            The
      STAAlf2AR.D
c      BEARE
             A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



       This is a special issue of the  Standard
     Bearer,  The major portion of this issue is
     devoted to transcripts of two pertinent lec-
     tures on the general subject of the Christian's
     antithetical calling with respect to the amuse-
     ment-question. These lectures were delivered
     by Prof.  H:  Hanko and Rev. G. Van  Baren in
     the Grand Rapids area. So that our readership
     around the world may share the instruction of
     these lectures, we are publishing both of them
     in full in this issue. To provide space for this
     purpose we eliminated several of our regular
     departments.
       Reprints of these lectures may be obtained
     by writing to our Business Office.

c                                                Volume LIV, No. 19, August 1, 1978 -
                                                          iS6N  -  0362  - 4692


434                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


                      CONTENTS:                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                          Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                               Second  Class  Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
Pleasures of Babylon in Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . .434     Editor-in-Chief:  Prof.:Homer  C. Hoeksema
                                                                 Department Editors:  Prof. Robert  0. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                 Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
The Pleasures of Babylon (Dancing) . . . . . . . . . . .443      Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                 Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney  Miersma,
                                                                 Rev. Marlnus Schlpper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                 Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                 Vink.
Synod of 1978 - A Report (Continued) . . . . . . . .450          Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITA TIO N

                 Pleasures of Babylon in Jerusalem
                                                       Pro.f H. Hanko




   The question which we discuss tonight is beyond               Church passed some decisions in which various types
any doubt important and serious. The fact that so                of entertainment were condemned as being incom-
many are gathered. here tonight is an indication of              patible with the life of the child of God in the midst
deep concern for the problem of entertainment in the             of the world. But in recent years the Synod of the
Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                 Christian Reformed Church has overturned those
  The problem may be considered from more than                   decisions and has officially put its stamp of approval
one point of view. It is, for example, in some                   on dancing and movie-attendance.
denominations, and particularly in the Christian Re-                But even though the problem may be an ecclesias-
formed'church,  an ecclesiastical problem. By that I             tical one in some circles, it may very really be a
refer to the fact that it is a problem which has been            personal and practical one in any circle of believers. It
officially considered and upon which decisions have              is not my intention tonight to dwell at length upon
`been made by ecclesiastical assemblies. As all of you           what I consider to be the error of the decisions of the
know, in 1928 the Synod of the Christian Reformed                Synod of the Christian- Reformed Church when it


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                435



condoned dancing and movie-attendance. The danger              that the tidal waves of worldly corruption are
is very real that a lengthy analysis of those decisions        stemmed. If `we deny the antithesis, either in doctrine
would leave us at easein Zion and would be conducive           or in life, then worldliness, carnality, and the evils of
to our failing to recognize that the problem is very           men about us, sweep over the church to engulf  hers
real in our `own fellowship. It may not be an ecclesi-         and to destroy her.
astical problem with us as Protest-ant Reformed
Churches, and as a matter of fact, we know that it is          THE IDEA OF THE ANTITHESIS
not. It is not even a problem with the preaching be-              Our first question is, therefore: What precisely
cause, insofar as I know the preaching, the preaching          does Scripture mean when it speaks of the antithesis?
is constantly warning against the dangers of worldly
entertainment as it has made its inroads into the lives          The word antithesis comes from two other words:
of the people of God. But the problem is, nevertheless,        the preposition "anti," which means, "against"; and
very real. And the problem is very real because no one         the noun "thesis," which means, "that which is set
here would deny the fact that, although as far as the          forth." If, for example, one is writing a paper or an
doctrinal principles are involved, we stand foursquare         essay on a particular subject, then any good English
upon the Word of G             there is nevertheless a very    composition teacher will say that it is important, first
                         pd
troubling discrepancy bktween our confession which             of all, to have a thesis which will be a positive,
we make with our mouths and the confession which               concise statement of the main idea to be developed.
we make with our lives. The problem is very real for           But if that subject is to be developed properly, then it
all of us: for you and for me, for our children, and           will be necessary also to propose what would be
for our young people.                                          called the antithesis, that is, that which takes the
                                                               opposite position from the thesis, that which is
  If we analyze the problem, then at its deepest root          against the thesis. That is always important because it
the problem is one of an understanding of the truth            is by means of the negative that the positive can be
of the antithesis. If the problem of worldly entertain-        truly developed.
ment in the church arises out of doctrinal aberration,
this is because of the fact that the doctrines of the an-        However, when we speak of the antithesis, we
tithesis have been compromised. But, if on the other           apply that term to the moral, ethical life of man in
hand, the doctrine is sound but practice is wrong and          the world. Man is  * created to live in a moral and
the world has made inroads into the church, then it is         ethical relation to God. That means that there is,
because the doctrine which we confess with our                 about his life and his calling in the world, something
mouths no longer is a doctrine which is expressed in           positive and something negative. God wills it that
the lives we walk in the world. The antithesis may be          way. God wills that man's calling in the world have a
maintained as far as the principle is concerned, but it        positive and a negative aspect to it.
is in fact denied in our lives.                                   This was already true of Adam in Paradise. God
  Therefore, two things are required of us. First of           planted, in the middle of the garden of Paradise, the
all, it is required of us that we understand clearly and       tree of life. And God commanded Adam to eat of
concisely what the doctrine of the antithesis is. And,         that tree of life. To eat of that tree of life constituted
secondly, we must know and will to put it into                 for Adam the heart and core of his positive calling in
practice. Already back in 1936 Rev. Hoeksema, in an            relation to God. He was to obey God as God's
article  in the Standard Bearer on the subject of the          representative in the midst of God's creation; he was
antithesis, made what I would almost call a prophetic          to keep the garden in which God had placed him; he
comment:                                                       was to subdue the earth; he was to live in all  the_
       "And, therefore, we are truly Protestant Reformed       relationships of life out of the principle of obedience
    according as we will the antithesis. If we do not will     to God. But that in itself was not sufficient for Adam
    it, a head full of knowledge about Protestant              to express obedience to God. And so God placed in
    Reformed principles will be of no avail."                  the midst of the garden, in addition to the tree of life,
                                                               the tree of the knowledge of the good and the evil.
   It is, therefore, by means of a discussion of the           And concerning that tree, God said to Adam, "That
truth of the antithesis that I want to analyze the             tree is off bounds for you. That tree you are forbid-
entertainment problem. Our doctrine must be right,             den to eat. That tree must. represent to you this
first of all.' If our doctrine is right, then we know on       aspect of your calling, that there is always a negative
what basis we stand. But, we must also  will the               side to it. There is always a certain No that you must
antithesis, and all the doctrine in the world means            say." Adam's obedience to, God in this respect,
nothing unless the will to live antithetically is present      therefore, required of Adam that he always, in saying
with us. It is only then, `by means of a sharp defense         "Yes" to God, say "No" to that which is disobedient,
of the truth of the antithesis and by a will to live it,       "No." to that which is opposed to God. He must say


  436                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR-ER


 "No" to sin, "No" to the devil, who had fallen from               the eternal control and direction and determination
 heaven and who was already plotting the overthrow                 of the sovereign God. This results in a dualism which
 of man.                                                           is contrary to the whole of Scripture.
    It is an interesting and important question why this               Although that does not, by any means, minimize
 is true, why God wanted man's obedience to consist                man's responsibility for the fall, it is important,
 of this negative side as well as the positive. side. Why          nevertheless, to understand that God ordained finally
 is it that God was not content, so to speak, simply to            that the light of His glory and the light of His infinite
 give a positive command to Adam? Why is it that God               perfections would shine the brightest and purest
 insisted that there had to be, along with that positive           against the background of sin. You can understand
 command, a negative prohibition, so that Adam's life              that if you only think, for example, of the attribute
 of obedience was positive as well as negative?                    of grace. It is true, of course, that, even in Paradise
    The answer to that question is important because it            Adam stood by the grace of God. All that Adam
 really leads us to the heart of what the idea of the              received, even in Paradise, was pure, unmerited favor.
 antithesis is.                                                    But the grace of God is much more clearly,  much.
                                                                   more sharply, much more beautifully manifested
    We must proceed, at this point, from God Himself               when that grace of God is evident in this: that God
 and from God's own purpose. When God determined                   saves sinners, rescues them from the corruption of sin
 to reveal Himself, God determined to reveal Himself,              and death into which they willfully subjected them-
 of course, as the God of light, the God of infinite               selves, and makes of them saints.
 perfection, the God of holiness - pure unblemished
 holiness. And God determined that the revelation of                   The point is, and this is the point which has to be
 the light of His infinite perfections could best be               made,  God  creates the antithesis. That is very clear
 shown against the background of darkness. I would                  already from that fundamental principle statement of
 almost say that this is a fundamental principle of all            the antithesis in Genesis 3: 15: "I will put enmity
 of God's work. Even in the creation itself, when God              between thee `and the wokvun;  between thy seed and
 determined to reveal Himself through all the things               her seed." God creates the antithesis. The devil does
 which His hands had formed, He created the day and                not create it. Wicked man does not create it. God's
 the night so that the glories and splendors of the day            people do not create it. God does. God puts the
 could be seen and understood and appreciated only                 antithesis in the world. And God puts the antithesis
 against the background, and in contrast with, the                 in the world fundamentally through Christ, the seed
 night. In Paradise, as God created man as the highest             of the woman. He sets that antithesis in the world
 revelation -of His glory, God ordained that the same              through Christ in this way, that on the cross, as God
 fundamental principle ought to hold, that the glory               had said already, the head of Satan is crushed and the
 of God's holiness and righteousness with which God                power  of. Satan is destroyed. It is because of the
 had endowed man, would shine forth in man's life of               perfect work of Christ on the cross that God also
 obedience against the dark background of the disobe-              exalted Christ to a position of universal rule in heaven
 dience which God forbade. The clarity, the sharpness              where Christ at the right hand of God rules literally
 of  a. life of obedience could be seen only when it               over all God's creation, and rules literally over all
stood, so to speak, against the background of disobe-              rational, moral creatures whether they be saints or
 dience. It stands to reason that that was not very                sinners, elect or reprobate, righteous or unrighteous,
 clear in the garden of Eden; and it was not very clear            believers or unbelievers. And the principle of antith-
 simply because of the fact that until Satan tempted               esis in the world is realized, therefore, through the
 man to fall, there was still no real disobedience in              rule of Christ because of the fact that the rule of
 Paradise. There was the possibility in the tree of the            Christ takes on a different form in relationship to the
 knowledge of the good and the evil, but disobedience              ungodly than it takes on in relationship to God's
 itself was not yet present in the garden. It is for that          people. Christ rules over the ungodly in such a way
 reason that also the fall of man is, after all, under             that though they in their wickedness rebel against
 God's sovereign control. I do not want to argue that              Him and hate Him, and do all in their power to
 point tonight because that would carry us too far                 destroy His cause, nevertheless, they still serve
 away from our subject. But, nevertheless, the Scrip-              His purpose. That is the teaching, for example,
 tures are clear on that, and anyone who firmly                    of Psalm 2. "Why do the heathen rage, and the
 believes in the truth of the absolute sovereignty of              people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
 God will not make the mistake of saying that the fall             set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
 of man was a sad mistake which God had not                        against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let
 anticipated and over which He had no control; and                 us break their bands asunder, and cast away their
 therefore was, in effect, the introduction into this              cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall
 present creation of a principle of evil which is outside          laugh." God laughs mockingly. Why? Does He laugh


