            The
     STANDARD
           BEARER
c            A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       An important part of the unreproachable life of the
     believing young person concerns dating and marriage. `The
     young people ought to have a concern for the continuation
     of God's covenant, and therefore ought to have serious
     thoughts toward dating and marriage. Are you seeking a
     wife or husband? What kind of wife or husband are you
     seeking? Is it of the utmost importance to you that your pro-

     spective spouse be a believer? Is it a concern of yours that
     that prospective wife or husband be or become a member of
     the Protestant Reformed Churches?


                               See The Strength of Youth, page 413




                                                   Vol.  LXIII, No. 18, July 1, 1987  -


410                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
        .A  `=,   i    I
                                                                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
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                                                                                        Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Loving One Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410                Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                        D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
   Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413     Rev. Ronald Hanko,  Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.           Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                        bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James 1
                                                                                                                                          S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema



                                               Loving One Another

                              A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you,
                            that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, ifye
                            have love one to another.                                                                                John 13:34, 35



  Jesus is eating  the last  passover supper with His                                    be with His disciples no more.
disciples. Within .a few short hours He will be  ar-                                         Jesus has a parting command for His disciples.
rested, condemned and crucified. And then He will                                         They must love one another. Even as He has loved


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              411



them, so must thev in His absence love one                  They delight to be with one another. They desire to
                       1
another. By this all men  shall'know  that they are         share together what they have in common in
His disciples.                                              Christ. Their pleasure is to work together for the
  Although this command was given the small                 cause of Christ. Being drawn to each other in Christ
number who formed the inner circle of Jesus'                they also are very much concerned with the
followers, this command nevertheless applies to             welfare of each other. When one weeps, they all
the whole church. Are not these few disciples               weep. When one rejoices, they all rejoice. They
gathered with Jesus in the upper room representa-           seek to help one another, to bear one another's
tives of the church of entire new dispensation? To          burdens. For they love each other.
the church and all her members Jesus commands:                 Although this love is something that spon-
love one another. As I have loved you, so all love          taneously exists among the saints, Jesus neverthe-
one another.                                                less gives command: Love one another.
  This love is above all what Jesus expects from the           This command reflects the reality that we do not
church in His absence. As our Lord Jesus expects            always love one another as we ought. There are
many things from us. They are all set forth in His          often ill feelings, bitterness, and even outright
Word, the Bible. But at the heart of it all is this com-    hatred to be found among the saints. Instead of
mandment: love one another. This above all is what          seeking one another's company, the saints will
our Lord requires of us. For this is His parting com-       often avoid each other. Instead of working together
mandment.                                                   in the cause of Christ, they will often in jealousy or
            * * *  * * *  * * * *                           bitterness work at cross purposes with each other.
  What is this love which Jesus requires the                Often there is little concern with the welfare of one
members of His church to have for one another?              another in the church.
  Love is the attraction that two or more have for             So much was this true in Jesus' day that He calls
one another on the basis of what they have in com-          His command to love each other a  new command-
mon. Love is attraction that people have for one            ment. Certainly this command to love was not new
another. This `attraction is based on what people           in the sense that it had never been given before.
have in common. The more they share in common               The command to love is the very heart of all that
the more they are attracted to each other.                  God requires of us in His law. This commandment
                                                            to love one another was new, however, in the sense
  What do the members of the church have in                 that the church in Jesus' day had long ago lost sight
common that would attract them to each other?               of this commandment. She had fallen into a dead
  From a natural point of view there is often very          formalism in which she kept the law of God out-
little. The church of Jesus Christ is catholic, uni-        wardly but not in love to God or the neighbor. Con-
versal. Her members are from every tribe, tongue,           sequently, this command to love was altogether
and nation, from every walk of life. From a natural         something new.
point of view there is often very little to draw them          Is this commandment also new to you?
together in love.                                              How easily the church loses sight of the com-
  Yet, there is one thing that every true member of         mand to love. This is due to the sinful nature that is
the church does possess, and that is the great salva-       present and operative in the lives of every child of
tion of God in Jesus Christ. They'all are the recip-        God. From the viewpoint of the work of God's
ients of the gift of faith which brings them all into       grace in our hearts, they would love one another.
spiritual union with Jesus Christ. By their faith they      But because of our sinful nature, they often fall far
all possess the new life of Jesus-Christ. They are all      s h o r t .
new creatures in Christ who love and serve Him as
their Lord. And this is what brings the members of             Let us crucify our sinful nature. Let us walk in
the church together in the bond of love. Possessing         the newness of life we have received from Jesus
the great salvation of God as new creatures in Jesus        Christ as new creatures so that we love one
Christ, they are spontaneously attracted to one             another.
another. They are drawn to each other with cords                           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
of love.                                                       We are to love one another even as Jesus has
  This love shows itself in a most wonderful com-           loved us.
munion and fellowship. Being drawn together in                There are especially two things that characterize
love, the saints of God seek each other's company.          Jesus' love for the church.
                                                               First,`Jesus in His love for the church is so deeply
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Hope Protestani
Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan.                          concerned about her that He `is willing to sacrifice


412                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



anything necessary to assure her well-being.              be drawn to them with cords of love.
  Certainly Jesus seeks the well-being of His                If we will love each other as Christ loves the
church. In love He seeks nothing less than to             church, then we must also be genuinely concerned
glorify her forever with Himself in heaven.               about the welfare of our fellow saint. We must be
   And Jesus in love is willing to do whatever is         concerned about his desires, his wants, his needs,
necessary to assure the glory of the church. He will      and above all, his salvation. We must busy
sacrifice whatever is necessary. He is willing, if        ourselves in promoting his welfare, even if it re-
need be, to make the supreme sacrifice. And that is       quires that we sacrifice for his sake. We must be
exactly what He did at the cross. The salvation of        ready for the sake of the brother or the sister to
the church requires that He take her sins upon            sacrifice our time, our energy, our desires, if needs
Himself and to pay for those sins by bearing the          be, even our all.
agonies of hell. This He did on the cross.                  Then we love one another even as Jesus loves us.
   In fact, as Jesus tells His disciples to love each                   * * * * * * * * * *
other as He loved them, He was just a few short             By this shall all men know that ye are my
hours away from the cross. Already He had sent            disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Judas Iscariot away to set in motion the activity that      A disciple is one who is a student of another. He
would lead to His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.         sits at the feet of a great teacher to be instructed.
What great love Jesus has for the church!                 Not only that, but a disciple also embraces the in-
  The second thing that characterizes Jesus' love for     struction he is given. And he confesses what he has
the church is that He loves her even though she is        been taught. But, perhaps most important, he lives
difficult to love. Certainly the disciples who repre-     as his teacher has taught him to live, following the
sent the church were not always so easy for Jesus to      very example his teacher has set.
love. They were much inclined not to listen to Jesus        So is it with Jesus' disciples. A true disciple of
when He had something to say contrary to their            Jesus studies diligently all that Jesus has taught. His
perspective and wishes. Selfishly they sought the         teachings you will find in the Bible. They are the
place of pre-eminence of Jesus' kingdom. Presently        sole content of the Bible. A disciple of Jesus also
they would all forsake Him. One would even deny           embraces His teachings. He confesses Jesus' teach-
that He knew Jesus. How difficult to love these           ings. And according to these teachings he strives to
disciples it must have been. And you understand           order his own life, following at all times the exam-
we are essentially no different than these sinful         ple Jesus Himself gave.
disciples. But, nonetheless, Jesus loves us. He loved
us even unto death!                                         Quite in harmony with this, Je,sus informs us that
                                                          the one thing which above all identifies us as His
  So, too, must we love one another in the church.        disciples is that we love one another.
  Jesus' love for us is to be the pattern of our love
for each other.                                             For is not the heart of Jesus' teachings that we
                                                          love? Has not He also given us the very pattern of
  That means that we are to love even the brother         love in His own life? Yes, by all means, if we love
and sister in the church who is hard to love.             one another, all men will know that we are His
  Yes, there are some in the church whom we find          disciples.
so difficult to love. There are those with whom we          In turn, th, ,: who will not love the saints of God
have very little in common from a natural point of        as Jesus does can not claim the distinction of being
view. There are those who have mannerisms and             Jesus' disciples. They may know the Scriptures
personality traits that are so annoying to us. There      backward and forward. They may give a beautiful
are those who disagree with us, who do not ap-            confession with their mouth. They may even pro-
preciate us, who are inconsiderate of us, who have        claim the truth with great eloquence. But if they
even hurt us through their sinful behavior. And we        know not how to love in the church, they have no
are much inclined to turn away from them, to              claim to being a  dis.ciple of Jesus. Nor will others
despise them and, yes, even sometimes to hate             recognize them as such.
them. We show this sometimes in the way we treat            Let us love one another in Jesus Christ.
them and talk about them.                                   Let us love all those who manifest themselves to
  But we are to love them. Has not Jesus loved us         be the saints of God, even though they have many
with all our frailties? And so we must look beyond        sins and weaknesses.
all the idiosyncrasies and faults of our fellow saints
and see them as new creatures in Jesus Christ, who          Let us love them even as does Jesus Christ.
shares with us the great salvation of God. And see-         That all men may know that we are Jesus'
ing the great work of God's grace in them we are to       disciples.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              413



                                        Editor's Notes


   We are happy to announce that the  Standard             ton Church.
Bearer, beginning with the current volume, is now                   * * * * * * * * * *
available in microform from University Microfilms
Inc., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan               We had hoped to carry a report in this issue con-
48106. It is also possible that in  the.future  all our    cerning the 1987 Synod of the Protestant Reformed
past volumes will also be microfilmed and become           Churches. However, at this writing synod had com-
available in this form.                                    pleted its work only on mission matters (Advisory
          * * * * * * * * * *                              Committee 1). Synod decided to continue labors in
                                                           all three home mission stations (Northwest
   For the benefit of those who may be traveling           Chicago, Norristown, Pa., and Ripon-Modesto,
this summer in the vicinity of any of our Protestant       Calif .) . Synod also decided to call a second mission-
Reformed Churches, we are publishing again a               ary for Jamaica. An overture to change the position
directory of our Protestant Reformed Churches.             of our churches as to the time of  .baptism for
We have not yet received information concerning            adopted children was rejected. Since our next issue
our new Lacombe, Alberta congregation. However,            is a special issue, there will be no further report on
such information can undoubtedly be obtained               Synod of 1987; by the time of our September 1 issue
from the contact telephone number of the Edmon-            the news will be stale.                          HCH

