All Articles For Letters

I found much in the July 2018 editorial on Synod 2018 encouraging, though I would like to voice some concerns. First, Prof. Dykstra uses phrases such as “works are excluded in salvation,” yet the Scriptures at times say that our good works do play an important role in our “salvation” (for example, I Tim. 2:15; I Tim. 4:16). Some Reformed creeds explicitly state we cannot be “saved” without “good works” (for example, Tetrapolitan Confession, Chapter 5: “We utterly deny that any one can be saved unless by Christ‘s Spirit he be brought this far, that there be in him no...

The final paragraph of the editorial, July 2018, urges readers, who are members of the PRC, to study the decisions of the PRC Synod of 2018, and are further enjoined to strive to understand the relationship of faith and good works. The editorial affirms and I believe that it is unquestionably true that the work of Christ in our salvation has eternal and everlasting importance and is by the mercy and grace of Christ alone. There is only one way to the Father. “No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” speaks Christ (John 14:6). Regarding the suggested study...

Editor of the Standard Bearer, Dear Mr. Editor: Will you please allow me some space in our Standard Bearer again to comment on the contributions concerning the C. L. A.? I am convinced that the C. L. A. is not being fairly judged by too many among us. Because it promotes also the material interests of the laborer it is condemned as an organization that is interested only in the things of this world. Rev. Hanko has given extensive quotations from C. L. A. literature to try to prove that point. Personally I cannot see anything unchristian even in what...

Esteemed Editor: The undersigned was interested to note that in your Jan. 1 issue of The Standard Bearer he has received his classification card from Mr. Veldkamp. He is classed as an extremist which is extremely interesting. It appears from B.V’s. article that there are three classes or schools of thought in regard to labor organizations. There are, on the one hand, the radical materially-minded C.LO.’s and the A.F.L.’s; on the other hand the extremists such as Rev. Hanko, Mr. Ten Elshof and others and between the two we find B.V. and his social justice plans which he expects to...

The question whether the crucifixion of Christ took place oil the day of the Jewish Passover, or on the day before, has, since the second century of the Church, engaged the minds of the attentive readers of Holy Writ, This is due to the fact that there seems to be an irreconcilable conflict between the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the gospel according to John in respect to this particular question. All the gospel writers are manifestly agreed as to the day on Which Jesus was crucified, namely Friday, but they seem to differ as to the...

Dear Mr. Editor, Will you please allow me to answer G. T. E. and others who have lately attacked the G. L. A. in the columns of this paper. So many wrong things have been said, and so many unwarranted conclusions have been drawn that a, reply is really very necessary. I do not at all like the tone of some of these articles, nor the unbrotherly spirit that is shown toward an organization that is ‘doing all it can to solve the problems of our Christian workers and protect them against the ungodly unions while these men themselves are...

Esteemed Editor: May I again be privileged to use your paper to further substantiate statements which I made and which are seemingly assumed to have no basis in fact and remarks for which I supposedly must hang my head in shame? First of all I must say that it is not my intention in this controversy over the CLA to become personal in respect to those who disagree with me. Neither do I think we should stand on the heights and classify our opponents and call “shame, shame” or say that this or that is not to his credit or...

Dear Mr. Editor, Will you allow me to reply to the article of Rev. C. Hanko appearing in the July 1 issue of your paper? We seem to be getting a little closer to an under­standing on the strike question. At least it seems to be well understood now that the C.L.A. does not ap­prove of the strike as commonly conceived of, with its accompanying violence, etc. It was because of the presentation as if the C.L.A. did approve of that, in spite of my repeated assertions to the contrary, that I complained. If my complaint has made that clear...

Editor of the Standard Bearer: Dear Mr. Editor, May I reply to the article of Rev. C. Hanko, published in the September 1 issue of your paper? It is not a desire to have the last word that prompts me to ask for this, but concern about being misunderstood. I am wholeheartedly in agreement with the stand of the Protestant Reformed Churches that membership in the C.I.O. and A.F. of L. is, not compatible with membership in the Church of Christ. Therefore I am very anxious to gain the support of the members of those churches for the C.L.A. I...

I enjoyed reading Prof. Ronald Cammenga’s article, “‘What Saith the Scripture:’ The Bible’s Perspicuity” in the December 1, 2017 issue of the Standard Bearer. However, after reading it, it did raise a question for me. If Wycliffe, Tyndale, and others worked so hard and even risked their lives to give the English people an updated, understandable English Bible, why do all the writers in the Standard Bearer quote Scripture from a four-hundred-year-old (KJV) version of the Bible when we have several updated versions available? It reminds me of the Amish, who continually use live horsepower for work and travel when...