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                437



merely because the opposition of the ungodly is              only some could stand, a level in which men would
so feeble in comparison with His own omnipotence             turn their backs on the world and flee the, world.
that the ungodly cannot get anywhere? Oh no,                 They would renounce marriage; they would sell all
He laughs, if I may put it that way, because of              their possessions and take upon themselves the vow
the irony of the whole situation, the terrible divine        of poverty; they would become part of a monastic
irony that the wicked who oppose God and His                 order, and physically and geographically separate
Christ nevertheless, in all their opposition and in          themselves from the world to find isolation in some
everything they do, serve the purpose which God              dark, dank, damp cell. They lived on a much higher
has determined from before the foundations of the            level of morality than the common folk. And they,
world. Christ is King. He is King of kings and Lord of       by means of this higher morality, stood very, very
lords.                                                       close to God. Those who succeeded in this kind of
   But He rules over His people not that way, but by         life were destined for sainthood and for a special and
setting His throne within their hearts so that they          particular place in glory.
become, by a marvelous work of grace, citizens of the          That was a denial of the antithesis because it was
kingdom of heaven who bow in obedience before                the denial of this one fundamental truth of the
their King; who worship Him, and serve Him, and              Scriptures that this creation is God's world, God's
represent in the midst of the world His cause. God           creation. To use the words of the Apostle Paul when
puts the antithesis, therefore, in the world so that the     he writes to Timothy: "For every creature of God is
principle of disobedience, rebellion and opposition on       good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with
the part of the ungodly stands over against the              thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God
principle of the life of regeneration and faith which        and prayer." I Timothy 4:4, 5.
the people of God live, by which they show forth in
all their life the glories of the grace and mercy and          The denial of the truth of the antithesis of another
love of God.                                                 sort is to be found in the doctrine of common grace.
                                                             ,This view teaches that in the world of ungodly and
   So the antithesis is present in the world. God            unregenerate men there is a certain operation of the
shines through Christ in the lives of His people, but        Holy Spirit which results in the ability of the unre-
shines in all His holiness in the midst of the darkness      generated man to do good  in the sight of God. In
of sin in a fallen world under the control of Satan and      certain areas of life he is capable of doing that which
hell's hordes. God shines through the lives of His           is pleasing in God's sight. And because of this there is
people when they say "No" to sin and "Yes" to Him.           a certain area in which God's people and the wicked
There are two different kinds of people therefore: the       stand on common ground and in which,  from- a
elect and the reprobate, the godly and the ungodly,          spiritual point of view, they share one another's life.
the believers and the unbelievers, the friends of the        Already in 1928, when the Synod of the Christian
world and the friends of God. Both live out of               Reformed Church took its stand against worldly
entirely different principles which govern the whole         amusements, this idea was incorporated into the
of their life; both serve different masters; both seek       decision.
different goals; both march to the beat of different
drummers; both live in spiritual isolation from each           The question arises, what basis of fellowship there
other; and both arrive at different destinations when          can be between. the child of God and the man of
life's journey is finished.                                    this world. What have they in common which
                                                               makes a degree of communion possible and legiti-
HOW THE ANTITHESIS IS DESTROYED                                mate? . . . The solution is found in the doctrine of
                                                               common grace. . . . The- basis of our fellowship
   Now, it is possible to destroy that antithesis. There       with unbelievers should be . . . the grace, common,
are various ways to do it. It is possible to destroy that      which they have in common with us.
antithesis by means of false doctrine. The Roman
Catholic Church did that already prior to the time of        How does that sound in comparison with what the
the Reformation. And the Roman Catholic Church               Scriptures say in II Corinthians  6? "Be ye not
did that  by-~means of its doctrine of what we can           unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what
probably call "two-level morality." The Roman Cath-          fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
olic Church, as you know, taught that generally              and what communion hath light with darkness? And
speaking and on the whole it was all right for a man         what concord hath Christ with Belial?"
to live in the world and to make use of God's gifts in         In a recent issue of the Outlook, Rev. Vander Ploeg
the world; but nevertheless that was a lower level of        denied the fact that the doctrine of common grace
morality, a lower level of consecration to God. There        was the source and root of recent decisions regarding
was another level, a higher level, a  .more sanctified       movie-attendance and dancing. He said, "We may not
level. And that level of morality was a level on which       say," (addressing those words to us as Protestant


 438                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


 Reformed people), "that the Pandora's box of com-          be caught by the Russians. And it looks as if he might
 mon grace when opened leaves out all these troubles        have been right. But the same thing is true in the
 which have afflicted the church in the area of worldly     spiritual realm. The devil does not necessarily have to
 entertainment." Nevertheless, in spite of that asser-      wage open warfare against the church to destroyher.
 tion, to the embarrassment of conservatives in the         If war becomes necessary he is not at all hesitant to
 Christian Reformed Church, those who support               fight. But it is far more congenial to his thinking to
 movie-attendance and dancing appeal repeatedly to          conquer the bastions of Zion and to overcome the
 the doctrine of common grace as the principle justifi-     city of God by means of insidious propaganda and by
 cation for their position.                                 means of persuading the inhabitants of.Jemsalem to
   It is rather striking that there are certain propo-      adopt his principles in doctrine or in practice. That is
 nents of common grace who feared this danger. Dr.          the easy road for him. And that is the easy road
 Van Til, in his book, "The Calvinist Concept of            because, just as in any open conflict, the attacking
 Culture," himself a proponent of common grace,             army suffers far smaller losses by conquering the
 writes of those who use the doctrine of common             enemy through propaganda than by pitched battle; so
 grace amiss and who speak of a                             does Satan know that he suffers far less severe losses
   certain level of existence at which the army of the      if he can insidiously implant his ideas within the
   Lord is immobilized, where it does not function as       hearts of those who inhabit Jerusalem.
   an army, but suddenly takes on the appearance of           The trouble is that, when that sort of situation is
   crowds of vacationers, or the motley multitude at a      present in the church, then the church at last comes
   fair, pushing one another for a better position to       to view the enemy as being, after all, not such a grave
   see. Thus there is established between the church        threat. We look about us today in our country: we
   and the world a grey, colorless area, a kind of          endure no overt persecution; we live at peace with the
   no-man's land where an armistice~obtains,  and one       world; we share in the affluence of our prosperous
   can hobnob with the enemy with  impunity'in a            times. And as we look at the world about us and see
    relaxed Christian spirit, smoking the common            the world in its present attitude towards the church,
    weed.                                                   we say to ourselves, almost unconsciously first of all,
   This is what has happened. If the antithesis may be      but then later more consciously, "The world does not
 compared with a chasm, a spiritual chasm, the doc-         constitute such a grave threat to the church. They are
 trine of common grace is a bridge built across that        content to tolerate us; they are content with our
 chasm, on which bridge there is two-way traffic: the       presence in the world; they are content to leave us
 church running across that bridge to infiltrate the        alone. They seem even to be saying, `We are glad to
 world.                                                     have you along; feel at home among us; enjoy
   But it is also possible that the antithesis is not       yourselves with us; we will get along fine.' "
 denied doctrinally but, while the doctrine is sound,         And if the world is content to take such an
 the practice is faulty.                                    attitude towards the church, who are we to question
   Who will deny that the pleasures of Babylon are          that? Who are we to raise a big fuss about it? Who are
 found within our own circles? There is, I say, a           we to stir up trouble when the world wants none? Let
troubling discrepancy between what we profess on            well enough alone. But in the meantime we have
the  .basis of Protestant Reformed principles and the       forgotten the true spiritual character of the world
kind of lives we live in the world.                         regardless of what her attitude may be at any given
   It is not always necessary to deny the doctrine in       moment.
order to engage in wrong practices. It is entirely
possible that the attack against the church on this         HOW THE ANTITHESIS IS MANIFESTED
question of the antithesis comes from a different             The world of ungodly men is a world which is
source. Any enemy, fighting against another country,        totally depraved. You cannot maintain the antithesis
knows that there are two ways to capture the coun-          without sharply maintaining that fundamental truth
try. One is by means of open warfare; the other is by       of Calvinism which is called total depravity. This
means of insidious propaganda. If the opposing coun-        doctrine, let me remind you, means not simply that
try can be persuaded to adopt the principles of the         the world is evil, that wicked men are evil, that
enemy, no warfare is necessary. The Russians have           unregenerated men are evil in what they do. This
boasted that this is what they will do with our             doctrine means that unregenerate men possess a de-
civilization and our western culture. Khrushchev was        praved nature which is wholly under the dominion of
quoted as saying that it would not be necessary ever        sin. With the whole of their nature, heart and mind
to tight a war against capitalistic countries because by    and soul and strength, they are under the dominion
means of incessant and insidious propaganda the             of sin. And so complete is that sin which has an
apple of capitalism would fall rotten from the trees to     unbreakable grip upon them that their entire life is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                439



lived out of the one fundamental principle of hatred        you are, in all your conversation and in all your
of God, hatred of Christ, `and hatred of the Church         deeds, that this is the comment which the world
which represents God's cause in the world.                  makes as you pass by them down the pathway of life:
  The world is of darkness, the darkness of sin. The        we can see that they have been with Jesus? That is
darkness hates the light, always. There is always in        the antithesis.
the world of ungodly men the fundamental principle
of hatred of God which motivates everything they do.          That is. possible because the light of the infinite
It is the deepest, the most fundamental principle           perfections of God through Christ shine as light in the
governing the whole of their life. Everything they          darkness of this world of sin and death. And it is for
think, everything they desire, all the emotions they        that reason that, when that antithesis comes to
experience and manifest, all they are, all they pro-        expression in the lives of the people of God, then that
duce, all their undertakings, all their culture, is         life is characterized by this, that God's people are
fundamentally the product of opposition to God.             always required in obedience to God to say "No" to
  There are only two possibilities after all. You love      all that is of the world of sin, and to say "Yes" to
God or you hate Him. No man can serve two masters,          God. .Those  two are mutually exclusive. You cannot
Jesus says. Either he will love the one and hate the        say "No" and "Yes" at the same time, `to the same
other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the      thing. You cannot say "No" and "Yes" to Satan, and
other. That is always the way it is. If the ungodly do      "No" and "Yes" to God. You cannot do that. Nor
not love God, they hate Him. There is no such thing         can you say "Yes" to God without first saying "No"
as neutrality so that the ungodly live in a certain area    to Satan, "No" to that which is of this corrupt world;
of life under the.influence  of a kind of grace of God      it is impossible, spiritually, morally, ethically im-
in which they take a neutral attitude towards God           possible, `to say "Yes" to God without saying "No"
while leaving the whole question of their relationship      to sin. The yes implies the no, the yes cannot be said
to God an open question to be decided at some               without the no!
future date. Nor do their lives and attitudes towards         "Know ye not," James writes in his epistle, "that
the church reflect that neutrality. You love God or         the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"
you hate Him. You do one or the other. There is no          (James 4:4) Do you not know that? And the opposite
middle ground. And because apart from the work of           is true, too. Those who are the friends of God are
regeneration it is impossible to love God, man, who is      always the enemies of the world.
totally depraved, lives out of that deepest principle of      That antithesis is, therefore, a spiritual antithesis.
hatred of God which governs him in all that he does.        The chasm which separates the people of God from
Everything is motivated in its entirety by that most        the world is a spiritual chasm. We must not make the
fundamental principle.                                      error of Rome or the error of Anabaptism, and
                                                            engage in world-flight. That is not only disobedience
  But the child of God lives out of the principle of        to the command of God, but that is impossible too.
regeneration by grace. Because of the work of grace         You cannot flee the world. And you cannot flee the
which God has performed in Jesus Christ and through         world no matter how hard you try, simply because of
Jesus Christ in the hearts of His people, God has           the fact that the world is carried about wherever you
caused the light of His own holiness and of His own         go in your own sinful flesh. But you may not flee the
infinite perfections to shine in the lives of the people    world. This is God's world; God's creation, God's
of God. They are the light. "Ye- are the light of the       house. He does not relinquish claim to it. He does not
world," Jesus says. You are the light shining in a dark     turn it over to the devil. He does not say, "Well, if the
place. And you are the light because the light of           devil wants it so bad, let him have it.?' This is God's
God's glory and of God's perfections through the            world. It remains so completely God's world that
work of grace shines in you so that whenever anyone         there is coming a day when God will.cleanse  from this
sees you they see God in you!                               creation all that is of ungodliness and will restore it
  There is that striking passage in the book of Acts,       and redeem it in the new heavens and in the new
which speaks of unlettered, uneducated, ignorant            earth. And, therefore, the antithesis does not mean
fishermen from Galilee who had been Jesus' disciples        that the child of God turns his back on the world.
and were brought before the Sanhedrin to give an            The antithesis is spiritual. .And the child of God who
account of their preaching. The book of Acts says           is called to live in this world as representative of
this about that Sanhedrin, as they watched these            God's cause says in this present world: "This is God's
disciples: They took knowledge of them that they            house!" Whatever the wicked.may say, he says loud-
had been with Jesus. (Acts 4: 13) Just imagine that.        ly, he says so that all the wicked hear it: "Whatever
Do you think that the world can see that in you? that       you may say, however you may seem to have control
wherever you go, and whatever you do, and wherever          of the world, whatever you may do to it, this is God's