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                   Confession of Faith (7)



   in the past several articles we have discussed          must behold the good works of the people of God in
public confession of faith. We have used as our            order that God may be glorified in the day of visita-
guide the three questions that are asked of those          tion, I Peter 2:12. Never must the believer give the
who make confession of faith. We want to conclude          enemies of God's cause an occasion to blaspheme.
this discussion by calling attention to certain              Are you living this kind of life, young people?
responsibilities which a confessing member of              Are you able to say that by your conduct you are a
God's church has. Some of these we have already            witness of Jesus Christ? Are those with whom you
referred to in passing.                                    come into contact on the job or at college able to
AN UNREPROACHABLE LIFE                                     discern that you are a Christian? Do you refrain
   Perhaps the most important calling of a confess-        from taking God's name in vain? Do you refuse to
ing member of the church is to live an unreproach-         attend the movie, listen to rock music, and parti-
able life in the midst of the world. Even the world        cipate in wild partying and dancing? Do you keep
                                                           yourself from fellowship with unbelievers?
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      An important part of the unreproachable life of
Church  of  Loveland, Colorado.                            the believing young person concerns dating and


414                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



marriage,. The young people ought to have a con-          tribute to the relief of his poor fellow brothers and
cern for the continuation of God's covenant, and          sisters in the church. Passages of God's Word
therefore ought to have serious thoughts towards          which speak of this calling are simply too
dating and marriage. Are you seeking a wife or hus-       numerous to mention. In connection with giving to
band? What kind of wife or husband are you seek-          the poor, the Apostle Paul says in I Cor.  16:2,
ing? Is it of the utmost importance to you that your      "Upon the first day of the week let every one of
.prospective  spouse be a believer? Is it a concern of    you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered.
yours that that prospective wife or husband be or         him . . .  ."
become a member of the Protestant Reformed                   Besides the cause of the support of the ministry
Churches?                                                 and the poor, the members of the church are
  The Christian of himself is not able to live this       privileged to support other aspects of God's
good life in the world which is pleasing to God. In       kingdom. Contributions may be made to the Chris-
order to do this, he needs strength from God              tian schools, to missions, to various Christian in-
Himself. God gives His child that strength day by         stitutions of mercy, or to such causes as  The Stan-
day through the reading of the Scriptures and             dard Bearer and The Beacon Lights;
prayer. Do you read God's Word and do you pray?              If the young person is going to be able to 
There ought to be time every day in the life of the                                                          con-
                                                          tribute to these causes as he should, it is important
Christian young person for private devotions. You         that he learn to be a good steward and exercise the
ought to read a few chapters of the Bible. By             necessary self-discipline to put first things first in
reading three chapters a day, you will be able to         his life.
read through the entire Bible in about a year. And
you ought to pray, formulating your own prayer in         CONGREGATIONAL MEETINGS
which you confess your sins and lay your needs               Because Reformed churches adhere to Presby-
before God's throne of grace.                             terian principles of church government, the
SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY AND THE POOR                      members of the church share in the government of
                                                          the church. An important aspect of this is atten-
  An. important calling of the confessing member          dance at and participation in congregational meet-
of the church is to contribute to the support of the      ings.
gospel ministry and the poor. Do the young people
recognize this calling? Does the cause of God and            This applies only to the male confessing
His kingdom come first in their lives, before their       members of the church. It is our position as church-
own needs and pleasures?                                  es, a position that is expressed in our Church Order,
                                                          that only men are to participate in the congrega-
  It is the calling of every member of the church to      tional meetings of the church. Many churches
contribute to the support of the ministry of the          which in the past followed this same practice have
Word. In most churches this is done by paying the         abandoned it. These same churches today are open-
budget. I believe the budget system to be very            ing the offices to women. History has shown that
worthwhile, nor have I ever heard a valid objection       allowing women to participate in congregational
lodged against it. The confessing member of the           meetings has led to the opening of the offices to the
church must fulfill his responsibility by paying his      women, and in fact has been used as an argument
budget, and by doing so before buying groceries,          in favor of allowing the women to serve in the of-
gas for his car, or indulging in recreation. This is      fices.
simply obedience to the Word of Christ, "But seek           Biblical principles move us to forbid women the
ye first the kingdom of God . . .  ." (Matt.  6:33).      right to vote at the congregational meetings of the
  Many passages of. Scripture bind upon the child         church. The congregational meeting is an official
of God the duty, a blessed duty, we might  a-dd, to       gathering of the church. For a woman to vote at a
support the ministry. One of the most outstanding         congregational meeting is for a woman to exercise
passages is found in I Corinthians 9. There the           some authority and to enter into the government of
apostle teaches that those who sow spiritual things       the church. This is prohibited.
ought to share in the carnal things of the people of        The young men who make confession of faith
God, and those who minister about holy things             ought to take seriously their responsibility to attend
ought to be partakers of the altar. He sums up the        the congregational meetings. At times only routine
matter in verse 14, "Even so hath the Lord or-            matters appear on the agenda and it becomes easy
dained that they which preach the gospel should           to get into the habit of skipping these meetings. We
live of the gospel."                                      ought not to do this. It is a sacred privilege to be
  In addition to supporting the ministry, the             able to participate in the affairs of the church, a
member of the church has the responsibility to con-       privilege that saints of God in other ages did not en-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               415



joy as we do today.                                        Christ, which is made up of many other and dif-
   Even though the calling of the young women in           ferent members. He is called to live not only to the
the church is not the calling to hold office in the        glory of Christ Who is the Head of this body, but he
church or to exercise authority, this does not imply       is also called to live in harmony with all the other
that they have no calling, or that their calling is not    members of this body.
important. Ordinarily, God's will for the young              An important aspect of this calling, to maintain
women of the church is that they marry, bare               the unity of the church is the willingness on the
children, and guide the household (I Tim. 5: 14). Are      part of the members of the church to go the way of
the young women content with this position which           Matthew 18 if a brother or sister in the church has
God has given them? What is their attitude toward          sinned against them. Do you know the way of Mat-
marriage, motherhood, and being a housewife? Do            thew 18? And are you determined to follow the way
they look forward to these things? Do they under-          of Matthew 18 if you are sinned against?
stand the important place God has given them in              As simple as it is to understand the instructions
the continuation of His covenant in the line of the        of the Lord in Matthew 18, it is one of the hardest
generations of His people?                                 things in the world to carry out. It is very difficult
MAINTAINING THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH                        to go to the brother when he  hassinned  and con-
   One of the most important callings of the mem-          front him with his sin, and do it in the right way. In-
ber of the church is to maintain the unity of the          stead, what usually happens is  .that we back-bite
church. It is easy enough to tear the church down,         and slander, or simply ignore the sin and pretend
to live in bitterness or open hostility towards cer-       that it never happened. If we love the brother and if
tain members of the church. The member of the              we love the church, we must  .be faithful to carry
church is called to preserve the peace and unity of        out the steps of Matthew 18. This will gain the
the church.                                                brother, and this will restore the unity of the
                                                           church which has been broken by sin.
  The Apostle Paul expresses this calling in Eph.
4:3, "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in         Now may God bless all the young people of His
the bond of peace." He goes on to point out that if        church who have made confession -of your faith or
we are going to keep the church's unity it will be         who are contemplating making confession of your
necessary for us to be lowly and meek, longsuffer-         faith. May you be blessed and may you be a bless-
ing towards one another, forbearing one another in         ing in the life .of our churches. Through you may
love.                                                      the cause of our churches, which is the cause of
                                                           Christ, be'preserved in the years to come!
  It is important for the member of the church to
recognize that he is only one member of the body of
ALL AROUND US
Gise J. Van Buren




                              The Only Answer For AIDS
                          Secular Humanism - a Religion



The Only Answer  for AIDS                                  find different methods of avoiding the  conse-
  It is interesting to discover, in the increasingly       quences of sin. Still, it is very interesting and
frequent articles about AIDS, that there is but one        noteworthy `that there is a generally universal
way identified to remain AIDS-free. Many will              recognition that there is but one sure way of
speak of "safe sex" as though one can find methods.        avoiding this dread disease. Dr. Paul Donohue, a
of violating God's laws with impunity still. Others        syndicated writer who appears regularly in the


416                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



Grand Rapids' Press,  stated in the March 23, 1987                 reasonable boundaries on religious acts necessary to
edition, after pointing out the various ways in                    enable it to carry out its essential functions. While
which AIDS is contracted (and ways in which it can                 finding that overt sponsorship, seemingly placing the
not be contracted):                                                state's imprimatur on specific religious acts, violates
                                                                   the establishment clause, the court noted that laws in-
       You won't get AIDS if you share a longstanding              cidentally agreeing with or assisting particular
    monogamous and drug-free relationship with a part-             religious belief were legitimate expressions of the
    ner who is also AIDS-free. That's the only what to             value afforded free exercise rights. It further recog-
    have 100 percent protection from this fatal illness.           nized that the state could encourage free exercise
   Interesting! He could as well have stated: obey                 rights or permit religious expression in public forums
Godis law without compromise, and this terrible                    without an establishment clause violation. The court
disease can not strike you. But man does not want                  also noted the prohibition on state evaluation of the
that kind of answer  - and it appears that even in                 validity of any religious belief.
the face of certain death, many are not willing to                   In light of the foregoing, the court reasoned that a
consider this 100 percent preventive measure.                      proper definition of religion could not require an ex-
                                                                   amination of the validity of the religious beliefs or
Secular Humanism  - a Religion                                     practices involved. Moreover it concluded that the
                                                                   state could not employ content based definitions of
  A lower court decision in an Alabama case has at-                religion but instead was required to evaluate the fac-
tracted the attention of the national press and                    tors common to all religious movements to determine
created a degree of consternation within the hearts                how  "to distinguish those ideologies worthy of the
of many in the public school systems. Though one                   protection of the religion clauses from those which
would think, given the climate of today's thinking,                must seek refuge under other constitutional provi-
that this decision will ultimately be overthrown, it               sions." It stressed. that a definition of religion must be
is a decision with which we would basically agree.                 expansive enough to "encompass systems of belief
Its main thrust is that secular humanism, as admit-                that are equivalent to (traditional systems of belief)
tedly taught in most public schools and in their                   the believer."
text-books, is a religion. That is, of course, true  -               The court identified four areas concerning which
but a truth which most public school educators                     beliefs which were properly characterized as religious
would refuse to admit. Therefore, the decision of                  made assumptions: "1) the existence of supernatural
Judge Hand is of such great interest, also to us. I                and/or transcendent reality; 2) the nature of man; 3)
                                                                   the ultimate end, or goal or purpose of man's ex-
quote a bit of this decision and the reasoning                     istence, both individually and collectively; and 4) the
behind it as presented in  ReZigious Freedom                       nature of the universe." The court emphasized that
Reporter,  Mar./Apr. 1987:                                         while a religion need not include a belief in a deity or
   A federal district court has ruled that secular human-          in supernatural existence "a religious person adheres
    ism is a religion for first amendment purposes and             to some position on whether supernatural  and/or
   that textbooks used by the Alabama public schools ad-           transcendent reality exists at all, and if so, how and if
    vanced that religion in contravention of the establish-        not, why." It thus distinguished a religion from a
    ment clause. In accordance with its findings, the court        "comprehensive world-view" or "way of life" which,
    enjoined the use of the offending textbooks except as          although similar, do not address those issues ad-
    reference sources in comparative religion courses              dressed by religion. The court also concluded that ex-
   treating all religions equally . . . .                          amination of such considerations as the sincerity of
                                                                   adherents' commitments, group organization, hier-
       . . . In developing an appropriate definition of            archical structure and the practice of ritual and wor-
    religion, the district court noted that the Supreme            ship were relevant in determining whether a belief
    Court had never given an absolute definition of                was religious.
    religion under the first amendment. On the basis of its
    examination of several high court decisions address-             Evaluating secular humanism under these criteria,
    ing the nature of religion, the court found four rele-         the court found that all witnesses testifying for the
   vant considerations. First, the concept of neutrality re-       plaintiffs with regard to its nature had agreed that it
    quires that constitutional protection be extended to all       was a belief system constituting a religion which:
   religious beliefs without reference to their                    "makes a statement about supernatural existence a
    "theological foundations or idiosyncrasies." Second,           central pillar of its logic; defines the nature of man;
   the nature of religion is largely dependent upon the            sets forth a goal or purpose for individual and collec-
   popular perception of religion. Third, governmental             tive human existence; and defines the nature of the
   definitions of religion can not constitutionally be             universe,    and thereby delimits its purpose."
    structured to hinder or prohibit the growth of new             Specifically the court commented that secular human-
   beliefs. Fourth, government is entitled to set                  ism purported to establish a "closed definition of
                                                                   reality" in which everything was knowable solely
                                                                   through the use of the human intellect. It char-
G&e J. Van Baven  is pastor of the Protestant Reformed             acterized as the most important belief of the religion
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   "its denial of the transcendent and/or supernatural,


