Vol 46 Issue 17

The last meetings of the season for some of the organizations in our churches included some very interesting topics for after-recess programs. Take these, for example: “Children studying homework on Sunday,” at Hope’s (G.R.) Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society; “Creation Days or Periods,” at Hudsonville’s Mr. and Mrs.; and “Why did God permit polygamy in the Old Testament?” at Southwest’s Men’s Society. 

In our discussion of the question whether all that is called Israel is also truly Israel in the spiritual sense of the word, we arrived at the conclusion that we must maintain the organic view of God’s covenant people as they become manifest in this world. The people of God in this world, as they concretely exist and develop in the line of successive generations, may not be viewed and treated as a mixed multitude. Neither may the view be tolerated that we may presuppose that all in the church are elect and regenerated.

We noted in our preceding article that, as far as the doctrine of the atonement is concerned as taught in the period, 80-254 A.D., all without exception taught that Christ died for our sins and that His death is a sacrifice for sin, and that redemption and salvation were accomplished not only through His incarnation and by His doctrine and example but also through His death. And we also noted that the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction or atonement was not completely developed or defined in this period. 

The above title is correct. On Tuesday evening, May 12, Father Groppi appeared on the platform of the Fine Arts Center at Calvin College. Twenty years ago such would have been an unheard of thing. There would have been principal objections against having such a man speak to the student-body of a Reformed college. It would have been unheard-of ten years ago—probably not because of principle, but from a fear of offending the more conservative element of the Christian Reformed Church farther west.

ONCE AGAIN THE QUESTION OF “DAYS”  In the debate over the question of evolution the church has conceded much to evolutionistic thinking. When the debate began many years ago (when I was still in college), the question was mostly concerning the length of the “days” of Genesis 1. It was popular then to describe these days as long periods of time and, in this way, to make room for an old earth.

It has been quite some time since you have heard from our Theological School and of the progress of our students. By the time you read this the school will have closed its doors for the summer vacation “Vacation” one calls it with tongue-in-cheek: for the faculty will be busy in preparation for next September’s work-load, and the students will be extremely busy this summer making a living. But more about that later. First we would like to take you with us to be an unseen guest at a typical day in school. 

A railroad strike is averted.  A postal worker’s strike is ended.  An air traffic controller’s slow-down is over.  A truck driver’s strike causes hardships and brings financial loss to many business establishments.  And by the time these lines appear in print, you may have half a dozen more strikes, boycotts, walkouts, and the like. It means that two vicious evils are with us in abundant measure, and that the very foundations are being shaken so severely that the building is threatened with the ruin of collapse! 

THE CONCRETE CASE-STUDIES GIVEN BY THE LORD. continued(Ezekiel 18:5-18)  There is a second case which is brought forth as normative example of the just and righteous dealings of the LORD in judgment. It is the case of a man who shall surely die and shall not live. This man, too, is a son of a father. In this case he is the son of a righteous father.

“For the poor always ye have with you.”  John 12:8

The attraction to movements like Campus Crusade and the kind of “evangelism” which it represents (and I include in this classification all kindred Arminian movements) seems to be not inconsiderable even among people of the Reformed household. It is not amiss, therefore, that such movements be exposed for what they truly are. And, as it is frequently with movements of this kind, the more deeply one probes into them and the more thoroughly he discovers their true nature, the less attractive and genuine they appear.