440                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


creation!" He says that not only with his mouth, but           said, all about civilizations of by-gone years, all about
he says that in his life. His life is a living testimony of    the life of that civilization, about all their attitudes
that fundamental truth.                                        towards everything conceivable in life if only you
                                                               study the arts of that civilization. Read the novels
  The wicked world is the Babylon of R.evelation 18            they produce; study the literature they produce;
which shall presently be destroyed. The antithesis             listen to the music they produce; look at the architec-
is in the world because Babylon lives out of the               ture which they engaged in; and all of this will reflect
principle of sin in her attitude towards every-                their basic fundamental attitudes towards all the
thing. I cannot possibly go into detail on this
whole question tonight and spell it out for you                things in life.
point by point. But all the attitudes which the                  And so it is in the whole of their life. That is the
world takes towards this creation and towards the              principle of total depravity. The principle is enmity
things in it are attitudes governed by the principle of        against God. God has set enmity between the seed of
rebellion against God. That principle governs their            the woman and the seed of the serpent through Jesus
attitudes towards all of life's institutions. It governs       Christ.
their attitudes, for example, towards the institution
of marriage, towards the institution of the family;               But this also means that God has, by a marvelous
towards the institution of education, towards the              marvel of grace, transformed His people so that the
institution of government in society, towards the              light of His holiness and glory shines through them.
institution of the shop. Always, in all of these               And that life of His holiness and glory shines through
relationships of life and over against these institutions      them when they say "No" to the world, and "Yes" to
which God has created they live out of the principle           God. When they say to the world, "We do not serve
of rebellion. Their marriage is an act of rebellion.           Satan; we do not live in opposition to God; we do not
They beget children as an act of rebellion. They refuse        belong to your kingdom; we serve Christ. We bow
to beget children as an act of rebellion. They approve         before His throne! We say `Yes' to God."
abortion as an act of rebellion. `They educate their              That positive expression of the antithesis also must
children as an act of rebellion that the generation            be present in every aspect of life. It begins with the
following may be thoroughly imbued with their own              believer's attitude. This is true because the principle
wicked and godless principles and so that the genera-          of regeneration by grace is not some outward, super-
tion following them may continue on the evil course            ficial character reformation. But the principle of
that they have chosen to walk. They set up the                 regeneration by grace is a fundamental change in the
institution of government out of opposition to God             very depth of the believer's being. And, therefore, it
so that the heathen rage and the kings imagine a vain          is a principle which transforms, by the wonder of
thing and .the rulers take-counsel together against the        grace, his attitude towards everything: his attitude
Lord and against His anointed. And they use the                towards this world and towards the things of this
institution of government to establish if possible, the        world. He knows, for example, that although this
kingdom of Satan here in the midst of the world.               world, this present creation is God's house, neverthe-
They express that attitude of rebellion against God in         less, as God's house it is destined presently to be
relationship to all the things of life and to all of God's     destroyed because it must make way for a new
gifts. All of the things of this creation they eagerly         heavens and a new earth. And that fundamental truth
seize with blood-smeared hands and with covetous               which he confesses governs his attitude towards all
hearts. They use all the powers of the creation to             the things of this present creation. They are God's
pursue as urgently as they can their desires,  deep-           good gifts; they must be received with thanksgiving;
seated and deep-rooted, to cast God out of his world           they must be sanctified by prayer; but at the same
and to establish here the throne of Satan. That is why         time they must be used in such a way that they are
they rape the creation. That is why we have a                  the means in his hand whereby he pursues the goals
problem of ecology today. They do not live as king in          of the kingdom of heaven and awaits the day of the
God's world, as benevolent king ruling in God's Name           coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
to God's glory. Oh, no! They are rapists who must
make this creation serve their own purposes and                   If I may use a rather expressive, but somewhat
satisfy their own carnal lusts and carnal desires in           slang expression: for that very reason he sits loose to
their mad pursuit of pleasure and gain.                        the things that belong to this creation. His home is in
                                                               heaven. He seeks the city which hath foundations
   Their attitudes come to expression in all their art         whose builder and maker is God. His attitudes towards
which they produce. It comes to expression in their            everything are determined by that fundamental prin-
painting  - perhaps especially there, because art is           ciple: towards marriage, towards the family, towards
after all something which very intimately expresses            his home, towards the education of his children,
what lives in man's heart. You can tell, it has been           towards society's institutions.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                441



  That attitude comes to expression in his use of this       my own heart so well,) that we seem to get trapped in
world's goods. I cannot go into that tonight, but let        a way of life, and seem to get trapped in patterns of
me use just one illustration. There is a very interesting    life from which it is impossible to break out. And we
book out, written by a man by the name of Malcolm            ask ourselves seriously the question, even though we
Muggeridge. (I do not know how many of you have              may firmly resolve to live Godly lives: How does one
heard of him. He is a man from England who spent in          get out of this pattern of life which has become all
excess of forty years in the broadcasting industry or        but second nature to us? And there loom on the
in the field of journalism. He was a newspaper               horizon all kinds of problems of putting the antithesis
reporter; he worked in radio and in television for over      specifically and concretely into practice with regard
forty years. Seven or eight years ago he was converted       to a host of things. It seems to me, and I speak from
to Christianity. He spoke to a group of broadcasters         my experience, speak from the knowledge of my own
about' television.) He made the remarkable and aston-        heart, that the difficulty really arises out of our own
ishing statement in this speech, that although it is         making. After all, it seems so true of me, and so true
true that television is in itself a good gift of God,        of us, that. we are more concerned about how close
television programming as it is presently constructed        we can come to the world without staining our
and as it is presently used is impossible to use in the      garments than we are about our positive calling to live
cause of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, He is speaking         lives of obedience to God. We are always asking the
from the inside. He knows. He says that television           questions like this: Is this wrong? and, Is this wrong?
creates a world of  illusion  which is directly anti-        and, Why is this wrong? and, Why may not we do
thetical to the reality of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.      this? and, How can you show the wrong of this? and,
He is not talking about good and bad programs; he is         Point to me why this is something which I may not
talking about the whole of television programming,           do. and, Give me a reason for condemning this kind
including news broadcasts. He says it is his personal        of action. It could be, you know, that we are asking
experience, and he knows of which he speaks, that            the wrong questions. It could be that those questions
even in news broadcasts the propaganda, the insidious        themselves arise out of the deep desire to pursue
propaganda of Satan is so everywhere present that it         world-conformity, and that we create our problems
is in every part directly antithetical to the kingdom of     because we try to justify our fundamental  deep-
Jesus Christ; that it is impossible (that is his state-      seated desire to conform' to the world as much as we
ment, not mine) for a Christian to use television. That      possibly can. There are, after all, positive principles;
is an example. That is an example of what I am               and if we were guided by these positive principles in
saying. Although television in itself is a good gift of      our life of the antithesis it could be that our problems
God, nevertheless, when the wicked get their hands           would also disappear. I am sure they would.
on this instrument you can expect nothing but evil             What are some of those principles? One of them is
from it. When he was asked by some startled radio            certainly this, that we remember always, every
commentators and television broadcasters, "Do not            moment of our life, wherever we are and whatever we
you think that if television had been present in the         do, that God has called us to represent the cause of
days when the Lord Jesus was on earth that He would          the kingdom of heaven here in the world. We are His
surely have used television in the cause of the spread       representatives, representing His cause as His friend-
of the gospel" Muggeridge's answer was, "That would          servants.
have constituted the fourth temptation." The be-
liever lives out of the principle of regeneration by           Another principle is that as His friend-servants it is
grace. That governs his attitude also towards enter-         our calling in life always and only to seek His glory.
tainment, whatever form it may take. He says "No"            The child of God asks, and that is not abstract, in
when the world expresses herself in movies, in the           every situation in life: Can I in this way and by doing
dance, in music, and in whatever form of entertain-          this glorify God? Can I show in this world of sin and
ment there may be. He says, "No, No, I must say No           death the powers of the light of God's grace in my
because I say Yes to God."                                   life? Can I? If I cannot, if there is any question about
                                                             whether I can, do I want then to risk doing it after
                                                             dl?
THE ANTITHETICAL CALLING                                       Another principle, a clear principle in the Scrip-
  The calling to live the antithesis in the concrete         tures, but one that we really do not know anything
problems of life sometimes seems to be difficult. I          about anymore, is the principle of self-denial. From
have talked with genuinely concerned people of God           childhood on we are given everything our hearts
over the years who have said that it seems extraor-          desire. And at last we begin to think that anything we
dinarily difficult to put the antithesis into practice.      want we can have. And if we do not get it, we are
And they often talked about the fact, (and I feel that,      dissatisfied and unhappy. Self-denial? Temperance?
I feel that because I know my own life and I know            Moderation? We do not know what these are. And


442                                           Tl-iE STANDARD BEARER


yet, we must not forget what Jesus says: "If any man        it is that we bring untold grief upon the cause of our
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up       Lord Jesus Christ. We bring untold grief upon our-
his cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)                  selves first of all. When Peter compromised with the
  Another principle is that we ought not to be afraid       enemies of Christ he tore his own life to pieces. When
of the narrow and cramped position which we occupy          David compromised with the enemies of Christ he
in the world. If we live the life of the antithesis we      brought ruin and havoc upon himself and upon his
will find that indeed our place becomes ever more           own family. And when we compromise with the
narrow. Our position is broad and easy now, but that        enemies of the world we bring havoc upon ourselves
is only because we have forgotten what it means to          and upon the church of which we are a part so that
live the life of the antithesis. If we express that         the church, is laid waste, spiritually sapped of her
antithesis sharply then we will find that the way in        energy, and at last becomes a part of. the godless
which the believer walks is, after all, very narrow. The    world in which we live. Besides, we destroy our own
position he occupies in the world is very, very small.      family. We go lost in our generations. Our children
Does that surprise you? The Lord Jesus says, "Strait        are cut out of the lines of the covenant, branches
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto      pruned out of the vine.
life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7: 14)         We must learn to express that antithesis in all our
  Another principle is that we seem to have lost our        life. We must learn, first of  ah, to express that
fright of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. I am         antithesis in our own lives; to say "No" to the sin
reminded of Jehoshaphat the righteous king of Judah.        which is within us and in our own flesh. And we must
He went to the northern kingdom to help Ahab in             learn to express that antithesis by saying "No" even in
battle against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead. He said        the circle of our own friends and acquaintances. In
to Ahab, "I am as thou art, my  ,people as thy              the circle of our own church, sad to say, we must say
people." (I Kings  22:4) But the prophet came to            "No" to those who are one with us in the household
Jehoshaphat and said to him: "Shouldst thou help            of faith. We must teach our children to say "No,"
the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?              sometimes even in school with their classmates on the
therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord."         playground so that our children know not only to say
(II Chronicles  19:2) That is what we do when we            "No" to the world of wicked men about them, but to
violate the principles of the antithesis;when we make       say "No" to those with whom they go to school and
friends of the world, when we become like them. We          with whom they sit in class. We must learn to say
aid the enemy and give comfort to them. Are not we          "No" in alI the relationships of life because when we
frightened by that? Is there anything more detestable       say "No," then, and then only, can we say "Yes."
in life than to be a traitor to one's own cause and           The Babylon of the world is destined for destruc-
one's own army and one's own country? Is there              tion. That is the teaching of Revelation 18. You
anything more detestable in life than to give aid and       could call that chapter, the gospel of Babylon's fall.
comfort to the enemies of the cross and of the cause        The Angel calls from heaven: "Babylon the great is
of our Lord Jesus Christ?                                   fallen, is fallen." And what does the seer of Patmos
  If nevertheless, we persist in world-conformity,          write? "And I heard another voice from heaven,
then we aid the enemy to our own destruction. That          saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
is always the principle. We aid the enemy in his            partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
unrelenting determination to destroy the church. We         plagues."
give comfort to him. We assist him. And the result of         May God give us the grace.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               443