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          4 1 7



   that there is no God, no creator, no divinity." The               the court concluded that "The student could  reason-
   court identified its belief in man as "the product of             ably assume, absent other information, that theistic
   evolutionary, physical, forces . . . purely biological            religion is, at best, extraneous to an intelligent under-
   and (having) no supernatural or transcendent spiritual            standing of this country's history. The texts reviewed
   component or quality;" its definition of man's  in-               are not merely bad history, but lack so many. facts as
   dividual purpose as to seek personal fulfillment                  to equal ideological promotion . . .  ."
   through the free development of his rational intellect,          As one might expect, cries are ascending about
   and his collective purpose as seeking "the good life by       "censorship" of books. Those who would have
   the increase of every person's freedom and .potential         nothing of the Bible nor of the ten commandments
   for personal development." The court also found that
   humanism had an established moral code and an iden-           because this is "religion", now deplore the state-
   tified source of morality  - one existing in humans           ment of the court on the claim that it is "censor-
   and human relationships but not having a spiritual or         ship" of books. The court, however, is correct. One
   supernatural origin. Other characteristics cited as           can not have it both ways. If "religion" is to be ex-
   evidence of secular humanism's religious character            cluded from public schools, then logically and con-
   included, its proscription on attitudes and conduct in-       sistently secular humanism must be excluded too.
   terfering with personal freedom and fulfillment, the            The "solution" to the dilemma, of course, is one
   hierarchial structure of some secular humanist groups
   and their proselytizing activities. The court concluded       which neither the courts nor people generally will
   that secular humanism was "religious for first amend-         recognize. Parents themselves have the respon-
   ment purposes because it makes statements based on            sibility to instruct, or see to the instruction of their
   faith-assumptions."                                           children in harmony with their "religion". This
     Having defined secular humanism as a religion, the          would remove the government from the realm of
   court stressed that it was subject to all the protections     schooling. But this "solution" appears in-
   and prohibitions of the first amendment religion              conceivable in our present society. In the mean-
   clauses including prohibitions on its promotion and           time, Christian parents must recognize too that the
   advancement within the public schools . . . .                 court is correct in stating that the public schools do
     . . . The court concluded that the omissions con-           teach religion (though the Bible is excluded). To
   tained in some textbooks were sufficient to constitute        send one's children there is to have the world teach
   a violation of the constitution. Specifically it noted the    its religion to covenant seed. Is it any different than
   lack of both historical references to religion and            if the children of Israel would have sent their
   references to the role of religion in the daily lives of      children to the temples of  Baa1 for instruction by
   Americans. Commenting on high school history texts,           those priests?
TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald H. Hanko





                                         God Is Perfect (1)



  In many ways the tenth commandment stands                        This distinctive character of the tenth command-
apart from all the others. Its unique importance is              ment is evident in its demand. All the other com-
demonstrated, for example, by the statement of                   mandments, though they have implications for our
Paul in Romans  7:7: "For I had not known sin ex-                inward life, are directed primarily at our outward
cept the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." In I               life, our speech and actions. In forbidding
Timothy  6:lO he again sets it apart from the all                covetousness (also called concupiscence or lust in
others and shows its importance by telling us that               Scripture) the tenth commandment deals with a sin
the love of money, covetousness, the sin,forbidden               that by its very nature is a matter of our inward life
in the tenth commandment, is the root sin.                       and heart. By directing its attention solely to our in-


418                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ward life, the,tenth commandment reminds us of              and therefore says in his heart what the fool always
somethmg  that is only  implied in the other com-           says, that there is no God (Luke 12: 13-21, Ps. 14: 1).
mandments: that obedience to God is fundamental-              All this helps. us get at the basic principle of the
ly a matter of the heart; or in other words, that           tenth commandment. Inasmuch as it is essentially
mere outward conformity to the law of God does              the same as the first, so, too, its principle is really
not in itself constitute obedience.                         the same: the important Biblical truth that God is
  This is critical to understanding the tenth com-          ONE. In the tenth commandment, therefore, the
mandment and to seeing the' particular aspect of            law of God makes a full circle, beginning and end-
God's glory in which the tenth commandment is               ing with the same truth, the most basic and impor-
grounded. It, like all the others, is not arbitrary, but    tant truth of all God's self-revelation.
a revelation of the glory of God Himself, and an ap-          Nevertheless, the tenth commandment is
plication of that glory to our life. Like all the others    grounded in a slightly different aspect of God's
it teaches us to be holy as God is holy.                    oneness. The first commandment, if we remember,
  In looking for that principle, the first thing we         was based on the truth that God is the one only true
must see is that the tenth commandment does not             God, and that beside Him there is no other. The
merely forbid our lusting after, or wanting things          tenth is grounded in God's simplicity or perfection,
we do not have. That, in itself, is not even                another aspect of His oneness.
necessarily wrong. The faculty of the soul to want            Remember now that the tenth commandment re-
certain things is in-created by God and is not in           quires that our whole life, including the inward life
itself bad, as is clear from those passages of Scrip-       of our thoughts, desires, and motives be in obe-
ture which use such words as "lust" or "covet" in a         dience to God's law. In requiring this, the com-
good sense (Deut. 1215-21,  I Cor. 12:31). What the         mandment requires of us perfection. Our obe-
tenth commandment forbids is unlawful desiring,             dience must be whole and entire, lacking nothing,
and unlawful desiring is wanting anything apart             that is, perfect. That this is the Biblical meaning of
from God, or against God. Particularly that in-             perfection is clear from James  1:4 where James ex-
volves wanting what God has not given or will not           plains the word "perfect" with the phrase "entire
give. This is the reason the tenth commandment              and lacking nothing." Likewise, Leviticus  22:21ff
speaks of the things that God has given to our              describes a perfect sacrifice as one without
neighbor and not to us. It is not wrong to desire a         blemish, lack, or imperfection. And it is in har-
wife, unless, of course, God has made it clear that         mony with this idea that the Heidelberg Catechism
we must be eunuchs for the kingdom's sake, but              explains the tenth commandment as requiring that
He has forbidden us to want the neighbor's wife,            "even the smallest inclination or thought contrary
likewise his house and his possessions.                     to any of God's commandments never arise in our
  Here the tenth commandment is very closely                hearts, but that at all times we hate all sin with our
related to the first. In Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians       whole heart, and delight in all righteousness"
35 Paul even identifies covetousness as idolatry.           (XLIV, 113).
Obviously, loving or desiring anything apart from             That this demand for perfection is indeed the re-
God is only a species of idolatry. In fact, the only        quirement of the tenth commandment is nowhere
real difference between the two commandments is             so clear as in Jesus' conversation with the rich
that matter of direction, that the first is directed to     young ruler. This man claimed to have kept all the
our outward life or worship and confession, the             commandments of God from his youth and since
tenth to our inward life. Along with that, there is         Jesus himself does not question his outward con-
also the obvious fact that the tenth commandment            formity to the law, there is no reason for us to doubt
relates especially to our every-day life in the world       this man's words. Nevertheless, Jesus shows that
and our attitude toward the things of the world.            he was still not obedient, by pointing out his
  Because covetousness is principally the same as           covetousness. Jesus told him to sell all he had, not
idolatry, James calls it adultery in chapter 4:1-4 of       because it is always necessary to have nothing in
his Epistle. Just as idolatry is spiritual adultery         order to follow Jesus, but because this man's
(Hos. 1:2) so also is covetousness. It is a "departing      possessions     w e r e   h i s   f i r s t   l o v e .   H e   w a s
from the Lord." Along the same lines, the man in            covetousness as he showed when he left Jesus for
the parable of the rich fool is a fool in his covetous-     his possessions: "he went away sorrowful, for he
ness, because in everything he says and does re-            had great possessions" (Matt. 19:16-22). That is in-
garding his possessions he takes no account of God,         deed a significant revelation of where he stood in
                                                            relation to God as far as the desires of his heart
                                                            were concerned. Even more significant for us,
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity Protestant Reformed
Church, Houston, Texas.                                     however, is the fact that Jesus says to him by way


