READERS' EXCHANGE

 

You have lifted many burdens from my life. I’m especially built up with the freedom of a greatly enlarged “family.” I was exclusive for a long time. - Charles Hudson

You encourage me to stay with the Church of Christ even though I am not getting the depth of Bible learning that I hunger for. I have to go to the local Presbyterian church during the mid-week to “get into the word.” Why are there so few Bible scholars in the Church of Christ? Your publication is a Church of Christ oasis, and our desert is dry. - Janelle Thomas, Aurora, Co.

We have preachers’ meeting in our area of both non-instrument and instrumental preachers. One of the men who attends says he is an old friend of yours. His name is Darrell Bolin. Like myself, he has a great burden for the restoration movement and is concerned over our divisions. We all look forward to the day when all brethren will once again meet in unity - Thomas R. McKeone, Coudersport, Pa.

I wish we could persuade people to use the Good News Bible. It is much easier to understand. But the King James holds the throne in most minds, and they are afraid of anything else. Last Sunday someone read from the Living Bible and several complimented him, for they could see the difference and better understood what was read. I don’t care much for the Living Bible since it is a paraphrase, but at least it points up the value of other translations. - Percy Faenger, Bonne Terre, Mo.

The most memorable article is “The Church of Christ of Tomorrow.” It is gratifying and encouraging to have one’s prayers and hopes so beautifully put into words and laid before one’s eyes. Thanks for verbalizing what so many of us have been sporadically rolling over inour minds. My study of the Memoirs of A. Campbell has shown me how wrong I was about him. If he showed up in a Church of Christ today, the comments he would feel compelled to make would not doubt cause him to be disfellowshipped. --- Marsha and Phil Elam, Chattanooga, Tn.

We really do appreciate Restoration Review, but I believe you goofed in your assessment of the average preacher’s salary in the June issue. While a beginning floor sweeper in this area’s largest factory does surpass $25,000 yearly, most of the churches of which I am aware pay far less. A more accurate average is the $12,000 to $18,000 range, with some much lower. --- Stan Daulton, E. Peoria, Il.

(One must remember that in Texas everything is bigger. Even the baloney, cut it as you will! --- Ed.)

Its practically unheard of in this area among our brethren to admit that there are “possibly” Christians in any of the denominations. --- Marguerite McSpadden, Dumas, Tx.

(This would sound strange to our pioneers who launched a movement “to unite the Christians in all the sects.” How can you unite the Christians if there are none to unite? It is just as well that Churches of Christ are gradually overcoming the “only Christians” complex, even if west Texas has to come in last! --- Ed.)

I want to thank you for showing me and countless others that thinking and using our minds about issues that the “Church of Christ” censures is not unhealthy or wrong, but is essential in our search for Jesus. There are many of us across our great country who will carry your dream of an open fellowship, free grace and unquenching love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. --- David Woods, Wharton, Tx.

It should be clear, it seems to me, to anyone who studies history seriously, that it is not possible to re-establish the first century church in the twentieth. It is a contradiction to promote such ideas, and only serves to deceive the credulous to continue fighting the old battles. One point that I have never seen given any serious consideration by any of our conservative people would perhaps help open new thoughts. It is that the “New Testament church” did not have or know the New Testament. Therefore, all the nonsense about the second and third century church drifting away from the clear teaching of the New Testament is completely irrelevant . . . Our people have frequently made so much of the notion that the Bible is “the Word of God” which the church was given to be its “inerrant” and “infallible guide, that they have overlooked the point that the church didn’t even have the NT until the fourth century. Therefore, the NT church we say we have restored must be a church that does not have the NT. --- Comer Shacklett, Westfield, NJ.

 

The 1980’s will be a tough decade for periodicals and newspapers. Many have already closed down. The old law of the survival of the fittest will be at work, and it may take in its wake some publications that are altogether worthy. The way things are going periodicals may have to be issued on a “plus postage” basis. This is our way of saying we need your help now more than ever. While we receive unsolicited donations that really make a difference, we are only asking that you remember others when you renew your sub. “You are our epistles” applies in this case, for we have no way of getting the word around except through you. Our sub rate goes up in January but only moderately. You can still send the paper to others at only 2.00 per name per year, no limit, counting your own renewal. Pray with us that in this, our last decade, we may reach as many searching hearts as possible.