              The Pleasures of Babylon  (Dtincing)
                                                 Rev. G. VanBaren


  What are the reasons for this lecture?                   ourselves must be warned and admonished with re-
  There are two reasons. In the first place, it ought      spect to this particular evil.
to be acknowledged that this subject arises because of       The subject I introduce  this evening is also in
an interest and concern about it within our mother         conjunction with the lecture we heard about a month
denomination, the Christian Reformed Church. You           ago from Professor Hanko. He spoke of the pleasures
are aware of the fact that within that denomination        of Babylon in Jerusalem. My title is taken, in part,
and at its Synod last summer (and again this year)         from his. He spoke about the principles involved:
there is a discussion about whether dancing should be      especially the principle of the antithesis - the need of
condoned and approved within Calvin College. There         separation between the church and the world, be-
has been much proper opposition to that proposition.       tween light and darkness. It is appropriate to apply
And we are very grateful to our God for the many           this specific principle to a very real problem: the
sensitive Christians in that denomination who recog-       problem of dancing.
nize and oppose this evil.                                   I am not going to mention the many traditional
  Dancing has been going on for some length of time        arguments against the dance., You perhaps read
at Calvin. It hasn't been called dancing, but in a         articles that deal with these. In fact, the Outlook, in
deliberately deceptive way it has been called a "party     its issue of January, 1978, has two articles dealing
with  music."1 Now there are some, probably a              with the dance, and mentions many of the traditional
minority, who want it approved or condoned under           arguments that have been raised against it. These
its real name: dancing.                                    articles are worth reading. But I would consider
  However, it ought to be understood that our first        especially many of the arguments that have arisen
concern is not to point a finger at another church or      recently in conjunction with the attempt to introduce
denomination. It has been rightly said that when one       the dance within the church. What is this "new light"
points a finger at another, he has four fingers pointed    which now would permit what was earlier con-
toward himself. I am concerned with this particular        demned?
subject for ourselves, because of real dangers in our        We're not concerned this evening, first of all, with
own midst.                                                 trying to find fault with other denominations. I
  In the first place, the dance is commonly seen           would like that clearly understood. Why, then, men-
within many of our homes: on the advertising and           tion the Christian Reformed Church? First of all
programming of television. I believe it to be simply a     because of ordination vows. The minister promises
fact that many of us in our homes have routinely           before God and the church "to preach repentance
observed dancing. In the second place, within our          toward God and reconciliation with Him through
own churches one discerns oftentimes, and especially       faith `in Christ; and, refuting with Holy Scriptures all
among our youth, an interest in worldly music - the        schisms and heresies which are repugnant to pure
kind of music that the world adapts to its dance. I say    doctrine. " Secondly, I am concerned not simply with
that is a matter of deep concern to us. And, in the        what a church does, but with what our  mother-
third place, there is heard disturbing rumors that         church is doing. We cannot help but recall that we of
some of our own young people show an interest in           the Protestant Reformed Churches have our "roots"
the dance, and try to engage in this in an under-          in the Christian Reformed Church. Most of us in our
handed or deceptive sort of way. The problem is not        generations have come out of that denomination, and
only then a problem in other Reformed churches, but        some rather recently. It should not be considered
it is a problem which we also confront. By examining       strange, then, that we are interested in and concerned
the arguments that have been raised, admittedly in         with `decisions of that denomination. But thirdly, I
another denomination, in behalf of social dancing in a     am specially concerned with our own youth. We, in
Christian manner, we can perhaps learn something           the Protestant Reformed Churches, have young
ourselves about false reasoning in this regard. And we     people who oftentimes find friends with those of


444                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



other denominations and especially with those in the      And it is for that reason that the church historically
Christian Reformed Church. In some cases there is         has condemned the dance.
intermarriage. There have been obvious differences          But for this evening I would like to consider
between these denominations, and the differences          especially some of the arguments that have been used
seem to grow greater year after year. And we have         particularly in the past five years within the Christian
young people who ask, why can't we dance? They do         Reformed Church, in support of the dance. And again
it in the Christian Reformed Church, why can't we do      I present these arguments, not to point a finger at
that? We have to find answers for them, answers given     them, but to examine for ourselves what kind of
by examining the reasoning of some within that            reasoning is now used to support the dance within the
denomination.                                             church. After all, there must be some powerful
   What  is  the dance? For myself, I could plead         arguments to alter so radically the church's earlier
ignorance about the dance. Frankly, I don't know a        stand.
great deal about it. I have several books at home that      The first question, and I believe the basic question,
describe the history of the dance, that explain the       is: is there Scriptural support for the dance? There are
various forms of the dance, but other than that, I        those, of course, who quickly point out `that the
know but little of the dance. But one can  find           dance is mentioned oftentimes in Scripture: some
definitions of the dance. One such definition has been    twenty-seven times. One committee reported the
presented by way of overture to the Christian             following: "Not only does Scripture speak with
Reformed Synod from  Classis Hamilton. They say,          approval of dancing in religious, worshipful settings,
"Dancing can be defined as the expression of joy by       but also in the general social meetings of joy, celebra-
rhythmical movements of the body to musical accom-        tion, and gladness (Ecclesiastes 3 :4, Luke 15:25). In
paniment. There are unmistakable elements of beauty       all cultures throughout all history, dancing has been
in the dance: gracious movements, rhythm, music,          the idiom whereby sociality, celebration, community
harmony." They further state: "Dancing as a form of       have been expressed. in village, townsquare, com-
entertainment provides a release of tensions and          munity hall, and church."3 Twenty-seven times Scrip-
energy, a proper means of fun and enjoyment and the       ture says, "man dances." We read of it in II Samuel
opportunity to express the innate drive in man to         6:14, where David preceded the ark of God into
respond to rhythm with bodily movements. As a
general social function, dancing provides a pleasant,     Jerusalem: "And David danced before the Lord with
natural, informal way for man to communicate and          all his might." Or Ecclesiastes 3:4, where we read of a
                                                          "time to mourn, and a time to dance." Or Job 2 1: 11,
associate with  others.":! Now, the dance, as thus        "They send forth their little ones like a flock, and
defined, certainly seems very appealing, to say the       their children dance." But there are also evil forms of
least.                                                    the dance mentioned in Scripture such as that found
   But there are other definitions of the dance. One I    in Exodus  32:19: "And Moses saw the calf and the
found in a book entitled,  The World History  of the      dancing." You recall that the children of Israel sought
Dance, written by Sachs. He describes the history and     to worship the golden calf, and did so by means of
forms of the dance. This is the way he concludes his      dancing and nakedness and feasting.
survey of the whole question of the dance: "In the          That's rather interesting, I believe, that in 197 1
midst of a period of conflict over new forms, where       when  Classis Hamilton approached the synod of the
the other arts have floundered uncertainly, it has        Christian Reformed Church and asked them to
been the dance's good fortune to express the joys and     approve certain forms of the dance, they admitted
sorrows, the fears and hopes of mankind today, in a       that these Scriptural passages  cannot  be used in
rapturous form. And yet not only of mankind today,        support of the social dance. I think that was very
but of men of all races and in all ages." And now note    honest on their part. They said, "Present-day social
what he has  ,to say: "For that to which they give        dances cannot be identified with the dances men-
living expression has been the secret longing of man      tioned in the Bible. There is no trace in the Bible of
from the very beginning  - the victory over gravity,      the social dance of couples in the modem fashion. It
over all that weighs down and oppresses, the change       is, therefore, unwarranted to conclude that since
of body into spirit, the elevation of creature into       God's people in Biblical times did dance, that the
creator, the merging with the infinite, the divine.       dance as we know it today is acceptable to the
Whosoever knoweth the power of the dance dwelleth         Christian."4. With that statement I would whole-
in God" (p. 448). Now that, I believe, is a more          heartedly agree. The passages in Scripture that men-
accurate portrayal of what the dance is. The attempt      tion the dance have nothing in common with the
of man to "merge with the infinite, the divine"; to       modem dance. There were the evil dances mentioned
`fknow the power of the dance is to dwell in God."        in Scripture before idols. The false prophets of Baa1
That is blasphemy; but that's the attitude of man.        danced; the daughter of Herodias danced before


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              445


Herod, and sought. afterwards as reward the head of          these that do not dance have no moral objections to
 John the Baptist; the children of Israel danced before      the dance, and only such a percentage that do not
 the. golden calf. The other dances mentioned in             dance, refuse to dance for moral reasons.6 Thus these
 Scripture represented expressions of joy through            surveys are conducted to discover the general attitude
bodily movement, not any formal kind of a dance,             within the denomination itself. Last summer the
 but simply that joyous expression oftentimes seen           Synod of the Christian Reformed Church referred the
 still in children of God  - especially with younger         whole matter of dancing back to the churches:
 children. So Scripture cannot be used as a proof for        individuals, consistories, and classes to determine
 social dancing.                                             response. Even the committees that studied the issue
   What other arguments are usedi I've gone through          on behalf of Calvin College, faced always this ques-
much of the material that was presented to various           tion: if we allow the dance, how much support are we
synods of the Christian Reformed Church. I tried to          going to lose from our constituency? Arrangements
 take out of them various other proofs that have been        were made between Dort, and Trinity, and Calvin
used in the support of the dance. These are some of          whereby the three colleges agreed that none would
the arguments I found.                                       use their position on the dance to gain students for
                                                             their college. And all of this is extremely troubling.
   One is that we ought to approve the dance with            Now I refer to what has been done in the Christian
proper supervision, in order to discourage the young         Reformed Church, not because I want to point to
people from dancing without supervision and perhaps          them, but because we, too, have this same tendency.
under the influence of alcoholic beverages. This is          This line of reasoning is all too common. The nature
what one committee wrote: "This action (to allow             of man is not to ask, "What does the Bible say? What
 dancing) was also taken to counter off-campus, stu-         does God teach?" Our inclination always is to ask,
 dent organized dances, over which the college had no        "What does the majority say? How many are in favor
 control. Some serious drinking problems had arisen in       of the dance? Can we do this without losing too
conjunction with off-campus dances. In the last five         much of our support?"
years we have had a few off-campus dances, although
the practice may be resurfacing in view of two                 But this is an evil way of reasoning. I referred
 off-campus dances sponsored during the last semester        earlier to the dancing about the golden calf. You
of this academic year."5 That argument, it seems to          know why the golden calf was made, don't you? Not
me, amounts to this: "We ought to choose for the             because a few wicked people in Israel decided that it
lesser of two evils." That, I believe, may never be          would be a good thing; but it was the majority of
the position of children of God. If the dance is evil, it    Israel that was convinced that they could better
may not be condoned even under a certain degree of           worship God through the golden calf. And why did
supervision.. If the dance is not evil, there should be      the apostasy one sees repeatedly in the history of
no reason for forbidding it when there is no super-          Israel and Judah arise? Because  the. majority of the
vision. The Word of God emphasizes specifically,             people were inclined to worship the various idols of
however, in II Thessalonians  5:22 that we are to            the nations about them. Where denominations or
abstain from all appearance of evil (not condone it          consistories rely on such majority vote, disregarding
under a certain degree of supervision).                      any moral implications, you can be sure that there
                                                             will be increasingly the inroads of evil and apostasy.
   Another argument that surfaces repeatedly in              We must remember that the word of God requires of
reports and overtures is the findings of surveys. In         us, as Moses said to Israel in Exodus  23:2, "Thou
 1966 there was a report to the Synod of the Christian       shalt not follow a multitude to do evil."
Reformed Church supporting attendance of good
movies. In conjunction with that there was a lengthy           There's another argument that has been used that
survey, the results of which were presented to synod,        the dance has proved of great social benefit to the
which showed that a certain percentage of the people         young people. This is what one committee wrote:
already attended the theatre, that a certain per-            "Social dancing provides an activity in which many
centage attended movies, or watched movies within            young men and women can be participants, rather
their homes on television, that a certain percentage of      than just spectators, as is the case with most other
parents were aware of all of these things and didn't         social events, such as concerts, films, plays, and
really care; and that a lesser percentage were still         athletic contests. We judged that the social inter-
opposed to the movie for moral reasons.                      action of our students, males with females, com-
   The same was done in support of the dance in              muters with residents, would be enhanced by virtue
 197 1. When Classis Hamilton came to the Christian          of the `mixing quality' of social student dances. The
Reformed Synod in 1971, they presented in their              committee was enthusiastic about these positive
overture, a survey: so many of our young people              aspects of dancing and thought that it would be a
dance, such a percentage do not dance; so many of            good addition to campus social life spectrum."7 What


