? Not the final judgment of course, not the one that will irrevocably seal its doom, but the judgment that condemns in order to create a new beginning, a new world, a kingdom of righteousness and peace. Well may we pray and resolve that this voice will be heard from our pulpits this coming season. Peace on earth; yes, but only by destroying the false peace. The peace established by casting fire upon the earth. The peace of the Manger that sets father against son, mother against daughter, if need be. Not annexation. but uncompromising opposition to a godless world and a. sham religiosity which is sheer hypocrisy. That is what Christmas must mean in this time of crisis.

Blessed peace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ incorruptibly.

C.H.

DISTORTED PRAYERS

As a rule ministers in regular service rarely have the opportunity to attend services in other churches. However,. an occasional visit to churches of other denominations. works no harm and may be beneficial to them. Some years ago my wife and I spent our vacation in one of our large eastern cities. We decided to attend as many different churches as we could and succeeded in hearing seven or eight different ministers.

Of course we knew that certain forms of worship and emphases would be different from ours. For that reason we earnestly sought to suppress prejudices and suspicions. We tried our best to join in worship with open minds and in a spirit of proper appreciation.

Now it is not my purpose to write about our reactions. to every feature of these worship services. However, there was something about the prayers offered by the ministers in these services (the minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church being the only exception) which was so general and so striking that it could not escape our attention. I hesitate to write about this, because I dislike to criticize anyone’s prayer. Prayer is meant to be an expression of the most intimate communion between man und God and, therefore, generally speaking, too delicate to be judged by man. Nevertheless, when one discovers unbiblical trends in prayer he cannot help censuring them. That was the case with the prayers mentioned. Indeed, confessions of sins were made in these prayers, but practically invariably and exclusively only of sins committed against fellowmen.

This made us think. For this feature was so general that it could not be due to an unintentional oversight on the part of the ministers. Doubtless, a definite view or theology produced this exclusive emphasis.

Naturally, we admit that Scripture condemns sins committed against fellowmen. The second table of the Decalogue is sufficient evidence for that. But our objection was that in these prayers the sins against fellowmen were not in any way considered sins against God. In fact sin; against God were not mentioned. There seemed to be no awareness with these ministers that sins against fellowmen are sins only because they are first of all sins against God. Apparently their corrupt theology forbade them to link the second table of the Law to the first, which, according to the words of Jesus, “is the great and first commandment.” That is to say, the first table is “great and first,” because it is basic to the second. No sin mentioned or implied in the second table can be defined without due regard to the first table. This defect is so basic that it is not only a distortion of the truth, but it also leads inevitably to erroneous views of God and of man. Ultimately it replaces theology by sociology.

Scripture denounces the position implied in these prayers. All sin is offense to God, “with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13) and he “is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). David does not deny in Psalm 51 that he has sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, but his confession is nevertheless, “Against thee [God], thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight.”

N.J.M.

CHURCHES GETTING MINISTERS

A large number of our Christian Reformed churches have been getting new pastors during the Last few months. Available for call was the goodly number of our candidates .as well as the impressive list of former Protestant Reformed pastors. Now may each church and its new pastor be richly blest together.

In these cases the availability of the fine number of men was announced. The congregations knew these men were .prepared seriously to consider calls—in fact, were awaiting; calls.

But the suitability of a particular person under consideration was also very important. In thinking of that it is so well to re-read the form for the installation of ministers. That reminds us of what should be looked for in a pastor. That raises our sense of values above certain rather common elements of appeal which are more popular than spiritual.

So a congregation calling a new pastor needs to know all it can about both the availability and suitability of a possible new minister. It should seek such information in an earnest and practical way. As soon as consistory and members know they will be needing a new under-shepherd they should prayerfully set about gathering data as to who might be both fit and procurable, enlisting our marvelous means of transportation and communication. While, of course, consistory takes the lead, prayerfully and earnestly members can aid.

This should not, and need not, by any means, lessen anyone’s implicit trust in God’s providential leading. A firm faith in divine guidance, control, and provision does not rule out the right use of means.

