OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

During the holidays Ouida and I met with old friends that we’ve known for half a century, but for most of that time we’ve been out of touch, R. D Rawlings of Dallas, now a widower, and Larry and Jane Grounds. I was amazed how much older the rest of them looked! Larry, R. D., and I recalled how we used some questionable methods of evangelism in our youth, such as passing out anti-Catholic tracts following mass at the Dallas cathedral. It caused such a stir that the police were called, not to arrest us but to protect us. We agreed that we then had more zeal than wisdom, but we had one redeeming quality in that we were sincere and meant well. We recalled the adage “Young men for courage, old men for wisdom,” and wondered why life could not be such that young and old alike could be both wise and courageous. It was good for Ouida to get away for a few hours and laugh over old times, even if she was the youngster in the crowd with all the rest of us already in our 70’s. During the same trip to Dallas we visited another dear friend of many years, Lois Tate, who at 96 lives in a nursing home and is still alert. And we had Christmas Eve dinner with my sister and her prolific offspring, one of whom, Boone Powell, a grandson, is a star line-backer for the Texas Longhorns. He assured me they would beat Miami in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day and be declared national champions. I am not so sure. He’s a big guy and handsome! Our daughter Phoebe sat with Mother Pitts while we were on this Dallas binge.

There are three denominations that are traditionally “peace churches,” the Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren. The mainline churches have generally supported the “just war” concept, and they have had little in common with the pacifist churches. A recent exception to this is a movement among the Baptists called the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America which has recently issued a “Call to Prayer and Fasting” in view of what they call “the rush to war in the Persian Gulf.” In the “Call” they contradict the assumption “that our Lord’s admonition to love our enemies is sentimental counsel only for the weak and the resigned,” and they urge that we write our elected officials and insist that war in the Gulf is not inevitable and that a peaceful solution must be found. They urge that Christians everywhere fast and pray for peace, and ask that we sign a pledge to do so. Their address is 499 Patterson St., Memphis, TN 38111.

Olan Hicks, a Church of Christ minister, writes voluminously and travels widely in an effort to free our people from what he believes to be a legalistic and oppressive position on divorce and remarriage. He holds the position that any divorced person has the right, under God, to marry. In spite of bitter opposition he has done much to bring our people to a more compassionate and a more biblical position. His arguments are so compelling that the hard liners will no longer debate him. In his newsletter he tells how amusing incidents sometimes accompany his serious mission. One editor rebuked Hicks for saying that a man “could but ought not” divorce his comatose wife. Hicks rejoined by noting that according to the hard line Church of Christ view a man could murder his comatose wife and be forgiven for it and afterward remarry, but he can’t divorce his comatose wife and be forgiven for it and afterward remarry! We are “a peculiar people,” aren’t we? If you would like to receive Olan Hick’s newsletter the address is Gospel Enterprises, Box 1253, Searcy, AR 72143.

We will announce again as we did last month that with this January issue we begin our last two-year cycle of publication. The final number of this journal will be December 1992. It will encourage us greatly and will help us to do more good our final two years if you will send us a list of new readers. You can do this in a club of three or more for only $4.00 per name. How about helping us have a strong finish.