OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

J. C. Reed writes from his corner of remote Peten, Guatemala to the effect that the work is slow and difficult even after ten years of labor. Thousands are hearing him by radio. His part of Central America has very poor medical facilities: no psychiatric clinic at all, and even in the general hospital in the capital they are understaffed and poorly equipped. They use dishes without washing them and disposable needles are used over and over, and the doors and windows go without screens.

Philip Roseberry, for several years a worker in the Shiloh program in a New York ghetto, was shot to death on June 30. This was while in the line of his usual duties in Brooklyn. The motive for the murder is not known, nor have the killers been apprehended. Philip was an exemplary young man. He had been working for five years among blacks in the slums on very limited income, which is all the more reason some of us would like to help his young widow, who is expecting her first child soon. I recommend this cause as highly worthy, and those who receive your money will handle it responsibly. If you want to help, mark it for Donna Roseberry and make your check to Camp Shiloh, Inc., Box 627, Mendham, New Jersey 07945. It is tax deductible.

The Bossier Church of Christ in Bossier City, Louisiana had a “Why I Left” lectureship during the summer. One preacher revealed why he left the Pentecostal Church, another the Baptist Church, another the Adventist. One came from Illinois to tell why he left the Roman Catholics. Others explained why they left the Methodists and the Adventists. But it was Texans and a Californian left to tell of their meanderings within the Restoration family. A brother from Gladewater told why he left “the Non-Bible Class Church” and one from Tyler spoke of his former days with the Christian Church. The brother from Long Beach explained “Why I Left the Institutional Churches of Christ.” That left James W. Adams of St. Augustine, Texas to do the honors with “Why I Never Left the Church of Christ.” If you know us well enough, you can tell which of our “loyal” churches brother Adams was referring to. At least one person in the audience might have wondered what all the shifting around meant in terms of one’s relationship to Jesus.

The Chronicle from Nashville tells of four more Christian Church preachers who have been “baptized into Christ,” along with two Baptists and a Church of God man, by the Marvin Bryant ministry. All who believe in the “one baptism” should repudiate this sectarian practice. This journal holds that it is sinful to “baptize into Christ” people who have already been immersed into him. If our brothers wish to move from one party to another party, we can only regret that our divisive ways makes such possible, and we have no right to complain. But to sectarianize the “one immersion” is a different matter and we deplore that this continues to go on in the name of “gospel work.”

A black teacher at Abilene Christian College has been serving as minister to the Central Church of Christ in Abilene. This is one of the few instances, if not the only one, among us where a Negro is the No. 1 minister in a predominately white congregation. The congregation has only a few black families, as west Texas generally has a very low percentage of Negroes.

Alex Solzhenitsyn has reported to the American press, which he files his complaints against, that there is a spiritual revival going on throughout Russia. He sees this as most significant, for it threatens the materialistic philosophy of Communism and could well redirect the future of the nation. When he was asked what America might gain from the Russians in the future, his answer was spiritual renewal. The resurgence is affecting all churches, he says, as well as the whole of Russian life.

A study between Lutherans and Roman Catholics has resulted in the publication of a 200-page document that questions the claim of the primacy of Peter. It is an ecumenical effort to understand the role of Peter in the New Testament, with special attention given to Matt. 16:18-19. Neither the Protestant nor the Roman Catholic position is defended. The Protestants have neglected to recognize Peter’s prominence while Roman Catholics have assumed him to have authority beyond that of the other apostles, which the study finds unlikely. Eleven scholars spent 45 hours discussing the question. They noticed with interest that Jesus once called Peter Satan. The scholars will continue their study of Peter in the Patristic (church fathers) period of the church and in subsequent history.