| READERS' EXCHANGE |
Alone
In The Toilet
Ouida
has been intrigued of late with Khrushchev Remembers as it has
appeared in serial form in Life, and I have just now read
Harry Schwartz’s review of the book in Saturday Review.
Ouida sees the former Russian premier as a rough and tumble guy
who had a lot going for him, but most of all she likes to be taken
behind the scenes and shown the realities of political chicanery. She
learned that Nikita played his political poker with the cards held
close to his chest. The way the old boy took care of Beria and gained
the premiership for himself was so exciting to Ouida that she could
hardly wait to get to the next paragraph!
Among
the things that impressed Mr. Schwartz is that Khrushchev advocates
opening the borders of Russia to all who wish to come and go, that
even the Russians be allowed to go anywhere and stay as long as they
please. Someday that will surely be the case, which should be
encouraging to those among us who may be eyeing Russia in terms of
Christian witness.
But
the point that impressed me above all others, being as untoward as I
am, was Khrushchev’s observation about Stalin that he could
only face certain truths when he was alone in the toilet. It caused
me to ask myself how one’s aloneness in the toilet might
reflect his measure as a Christian. The point is relevant because
these days it is only in the toilet that one is likely to be alone.
And Stalin may have had it on most of us in that he could at least
face up to truth in the toilet, while most of us never do. The
philosopher Whitehead once defined religion as that which one does
when he is alone. Religion in the toilet! Something to think about.
It could be a quiet moment for prayer, a time to think, or to cover a
few more pages of The New English Bible. Or if you are as bold
and relaxed as Stalin, a time to face up to truth. Good luck.
Some
Are Encouraged
The day I receive Restoration Review I
find myself reading late at night, wanting to finish it before going
to bed. And then after I finish I can hardly go to sleep, thinking of
the challenge Christ gives to our lives.—Florida
My eyes have failed so much that I can read only
with a strong glass. And that is not very satisfactory to one who has
always been able to read at anytime and most of the time. But I will
renew as I can get something worthwhile from Restoration
Review.—Ohio
I have been bumming copies of Restoration
Review for several months now and have decided that it is time
that I send in my own subscription. They are getting to be
collectors’ items and no one wants to loan copies anymore.
Several years ago I quit reading “brotherhood papers.”
They were too negative and discouraging. Then some good brother
handed me several copies of Restoration Review one Sunday. It
has been a long time since I have been interested in anything enough
to read until 4:00 a.m. Yours is the attitude and spirit of love we
must all develop if our “restoration movement” is to
succeed. Please don’t get discouraged, as others have. We
need you!-New York
I am especially interested in your experiences and perceptive
comments on the racial integration situation. It is a missionary
self-denial and openness to others that is characteristic of the true
Christian that leads to harmony between people.—Arizona
The dear people where I worship think we have
the Holy Spirit in direct proportion to the amount of scripture which
we know. I pity them so and pray earnestly that someway or somehow I
may be an instrument to help them to see that we have the Spirit in
such a different way and we must pray for him and pray that we will
let ourselves be led by him and influenced by him and thus be
Spirit-filled Christians.—Indiana
Bread
Upon the Water
At
the risk of further exposing myself to be the proud and egotistical
person that I am, I am sharing with you below the finest commendation
that a teacher can ever receive. This is unrelated to this journal or
brotherhood issues, but to my work in teaching a pilot course in
philosophy in high school, which some of you know about. This lad,
his father a college professor and his mother a high school teacher,
is among the brightest students that I have had in this blue ribbon
program. He later became a conscientious objector to war, which was
challenged by his draft board. He was asked to prepare a statement on
how he came to his position, which turned out to be an essay on his
intellectual history or his soul cultivation. The following is what
he said about his experience in my class in high school, which was
never intended for my eyes, but for the draft board. A copy was
finally sent to me when I was asked to write the board as to whether
I thought he was sincere.
The entrance into my life of Dr. Leroy Garrett was critical at this time in pointing out the direction that my life and my beliefs were to take. His course opened up to me the formal world of philosophy. The man himself illustrated to me a dedication to self.knowledge and a will to help and believe in others. It was Dr. Garrett who inspired and aided me to enter Yale University, and it was through this man that I was able to carry with me there a belief in mankind. From Plato I was reassured that through reasoning man may find guidance to justice. From Paul TiIlich I gained belief that man may overcome his essential estrangement from himself and the world, that one may travel beyond despair and find the courage to be. From Martin Buber I gained insight into human relations—the need for trusting another, for treating him as a “Thou” and not an “it” to be used for one’s own purposes.
He
goes on to tell of Gandhi, E. M. Forster’s essay on Tolerance,
Sartre’s concept of freedom, etc. If nothing else, the
draft board should have decided it would have been against national
interest to expose this kind of potential brainpower to the
fire-power in Vietnam! They decided he was sincere and excused him
from military service.
