Mainstream ThinkStaying in touch with the Mennonite grassrootsWhat follows are some choice excerpts from the letters to the editor sections of both Gospel Herald (GH) and The Mennonite (TM) (most are from GH — either the Mennonite Church has been more infected by mainstream, conservative civil religion, or the General Conference Mennonite Church folks are just not as vocal). One might rightly ask why we print these excerpts. As we see it, there are three primary reasons. First and foremost is humor. If we cannot learn to laugh at the bizarre ideas (at the ideas, mind you, not at the people) floating around in the Mennonite grass roots, they will likely only make us cynical, elevate our blood pressure and reduce our life expectancies. The second reason for airing this dirty laundry is to call some attention to a theory we have — namely, that these opinions are not those of a tiny, extremist minority within Mennonite circles. We believe that the excerpts we print are representative of the perspectives of a substantial number of people within the Mennonite church. This brings us to our third reason for printing these excerpts from the Mennonite church's conservative sector. These folks make up a large and overly feared portion of the dreaded "C"-word for Mennonite institutions: the Constituency. If their far right points of view had no impact beyond the realm of ideas, they would be rather benign. But the actual effects of their worldviews go far beyond the private and personal and are hardly innocuous. As every Mennonite fund-raiser knows, in addition to very conservative and sometimes even bizarre ideas, these people also have Money and, therefore, Power. Power to make Mennonite high school, college and seminary administrators design, maintain and enforce rigid and outdated policies. Power to compel a Mennonite publishing company to issue an apology for not giving Moses credit for the Pentateuch. Power to cause theologians to perform incredible intellectual acrobatics in order to remain impeccably "biblical" in addressing issues we all face at least 2,000 years after most of the Bible was written. Power to make the "call" to pastoral ministry more and more the refuge only of true saints and masochists. But getting back to our main point. Why do we print these excerpts? As we said, we print them primarily for humor. But we're also monitoring the pulse of what seems to be a significant shift to the right among the vast grassroots underbelly of the mennonite churches. The only thing immoral about the gap between the rich and the poor is that the poor are covetuous[Ron] Sider also stated that "the growing economic gap is fundamentally immoral." What moral code does he subscribe to? It must be one that embraces envy and covetousness. God created us all as unique individuals with various abilities. Those abilities, when applied to the physical world, will manifest themselves in various levels of wealth. Some people have the ability to produce goods and services that others will actually pay for. These people then become wealthy. There is nothing immoral about wealth gaps as long as they are not the result of immoral activities. Letter in GH, 06/04/96 I don't care if they are Mennonites -- we've got to exclude them!I am deeply disturbed to note that Gospel Herald is advertising Dancing at the Table ... It is hard for me to understand why you keep printing items that are contrary to the position of the church, its General Board, and its Council on Faith, Life and Strategy (CFLS). There are struggles, hard work, and concerns in some of the conferences because of the confusion this creates and the leverage it gives to those who disagree with the church's position. Letter in GH, 02/06/96 If your books cause you some doubt, burn them!Anyone wishing to experience a breath of fresh air should read Eta Linnemann's book, Historical Criticism of the Bible (Baker). She too had wandered in the scholastic maze until she humbly received the "ingrafted word." She urges her readers to do as she has done -- burn all her "scholarly books." Letter in GH, 04/09/96 Finally, to the root of the problemFeminism is one of the main reasons our once great country is about to be flushed by the hand of God. Letter in GH, 05/11/93 Grandma didn't make them do itGrandmother's dress standard may be laughed at today, but to my knowledge, there is no record that she was ever confronted by a church leader or anyone else with sexual misconduct. Letter in GH, 09/15/92 Been to one too many Promise Keeper's conventionsHeadship, or whatever you want to call it, is rooted in the Godhead. To advocate eliminating this theology is nothing more than caving into the agenda of the feminist movement. Incidents of spouse and child abuse have risen in direct proportion to the increased adaptation of the "Murphy Brown" philosophy. Letter in GH, 09/08/92 Boy have we been wrong!(The church) has become infatuated with the image of the suffering woman and her child. . . The church must cease promoting these stereotypes and focus on a more immediate problem: this society's war on men. Letter in GH, 12/28/93 Even the professors — Say it ain't so!Of course, if you are like some Mennonites, even some professors in our seminary, then you don't believe like I do, as they don't believe in hell. Letter in TM, 11/23/93 Now here's an understanding of global economicsI take exception to your statement... "North Americans continue to be rich because others are poor." ...It is work and creativity that produce wealth and plenty. For example, 1000 pounds of aluminum was crafted by work and creativity from bauxite clay into the airplane I once owned. Glass that came from sand was spun into fiberglass by work and creativity into the sailboat on which my wife and I have spent many enjoyable days and nights exploring God's beautiful earth. Who is deprived of their lump of clay or pile of sand because I enjoyed an airplane and a boat? Letter to GH, 05/02/95 A truly rational hermeneuticWomen in the pulpit [are prohibited]. I don't fully understand why this is, because I know many women who seem very qualified. But if the Bible says women are not to teach men, we must obey. There are things in the Bible we don't fully understand. But we can't bring God [Mennonot ed.: we thought the topic was the Bible...] down to the point where we say if we understand something, we will do it. If God says it, don't question it, just do it. Letter to GH, 05/16/95 And a response to the above letter...[I] felt I just had to write and say how much I agree with everything he wrote. It is about time the conservative people in the church stood up and were counted. Maybe we should take a lesson from the last election and make our voices heard, not in Washington, but in the church. Letter to GH, 06/06/95 Guess who's not created in God's image?The author states that God is feminine and masculine. But the verse he quotes, Gen. 1:27, reads this way in the KJV: "So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (emphasis mine). This verse in no way implies that God created both male and female in his own image -- only man. The end of the verse just states that God created both male and female. Letter to GH, 06/13/95 Impeccable, ethical logicSome say that because homosexuals have some of the gifts of the Spirit they should be accepted into the church body. In our community there have been persons who also had some of these gifts who have been convicted of stealing, adultery, and murder. Do we accept them into full fellowship? Letter to GH, 07/11/95 Someone please introduce this person to the Old Testament prophetsIt is our responsibility as Christians to care for the poor and the needy among us. In fact, God uses this as a basis of judgment to determine if we are really God's children... [But] nowhere in the Bible is this the responsibility of the government but rather of the individual and the church. [Mennonot eds: this person must be reading the New Revised Republican Version] Letter to GH, 01/23/96 |
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