READERS' EXCHANGE

 

While I have never met you personally, I have learned to love and appreciate you. I pray the Lord will bless you in your efforts to heal the divisions that afflict us, and will give you a long life in his vineyard, and that you may see much fruit from your labor. We who are the heirs of the pioneer restoration effort have a precious message for all Christians, if we can cleanse it of our prejudices. sectarian bias, and assumption of infallibility, and if we can learn tolerance toward brethren within our own group, so that we can speak with harmony and love. — Vernon D. Parrott, 426 Live Oak Lane, Weatherford, Tx. 76086

When I get Restoration Review I take it to bed with me, and if I can see well enough I read every word before I go to sleep. My eyes usually give me a lot of worry before I finish what I want to read, for I have cataracts. I can see and then I can’t. It is very annoying, for I love to read. — Elisabeth Neal, 1409 Van Ness, San Francisco 94110 (84 1/2 years old)

I especially note the vivid secondary role women are given in the Churches of Christ. In many places a single working woman can give of her means regularly. perhaps supporting more than some of the men, and they won’t even allow her a voice in the voting on building. program, or anything. — Talmadge McNabb, 1401 Elm, El Paso 79930

I appreciate your wonderful attitude toward your fellow man and toward God and His Word. To me that makes most, if not all the difference, between a real Christian and a church member. I fear my attitude has prevented my service to the Lord and my fellow man. And it is late in life to learn such a valuable lesson, though I am thankful to see as much of it as I have. I am 82. — J. Scott and Mary Greer, Brandon, Florida 33511

I was raised with such a narrowminded attitude in the Church of Christ, but reading your paper over a period of three years has helped me get over such an attitude. Thank God, my husband and I consider ourselves free in Christ now. We want to accept everyone who claims Christ in love without asking any questions. As my husband says, “By their fruits you shall know them.” — Rose New, 1862 6th Ave., Clarkston, Washington 99403

I grew up in the Church of Christ and preached for it for 20 years. Needless to say that I love the Church of Christ. Such an awakening was long in coming, but at last I recognized that I was calling upon people to join a party and this distressed and disillusioned me no end. I can no longer play party games nor can I sing party songs. I did not realize what joy God had in store for me. The day that I knelt in Trinity Christian Church, in complete poverty of spirit and prayed. “God put it back together for me. I can’t,” a turning point came in my life that has filled me with joy unspeakable. He has given me His Holy Spirit in a way that I have never known and how marvelous it is. — Berwyn Tate, 12119 Queensbury, Houston, Texas 77024

I am glad that in your paper there is such a thing as liberty or freedom. And that there are no law trips coming down. Yours in Jesus, only with the Spirit bearing witness. — Gary W. Campbell, minister, Taos Church of Christ, Box 230, Taos, New Mexico 87571

I just finished reading your June, 1972 issue and was thrilled by the events at the unity forum in California. I would like to receive more cheering news of this nature, as well as the articles concerning our movement and truths found in God’s Spirit. I am a graduate student (M.A. in Old Testament under John Willis) at ACC. — Ken Chaffin, 1680 Ambler, Abilene, Texas 79601

Praise the Lord! I t has been almost a year since Jesus healed me and filled us with His Holy Spirit (as previously reported in Restoration Review), and what a wonderful, glorious year it has been. Many have contacted us by mail, phone, or personally who are searching for the reality of a risen Savior and the power promised to us as Christians for a happy, victorious, and fruitful life. We have full assurance through the Word that whatever we ask according to His will it will be granted. We encourage those who inquire of us to study God’s Word, not in order to uphold or defend a given position, but to learn what God is saying, then act accordingly. — Carla Myers, 5313 Berget, Amarillo, Texas 79106

My family and I worship with the Burke Road Church of Christ in Pasadena and appreciate the first article in your September paper. I would like to share it with friends and wonder if there are any extra copies. I praise the Lord for the influence of such men as yourself, Carl Ketcherside, and our “own” Wes Reagan. — Ron Foster, 1601 Deer Ave., Deer Park, Texas 77536

(These letters are from women as well as men, young as well as old, charismatics and non charismatics, clergy and laity and even former clergy. Though selected at random from our files, they represent the changing face of the brotherhood. Our youth are hopeful and our aged continue to mature in a revolutionary era. Such letters as these could not have been only a few years back. We should thank God and take courage. He is giving us that love that believes all things, endures all things, and hopes all things. B. F. Skinner, the controversial Harvard psychologist, says that beauty is reinforcement. I like that. These letters reinforce me; my travels reinforce me. They keep me believing, hoping, praying, working. And that is beautiful. — the Editor)