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 419



of getting at his covetousness, "If thou wilt be          their salvation while at the same  not  willitig  their
perfect. . .  ." That is the great demand of the tenth    salvation in His decree of election. He is perfect!
commandment.                                                As important as that truth is for doctrine and
   We understand, then, that the tenth command-           dogmatics, it is even more important  fgr the com-
ment does not just require perfection, but that we        fort of God's people. Deuteronomy  32:4 tells us
be perfect as God Himself is perfect, and because         that because His work is perfect, He is the Rock of
He is perfect (cf. Deut. 18:13, Matt. 5:48). That God     His people, the Rock of their salvation (vs. 15), the.
is perfect means that His glory is complete and en-       Rock that begat them (vs.  18), and the Rock that
tire, lacking nothing. There is no contradiction or       first delivered them into the hands of their enemies
disharmony, no disunity in God, and He is not             and then delivered them (vss. 30-43). II Samuel
divided against Himself in any way. In dogmatics          22:31  ad+ its own testimony to this, by reminding
this is usually called the simplicity of God, as we       God's people that He is a buckler to all that trust in
read in the Belgic Confession; "we all believe with       Him because His way is perfect.
the heart and confess with the mouth, that there is         As much then as we love this truth concerning
one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call        God (and we love or ought to love it very much in
God" (Art. I). The word "simple" has in this con-         our Protestant Reformed Churches, for it is not on-
nection its older meaning of uncomplicated, pure,         ly our comfort as believers, but an integral part of
and unmixed, and refers to the same thing that            our history), by so much will we love the tenth
Scripture calls God's perfection. Perhaps the most        commandment and its demands as the way in
profound statement of God's simplicity in all of          which we can with all our heart show our apprecia-
Scripture, but one which at the same gets the idea        tion for what God has revealed of His perfection,
of it across to US most powerfully, is found in I John    and confess our love and faith in His perfection in a
1:5; "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."    living and practical way. So once again we see that
  That God's simplicity is an aspect of His oneness       true obedience to God's law, is not mere conformi-
is clear with a little thought. It refers to His one-     ty to a code of ethics, not a matter finally of "do and
ness, not as the only God, but as He is one in and of     don't," but of whole-hearted conformity to God's
Himself, in all His words and works (Deut. 324, II        own glory and perfection. The "mu'&" of God's law
Sam.  2231). It is also a very important truth.           can never be for His people anything but the
  It is not too much to say that the truth of God's       "must" of their own love for Him who called them
simplicity is the underlying foundation of all con-       out of darkness into His own light.
sistency in doctrine and the development of the             Here that "must" is the requirement that our life
truth. For example, it is this attribute of God which     be without contradiction in the service of God, that
is the most powerful argument against the idea of         our heart and life be one and undivided in obe-
God's love for all men, particularly against the idea     dience to Him, and that there be no contradiction
that He reveals in the gospel such a love for all men     between the outward conduct of our life, and the
as desires their salvation, while at the same time        motives and desires of our hearts. Far be it from us
not providing in His sovereign power all that is          that  we serve Him with hands and lips while our
necessary for their salvation, thus showing an un-        hearts are far from Him, our desires toward the
willingness to have all saved. God's simplicity           world and the things of the world, and we be full of
means there is no such contradiction in Him. He           covetousness. We must be perfect as our Father in
cannot both love and hate the wicked and desire           heaven is perfect.

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420                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE
Ronald J. Van Overloop




                 Effective Personal Witnessing (1)


   Within the sphere of Reformed believers there                  However, this does not cause the Reformed
has always been a segment who have held as                     believer to dismiss church growth altogether, nor
suspect all aspects of evangelism (both mission                does he despise it. Rather, following the direction
work and personal witnessing). It is contended that            of Scripture, he looks for healthy church growth.
evangelism has historically been the occasion for              He is not suspicious of evangelism. It is not some-
many departures from the Reformed faith. It is also            thing carnal, but it is highly spiritual. It is the Lord
contended, that if one is truly Reformed, then he              Who adds daily to the Church the ones being saved
cannot expect effective and successful missions. It            (Acts  2:47), so if one loves the Lord, then he loves
is falsely assumed that one must be Arminian at                the salvation of His people, and he loves and values
least in his methodology if not in his theology if he          the growth of His Body, the Church. He will pray
is to be effective in the work of evangelism.                  for the growth of the Church, delight in it and look
   The baby must not be thrown away with the dir-              for it.
ty bath water. Get rid of the dirty water of bad prac-                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
tices and sad histories, but keep the baby of                     Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has given five founda-
Biblically defined and commanded evangelism.                   tional principles for evangelism and witnessing.
   In fact, the real hope, encouragement, and liber-                 1. The supreme object is to glorify God, not to
ty for all forms of evangelism is found in the God-                       save souls.
centered gospel, which is one of the chief
characteristics of the Reformed faith. The doorway                   2.  The only power that can do the work is the
to a hopeful and joyful witness is found by focusing                      Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
on the sovereign God as man's Creator and                            3. The only medium through which the Holy
Redeemer.                                                                 Spirit works is the Scriptures (Paul always
   It can not and may not be denied that there is a                       "reasoned out of the Scriptures").
lot of dirty water in the church world. There is in                  4. The preceding give the true motivation:
the human nature a carnal fascination for size and                        zeal for God and love of neighbor.
success. American society is especially keen on                      5. There is the constant danger of heresy
having things big. In the church world, too, there is                     through false zeal and unscriptural
an emphasis on the numerical growth of a church.                          methods.
The really large congregations are held up as ex-
amples, and their methods are emulated. Books,                    If one would hold to and follow these principles,
pamphlets, and seminary courses on church                      then one would be free from fear that evangelism,
growth have great popularity.                                  missions, and witnessing are too dangerous to con-
                                                               duct. At the same time one would be secured from
   The Reformed believer does not respond to this              heresy.
carnal fascination with size. He confesses that size                       * * * * *  * * * * *
is not one of the marks of the true Church. On the
contrary Scripture warns against the fascination                 To witness is clearly Biblical. "The fruit of the
with large numbers in the history of David and                 righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls
Israel being chastened sorely when David                       is wise" (Proverbs 11:30). To witness is also clearly
numbered the people (II Samuel 24).                            Reformed, for one of the reasons given why the
                                                               Christian must do good works is "that, by our godly
Ronald J. Van Overloop  is a missionary-pastor of the Prot.    conversation, others may be gained to Christ"
Ref. Churches in the Northwest Chicago area.                   (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 32). The idea of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 421



witnessing is that of Matthew 5: 16, "Let your light        that the ultimate goal of all witnessing is to bring
so shine before men, that they may see your good            the object of the witness under the weekly
works, and glorify your Father which is in                  preaching of the Word.
heaven."                                                       One more thing must be said about the relation-
   It is not just for the super-Christian or for the of-    ship between preaching and witnessing: it is the
ficebearer to witness. It is the responsibility and         preaching which instructs, admonishes and in-
privilege of every Christian.                               spires the believer in the proper motives, contents,
  Also, it is not a question of whether or not we           and methods of witnessing. The messages heard on
witness, but of what kind of witness we are giving.         the Lord's Day give the believer the contents and
The idea is that our life and speech are our greatest       inspiration to live a holy life (witness) in gratitude
and most effective witness to those about us. Many          to God for the salvation experienced.
conceive of witnessing in terms of a neat formula, a                  * * * * * * * * * *
set of questions, a friendly personality, eloquence            There is also the danger of making a separation
of speech, or such like. However, there is no               in one's mind between one's life in the church and
substitute for holiness of life. Such a holy life is one    one's witnessing.
of prayer for the salvation of others (Romans 1O:l).
It is a life of humility, a willingness to decrease that       Acts 2 makes it very clear that there were certain
God might increase (John 3:30). A holy life is one of       characteristics of the Church to which the Lord
kindness (I Corinthians 13:4).  Such a holy life is one     added daily such as should be saved. Verses 42-47a
of confidence in the Spirit's use of the gospel as the      describe the life of the church to which Christ
power unto salvation (Romans  1:16).  Such a holy           added. There is a very definite and close relation-
life consists of unashamedly defending the honor            ship between the Lord's adding and the spiritual
and glory of God in our life and speech, especially         condition of the congregation. The church that
to our neighbor.                                            grows possesses a normal, healthy, spiritual condi-
                                                            tion. And every member plays an active role in this
             * * * *  * * * * * *                           healthy condition. This passage makes it very clear
  Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones warns us of the constant           that, while distributing tracts or going door-to-door
danger of heresy through false zeal and unscrip-            may have a place in the life of the individual
tural methods. Therefore, one must be careful to            believer, these are not the first and most important
understand and remember the relationship be-                thing. It is vital that each member actively give
tween witnessing and the preaching of the gospel.           himself or herself to living in the congregation the
  The official and lively preaching of the Word of          healthy spiritual life of the Body of Christ.
God within the Church is the chief means of grace.            That healthy spiritual condition consists of three
That preaching of Christ crucified, risen, and ex-          things in the passage in Acts 2. First, it consists of a
alted is the wisdom and power of God unto salva-            steadfast continuance in the apostle's doctrine.
tion (I Corinthians  1:20-24). Faith comes through          This means that the whole congregation has a lively
this proclamation of the gospel (Romans 10:14-17).          interest in the Word of God, coming eagerly and ex-
  The Holy Spirit powers this preaching into the            pectantly (not reluctantly) to the preaching  serv-
hearts and lives of believers. The life, conversation       ices.
and conduct of the believer carries the message               Secondly, the healthy spiritual condition of a
heard on the Lord's Day throughout the week to his          growing church consists of the fellowship of the
neighbors. So it was with the persecuted, Jerusalem         members among themselves. Over against the con-
Christians who "went every where preaching the              stant pressures to lose or corrupt this fellowship
Word' (Acts  8:4). We might call this preaching in          each individual believer consciously strives to ex-
the broader sense. The word "witness" conveys the           press his or her fellowship with the fellow-saints.
same idea better, for it frees one from the danger of         And thirdly, the healthy spiritual condition of a
thinking that those who witness (i.e. all believers)        church consists of the presence of the "fear" of and
have the right to be called preachers in the same           for God in every soul. This shows that their contin-
sense as those who are trained, called, and or-             uing steadfast in doctrine is not dead orthodoxy or
dained into the ministry of the Word. But while it is       formalism, but a love of God and His truth.
wise to use the word "witness", let it not be for-
gotten that the Scriptures place great importance             So the individual believer who loves the Lord
and power on the witness (the holy life) of the             and His Church, and who is anxious about his call-
believer.                                                   ing to be a witness, will labor mightily within his
                                                            present congregation to be faithful to doctrine,
  To avoid the danger of heresy through false zeal          zealous in the worship of Jehovah, and at peace
and unscriptural methods, it must be remembered             with his fellow-saints.


422                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



  It is obvious that one may not conceive of                               In a future issue attention will be given to the
witnessing apart from his responsibility to the                       proper motivation, Scriptural methods, and the en-
Church of God.                                                        couragements given for witnessing.