When
I read a commendation of a teacher, whether of myself or another, I
think of my son Philip’s teacher back when he was in the second
grade. She had worked so hard to help him, his coming from Germany as
he had. So I wrote her a letter of warm appreciation. I learned later
that she circulated this letter among her colleagues, explaining that
it was the only letter of appreciation that she’d ever received
from a parent. Shortly after that she died of cancer.
So,
if you want to do something really decent, sit down and write some
hard-working teacher and say, “Well done, good and faithful
servant.”
Give
It A Try!
Readers
sometime write us and tell us in triumph that someone is now an
enthusiastic subscriber of Restoration Review because they
went to the trouble of passing along some of their copies. One such
letter came recently from California from a reader who loaned his
copies to a nearby minister. He was pleased to know that the minister
in turn had subscribed for himself. But he didn’t realize that
the preacher went on to purchase all our bound volumes, along with
sending warm letters of encouragement. The preacher happened to be a
long-lost friend of our early college days.
Please
believe that if you take enough interest in some of “the
concerned ones” that you know to pass along copies of
Restoration Review it will, in a high percentage of the
time, have good effect. Remember, ours is a spirimally-starved
brotherhood. Great numbers are eager to read something that
transcends the usual menu. If you do not care to keep your copies,
then pass them along each month to such an acquaintance. If you do
want to save them, the best way is to order our bound volume each
year, leaving your loose copies free to distribute to others. Better
still, order a fistful of our back issues. If you tell us they are
for sample copies, we’ll send as many as you want at 10 cents
each, including postage.
A
Spiritual Letter
Dear
Leroy and Ouida:
There
is a deeper spiritual walk available for every child of God today,
but sometimes one must take his guard down to receive what the Lord
has for him specifically. And when the guard is taken away, Jesus can
come in. The husband cannot lead the wife on this walk nor the wife
the husband. For one must let go of what he or she clings to most
dearly in order to take hold of the hand of Jesus. The husband cannot
take this journey for the wife nor the wife for the husband, for each
must seek the Lord first and “... all these things will be
added.”
It
is possible to be married as Christians for many years and then be
brought together “in the Lord” in a very beautiful way, a
way that is not without testing and chastening, all of which is
necessary for sanctification as we are changed from one degree of
glory to another. For once we truly give ourselves to him (Rom.
12:1-2) as a living sacrifice, we are covered by the blood (saved)
with spot and with blemish. But then His merciful hand
begins to purge us of our spots, and blemishes in His time and in His
way, so we will be pure and chaste as the bride prepares for the
bridegroom.
Man-made
walls in organized Christianity cannot be torn down by man, and
man-made doors that allow entry from either side remain man-made
doors. But the door of the sheep is Jesus. There is not enough time
left to point to all the walls built by man, whether in the Church of
Christ or some other denomination. There is only enough time left to
lift up Jesus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
that all who see may be healed, for when one truly sees Jesus, the
walls crumble. Our man-made walls will come down as the walls of
Jericho came down, by faith, when one sees Jesus.
There
is no other way. God is in the process of tearing down the walls
today, not by pointing to the walls, but by giving of Himself through
his Son by the Holy Spirit, and when this takes place, the things
that are divisive are no longer seen by Protestant, Catholic
or Jew. Those of high and low estate, the rich and poor, all become
one in a process that, to borrow a TV commercial, is undescribably
delicious, as Jesus, the manna which comes down from heaven, is fed
to the hungry.
Both
of you have been blessings to our lives.
Sincerely,
Jim Ash
Toward
Freedom
Nothing
thrills me more than to receive a letter from a liberated soul.
Perhaps I have been imprisoned just enough to know what it means to
be free, and I rejoice when some brother or sister declares himself a
free person in Christ, with no intention of turning back to “the
system,” despite all its carnal temptations. Here are samples
of what I mean.
For too long now I have been in bondage to a system, an entity which I once claimed didn’t exist. For too long I have been controlled by forces other than power from above. There are many like myself who have been contained through fear rather than made free by the love of Jesus. Praise God for opening my eyes to see a much larger fellowship than I have seen in the past. Praise God for the Unity which He creates, a Unity of the Spirit.—California
One only needs to read some from Mission Messenger, Integrity, and Restoration Review with an open mind to see that we’ve been kept in a shell. Always before I would read an article that seemed logical to my way of thinking, then I’d ask Brother So and So, and he’d tell me to forget it. But I’ve decided that Brother So and So might lose his job if he agreed. So now I read and look in the Bible and find sound doctrine for what I read and for what I’ve been thinking for years... I don’t like the catty way we cram these five items of worship down every one’s throat that sets foot inside the door—Tennessee