446                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



do we say about that? I guess that there could be no          that. But let us never say that the dance should be
doubt that social dancing may promote some sort of            approved because young people are already doing
social interaction. But, you see, that reasoning can be       other things that are far worse. That argument is
used to support "beer busts," too. I'm sure this can          false. In fact, it is rather interesting that those who
promote social interaction very well; but, in a wrong,        made a `study of the dance, and who have even urged
sinful, antiscriptural way. Some have. used drugs to          approval of social dancing, at the same time recognize
promote social interaction. Drugs will do that, too. It       many of its evils and dangers. From the overture of
will promote a certain feeling of unity, of fellowship        the  Classis of Hamilton to the 197 1 Synod: "Proper
and communion - but it's sin. One may not use that            dancing must be engaged in. Hugging and cheek to
which is sinful in order to obtain a certain social           cheek dancing will only prevent the dance from being
interaction. The child of God must examine rather             wholesome and cannot be condoned. . . . If the above
the question: "Is this a legitimate, is it a Scriptural,      guidelines are observed and implemented, would it be
means of maintaining social interaction?" We would            feasible to provide a wholesome dance for our young
maintain that it is not.  :Scripture presents rather          people? According to your committee this question
emphatically how that the child of God is not                 should be answered in the affirmative. It does not
interested in that kind of social activity. In Isaiah         mean, however, that with the above answer we have
5: 12 we read of the wicked; "The harp, and the viol,         now solved the entire problem. To the contrary, we
the  tabret, and pipe, and wine are in their feasts           still find ourselves faced with the following important
(They had a lot of social interaction), but they regard       questions. First, may we expect a certain form of
not the work of the Lord, neither consider the                dancing to be satisfying emotionally? Will it not
operation of His hand." Or in Hebrews 11:25,26 we             rather become a stepping stone to objectionable types
read of Moses, who "chose rather to suffer affliction         of dances? (and that's a real question. GVB). Second-
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures           ly, even if we endeavor to search for acceptable forms
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ         of dancing for our young people, can we  find the
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had        music and lyrics to which they as Christian young
respect unto the recompence of the reward."                   people can dance?" And again, this is stated, "In-
                                                              justice would be done to the whole matter of danc-
  Another argument used to approve social dancing is          ing, however, if only the positive elements were
that it is not as sexually stimulating as had been former-    mentioned. Several reasons exist which can prevent
ly thought. This is what you read in one report: "In          the dance from being wholesome, the most
the course of evaluating the questionnaire, the study         prominent of these being the participant's intention
committee became increasingly aware that there are            to use the dance for erotic sensual pleasures in the
real hazards which are recognized by many of our              same manner as many forms of interaction of the
young people. Although only twenty-one percent                sexes may be used for that purpose. Secondly, while
admitted that dancing does stimulate' sexual desire,          engaged in dancing, a participant may discover that
and sixty-one percent denied this outrightly, a  con:         due to closeness of partner, beat, or rhythm, he does
siderable number of respondents voiced problems in            become sexually stimulated in an erotic manner and
the areas of petting, necking, parking, etc., rather          would therefore be wise to refrain from  dancing."s
than in dancing. If we are going to address ourselves         But you see, when it is admitted that there are real
to wrong sexual stimulation among our young people,           dangers connected with the social dance of our day,
we ought to direct our remarks to that with which             dangers that those in favor of dancing admit, can the
our young people are experiencing difficulty, and             child of God ever say, "Let's dance anyway, in spite
where we can be of greatest benefit to them. Bather           of the fact that some may succumb to temptations as
than condemnation by church and parents a genuine             a result?" I suggest that if there is any temptation
understanding of the individual and his struggles is          towards sin in dancing, it may never be done.
required."8 Now that has been one of the main
arguments against dancing: dancing results in sexual            There are other arguments that are given. I am not
stimulation and oftentimes in adultery and  fomica-           going to mention .each of those that I have listed. But
tion. There are many who say so.                              I do have another one that I think is rather signifi-
                                                              cant. Last summer and again this summer, the board
  Some evidently argue that this is not true - at least       of trustees of Calvin College and Seminary argue that
not as much so as other activities in which young             the synod  must  allow dancing on Calvin Campus
people engage. About this we could say several things.        because in principle it had already condoned the
In the first place, if young people place themselves in       dance when it spake concerning the movie in 1966,
other situations where sexual stimulation is greater          and when it responded to the overture of  Classis
than were they to dance, then we should indeed                Hamilton in 1971. This is what it says: "Synod
examine that problem with them; no doubt about                declare that the conclusions of the Church and Film


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                447


Art study of 1966 particularly `With Respect to the         tainted with  sin."ll There is the loophole in this
Relationship of the Christian to the World'; and `With      whole question of worldly amusements. And this was
Respect to the Exercise of Christian Liberty', to be a      seized upon by the committee that dealt with the
guide for the churches in dealing with the matter of        question in 1966 in their study of movie attendance.
dancing." So what they said about the movie, they           They said, "Because sin entered into the world, even
say applies equally well to the dance. And, that            the best works of men are defiled with sin (Cf.
"Synod urge Christian writers to serve the church           Heidelberg Catechism, Question 62); but sin is being
with articles regarding the matter of dancing in the        restrained by God's common grace." This is one of
light of these  conclusions."1   0 This is one potent       their grounds in support of their contention that the
argument! It is certainly true that the Christian           world can produce the kind of good movies, dramatic
Reformed Church has already taken the stand that            presentations that we can use. And in 1971 the
there is nothing principally wrong with some forms of       Synod again referred to this same issue by quoting
dancing.                                                    these statements of 1966, `and said the Synod declare
  There is one last argument that has been raised in        that the conclusions of the church in their study of
support of the dance which I believe touches us very        1966 to be the guide for the churches in dealing with
really as Protestant Reformed Churches. That argu-          the question of dancing. The whole subject is defi-
ment is that the dance is the product of the common         nitely related to the decision on common grace.
grace of God in man. And closely connected with               And with it all, comes in also repeatedly the
this, that the dance is the fruit of man's fulfilling of    question of the "cultural  mandate."12 The "cultural
the "cultural mandate." It is at this point that we, of     mandate" is based on Genesis  1:28: "And God
course, radically differ from the Christian Reformed        blessed Adam and Eve and said unto them, be
Church. When it adopted the position of common              fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue
grace in 1924, the Christian Reformed Church                it. And have dominion over it." Presumably man,
opened the way for all of its subsequent decisions          even in his fallen state, is capable by virtue again of a
concerning worldly amusements. That is strikingly           common grace to carry out in part the requirements
evident in several decisions they took. In 1928 the         of this mandate. The dance is presumed to be one
Christian Reformed Church published a study com-            fruit of this mandate. I want to emphasize here, that
mittee report and decisions concerning worldly              not we, but the Christian Reformed Church in sup-
amusement in the light of Scripture. That's a report        port of its position for worldly amusements has used
worth your while to read. It is published in the 1928       common grace and the "cultural mandate" as basis
Acts of Synod, and has been printed in a ,pamphlet.         for their position on the dance.
In this decision, Worldly Amusements in the Light of          But now I come to ourselves. What about us? I
Scripture, there are contained many fine, true, Scrip-      have been referring, admittedly, to many decisions
tural statements. There is also to be found in that         and study committee reports of the Christian
report and decision, many conflicts and contradic-          Reformed Church. I've done this, not first to point at
tions. One of the conflicts in the report is a reference    them, but to discover for ourselves the kind of
to the decision on common grace, a reference which I        argumentation that is used to support the introduc-
believe represents a loophole in the decision on            tion of worldly amusements and especially the dance.
worldly amusements so big that you can drive the            Now I would like to apply some of this concretely to
proverbial truck through it. This is what was written,      ourselves.
"The question arises, what basis of fellowship can
there be between the child of God and the man of              As Protestant Reformed Churches we have official-
this world? What have they in common which makes            ly and properly, I believe, condemned the doctrinal
a degree of communion possible and legitimate? . . ."       position expressed in the three points of common
And this is the answer: "The solution is found in the       grace. Everyone who is a member of the Protestant
doctrine of common grace. Spiritually the believers         Reformed Churches expresses by virtue of that
and unbelievers have nothing in common, but morally         membership, his disagreement with the Three Points
they have. The basis of our fellowship with unbe-.          of 1924. But what troubles me, and ought to trouble
lievers should never be the sin which we have in            each of us, is that we do not always live according to
common with them, but the grace (common) which              the principles which we confess. If we did, how is it
they have with us! . . . This principle can be applied      that there are reports of movie.attendance  by some of
to the sphere of amusements. In His general grace           our young people that keep circulating within the
God has given certain joys, diversions, pleasures to        church? We profess that the world, in producing these
men. There are no amusements in hell! By the same           things for entertainment, sins. Yet there are evidently
general grace He restrains sin in the hearts of the         instances in our own midst where these sinful produc-
ungodly, so that the diversions and amusements              tions are enjoyed. That's a contradiction between our
which they devise are not always and necessarily            confession and our walk.