WALKING IN THE LfGHT
Herman C. Hanko





           Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                                   (17)



Genetic Engineering! What high hopes this holds                       the others. It has been suggested that such proce-
for the future of man! It has the potential to create                 dures could be used to develop people who are half
heaven on earth and loose man once and for all                        apes and half men with extra long arms to pick fruit
from the chains of ignorance and poverty which                        in orchards, to develop whole castes of people with
hold him in his dark prison!                                          sub-level intelligence to do menial labor which
  We have discussed in our last article what men                      none of us likes to do, to perfect in this way human
have already accomplished through genetic                             robots who will do all the drudgery in life while
engineering and what they hope to accomplish in                       men of  .greater intelligence can enjoy life's
the future as the genetic code is broken and the                      pleasures. Genetic engineering holds out all sorts of
secrets of it are learned.                                            prospects for a better life. It sounds like Huxley's
                                                                      prophecy come true: humans and sub-humans pro-
  We have to discuss one other aspect of genetic                      duced on laboratory assembly lines for specific
engineering before we move on with our discus-                        tasks in life  - the sub-mental for drudgery, the
sion. This has to do with what is called "cloning."                   super-intelligent for the enjoyable parts of life.
A description of this is found in an article by
Charles E.  Curran,  a Roman Catholic moralist, en-                        In this article we propose to discuss the moral
titled, "Moral Theology and Genetics." It is                          ,aspects  of this technique and look at them from the
published in a book edited by Stephen E. Lammers                      perspective of Scripture. Before we do this, two
& Allen Verhey, "On Moral Medicine: Theological                       things must be said.
Perspectives in Medical Ethics." He writes:                                One is that some may argue that this is hardly
       Science can now remove the nucleus from a fertil-              worth discussing because the hopes of scientists are
   ized frog's egg and replace it with a nucleus from one             still future and they may never be able to realize the
    of the cells of a developing embryo [part of the prob-            dreams of which they speak. Genetic engineering,
   lem is that the genes must not be already differ-                  while holding out great hope, is a thing of the
   entiated, as is the case in most cells). The fertilized cell       future. So why worry about it? Why ought the
   thus develops Ynto  a frog which is the genetic twin of            Christian to concern himself with it? He will never
   the frog from which the nucleus of the cell was taken.             need to face the moral issues which are brought up
  By means of cloning is it theoretically possible to                 by it.
make as many of one kind of creature as one                                Two things have to be said in this connection.
wishes, each creature being exactly identical to all                  One is that I have learned over the course of the
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New                years not to underestimate what science is able to
Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                        do. Forty years ago I would have insisted that any


                                             THE STANDARD. BEARER                                                         4 2 3



man who  claimed~ that  ,man would land on the             of course, being defined by Fletcher himself. He is
moon was stark, raving mad. But men have landed            in favor of adultery, artificial germination, birth
on the moon. Thirty years ago I would have                 control, incest, genetic engineering and every con-
laughed at any one who said that someday we                ceivable vice which has been considered or com-
would have to face the problems of surrogate               mitted under the sun  - although, of course, with.
motherhood. But today these problems are being             various restrictions. He has nothing but scathing
fought in the courts. Twenty years ago the idea of         words for those who hold to a morality rooted in.
conception in a test tube seemed preposterous. But         the law of God. Concerning cloning he says:
today it is being commonly done in this land and
other countries.                                                 There is no ethical objection to cloning when it is
                                                              morally  [that is, humanely) employed. Artificial virgin
  When God prevented men from building the                    births and cloned "multiplets" promise real benefits            .
tower of Babel, he said, "Behold, the people is one,          not only to human beings but to the "green revolu-
and they have all one language; and this they begin           tion" also. Whole orange groves are sometimes copied
to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them,          ,tree  by tree, from a single high yield tree. Herds of
which they have imagined to do." God stopped them             meat and coat animals cloned from a champion Kenya
then, for many centuries had to elapse for the                or Kazakhstan sheep could increase our meat supply
                                                              two or three times in just a couple of years. Fish farm-
church to be gathered and Christ had not yet come.            ing in controlled waters is another option; we need
But now we live near the end and the.restraints  of           not rely altogether on delicate ecobalances. What men
sin are being taken away so that God allows man to            can do by cloning with their plants and animals they
.do whatever he imagines. We have to face this hor-           could and sometimes should do for themselves. There
rible fact, for it is necessary before the Lord returns       is no moral reason why we must follow biological
so that the full horror of the sin of man may be              heterogeneity in all human beings, whenever homo-
revealed and God be shown righteous in all His                geneity can serve a  constructiv;  pirpose.
judgments.                                                   Speaking concerning genetic engineering for
  The second thing that needs saying is this. Even         disease control, he writes:
though science has not yet succeeded in doing what              Producing our children by "sexual roulette"
it hopes to do in the whole field of genetic engineer-        without preconceptive and uterine control, simply
ing, now is the time to consider the moral implica-           taking "pot luck" from random sexual combinations,
tions of these things. If we foolishly wait until these       is irresponsible  - now that we can be genetically
things are upon us, we will find it very much more            selective and know how to monitor against congenital
difficult to come to conclusions on these matters in          infirmities. As we learn to direct mutations medically
the light of Scripture, for we will become caught up          we should do so. Not to control when we can is im-
in the stream of them and swept along without hav-            moral. This way it will be much easier to assure our
                                                              children that they really are here because they are
ing the time or opportunity to weigh their moral              wanted, that they were born "on ,purpose."
worth. When we take upon ourselves the respon-
sibility to drive a car we ought, at the outset, deter-      What is particularly frightening.about a man like
mine that we are going to abide by the laws of the         Fletcher is his insistence that genetic engineering
land; we ought to have a clear conception of what          be made a matter of coercion, He writes:
we will do if the brakes on the car fail at any given           A worrisome side to the practice of control is
time; we ought to have an idea ahead of time what             whether it should ever be imposed or must always be
actions .we can take under various emergencies.               voluntary. If people could be relied upon to be com-
The time to do this is not while we are hurtling              passionate we would have no reason to even consider
down a mountain road with useless brakes. The                 mandatory controls. But there are too many who do
precipice will be the end of the ride.                        not control their lives out of moral concern; they are
                                                              self-centered about what they do or neglect to do,
  We ought, I think, to have a clear understanding            even though they may be "cagey" about it. Large
of what scientists have in mind. I found such a               families and a pious disregard of genetic counseling,
description in an article by Joseph Fletcher in-              like refusing to undergo vaccinations until it is made a
cluded in the recently published book edited by               matter of police enforcement, show how the common
Stephen E. Lammers & Allen Verhey which I men-                welfare often has to be safeguarded by compulsory
tioned above. The article of Fletcher is written              control or what Garret Hardin  calls "mutual coercion
under the title: "The Ethics of Genetic Control:              mutually agreed upon."
Some Answers."                                                  Coercion is a dirty word to liberals, but all social
                                                              controls  - e.g., the government's tax powers  - are
  One must understand that Joseph Fletcher is a               really what the majority agree upon, however reluc-
proponent of the new morality; i.e., of a morality            tantly, out of enlightened self-interest and a  q&d  pro
which holds that anything is right as long as it seeks        quo willingness to give up something to get something
the greatest good of the greatest number - "good,"            better. It might be protection of overpopulation, for


424                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



       instance. Ideally it is better to do the moral things        Not only is this frightening in the extreme, but
       freely, but sometimes it is more compassionate to          we can well believe that the day is not too far  dis-
       force it to be done than to sacrifice the well-being of    tant when these "laws" will be put into effect. Any-
       the many to the egocentric "rights" of the few. This
       obviously is the ethics of a sane society. Compulsory      one who does not have children in the way the state
       controls on reproduction would not, of course, fit         prescribes (all according to high ethics and true
       present interpretations of due process in the fifth and    morality) will be severely punished by legal
       fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. Here, as        penalties.
       in so many other ways, the law lags behind the ethics
       of modern medicine and public health knowledge.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





              Numbers - The- Wilderness Sojourn
                                                   (Concluded)



- We are in the midst of outlining the section of                 (31:13-20). All metals that could be purified by fire
the Book of Numbers that covers the second num-                   had to be placed in the fire and all the rest of the
bering of the people and related events (beginning                spoil had to be washed in purification  (31:21-24).
at chapter 30). Moses reminds the heads of each                   The spoils had to be divided along, these lines: half
tribe that if a man vow or swear an oath, he must                 given to the men who fought, half to the congrega-
do as he has vowed, for the Lord's honor is at stake              tion. Of the half given to the soldiers, one of every
(30: l-3). The same holds true for a woman, only her              500 captives and animals had to be given to Eleazer
father or husband had the right to disallow the car:              for a heave offering to the Lord. Of the half given to
rying out of the vow  (30:4-8).  The same thing ap-               the congregation, one of every 50 captives and
plied to a widowed or divorced woman  (30:9-16).                  animals had to be given'to the Levites for their por-
We now have the record of the vengeance that                      tion. The numbers then are given, indicating a
Israel was instructed by the Lord to place. upon                  tremendous booty, e.g. 675;OO0 sheep alone. There
Moab. See Numbers 25:16-18.  Moses instructed the                 were 32,000 women taken captive  (31:25-47). The
people to produce 1,000 armed men from each                       officers over the army of Israel came to Moses and
tribe, a total of- 12,000. Phinehas was to lead this              offered on behalf of the soldiers an oblation unto
conquest. Upon divine instruction, all the males                  the Lord for their safety in battle. Not one was
were killed, the women and children were taken                    killed. They returned unto Jehovah of the booty
captive. They burned all the cities and castles, but              they had taken 16,750 shekels of jewels. These
took as spoil all the cattle, flocks, and goods                   were brought to the tabernacle as a memorial
(31: 1-12). Upon their return, Moses expressed                    (31:48-54).
anger at the captivity of the women, since they had                 3. The land east of the Jordan was distributed
caused Israel to commit fornication. He instructed                among the tribes (32: l-42). The children of Reuben
them to kill all the married women as well as young               and Gad had much cattle and they took note that
sons. After this slaughter, they had to remain out-               the land of Gilead was suitable.for cattle. They re-
side the camp seven days for purification                         quested of Moses that that land be their inheritance
                                                                  (32: l-5). Moses reminded them that their fathers
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed           were among those who discouraged Israel from tak-
Church  of  Grandville, Michigan.                                 ing the land the first time and as a result spent 40


