OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

Occasionally a congregation that split into two factions long ago (people forget the reasons why!) finally get back together. This happened with a Church of Christ out in our county only recently. They are once again one church. When asked how they managed to effect a union after so many years, they explained that it only took a few good funerals. It is odd, isn’t it, how folk can hold both the joy of Christ and grudges against each other in their hearts? Or is this possible? Be that as it may, I doubt if we can count on funerals as a means to a greater unity of the church at large.

In a recent issue of Firm Foundation, Buster Dobbs, one of the editors, wrote: “When you think about it, the accusation, ‘You think you are right and everyone else is wrong!’, is not easy to answer. How can you answer it? What is one expected to say? Shall we answer, ‘Oh, no, no, a thousand times no, I don’ think I am right; I think I’m wrong’.” This implies that one must accept one extreme or the other. There is a more acceptable option. I can believe that I am right without necessarily concluding that all others are wrong. This is not relativism. It only recognizes that there are vast areas in which Christians can and do differ, and while each of us should be firm in what he believes, he does not have to be judgmental toward those who differ with him.

Princeton Seminary, conducted by the United Presbyterian Church, has a new president, Thomas W. Gillespie, who is a Pepperdine graduate. In an interview he was asked what he believed about homosexuality, legalized abortion, nuclear disarmament and divestment, the latter being a reference to the demand that institutions withdraw all investments in South Africa enterprises because of their practice of apartheid. I was impressed with the forthrightness of his response. “Homosexuality, whatever its etiology may be, is not a part of God’s intention for human sexuality, and homosexual behavior is a form of sin,” he said. While abortion is the taking of human life, there are circumstances in which human life might be taken responsibly, he observed. He sees nuclear disarmament as necessary, but it cannot be unilateral. Both investment and divestment are part of Christian stewardship, he insisted, and they are subject to the lordship of Christ. He added that all four issues are critical and complex and that his mind is open to new insights. Always a pastor, the new president has learned to speak his mind and keep it lean. We hope that after a decade as president he will still be able to speak and say something!