448                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   There is the matter of television where one can see      is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the
the same movies of the theatre within `one's home. In       mouth speaketh." It is out of the evil heart of
some instances there is indication of no supervision,       unregenerated sinners that the social dance of our day
or incomplete supervision, over television in the           has arisen. I believe no one can dispute that. There-
home. When this is the case, I would maintain that we       fore we condemn the dance: it proceeds from an evil,
are not consistently maintaining our confession.            not a regenerated heart.
Again there is an attraction sometimes toward that            In the second place, we condemn the dance be-
corrupt, worldly, godless music that is produced. Why       cause of the purpose behind it. I read to you earlier
is that? We, who insist that there is no common grace       this definition of the dance that says that it is a
of God whereby the wicked produce this sort of thing        "merging with the infinite, with the divine; whoso-
as a good work, nevertheless seek that sort of thing        ever knoweth the power of the dance, dwelleth in
for our enjoyment? I maintain: .we cannot! When we          God"! That is blasphemy, but that's what man says.
do, our confession is not consistent with our walk.         The purpose is not only sexual lust - though that's
  And, there is the question of the dance. I said           part of it. But the purpose is the attempt of man to
when I began, that on occasion I hear rumors that           express in this bodily activity the desire to liberate
there are those of us who experiment with the dance.        himself from the curse that God has placed upon him
We cannot condone or approve it on the basis of             because of sin. He would merge with the infinite; he
common grace for we deny that doctrine. Neverthe-           doesn't want to be bound to this earth. He wants to
less, some want to find a reason to condone the             free himself from gravity and thus from all of the
dance. I say this is a gross inconsistency between          restrictions of God's law. Can the child of God
our confession and our walk. What ought we to be            participate in an activity that is  this  sort of an
maintaining as children of God in the midst of this         expression? I say he cannot.
earth?                                                        In the third place, we oppose the dance because of
  With respect to the dance (or any worldly amuse-          its obvious effect upon the spiritual life of those who
ment) we have first of all to confess the fact that man     participate. I don't put much stock in various surveys
is born totally depraved, unable to do any good             of the people of the church. But I did find at least
whatsoever. On the basis of that principle, we must         this interesting information in one survey, that of
acknowledge that natural man, in producing these            those dancing a smaller percentage attend societies
sorts of entertainments in his evil lusts, sins. He does    than of those who do not dance. Now there may be
it in his depravity and not by grace - and we cannot        all kinds of explanations for that. But I would at least
join them in that.                                          suggest also that those' who want to enjoy these
  In the second place, we maintain the fact that only       pleasures devised by wicked man, grow less and less
through the powerful work of the Spirit, regenerating       interested in things spiritual. They have their social
and bringing us to conversion, can there be a proper        activities, their social interaction, but not to the glory
walk of godliness. Then the child of God seeks such         of God, and not for their spiritual profit.
activities as please God and are in harmony with His.         And, finally, I would like to suggest that we
Word. And he will reject that which is worldly and          oppose the dance because of the fact (admitted by
corrupt.                                                    those who support it) that in some instances it leads
  In the third place, I refer you to what Professor         to further sins. It is simply a fact. There was the fact
Hanko emphasized a month ago: the matter of                 that unsupervised dances would include drinking and
antithesis. There is an absolute separation between         drunkenness. That happened in the past. Nor is it
light and darkness, Christ and Belial, the church and       coincidental that drinking and drunkenness and
the world. That must be evident in our walk.                dancing go together. This all promotes social inter-
                                                            action, you see  - but it's sin. And dancing and
  And how do we apply these principles to the               fornication often go together. The children of Israel
question of the dance? In the first place, we condemn       were dancing naked about the golden calf. That
the dance, all forms of the dance, as this arises from      wasn't a coincidence, either. Sin breeds sin. Sin
the world. We condemn that. We believe that the             develops and grows. Just because' all of those who
dance, indeed, arises out of the corruption of man's        dance do not fall into the sin of adultery, does not
heart, and therefore it must be condemned. You              mean that therefore dancing can be approved. On the
know what Scripture says, don't you? Proverbs 23:7:         contrary, because dancing in some leads to sexual
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he"; Genesis         stimulation (even according to the reports I quoted)
8:21: "For the imagination of man's heart is evil           and to fornication, it ought to be condemned. There-
from his youth." And, Christ applies that to the            fore the child of God condemns it.
natural man in Luke 6:45 : "And an evil man out of            But all of this is negative. Sometimes the complaint
the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which    is heard, "Why are we always negative? We are told


                                              TtiE ST AN DARD  BEARER                                                  449


what we may not do: we can't dance, we can't go to          of God in the church to encourage them and speak to
the movies, we can't listen to all of these worldly         them, and to find also blessed assurance and comfort
songs, well what can we do?" I would like to suggest,       through all of that. There is certainly a poverty
first of all, that we  cayl walk in proper Christian        within churches if its social life is dependent upon
liberty. Did you know the Protestant Reformed               dances, athletic activities, movies, and what have you.
Churches do not have a synodical decision against           We have the Word of God. We have the principle of
dancing? They don't. Our synod has never said that it       new life. We have the hope of salvation. And we
is wrong to dance, or that it is right to dance. It has     believe and confess that we are each a part of the
never made a decision on the question of the dance.         members of the body of Christ. We have each other.
The same is true with respect to movie-attendance.          And I believe that if we positively seek to do what
Why not? `Why have they never said anything about           God's Word requires toward each other, we will
it? Because it's not wrong? No, but because we              neither have the time, nor the desire to hanker after
believe emphatically in this principle of Christian         the kind of activity in which the world has found its
liberty. What must the child of God do in this earth?       pleasures. May we be faithful and diligent then, by
Must he be bound by all kinds of rules and regula-          God's grace, to do all of this.
tions? Must our synod tell us today, "You may not
dance," and maybe ten years from now tell us, "You          Footnotes
may dance, but don't do it cheek to cheek? And              `*The Board of Trustees report to the Synod of 1977, p. 215,
don't do it with any beer present, and don't do it          makes this clear: "The rationale for this action was that
                                                            residence hall recreation rooms were viewed as the equivalent
unless it's under supervision"? Rather, without             of a person's home recreation room, and, therefore, students
Synodical declarations, on the basis of Scripture,          were allowed to plan dances as they might do in their own
walk in such a way that God is always highly                homes. The euphemism `party with music' was coined to avoid
honored, and we are spiritually benefited. That's           possible offense to people outside the college halls; music was
Christian liberty.                                          to be provided by records and tapes. These dances served as a
                                                            purely social activity, allowing for mixing among residents
  What can we do, positively? The church isn't              who live on campus. President Spoelhof kept the board of
called, of course, to provide social entertainment for      trustees informed of these developments through  his semi-
                                                            annual reports to the board."
its members. It is called, rather, to preach the gospel.
But parents and young people have a sanctified              **Overture  of  Classis Hamilton, Acts of Synod of the C.R.C.,
                                                            pp. 611, 620.
imagination, don't they? We have, within our
churches, various outings for young people. We have         s.Report  of Calvin's  ad  hoc committee on dancing, Acts,
                                                            1977, p. 220.
annual conventions. We have opportunities to fellow-
ship by way of banqueting. We have opportunities to         4eOverture  of Classis Hamilton, Acts, 197 1, p. 6 11.
meet each other within our homes. Let no one say            QZalvin's  Ad hoc committee on dancing, Acts, 1977, p. 215.
that one needs the dance in order to socialize proper-      6. Overture of Classis Hamilton, Acts, 197 1, p. 6 15.
ly. There are all kinds of ways to socialize to the         r.Calvin's   Ad  hoc committee on dancing, Acts, 1977, p. 218.
glory of God and for our spiritual profit. The church,      s-overture  of Classis Hamilton, Acts, 1971, p. 615ff.
too, is involved in this matter of proper social            s.ibid,  Acts, 1971, p. 615ff.
interaction. Young people, and older people, too,
want fellowship? They want to know each other               `o.Acts,  1971, p. 138.
better? They want to talk to each other? Well, what         11."Worldly Amusements in the Light of Scripture," 1928,
better opportunity do we have in this whole earth           p. 15.
than to come together in our society meetings? There        l*.Acts of Synod, 1966, p. 33; 1977, p. 222.
we discuss one with another the Word of God. In this
way we grow in the knowledge of Scripture, but we
grow also in an awareness of each other's spiritual
needs. I suggest that we don't need a dance, that we
don't need alcohol,.we don't need drugs, to promote
this sort of social interaction. We have something far,
far better: something spiritual. Are we concerned
with this matter of social activity? Let us know that
as a body of Christ we  do  lack in that respect
oftentimes. We have old people, we have sick people,
people who are limited to their homes or to other
institutions that long for fellowship and communion,
and don't get enough of it. Young people don't have
to sponsor dances in order to promote a kind of
interaction. Why, they can visit all kinds of children


450                                          THE STANDARD BEARER





        Synod of 1978  - A  Report  (Corntinued)

                                              Rev. Arie den Hartog



  What does our synod do during the week and a half        these young people and a letter signed by 30 of the
of meetings every day from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.?         members of this group requesting the help of our
Although the specific decisions are recorded every year    churches. On the basis of this request our Mission
in our published Acts of Synod this is only a very         Committee considered the real possibility. that an
brief account. Many painstaking and careful labors         open door had `been given to us by the Lord for
are performed which our Acts of Synod might not            beginning a new mission field. Two emissaries, Rev.
indicate. Decisions must be made that often must           James Slopsema and Mr. Dewey Engelsma, were sent
stand for years to come and must serve for all our         to Singapore for a period of a month to investigate
churches, and especially must serve for the fulfillment    the situation there and work with the group of young
of our mandate as churches to preach the gospel of         people. The emissaries gave a long and detailed and
Christ Jesus to the glory of the name of our God.          very interesting report of the work they performed
Each year the synod forms a kind of climax to the          there and of the faith and circumstances of this group
labors of the standing committees of our denomina-         of young people. This report is recorded in the
tion, such as our Home and Foreign Mission Com-            agenda. It is indeed exciting that the Lord has given
mittees, our Theological School Committee, our Com-        our small denomination the opportunity to labor in
mittee for Contact with other Churches, and several        Singapore and the possibility of a mission field. This
others. These committees have had many meetings            exCitement  was very much felt by our synod, and
during the year to conduct the work of our churches        there was strong enthusiasm to continue this work
in common in which they have faithfully and diligent-      with as much diligence as possible. At the same time
ly labored. Since all these committees .are authorized     there was an urgency at our synod to proceed
by our synod, each must bring its report to synod. In      carefully with these matters that all things be done in
addition to the work from. these committees, synod         order and for the welfare of this group of young
must deal with all overtures and protests that come to     people as well as for any future labors our churches
it from our consistories and classes. It is the work of    might be called upon to perform there. Many of these
our synod to deal with all the financial matters of our    kinds of labors are quite new to our churches and
denomination and prepare a budget for the coming           therefore we must carefully formulate our method-
year. All of this work is, at the beginning of synod,      ology and practice on the mission field as we are
placed into the hands of four study committees of          called to perform this work. The emissaries reported
pre-advice. These committees help the synod to deal        that the time was not yet ripe to send a full time
with the matters before it by studying the matters         missionary to Singapore although this time may come
assigned to them carefully and presenting preadvice        in the near future. Presently this group of young
to the synod. The work of these committees must be         people must have opportunity to learn about our
done before and after the regular meetings of synod,       churches, our Reformed faith, and our adherence to
and often committees must labor in the evening to          it. We must understand that many of these young
complete their work. Finally, on the floor of synod        people are new Christians and new therefore also to
each matter must be carefully dealt with, decisions        the doctrines of- the Reformed faith. Our synod
have to be made that are in harmony with the Word          decided to continue to labor with the young people
of God, to the glory of His name, and for the welfare      in Singapore through the means of a tape program of
of His church.                                             instruction in our Heidelberg Catechism. The Foreign
  At the time of my last report, synod was anti&pat-       Mission Committee was also instructed to send emis-
ing, among other matters, going into the treatment of      saries to Singapore again this year should this prove
our labors in Singapore. As you know we have been          necessary and advisable. Thirdly our Mission Com-
doing some missionary work in Singapore with  a            mit tee will be investigating the possibility and
rather sizable group of young people calling themselves    advisability of sending a full-time missionary there.
the Gospel Letters and Tracts Department. This new         The desire of synod and of the Mission Committee
endeavor for our churches started through cor-             was that as much of the preliminary work of sending
respondence which Prof. H.C. Hoeksema had with             a missionary to Singapore as possible be done so that,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              451