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               425



 years wandering in the wilderness until all died ex-        no male heir, if they should marry, they should
 cept Joshua and Caleb. Were they refusing to help           marry within their own tribe (36: l-4). Moses ap-
 Israel take the land?  (32:6-15)  Their answer was          proved this request that if they marry it should be
 that they would secure their cattle and families, but       within the tribe in order to preserve the land within
the men would help fight and take the land west of           the tribe. This the daughters of Zelophehad had
Jordan (32: 16-19). This proposition was acceptable          done  (36:5-13).
to Moses as long as Reuben and Gad would swear               SUMMARY CONCLUSION
unto the Lord to fulfill this promise (32:20-33). Sub-
sequently, Reuben, Gad, and some of Manasseh                   Two thoughts stand out in our mind as worthy of
built cities for their families and folds for their          emphasis as we summarize this marvelous book.
sheep and cattle  (32:34-42).                                  First, God is uncompromising in His holiness. By
   4. We have inserted here, a summary of the               holiness we mean that God is consecrated to Him-
journey that `Israel took from Egypt to Canaan              self as the highest and only good. His glory is of
(33:1-56). Mention is made of the departure from            prime consideration in all things. Anyone or
Rameses in Egypt, Succoth, Etham, all the way to            anything that would presume to stand in the way of
Sinai (33: l- 15). This is followed by mention of cities    God realizing His purpose with His people will be
from Sinai to Kadesh (33:16, 17). The record of the         destroyed. The history recorded in the Book of
cities visited and places in which they stayed dur-         Numbers demonstrates this both in the area of
ing the 40 years in the wilderness is given                 God's dealings with His enemies which are without
(33:18-36). This is followed by the record of cities        (complete destruction of nations, men, women, and
visited from Kadesh to the Plain of Moab                    children; for they curse God by their idol worship),
(33:37-49). Listed are many cities not mentioned,           but also consider the enemies within (plagues that
anywhere else and consequently unknown. The                 came upon the congregation and repeatedly killed
chapter closes with extensive instruction given to          tens of thousands). It is a fearful thing to stand in
drive out all the inhabitants from the land of Ca-          the presence of the holy God.
naan and utterly destroy all that pertain to their idol        Second, one cannot study the Book of Numbers
worship. Their individual portion of land shall be          without identifying personally with the children of
determined by lot, based upon the size of the tribes.       Israel in their wilderness sojourn. The spiritual
If they fail to drive out the people, they shall be as      symbolism of this history is directly related to the
pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides to vex       exodus from Egypt. As Israel was delivered from
them  (33:50-56j.                                           the house of bondage by a mighty hand of God, so
  5. General instructions are given as to their con-        we are delivered from the dominion of sin by the
duct upon entering the land of Canaan to possess it         blood and Spirit of Christ Jesus. Between Egypt and
(34: l-36: 13). A general description of the land of        Canaan however, lies the wilderness. During the
Canaan is given, from the southern border from              forty years of sojourn, Israel demonstrated one
Edom, near the, Salt Sea, northward toward Mount            thing, loud and clear, they were not worthy of en-
Her with the Great Sea on the west and the Jordan           trance- into Canaan. If they would ever arrive, it
River on the east. The eastern part of the Jordan           would be the sheer grace of God, which is His
was to be possessed by Reuben, Gad, and half tribe          unmerited favor upon His people in Christ. His
of Manasseh (34: 1-15). The `land was to be divided         favor is evident so abundantly. He provided for ,a11
by Eleazar and Joshua along with princes from each          their natural needs (imagine two million people
tribe (34: 16-29). The Levites were assigned special        spending forty years in a wilderness and having all
cities among all the tribes, a total of 48 cities. They     their natural needs supplied). That alone is a
were instructed to live in them with their families,        wonder of sovereign power. More so, however is
and a measured portion on the outskirts was for             the measure of His love for such an undeserving
their animals (35: l-8). Among these Levitical cities,      people. It is a wonder they were not all destroyed
six were to be designated "cities of refuge". If            for their complaints and rebellion. Only in Christ is
anyone accidentally killed another person, they             there any hope. The same is true for us. We must
could flee. to them for safety and a fair trial. Some       not point the finger too quickly at Israel without ex-
instruction is given to help determine who should           amining our lives carefully. We too conclude: saved
be judged a murderer, worthy of death. They also            by free and sovereign grace alone!
served as a place of dwelling for the stranger and          QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
sojourner. Three of them were to be on the east side
of Jordan, three on the west  (35:9-34). Specific re-         1. How was the numbering of the people of
quest is made by the tribe of Manasseh that upon            Israel before and after the wilderness sojourn dif-
the instruction given that the daughters of                 ferent from David's numbering the people (II
Zelophehad would inherit the land since there was           Samuel 24)?


426                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   2. Page through the outline (or better still the        killing whole nations, including women and
Book of Numbers itself) and cite examples of               children? In some instances women and children
Christ's presence in the midst of Israel during their      were taken captive and divided among the families
wilderness sojourn. How can we apply this to our           of Israel. Wasn't this cruel? May we do anything
life?                                                      like this today as we deal with our enemies?
   3. How can we explain the survival of so many             6. Reflect upon the history of the church and
people during the wilderness sojourn of forty              cite instances of unfaithfulness and rebellion,
years? Give examples that God miraculously pro-            much like Israel in the wilderness. You may desire
vided for them. What can we learn from this?               to do this in your own family or personal life. Why
  4. Here follow a few thought-provoking ques-             is it important to be specific?
tions. The people of Israel numbered 603,550 males           7. The covering for sin is treated throughout the
over 21 years of age at the beginning. At the end          book of Numbers. Give a few examples and show
they numbered 601,730. How many men died on                that the spiritual principle is true for us as well.
an average every day during the 40 years? Could so           8. Do you think that the majority of the congre-
many men die and yet produce so many sons to               gation of Israel was ungodly? Is there any proof one
replace them? What does this say to us in our lives?       way or the oth,er?  What does this have to say about
  5. How do we explain the seeming brutality of            the church today?





                                        Book Reviews



H E R M E N E U T I C S ,   A U T H O R I T Y ,   A N D    the Spirit in Scripture and its use, an analysis of the
CANON,  edited by D.A. Carson  & John D.  Wood-            enlightenment on the doctrine of Scripture, Karl
bridge; Zondervan Publishing House, 1986; 468pp.,          Barth's view of the authority of Scripture, the
$14.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)              canon of Scripture.
   The battle over the doctrine of the inerrancy of          If anyone is interested in recent developments in
Scripture goes on and the result is a continual            the field of redaction criticism, Chapter 1 by D.A.
stream of books which flow from the ecclesiastical         Carson is of great help. David G. Dunbar has an in-
press. This book is a part of that stream.                 teresting chapter on the foundation of the canon,
   It is somewhat difficult to evaluate a book of this     which I found helpful. John M. Frame's chapter on
sort because of the different writers who have             "The Spirit and the Scriptures" is important and,
authored chapters  - Woodbridge, Bromiley,                 on the whole, sound.
Frame, Silva, Van Hoozer, Carson, Moo, Blomberg,             It is obvious that the book is not written for those
Dunbar  - and the different subjects and ap-               who have no technical training in hermeneutics
proaches which the authors take. This review,              and who do not know anything about the vagaries
therefore, will do three things: give a listing of the     of historical criticism. There is something about
subjects treated; call attention to some specifically      this very fact which makes one perk up his ears.
significant chapters; and make some general                Long, detailed, involved, and highly technical
remarks about the book as a whole.                         papers, articles, and books have been written on
   The subjects treated are: Recent developments in        the subject of how to interpret the Bible. But if
the controversy over inerrancy, the Bible's dif-           there is even a modicum of truth to what all these
ferent literary forms, the place of historical             treatises have to say, the fact is that the Bible is put
reconstruction in critical approaches to the Scrip-        out of the reach of the people of God who have no
tures, the problem of harmonization, the question          technical training in these fields. This is always, to
of the New Testament's use of the Old, the role of         my mind, the one great danger of exhaustive


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               427



studies of all these points. God wrote his Word,            of the Bible's teaching on this point. And the child
through the inspiration of the Spirit, for men              of God who turns to God's Word for help and
behind the plow, women who turn to it in their              guidance in this troubled world can be confident
homes, that they may know how to bring up their             that he will find in his Bible all he needs for all his
children, little lambs in God's flock, sick, dis-           salvation.
tressed, dying saints who have never heard terms               This is characterized as "simplistic" and
like historical-literary criticism, redaction criticism,    "unscholarly." I do not believe that it is; but the
sensus   pZenior, and the like; and who would not be        charge troubles me not at all. Give me a Bible I can
interested in them even if they did hear the terms.         carry with me to the hospital to bring to God's dy-
One does not talk of sensus  plenior  to a saint strug-     ing saints; give me a Bible that I can preach from
gling with the fierce temptations of Satan. And if one      the pulpit so that even the little children sitting in
does, he has failed miserably as a pastor to God's          the pews can understand it; give me a Scripture
sheep. If the ability to understand the Bible is tied       which is truly a lamp unto my feet and a light upon
to knowledge of such a technical nature, God's peo-         my path. I have need of nothing else - and neither
ple might just as well put the Bible in their closets.      do God's people.
We are back to the Middle Ages, only now with a
priesthood of scholars who alone can make the Bi-             That leads me to the one great objection I have
ble clear for those who have no education in this           against this book. It is, for the most part, a conces-
area.                                                       sion to redaction criticism. This is not surprising. I
                                                            keep hearing even "conservative" Bible scholars
  These problems have been answered  - after a              who profess faith in Scripture's inerrancy relying
fashion. Some claim that we must speak of a multi-          upon this current fad in Bible interpretation.
levelled  meaning of Scripture. I.e., Scripture has a
surface level meaning which is accessible to almost           Without attempting to go into detail on what this
anyone who can read. But beneath this simple level          redaction criticism is, it is sufficient to point out
are other levels of understanding, each somewhat            here that its whole approach is the approach of
deeper, and each available only to those who have           studying the Scriptures from the viewpoint of their
studied a particular branch of hermeneutics, be it          human authorship. Don't get me wrong. All believe
linguistics, Jewish studies, archeology, redaction          in divine authorship. But all also believe in human
criticism, or the like. But then, of course, we have        authorship. And in redaction criticism the human
really lost the perspicuity of Scripture, and it is         authorship gets all the attention.
highly questionable whether even the surface-level            A few remarks about this.
meaning is trustworthy.                                       While we believe, of course, that God used
   Others have said that we must write about all            human men to write the Scriptures, the question is
these technical matters because it is responsible           principally  how  these men were used. It is often
Reformed apologetics to answer the attacks which            presented, at best, as some kind of cooperative ven-
are being made on Scripture. With this, of course, I        ture  - although even then all the emphasis is
agree; But it is precisely here that I have my major        placed in discussions on the human author. (In the
quarrel with most apologetes, even the "conserva-           present book, the chapter by John Frame is the ex-
tive' ' ones, and particularly the genlemen who             ception.) We believe an analogy exists between the
have authored this book.                                    way in which Scripture was inspired and the way
                                                            in which God saves His elect people. The basis for
   One aspect of this quarrel is that the. critics of       this analogy is that both the salvation of the elect
Scripture are answered  on their own grounds.  I.e.,        and the inspiration of Scripture are parts of the one
the "defense" of Scripture becomes a rationalistic          wonder of grace. He who is Arminian in his
defense, answering critical objections with critical        theology will also emphasize too much the "human
arguments. In doing this we have let the enemy              element" in Scripture. And he who emphasizes too
choose the battlefield as well as the weapons and           much the "human element" in Scripture does so
we have forgotten that the whole doctrine of Scrip-         from an Arminian perspective. When it is em-
ture is an article of faith. A responsible apologetic is    phasized as it ought to be that salvation is solely the
important. But I never hear anyone saying that only         work of God through grace, then it will also be em-
a true and living faith in Christ can defend the truth      phasized that Scripture is God's work.
of Scripture. If one takes this approach, then two
things (of tremendous importance) happen. The                 It has been argued that redaction criticism is
analysis of the enemies' (and I use the word                nothing more than the application of  grammatico-
"enemy" advisedly) attack is one thing, but the
.  _                                                        historical exegesis to the Biblical text. And
defense is simple and straightforward. No need              grammatico-historical interpretation has been
arises then to write lengthy documents in defense           recognized as the true method of interpretation


