Restoration Review, Vol. 31, No. 8, October 1989

OUR CHANGING WORLD

I suffered a rather severe allergic reaction from a drug I was taking, and as a precautionary measure my physician put me in the hospital. Unable to work for more than a week and with Ouida having me to take care of as well as her mother, we are both behind in the affairs of this journal, including the shipment of books and correspondence. We are hopeful that we can put this issue in the mail almost on time. We appreciate your patience. I am back at work, including classes I teach in Dallas, but I am not yet at full strength. Ouida is doing great and will accompany me, the Lord willing, to Arkansas City, Ks., Oct. 14-15, where I will have sessions with both the Random Road Church of Christ and the Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Those of you who may join us there may call Dr. Max Foster for further information, 316-442-5034.

In his crusade in Little Rock Billy Graham spoke out on the drug war, likening it to an invasion of our country by a foreign enemy, or even worse than that. He pointed to what drugs are doing to the most helpless of our society: babies, children, and pregnant women. He is especially concerned about what drugs are doing to our young people who get caught and can't get out. He cited the use of crack, where one hit can hook a person for life. "These are problems," said the evangelist, "but the big problem is that of sin in the human heart."

In a brochure announcing the Council on Christian Unity Luncheon, held during the summer at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, Paul A. Crow, president of the Council, wrote some of the most penetrating things I have ever read about division and unity. He said division is caused by self-sufficiency, living within isolated, self-drawn walls. No reconciliation is possible, he said, without confessing our divisions, dying to ourselves, and calling upon God to shape the church as God wills. He went on to say that unity calls us to costly advocacy, to making it central in all decision-making phases of the church's life, that unity lies at the heart of the church's mission and caring for peoples of the world.

We have followed with great interest the making of the film, Wrestling With God, on the life of Alexander Campbell. It has at last all been shot, mostly at Bethany and under great trial and hardship, even in the rain. It should be ready to show by December. Ouida and I invite you to join us in helping to fund this worthy cause. The film is worth about one million, but it was made for only $125,000. Only $15,000 is needed to complete paying for it. We will be informing you on when and how you will be able to see it. Donations, which are tax deductible, should be sent to: Stone-Campbell Film Project, 3600 Berry Dr., Studio City, CL 91604.

I could easily fill this entire issue with the responses we have received from the piece I did in the last issue on my visit to a gay church. And it would make for interesting and informative reading! See under "Reader's Exchange" for a sample. The article was one more installment in a series I am still doing on my visits to all the churches in my home city, and not a treatise on homosexuality. I sought to be objective, as with all the churches I visit, and I tried to set forth both sides of the issues raised. The idea of a church for gays is of course repugnant to some people, just as homosexuality itself is a highly-charged emotional issue, one that some people just can't handle. Homophobiacs they may be, and I understand that since I too once feared homosexuals. So I was not surprised by the vigorous response, some of it emitting more heat than light, but I was surprised that some concluded from what I wrote that I approved of homosexual sins. It should go without saying, but I say it nonetheless for the sake of those that might sincerely conclude otherwise that of course I approve of no sexual sins, either homosexual or heterosexual. Yet I choose, as I believe Jesus did, not to condemn such ones but to save them. I do this by showing forbearing love and understanding toward all those who are caught up in very complex and baffling sexual problems, sometimes heterosexual and sometimes homosexual. I thought I detected in the responses a more basic problem: We have become a church that supposes it is better or less sinful than those sinners that we most disdain. This led me to write an article right out of my heart and mind. If you had any problem with the piece on the gay church, I hope you will read my "The Church As a Halfway House For Sinners" in this issue. It is not about homosexuality but about the nature of the church as I understand it. I welcome your response.