should we be afforded the opportunity to continue          tion as so many other churches are but that we are
our work in this place through a missionary, this          nevertheless concerned with the continual improve-
could be done as quickly as possible. The proposed         ment of materials to be used for the important work
budget of our Foreign Mission Committee of $28,000         of the catechetical instruction of our covenant youth.
will allow the provision for emissaries and the sending      Our Hope Church of Walker, Michigan came to
of a full-time missionary to Singapore if necessary.       synod with an overture concerning student aid, asking
  In connection with the work in Singapore a ques-         that we seek more carefully to determine the need of
tion came to our synod concerning the decision of          our students and support them accordingly. Our
the 1977 synod on the matter of Baptism on the             churches do much to support their seminary students,
Mission Field. This whole matter was a very difficult      as I know from experience. Synod decided not to
question for our synod in 1977: the question whether       receive the overture of Hope Church since it is the
a missionary may.baptize on the mission field before       policy of our churches to support married students
a congregation is organized. The Mission Committee         only in the amount that single students receive
came to synod to ask synod how our decision of             support. The purpose of student aid according to
1977 applied to the foreign mission field, a matter        synod therefore is not to subsidize the students'
which was the concern of the young people we were          families but only to help pay for the expenses of the
working with in Singapore. This was a complicated          student.
matter and involved much discussion on the floor of          Another overture came to synod from our Hope
synod. This matter was an evidence of how important        Church requesting synod to re-evaluate the decisions
it is that our synods make very carefully formulated       of our 1976 synod concerning the arrangements of
decisions. Synod finally decided to adopt the three        minister-on-loan that we have with the Orthodox
recommendations of the committee of pre-advice:            Presbyterian Church of Christchurch. Hope Church
first, that the synod of 1977 did not reject baptism       urged the necessity of first establishing sister church
on the mission field in general; secondly, that the        relationship with any church to whom we send a
synod of 1977 only rejected a specific interpretation      minister-on-loan. Secondly Hope church urged that
of the second duty of the missionary in the form for       the minister-on-loan should not be under the jurisdic-
the ordination of a missionary; and thirdly, that both     tion of two consistories. Synod declared that the
the negative decision of the synod of 1977 and the         synod of 1976 erred in this matter and that the study
second duty of the missionary mentioned in the form        committee appointed to study the whole arrangement
for ordination of missionaries apply also to the           of minister-on-loan will answer the overture of Hope
foreign mission field.                                     Church.
  Synod also had to deal again extensively with our          Our Hudsonville Church came to synod with an
work in New Zealand. Rev. Van Overloop  has been           overture requesting synod to change the constitution
working in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in             of the Emeritus Committee so that it would read that
Christchurch now for several months and he will soon       our emeriti ministers from now on will be supported
be returning to his own congregation. The Christ-          completely from the common fund of the churches
church congregation has asked for further assistance       rather than by the individual church which the
from our churches. Synod wrestled with the whole           emeritus minister served last. This is surely a more
matter of what would be the best arrangements for          fair and equitable way to support our emeriti
continued labor with the church of Christchurch. The       ministers, since they usually have served more than
arrangement of minister on loan is very new for our        one congregation in their ministry and it is hardly just
churches and it was discussed whether it would be          that the last congregation which a minister served
better for our churches and for the church of Christ-      should be asked to bear the burden of supporting this
church that we send a missionary to New Zealand.           minister alone. Synod agreed with this overture.
Synod finally decided to ask one of our churches to
loan their minister to Christchurch Church again for a       Two protests came to our synod this year. Our
period of up to one year. Meanwhile, a study com-          Redlands Church came to synod with a protest
mittee was appointed to study the whole matter of          concerning the manner in which our Committee for
minister on loan.                                          Contact with other Churches authorized the emis-
                                                           saries sent on the Australasian tour to preach in
     In addition to the mission related matters there      churches not of our denomination. Synod answered
are several other matters which synod dealt with that      this protest by agreeing with Redlands that only the
I would still like to report on. Synod approved for        local congregation has the authority to send a min-
use in our churches some new catechism instruction         ister to preach the Word but that this essentially was
material prepared by Rev. Dale Kuiper and Rev. C.          done when the local consistories sent the minister to
Hanko. We can be thankful that our churches are not        preach in a particular field and our Committee for
embarking on a whole new methodology of instruc-           Contact acted as a sort of special mission committee


452                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



in authorizing and supervising these ministers on the        two great battles of 1924 and 1953. These men
behalf of all of our churches. Furthermore, synod            labored with much zeal and  fa@hfuhress during dif-
declined the request of  Redlands to provide proper          ficult days in our history. The Lord greatly and
basis for ministers preaching in churches outside our        wonderfully used them for our welfare. Our churches
denomination and to provide guidelines as to how this        are left with a very young clergy. It ought to be the
should be done, stating that this belongs to the work        earnest. prayer of all of us that our young ministers
of the local congregation.                                   will be able adequately to take the place of those who
  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema came to synod with a protest          have retired in the defense and proclamation of the
against Article 1 of the revised constitution for the        gospel. The Rector of our Seminary, Prof. H. C.
Mission Committee which speaks of the fact that              Hoeksema, in his yearly report urged our churches to
some mission work belongs to the churches in com-            continue to pray that the Lord would raise up more
mon, implying that some does not belong to the               young men to enter the gospel ministry. There is no
churches in common and may be carried on in-                 real evidence that we will come to a time as churches
dependently by the local Fhurch. The question of the         when we will have too many ministers. The Lord
protest was therefore  .that this statement in the           seems to be showing us much new work to do, and
present constitution leaves room for independentism.         for the accomplishment of this work we must con-
Synod declined this protest stating that this article of     tinue to pray for laborers.
the constitution speaks only of mission work which is          The last matters which our synod dealt with were
performed by the churches in common. It is also              the financial matters. A total proposed budget for our
proper and obligatory that the local congregations           denomination of  $227,900.00  was adopted. This
themselves carry on mission work. This work does             budget as distributed over 1,000 families will be
not necessarily come under the jurisdiction of the           $228.00 per family. All the subsidy requests from our
Mission Committee.                                           small needy churches were granted. As a minister of
  As was mentioned by our president in his conclud-          one of these small churches I am sure I speak in
ing remarks, there was also work which our synod             behalf of all these churches when I say that this is for
had to perform which was characterized by sadness.           us a matter of thanksgiving and rejoicing. We rejoice
This had to do with the granting of emeritation to           that our churches evidence so wonderfully that its
four of our veteran ministers: Revs. C. Hanko, M.            concern is first of all for the household of faith as
Schipper,  G. Lubbers, and H. Veldman. Humanly               scripture exhorts.
speaking, we lose a great deal with the emeritation of         The synod of 1979 will meet in the First Protes-
these ministers. All four of these ministers are the last    tant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
ministers who were active in our churches during the         beginning on June 6.

THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH

                      A Letter from New Zealand
                                               Rev. R. Van Overloop



                                     100 Sparks Rd.,         most enjoyable to have your companionship, I think
                                     Christchurch 2,         that the main reason I would like you here beside us
                                     New Zealand             is so that you might see and experience what we see
                                     June 19, 1978           and are experiencing in our work. I can try to tell
Dear Young People,                                           you, but words just do not seem to be able to express
                                                             adequately the intangible aspects of our experience.
  Greetings to you in the name of Him Who gathers
unto Himself a catholic church.                                In my previous letters to you I have written about
  It often happens that when you receive a letter or         life in New Zealand and of some of our work in the
card from a friend who is on a trip, your friend will        Christchurch Orthodox Presbyterian congregation. In
write, "Wish you were here." Well, I wish that you           this letter I would like to write about the denomina-
could be. here in New Zealand. Although it would be          tion to which this congregation belongs and its


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 453


relationship to our denomination. I am not speaking          ignomace of other parts of the body of Christ the
about the ecclesiastical ties, which is the concern of       same as saying, "I have no need of you?"
the synodical contact committee. Rather I am think-            This same principle holds true for your congrega-
ing of the heritages of these two denominations and          tion. Your congregation is a local manifestation of
how they compare. Before ,we came to. New Zealand            the body of Jesus Christ. Are there members of your
to work in the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches in             congregation that you do not know? I mean, are
New Zealand, I must confess that I did not know very         there fellow-saints of whom you have no desire to
much about the Presbyterian heritage.                        know? If so, are you not saying of them that you
  I want to take you on a tangent. I said that I had         have no need of them?
to confess my ignorance. The use of the word                   Now let me get back to where I was before I took
"confess," I believe, is a correct usage.                    you on that tangent. I was talking about a com-
  Every Sunday we confess our belief in a catholic           parison of the heritages of the Orthodox Presbyterian
church. In case you have forgotten your catechism            Churches of New Zealand and of. the Protestant
lessons, `that the church is catholic means that God         Reformed Churches in America.
forms into the one body of Christ people of every              There is a tendency of our nature to look for
nation, tribe, and tongue. There are all different kinds     differences first; it is just such a search which reveals
of peoples in that body, all professing the one faith in     just how many similarities there are. There is the
Christ.                                                      same (and this is so basic) high, proper regard for the
  Our coming to New Zealand and working among                infallible Word of God. The, wordings of the Belgic
those Presbyterian churches which are orthodox as to         Confession and .of the Westminster Confession are
the faith and truth of God's Word has shown us               almost identical on this subject. Also their writings on
another part of the body of Christ. I am not speaking        what must be the desire which underlies every action:
of just any church, of any congregation or denomina-         to glorify and exalt God and to enjoy Him forever
tion. The earth is filled with various groups of people      (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Qu. 1).
which unite together and call themselves a church.             Our examination of these two manifestations of
No, I am writing about those churches which are              the body of Christ has shown us that much which we
truly manifestations of the body of Christ. That is,         might initially term differences is not really differ-
they have. the three marks of the true church; and           ences, but complements. There are differences of
these marks are clearly manifested. Our coming to            vocabulary which have arisen from the different
New Zealand brought me face to face with a part of           histories of the two denominations. Both denomina-
the body of Christ (O.P.C. of N.Z.) which is asking          tions have their roots in the Calvin Reformation and
another part of that same body (P.R.C. in America)           in the pastors who taught at Geneva. But at that
to help them in their manifestation of the three             point the heritages went in divergent channels: that
marks of the true church.                                    of the Protestant Reformed Churches through the
  It is wrong for you and me wilfully to be ignorant         Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, and that of
of the other parts of the true body of Christ. Such a        the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches through the
wilful ignorance is getting close to the sin of identify-    equally Reformed Presbyterian Churches in Scotland.
ing the Protestant Reformed Churches with the body
of Christ. Please do n.ot misunderstand me. The                When one compares the denominations today, one
Protestant Reformed Churches are a part of the               sees differences of emphasis and of perspective. Our
body of Christ. To my mind, they are the best                own history has caused us to place an emphasis on
manifestation of the body of Christ. As long as our          God's particular grace and on the important truth of
churches hold to and maintain the pure truth of              the antithesis. In contrast, the Orthodox Presbyterian
God's Word, we must be a part of them and faithfully         congregation in Christchurch is growing up in sur-
attend the preaching of God's Word proclaimed from           roundings of the blatantly liberal, the Arminian, and
their pulpits. What I am saying is that believers in the     the charismatic. Let me give you an example. I am
Protestant Reformed Churches are a part of-the body          tea,ching a Scripture class for Form 6 and Form 7
of Christ; they are not identical to the body of Christ.     students (16 and 17 year olds) in the only Christian
We may never identify the two.                               school in Christchurch. The  first week I asked the
                                                             class of about 35 to tell me their church affiliations.
  To be wilfully ignorant of the other parts of the          In this class are Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists,
body of Christ is taking the position that we have no        Methodists, Church of Christ, Brethren, Roman
need of the other parts of the body. Turn to I               Catholic, Quaker, Apostolic, Neo-Pentecostal, and
Corinthians 12. Read verses 12 and 13. These are             some who do not attend any church. This gathering is
worthy of marking in your Bible. Now scan verses             typical of the religious climate in which the Orthodox
14-20. Then look closely at verse 21. Is not wilful          Presbyterian Churches find themselves. Their  em-