428                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



from the time of the early church. In answer to this              ground as well as the underlying continuity of
two points have to be made. Even `more conser-                    developments as reflected in the self understanding of
vative redaction critics concede that redaction                   Chinese Christians.
criticism can be carried to extremes  - and indeed              This issue of the Review contains speeches,
this is true. But a method which can be carried to            essays, sermons, and a confession of the Chinese
such an extreme that it destroys Scripture is surely          Churches. It is fascinating reading and gives more
a method to be distrusted. It is also true, however,          light on the churches in Communist China than
that the grammatico-historical method of interpret-           anything I have read in the ecclesiastical press. It
ing the Scriptures must be put within the frame-              explains in some detail the basic Three-Self
work of the  spirituaZ method. By the latter I mean           Patriotic Movement of which so much has been
simply that the final goal of interpreting Scripture is       written: self-government, self-support, and  self-
to learn the meaning of the Holy Spirit as He speaks          propagation. It explains how the church in China
through Scripture to God's people.                            stands related to the Communist (and atheistic)
  It is this latter that we never hear anything about.        state government. Most of the articles have as their
We hear a great deal of what Paul said, or Peter              purpose to emphasize that in the past ten years or
wrote, or John included in "the corpus of  Johan-             so every effort has been made by the Chinese chur-
nine literature;" but we never, somehow, get                  ches to develop a truly indigenous church.
around to what the Spirit says. We have a Pauline               One can get a great deal of insight also from these
eschatology and a Petrine soteriology; but we never           writings into the theology of the Chinese churches,
seem to get around to a theology which the Holy               and the distinct impression is that the theology of
Spirit gives to the church as the revelation of               these churches leaves much to be desired. This is
Jehovah God. We are called earnestly to study the             undoubtedly due in large measure to the fact that
audience which Luke addresses and the people to               the church is consciously a supporter of the present
whom Matthew was concerned to inform about                    communist regime (with nothing but scorn for the
Jesus; but we have no time left over to discuss what          "gang of four"), that it presses hard for a true
the Spirit says to the child of God wending his               Chinese ecumenism  - one denomination only
spiritual pilgrimage in this world of sin and death.          within China, and that it still reacts with great fury
  And it all comes down to such an obsessive                  against what is called imperialistic and colonialistic
preoccupation with the human element that the                 mission work of the past.
divine element is forgotten, overlooked, ruled out,             For its insight into the Chinese church we recom-
or whatever. Scholarly or not, give me a Bible                mend it.
which is God's Word to His struggling saints in all
walks of life, in all life's problems  - a Word in            THE EVANGELICAL-ROMAN CATHOLIC
which they can find treasures of untold worth and             DIACOGUE  ON MISSION, 1977-1984;  A Report
which will be their comfort and hope until they see           edited by Basil  Meeking and John Stott; Wm. B.
their Lord face to face.                                      Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986; 96 pp., $4.95
                                                              (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)
CHINESE THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, 1985.                               This dialogue on mission referred  to. in the title
Available from Foundation for Theological Educa-              was a series of three meetings which took place
tion in Southeast Asia, c/o Marvin D. Hoff, 86 East           over a period of seven years. The first was held at
12th St., Holland, MI 49423. (Reviewed by Prof. H.            Venice in 1977, the second at Cambridge in 1982,
Hanko.)                                                       and the third at Landevennec in France in 1984.
                                                              Some of the participants with more familiar names
  This is the first volume of a new theological Jour-         were: Prof. Peter Beyerhaus, Dr. Orlando  Costas,
nal which is written by Christians in China and               Dr. David Hubbard, and Rev. John Stott. They
devoted exclusively to the Church in China. The               discussed such topics as Revelation and Authority,
opening paragraph of the "Editor's Notes" reads:              The Nature of Mission, The Gospel of Salvation,
       The Chinese Theological Review  [I) is the product     Our Response in the Holy Spirit to the Gospel, The
   of a desire to make available to a wider readership a      Church and the Gospel, The Gospel and Culture,
   broad spectrum of current Chinese theological              The Possibilities of Common Witness.
   writings. Its aim is to be a link between the Christian
   community in China and those abroad through the              On p. 11 we read concerning the report:
   more widely current medium of the English language,             This report is in no sense an `agreed statement', but
   providing to those outside China a vivid picture of           rather a faithful record of the ideas shared. It is not ex-
   Chinese Protestant thinking as it has been evolving           haustive, for more questions were touched on than
   over the last five years. At the same time, through           could be described in this brief compass. Yet enough
   both current writings and by the inclusion of a much          has been included to give a substantial idea of how the
   earlier piece, the Review seeks to show the back-             dialogue developed and to communicate something of


                                          THE STANDARD. BEARER                                              429



    Directory, Protestant Reformed Churches
      (For our readers who may be traveling or may wish to visit one of our churches in their area.)

Covenant Prot. Ref. Church            First Prot. Ref. Church               Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
454 Pulis Ave.                        2800 Michigan St., NE                 1536 Cambridge, SE
Franklin Lakes, N.J.                  (l/2 Mi. SW of  196/M44               Grand Rapids, MI
(Meeting in United Methodist          interchange)                          Services:  9:30  & 5:00
Church)                               Grand Rapids, MI                      Phone: (616)  452-7047
Services:  11:30  & 7:00              Services:  9:30  & 6:00
Phone: (20 1) 790-4732                Phone: (616) 247-0638, 245-4339       Grandville Prot. Ref. Church
                                                                            Wilson Ave., SW
Byron Center Prot. Ref. Church        Southwest Prot. Ref. Church           Grandville, MI
8840 Byron Center Ave.                4875  Ivanrest Ave., SW             (Meeting in Grandville High
Byron Center, MI                      Grandville, MI                        School)
(Meeting in Byron Center Chr.         Services:  9:30  & 7:00               Services:  9:30  & 7:00
Jr. High School)                      Phone: (616) 532-6876, 532-4846       Phone: (616) 538-2575
Services:  9:30  & 5:00
Phone: (616) 878-3255, 534-1927       Faith Prot. Ref. Church               Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
                                      7194 20th Ave.                       5101 Beechtree Ave.
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                Jenison, MI                           (1 Blk. .East of Public High
1580 Ferndale, SW                     Services:  9:30  & 7:00               School, 32nd Ave.)
(Corner of Riverbend  &               Phone: (616) 457-5848                Hudsonville, MI
Ferndale)                                                                  Services:  9:30  & 7:00
Walker, MI                            First Prot. Ref. Church              Phone: (616) 669-0755
Services:  9:30  & 7:00               290 E. 18th St.
Phone: (616) 453-3253, 453-2524       Holland, MI                          South Holland Prot. Ref. Church
                                      Services:  9:30  &  6:30              16511 South Park Ave.
Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church           Phone: (616) 396-8303                South Holland, IL
4515 Green Acre Dr.                                                        Services:  9:30  & 6:00
Kalamazoo, MI                         Pella Prot. Ref. Church              Phone: (312) 333-1314, 596-3113
Services:  9:30  & 6:00               410 Franklin St.
Phone: (616) 381-3385, 349-4420       Pella, IA                            Trinity Prot. Ref. Church
                                      Services:  9:30  & 7:00              214 Barker-Clodine Rd.
Randolph Prot. Ref. Church            Phone: (515) 628-4747                Houston, TX
229 Hammond St.                                                            Services:  9:30  & 6:00
Randolph, WI                          Doon  Prot. Ref. Church              Phone: (713)  492-0844
Services:  9:30  & 2:00               6th Ave. & N. 2nd St.
Phone: (414) 326-5642                 Doon, IA                             Edgerton  Prot. Ref. Church
                                      Services:  9:30  & 2:00              3rd & Maple St.
Hull Prot. Ref. Church                Phone: (712) 726-3382                Edgerton, MN
1204 Third St,                                                             Services:  9:30  &  7:30 (March to
Hull, IA                              Loveland Prot. Ref. Church           Nov.) 9:30 & 2:00 (Dec. to Feb.)
Services:  9:30  & 7:00 (May to       709 E. 57th St.                      Phone: (507) 442-4441
Sept.) 9:30 & 1:30 (Oct. to April)    Loveland, CO
Phone: (712) 439-1326, 439-1283       Services:  9:30  & 6:00 (Oct. to     First Prot. Ref. Church
                                      May) 9:30 & 7:00 (June to Sept.)     11533 135th St. (Mt. Zion
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                Phone: (303) 667-1347                Lutheran Church)
isabel, SD                                                                 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
services:  9:30  & 2:00               Lynden Prot.  .Ref. Church           Services:  11:15  & 3:00
>hone: (605)  466-2450                108 Beernink Lane                    Phone: (403) 455-9803
                                      Lynden, WA                           (also a service in Trinity
3ope Prot. Ref. Church                Services: 10:00 & 8:00 (summer)      Lutheran Church, 5259 49th St.
1307 E. Brockton Ave.                 10:00  & 2:00 (winter)               Lacombe, Alberta, 7:30 P.M. on
iedlands, CA                          Phone: (206) 354-4337                2nd & 4th Sundays of month)
services: 10:00  & 7:00
`hone: (714) 792-0307, 792-4923