Thus while some may urge that we need more organization to aid us in placing pastors, it is likely that all will agree that we should make fuller use of the means already at hand. As churches feel their way toward prospective pastors, let them be as well-informed as possible. Let them make full proof of this approach, prayerfully looking for guidance and control to him who says; “Go” and “Come.”

Corneal H.

EVOLUTION – A SATANIC THEORY

Some years ago the late Whittaker Chambers, then an editor of Time, wrote an unusual article for Life. In it he imagined that he overheard a conversation in a New York nightclub on a New Year’s Eve, a conversation between a pessimist and Satan. The devil was discussing his Five Hundred Year Plan in Three Hundred Years, during which he had been operating ‘underground’—having convinced most people that he didn’t exist. Perhaps Chambers spoke more truly than he knew when he put these words into the devil’s mouth:

“Shall I ever forget the day when the prodigious thought of Evolution popped into my head?…It was but the work of a moment to transmit the idea to a human brain. Of course if I had called it adjustment or adaptation, nobody would have bought it. But Evolution—man, with his incurable, divinely inspired obsession with perfection, could not fail to snap it up±—one of my sublimest strokes, for the only trouble with it is that, as far as the human race is concerned, it simply ain’t so.” The Devil uttered a shrill cackle.

“…And how the little monsters snapped at the bait! In less than a century I had undone the work of more than a thousand years and knocked the studs from under the religious culture of Europe. Why? Because Evolution explained the universe without Him. They wanted to get rid of Him. Then I knew the secret longing of their nasty hearts. Then I knew I had them.”

It is regrettable that the editors of Life do not realize the tragedy of perpetuating Satan’s lie, which purports to explain the story of man apart from God. What a paradox, that a “special pre-Christmas offer” should ignore the very Christ by whom “all things were made” (John 1:3). The epic of man has no meaning apart from the Word who became man that he might redeem us from our sins.

-R. E. N. in Tile Presbyterian Guardian

“OPERATION ABOLITION”

No, I am not thinking of a recent film that is raising considerable dust. But now that the dust has settled on the Infallibility question, would it be out of place for our church to submit the office of the presidency of our seminary to a thorough re-evaluation and review?

Please note that we are considering the office, and that entirely apart from anyone who now or in the future may occupy it. 11y first question is; Do we need it? We have a faculty of eleven men and some one hundred students. Does the size of the institution demand this presidency, or do we have it merely because it is part of “the American way of life”? It is admitted that there is a certain amount of administration connected with any institution, consisting mostly, of office work, keeping of records, correspondence, etc. But this is mostly the kind of work which any competent secretary can do more efficiently and for half the salary that we pay a president. For this work we use a man who has been specially trained and is admittedly qualified to teach a definite field of theology. This is highly specialized work. Certainly it should be. But we make him president and load him down with “administration” so that he cannot properly discharge the duties to which he has been called. It is a matter of public record that we arc right now scouting for an assistant in his field because of this. To me it does not make sense to deprive the seminary of the intellectual labors of a specialist in a field. I am convinced it is not necessary.

There is a second reason why I like to see this office abolished. It is even more weighty than the first. We attach a weight and prestige to this office entirely out of proportion to its importance. Customarily in our country the president of an institution of learning determines its educational policy. He speaks for the institution. We do not operate thus. The church charters and commits our School to a certain course. Nevertheless, the idea of a governing presidency has taken hold. Recent history has demonstrated this. Tn a well known protest the protestant charged that the President was committing the seminary to a certain policy. That charge was repudiated, and rightly so. Nevertheless the President’s voice is regarded as being the voice of the institution. To my mind it should bear no more weight than the word of any other professor. But in the popular mind this official is the primus inter pares (the first among equals).

The seminary belongs to the church, and the professors are the servants of the church. Let the faculty elect a presiding officer for their meetings and authorize him to speak for the institution in certain given situations. Not before our church commits herself permanently to the idea of a full-time presidency, let the powers that be thoroughly review and re-evaluate this whole problem. I submit we can get along without this office. And to take someone out of a highly specialized field for administrative work hardly makes sense. And to have a president who speaks for the seminary and determines its policy—the quicker we get rid of the idea the better.

C.H.