454                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



phasis, then, must be on the sovereignty of God,                number of expressions of appreciation and of ques-
the satisfaction of Christ, the place of the church,            tions of concern for future help are increasing. It is
and on the proper application of the truth of                   our prayer that this help can be given.
Scripture to one's life.                                           In conclusion, to live and work among the
  Also we have found specific points in which we                members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches of
differ with the historic Presbyterian belief, such as           New Zealand, and particularly in Christchurch, is
remarriage of divorced persons, the covenant of                 truly an experience of being amongst other members
works, as well as questions of church government.               of the body of Christ. Here the members are a little
The discussions we have had on these subjects have              different, as we would expect: for all cannot be the
been profitable and helpful.                                    eye, for then "where were the hearing? If the whole
                                                                were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath
  We acknowledge that our comparison of these two               God set the members every one of them in the body,
denominations and their heritages is scant. A thor-             as it hath pleased him." But basically, their aspira-
ough comparison would, of course, take much more                tions, their struggles, and their needs are testimony to
time than what we have available. But we hope that,             the fact that there is but "one body and one Spirit,
brief though it may be, it will give .you a better idea         even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one
and will encourage you to do some personal study of             Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
church history.                                                 all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,"
  The work is enjoyable. Our preaching and teaching             (Ephesians 4:4-6).
is being well received. There is unity of faith and life
between us and the saints here. As the time for our                                             In His service,
departure from New Zealand draws closer, the                                                      R. Van Overloop

Book Review

Promise And Deliverance, Vol. I, by S.G. De Graaf;              "Scripture is prophecy. This is true even of its histor-
Introduction and Translation by H. Evan Runner and              ical passages. In other words, every story in Scripture
Elisabeth  Withers Runner; Paideia Press, P.O. Box              reveals something of the counsel of God for our
1450, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada L2R 7J8; 423              redemption. And in every story God is the prime
pp., $9.95 (hard cover) (Reviewed by Prof. H. C.                agent. The entire work of redemption ,can be seen in
  While I deem the claims made for this book                    each story." And again: "The entire Scripture is
in the Translator's Introduction to be a big ex-                God's revelation of Himself as the Redeemer. But this
travagant, nevertheless this translation of the Rev.            is not to say that the whole sweep of redemption is
S.G. De Graaf's well-known book  Verbonds-                      visible in every story. We believe in the progress of
geschiedenis to be a worthwhile project. The Rev. De            revelation. In principle, the whole of redemption is
Graaf (1889-1955) was a disciple of J.C. Sikkel. Like           revealed in the mother-promise (Gen. 3: 15). There-
the latter, he for many years led a class of Sunday             fore, the seed of redemption is present in every story
School teachers, with the purpose of preparing them             in the Old Testament. Our job, is to use the light of
for their work and equipping them for the proper tell-          the New Testament to uncover it." This theocentric
ing of Bible stories in their classes. This book, there-        and redemptive-historical approach pervades the
fore, is not in the nature of a collection of Bible stories,    entire book.
but is rather a work designed chiefly as a help to                 This is not to say that I agree with every point of
those who must teach children. Each.chapter of the              interpretation in this work. As I perused the book,`1
work begins with a short discussion of points to bear           `found numerous points at which I disagreed with the
in mind when studying the story. Then follows a                 author's interpretation and presentation. Some of
single sentence in which the author formulates the              these disagreements were serious. The work, there-
story's main thought. And then follows the narrative            fore, must be used with discretion.
itself, which was really designed to be a .guide rather
than to be slavishly told word for word.       -                  Nevertheless, I. heartily recommend this book as a
  This first volume covers Bible history from crea-             useful volume for parents, for teachers, and for
tion to the conquest of Canaan in some 60 chapters.             Sunday School teachers. The translators are also to be
  I am in agreement with the main thrust of this                commended for a very smooth and readable trans-
work. Rev. De Graaf himself states the following:               lation.


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      455





                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   We thank God for the covenant instruction and guidance given us by              - On July 30, our beloved parents, DEWEY AND  DENA  ENGELS-
our dear parents, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE HOEKSTRA. We con-                            MA, celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary. We, the children and
gratulate and rejoice with them as  {hey celebrate their 35th wedding             grandchildren,  eipress  our gratitude to them for the selfless care and
anniversary on August 22, 1978. May the Lord bless and keep them and              diligent instruction which they have given to us these many years.
cause His face to shine upon them and grant that they may continue to
live long together in godliness and holiness.                                         Above all, we give thanks to Jehovah for maintaining covenant
                                                                                  homes through parents such as ours.
                            Their children and grand-children,
                                Peter and Judy Hoekstra                               "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good
                                    Cindy, George, Jennifer                       of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's
                                   and Christy                                    children, and peace upon Israel." Psalm  128:5  and 6
                                Bill and Karen Pipe                                                               David and Ruth Engelsma
                                    Katherine, Nathan and William                                                Lammert and Mary Beth Lubbers
                                Cornie and Edith Brummel                                                         Donald and  Lenore Cook
                                   Pamela, Chad and Lynn                                                         Michael and Brenda Engelsma
                                George and Myrna Hoekstra                                                        Timothy and Lois Pipe
                                   Scott                                                                         John and  Ruthanne  Flikkema
                                Ed and Brenda Hoekstra                                                           Jonathan and Floretta Engelsma
                                Jon and Floretta Engelsma                                                        Mark Engelsma
                                    Leah                                                                         Edward and Elizabeth Ophoff
                                Bob and  MaryLou  Vermeer                                                        Kenneth Engelsma
                                Marlin Hoekstra                                                                  Sara Engelsma
                                Lois Hoekstra                                                                    Jordan Engelsma
                                Richard Hoekstra                                                                        and 27 grandchildren





                      ANNUAL MEETING
   The annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing Association                                             NOTICE !!!
will be held, D.V., Thursday evening, September 21, Hope Protestant                  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet at
Reformed Church at 8:00 P.M.                                                      Doon, Iowa on September  -6 at  830 A.M., the Lord willing. Material
   Nominees for the board, of which three are to be chosen, are John              for the Agenda must be sent to the Stated Clerk thirty days before
Cleveland, John N. Dykstra, Phil Dykstra, Robert Garvelink, George                Classis convenes. Delegates in need of lodging or transportation from
Haveman  and Neal Pastoor. Rev. G. Lubbers will speak to us on "Be                the airport should inform the clerk of  Doon's Consistory of their need.
Not Weary in Well Doing". Mark your calendar now and plan to attend                                                                  Rev. David Engelsma,
this meeting.                                                                                                                        Stated Clerk





                                                                        NOTICE !!!
                                                 Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, September
                                            13, 1978 at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Material for this
                                            session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior
                                            to the convening of this meeting.

                                                                                           Jon Huisken
                                                                                            Stated Clerk





                                      News From Our Churches


   During the month past there has been no lack of                                in Isabel, South Dakota, extended a call to Rev.
news concerning calls extended to various of the                                  Slopsema which he subsequently declined. Rev.
pastors in our churches. Rev. James Slopsema of our                               Slopsema also declined a call to Faith Church in
church in Edgerton, Minnesota, declined the call                                  Jenison, Michigan. From a trio of Rev. Arie den
extended to him by our Southwest Church in Grand                                  Hartog, Rev. David Engelsma, and Professor Herman
Rapids. From a trio of Rev. David Engelsma, Rev.                                  Hanko, Faith Church extended a call to Rev. Engels-
Slopsema, and Rev. Ronald Van Overloop our church                                 ma. During a congregational meeting on July 7,


  THE STANDARD BEARER
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                               SECOND CLASS
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                       PDSTAG E PAID AT
                                                                                                  GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.



                                                                       :  *

                                                                                           *_
                                                                                `
                                                                                .          ..-
                                                                                      .

                                   ______-.-_-_--  ~.~  ~~





 456                                           THE STANDARD-BEARER
 Southeast Church in Grand Rapids extended a call to            The congregation of our Covenant Church in
 Rev. Slopsema. The Southeast trio also included Rev.         Wyckoff, New Jersey, enjoyed a rather special
 Van Overloop  and Rev. Engelsma.        '                    Sunday on June 25. Five confessions of faith and two
    As reported in the last issue, the Synod of our           baptisms all took place during the morning service on
 churches examined three students from our Seminary           that day. For a congregation of eight families, this is
 and declared them candidates for the ministry,               something very special. Rev. den Hartog writes that
 eligible to receive calls on or after July 12. At this       "We rejoice at the growth the Lord has shown us and
 writing there are four vacant churches in the                the blessing upon His Work here."
 denomination: Faith, Southeast and Southwest in                Our Missionary, Rev. Robert Harbach, continues to
 Grand Rapids, and Isabel, South Dakota.                      hold Sunday services, catechism, and Bible study
    Synod  .also approved the emeritation of Rev. C.          classes in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Some
 Hanko, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Schipper, and Rev.           interest in his work is also evident in Sooke,  Clear-
 H. Veldman. These men have served our churches in            brook, and Abbottsford, B. C. Rev. Harbach delivered
 the ministry of the gospel for many years.                   a lecture in-the Peace Lutheran Church of Abbotsford
    Rev.  Veldman. preached his farewell sermon in            on June 22. His- topic was "Keys Given the Church."
 Southwest Church on June 18. His congregation held             Rev. Van Overloop, who has been laboring in
' a special program and reception in his honor on June        Christchurch, New Zealand, for about nine months,
 22.                                                          reports that he is busy preaching and teaching. Every
    A farewell sermon by Rev. Schipper was planned            other week he makes a trip up to Wellington to
 for the evening service on July 16 in Southeast              conduct Bible study classes there. Rev. Van Overloop
 Church. Rev. Schipper began his ministry in Grand            was asked to teach a class in "Major Doctrines of the
 Haven in 1936, but was not ordained until January,           Bible" at the Middleton Grange (school) for the ten
 1937; thus he served our churches 41% years. With            week term beginning May 22. About 40 students are
 the farewell sermon, Rev. Schipper will have preached        enrolled in this elective class which meets once a
 1,353 times in Southeast Church.and a total of 5,525         week.
 sermons and lectures in his ministerial career. Rev.           Our Protestant Reformed day school teachers have
 and Mrs. Schipper plan to retain their membership in         been invited to attend a `mini-course' sponsored by
 Southeast Church after his retirement. Recently Rev.         the Teacher Education Development Committee of
 and Mrs. Schipper celebrated another noteworthy day          the Federation. of Protestant Reformed School
 - their 45th wedding anniversary. An open house was          Societies. The subject of this course, taught by Rev.
 held in the church on June 14, given by their                C.  Hanko, is  Motivation.  Three lectures, each fol-
 children.                                                    lowed by a discussion period, will be presented on
                                                              August 10, 11, and 12 in the Protestant Reformed
    At a special congregational meeting in May, our           Theological School. Lecture topics are: The Lack of
 South Holland Church adopted the proposals of the            Motivation Among Students, The Cause or Causes for
 council to serve as the calling church -for a missionary     this Lack, and the Solution to the Problem. An earlier
 and to underwrite the cost. The church council sent          `mini-course' resulted in the publication of the book-
 notification of the decision to the 1978 Synod.              let  Reformed Education.  This  fine publication by
   Prof. Hanko and his family will live in North-             course leader Rev. David Engelsma was published and
 western Washington state during the summer months            distributed to families in all of our churches`by the
 while the professor labors in the Monroe area. Prof.         Federation.
 Hanko preached .in Hull, Iowa, on his way west.                                                                K.G.V.