4 3 0                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



         it without creating misunderstandings or false expec-      ;Perhaps. a weakness in the book is the fact that it
         tations.                                                 attempts to cover too much ground. On the other
   The dialogue, we are informed, was "born out of                hand, this may also be a strength: for it saves the
desire to find a common ground between                            book from being too limited in scope and from
Evangelicals and Roman Catholics in their                         becoming tedious. It appears to me that the quota-
endeavors to be more faithful in their obedience to               tions are rather fairly and judiciously chosen.
the church's mission." And, "In recent years both                   All in all, I found the book very instructive and
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals have concen-                     stimulating. I can recommend it for a broad range
trated their attention on evangelism, and state-                  of readership.
ments from both constituencies reveal a measure of
convergence in the understanding of the nature of                 BUILDING A CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW,
evangelism. This report is offered as a stimulus to               GOD,  MAN, AND KNOWLEDGE  (Vol. I), Edited
further local encounters in dialogue between                      by W. Andrew Hoffnecker; Presbyterian  & Re-
Evangelicals `and Roman Catholics on a crucial                    formed Publishing Co., 1986; 340' pp., $14.95.
aspect of the church's work in the world."                        (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)
   We encourage our readers to read this important                  The contributors to this book are mainly from
book so that they may keep informed on the press-                 Grove City College where the faculty have engaged
ing issues of modern ecumenism.                                   in lengthy discussions and writing on the subject of
                                                                  this book. The blurb tells us:
WORLDLY SAINTS (The Puritans As They
Really Were),  Leland Ryken;  Academic Books,                          Not since the Reformation have Christians been as
Zondervan' Publishing House, Grand Rapids,                           concerned as they are today to develop a biblical view
Michigan; 281 pp., $14.95 (cloth) [Reviewed by                       of all of life. The importance of such an outlook can-
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                                                 not be overstated. Writes W. Andrew Hoffnecker in
                                                                     the preface, "Underlying all that we think, say, or do
   If you have the rather common picture of the                      are basic assumptions that form what we call a `world
Puritans as a sour, dour, seldom-smiling people                      view . . .  .' Nobody is without such fundamental
who normally walked about with faces so long (as                     beliefs, and yet many people go through life unaware
Billy Sunday put it) that they could eat oatmeal out                 of their presuppositions . . _ . The result is that people
of the end of a gas-pipe, and who were rather Ana-                   generally fail to recognize how their world views
baptistic in their world-and-life view, then you                     govern every dimension of their lives."
should read this book and allow yourself to be dis-                    This volume focuses on fundamental questions
illusioned.                                                          such as: How do we know that God exists? How does
                                                                     God relate to His creation? Is man "the measure of all
   The reader should not be misled by the word                       things?" Are people basically good and ultimately
worldly  in the title. The term is not used in a pe-                 perfectible? On what basis can we know what is true?
jorative sense, as though the Puritans were carnal                   What is the role of reason, experience, and biblical
and guilty of loving the world in the sense in which                 authority?
I John  2:15 warns God's people, "Love not the'                        The authors examine how leading thinkers have ad-
world . . . ." But it is used in the sense of depicting              dressed these questions throughout Western history
the Puritans as living the full-orbed life of the                    and compare their ideas with clearly presented
world, but from their Christian principles. They did                 biblical teachings. In so doing, this book unveils the
not believe in world-flight, in other words.                         roots of much modern thought and challenges readers
   The author lets the Puritans speak for themselves                 to formulate their own understanding upon the
in this book. The author has taken most of his data                  bedrock of God's revealed Word.
from Puritan written sources, and he quotes a very                  The book is primarily historical, but its value lies
broad range of both English and American Puritans                 not only in the historical material it has brought
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries  - in                  together, but in the evaluation of the thought of
other words, lets the Puritans speak for themselves               past thinkers. It is an important book for students
- on a wide variety of aspects of life. His purpose is            on a college level.
to depict as fairly as possible the strengths and
weaknesses of the Puritan movement. Here are the                           Take the time to
chapter titles: 1. What Were the Original Puritans
Like? 2. Work 3. Marriage and Sex 4. Money 5.
Family 6. Puritan Preaching 7. Church and Wor-                                read gnd study
ship 8. The Bible 9. Education 10. Social Action 11.
Learning From Negative Example: Some Puritan
Faults 12. The Genius of Puritanism: What the                         the Standard Bearer!
Puritans Did Best.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                431


                               Report of Classis East
                                                 May  13'8~ 14, 1987
                                    Southeast Protestant Reformed Church

   Classis  East met in regular session on Wednesday           tween fellowship and common decency in dealing
and Thursday, May 13th and  14th, 1987, at the                with one walking in sin (II Kings 5:17-19; Matthew
Southeast Protestant Reformed Church. Each con-                5:43-48) and that the law requiring this visitation is
gregation was represented by two delegates with                not sinful [I Corinthians 5:9-11; I Corinthians  7:12,
the exception  .of Kalamazoo on the second day.                13).
Rev. R. `Miersma presided at this session.                           Classis  was informed of three more appeals to
   Classis  had one major item before it, namely, the          synod re the Wyckoff matter. Classis again decided
protest of an individual against a decision of the            that the appeals were legally presented to synod
January, 1987  classis which decision said that the           and since all the principles had been dealt with
protest he submitted against his consistory was not            earlier, did not enter into the material again.
legally before since it had not been finished in the                 Classis  heard several requests for discipline to
minor assembly (his consistory). Classis  reversed it-         members of two congregations.
self and now considered the  .material.  The matter
dealt with whether a father, divorced from his wife                  Classis  bade farewell to Rev. R. Miersma as he
and who has custody of his children, is obligated, as         will soon take up his work in New  Zealand.  His
the law says, to allow his children to visit an               work and the people there were remembered in the
unbelieving former spouse.  Classis  did not sustain          prayers at the classis.
the protestant but decided that the consistory was                   The expenses of  classis amounted to  $1,070.00.
right in advising this member to obey the law of the          Classis  will meet next in Hudsonville, on Wednes-
land and, therefore, must allow his former spouse             day, September 9, 1987.
her right to have her children visit her.  Classis                                         Respectfully submitted,
decided that the brother failed to distinguish  be-                                       Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk


                          News From Our Churches
                                                      Ben  Wiggev

                                                      July 1, 1987

   In our churches summer is a slow time. Many of             to come to a decision on a proposal to purchase new
us take our vacations at this time of the year.               property and build some time in the future. They
Church life could be described as light. In contrast          will attempt to resolve the question at a later con-
to this trend, Southeast P.R.C. is holding a Summer           gregational meeting.
Bible Class for a period of six to eight weeks. Their                Byron Center's building plans are also on hold
pastor, Rev. Key, will lead this class which will con-        for the time being. Because of the financial commit-
tinue study in the book of Ephesians.                         ment necessary from the entire congregation in a
   Southeast's Council also reported to their con-            project this size, Byron's council wanted at least a
gregation that due to requirements of the building            two-thirds majority of its members in support of
inspector and increased size of the narthex; the cost         the building plans. Although a majority voted in
estimate for their remodeling project has increased.          favor, there was not the required two-thirds majori-
   Southeast is by no means the only one of our               ty*
churches in the middle of a building project. It                     The congregation of Southwest adopted a pro-
seems that many of our congregations are presently            posal to get firm plans and bids for their second
struggling with weighty decisions on just what to             building phase. This phase would add an
do in the way of building.                                    auditorium to the present building.
   The congregation in Lynden, Wash. was unable                  Grandville's congregation was invited to meet
                                                              with their building committee and representatives
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Prot. Ref. Church of            of an architectural firm to discuss future building
Hudsonville, Michigan.                                        plans.


       SECOND CLASS                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
   POSTAGE PAID AT                                                                                      P.O. Box 6064
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





432                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

  Just because it is July does not mean it is too late    The proposal passed. Installation will possibly be
to add our congratulations to all of our graduates.       completed sometime this fall.
May the Lord lead each one of you in such a way             Rev. Engelsma has declined the call extended to
that the instruction you received may be used in          him from our Holland Church. Holland has since
the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Hear instruc-      formed a new trio consisting of Rev. Dale Kuiper,
tion and be wise, and refuse it not," Prov.  8:33.        of Isabel,  SD., Rev. Kenneth Koole of Redlands,
  The Loveland Protestant Reformed Christian              Calif., and Rev. Barry Gritters of Byron Center. The
School recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. A        Lord willing, a congregational meeting was to be
dinner was planned in the church basement, to be          held June 22 to extend a call.
followed by a program. The program revolved                 Houston, Texas consistory made a decision
around the theme taken from Proverbs  22:6  -             regarding the taking of collections. The deacons
"Train up a child."                                       will wait to take the offering until after the pianist
  It is always interesting to see the many different      has played the first verse of the offertory. This deci-
ways our young people come up with ideas to raise         sion was made in order that it may be easier to
money for the annual convention. Loveland                 make the offerings part of the worship of God com-
scheduled, during June, a Bike-a-Thon, the first          manded us in his Word.
time I can remember coming across that particular
event. According to their bulletin, the bike trip was
to cover about twenty miles So it was more than
just a short trip around the block.                                     RESOLUTION  OF  SYMPATHY
  On June 10th Loveland also sponsored a public
address by their pastor, Rev. Ronald Cammenga on             The members of Southeast Protestant Reformed Senior Mr. and
                                                          Mrs. Society, Grand Rapids,  Mich., extend our sincere Christian sym-
the topic "Reformed Worship".                             pathy to Mr.  & Mrs. Peter Faber in the death of his mother, MRS.
  Everyone in South Holland was encouraged to at-         CATHERINE FABER.
tend a public lect.ure  in their church. Rev. den Har-       "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance
                                                          shall be forever. (Psalm  37:18)
tog spoke on "What We Can Learn from our                                                               Ted Pipe, President
Singaporean Mission".                                                                                  Bonnie Velting, Secretary
  It seems that many of the people our missionary,
Rev. Bruinsma, works with in Jamaica need eye
glasses. They simply cannot afford the cost so they                                    NOTICE!!!
go without. First Church in Grand Rapids took up a           Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
collection of discarded eye glasses recently with the     Pella, IA on Wednesday, September 2, 1987, at  8:30 AM, the Lord
                                                          willing. All material for the Agenda is to be in the hands of the Stated
intent of sending them to Jamaica. It is likely that      Clerk 30 days before  Classis convenes. All delegates in need of lodg-
some of these people would be able to find a pair         ing or of transportation from the Des Moines airport should notify the
that would fit and greatly improve their vision.          Clerk of the Pella Consistory.
                                                                                              Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
  June 11, Hudsonville's congregation met to con-
sider a proposal presented by their council to pur-
chase a 3-manual, 47-rank, Custom Digital `Allen                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Organ. Earlier that week the congregation was               The members of the Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of Southwest
given the opportunity to hear this organ at the           Protestant Reformed Church of Grandville, Michigan, wish to express
Westfield Organ Studio in Grand Rapids.                   their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Faber  in the death of his
                                                          mother, MRS. CATHERINE FABER.
  Those who heard the organ that night agreed that           "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
it sounded great.  .According to experts, of which I      thine heart." (Psalm  24:14)
am not one, this particular organ's sound can not be                                                 Dr. Roderick' Kreuzer, Pres.
distinquished from that produced by a pipe organ.                                                    Mrs.  JoAnne Bult, Sec'y.


