Reaching OutIssue #82

What’s Inside?Four regular columns:

The Christian Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Bible and Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Church in Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The World Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Feature Article for YouthNo Room Again . . . . . . . . . . 5

Welcome to Reaching Out, a Christian

magazine to serve the community. Our goal is

to offer Biblical solutions to the problems

facing our society today.

Reaching Out - page 2

Respect! was the banner across the back win-dow of the car. The banner was huge, the sizeof the entire back window. I wondered what itmeant.

Was it a pro-life statement as in “Respectlife”? Was it a statement like, “I WANT RE-SPECT”? I don’t know. But come to think of it,isn’t respect what we all want? Don’t we alllike to think we are worth something?

The dictionary says that respect is a feelingof deep admiration for someone or somethingelicited by their abilities, qualities, or achieve-ments.

We see that happening all the time don’t we?Respect for the rich, the famous, and the tal-ented. If someone is prettier, can run faster, hasclimbed Mount Everest, or has shot the biggestbuck, there is RESPECT. But what about therest of us? Don’t we need some respect too?

Leo Tolstoy said, “Respect was invented tocover the empty place where love should be.”That might be true in how I view an angry dogthat is threatening to tear me apart. I mightnot find much love in my heart for him, but Ido respect his abilities!

I like the Bible way of respect as it focuses onthe second reason that the dictionary gives—

qualities. There I am told to love and honor (respect) all people. Not because of their abili-ties, looks, or achievements but because eachperson has value. The qualifying factor is thatthey are human. Each person is created in theimage of God.

All society will work better if we do it God’sway.Ø Honor your parents—Ephesians 6:2Ø Honor the king (government)—1 Peter 2:17Ø Wives, respect your husbands—Ephesians

5:33Ø Husbands respect your wives—1 Peter 3:7Ø Honor all men—1 Peter 2:17

When we neglect respect, all kinds of badthings happen. Laws are broken and crime isthe result. Relationships are broken and paindevelops. Families break apart and things don’twork like they were intended to. Maybe moreof us should carry a RESPECT banner.

Of course, the most important respect is forGod, who is the one who instructs us to respectHim and all others. He knows what works;after all, He made us. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invis-

ible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for-ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).

Respect —Clay Zimmerman

Editor: Roger L. BerryBoard: Joe Weirich, Allan Miller, Wayne Miller, James Yoder, Clay ZimmermanRegular Columnists: Lester Troyer, Marlin Kreider, Elvin Stauffer, Clay Zimmerman, Roger L. BerryReviewers: Glenn Kilmer, Lewi Graber

Do you care to respond to any of the articles?

Send your thoughts and com ments to:

Reaching OutRoger Berry, Editor

2256 West Dry River Rd.Dayton, VA 22821

Reaching Out Published Quarterly Issue #82, 1-2015

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Reaching Out - page 3

Once again we use the account of Jesus as achild, recorded in Luke 2:51, 52. “He [Jesus]went down with them [his parents], and came toNazareth, and was subject unto them . . . AndJesus increased in wisdom [academically] andstature [physically], and in favour with God[spiritually] and man [socially].”

Consider some things we must believe and doso our children may increase in favor with God.First and fundamentally, note the phrase in thetext above: “Was subject unto them.” Subject asused here means, “to subordinate and to obey.”The child’s will, being brought into subjection tothe parent’s authority and guidance, is founda-tional to all teaching and training of children!Our Western world needs to understand thatsubmission is a good word, not a bad one. Whenparents employ the Bible methods of love andcorrection, thereby bringing their children intoobedience, they are preparing that child to prop-erly respond to other authorities such as teach-ers, policemen, and the church. Our greatestneed today in the teaching of children is not formore and better teachers. Our greatest need isfor parents in the home to teach and require thechild to listen, respect, and obey at an early age.Then there is a foundation in place for the childto be taught in the school, church, and largerspheres of society.

Let’s look at what else is needed to teach andtrain our children in God’s ways as Ephesians

6:4 says: “Bring them up in the nurture and ad-monition of the Lord.”

1. The Bible teaches that young children areinnocent and safe. Jesus Himself said: “Suffer[allow] the little children to come unto me, for ofsuch is the kingdom of heaven.” Christ’s bloodatoned for the innocent, so we say they are safeuntil the age of personal accountability. Youngchildren should be protected from the blight andburden of sin. How? By a secure, loving, and dis-ciplined home experience. Children need to beheld accountable to their parents for wrongdoing. When proper corrective measures are ad-ministered by God-fearing parents, several goodresults happen.Ø The child becomes secure because he knows

there are established behavioral boundaries.Ø The child can come to rest, knowing there are

consequences for wrong choices and behavior.This is an invaluable lesson all childrenshould learn.

Ø When the proper correction is administered forthe infraction, the child can experience thefreedom of forgiveness, because it is no longerheld against him. His conscience is free andclear.

Ø This all prepares the child to understand howto respond to God when, at an accountable age, he begins to see his sinfulness and needof a Saviour. Salvation requires personal repentance and faith. To force this step at too

The

Christian Home

Series

–Marlin Kreider

How to Teach and Train ChildrenPart 4

Teaching and Training Socially

Reaching Out - page 4

early an age will only cloud the clarity of thismost important step of coming to Christ forpersonal salvation, and surrender of the en-tire will and life to the lordship of Christ.This is crucial because this is how every re-sponsible person finds favor with God. Par-ents, we can and must rear our children inthe ways of God, but finally only Christ cansave them from sin when they personally re-spond in repentance, faith, and obedience.When godly training is well in place, a child

will sense his accountability to God around theage of puberty. This is the time when childrenare changing to young adults. This varies withchildren, but ages 12-14 years is a guide to con-sider. Parents need to be there for their childrenduring this crucial time of physical, social, andspiritual development. Rise to the challenge!With God’s help, this can be a very rewardingtime in the training of your children.

2. Teach respect for the sacred. This includesrespect for God, His Word—the Bible, humanlife, the aged, and the God-created difference inthe roles of the men and women. Specifically, weneed to teach boys to respect girls and girls torespect boys. God created male and female forgood and holy purposes. The clouding and cross-ing of gender roles is being promoted at almostevery level of society. We are paying a high pricefor this and the end is not yet. In the promotionof so-called equal rights and alternate lifestyles,we are undermining the very foundation neededfor an enduring, stable society to exist. Why allthe child abuse, incest, domestic violence, sexualharassment, and human trafficking of womenand children? This is some of the fruit of disre-garding and violating God’s absolute moralstandards as found in the Bible.

True Christianity will elevate the female gen-der to her high role of honor, respect, and lovethat God created her for. We must teach ourboys to respect girls and women! Away withpornography, “gentleman’s clubs,” fashion’sdegradation of women, and such like! God callsus as men, especially Christian men, to honor,love, and protect girls and women. They are notto be violated and exploited as sex symbols orused for selfish personal gratification. Again, wemust teach respect for the sacred!

3. Bible instruction by regular, daily “familyworship” in the home. When possible, fathersneed to lead in these worthy activities. Regularchurch attendance that includes Bible classesand sound Bible preaching need to be part of the package. Add formal education in a Christian environment, using a Bible-centered

curriculum, under teachers of high integrity,and you have a three-fold cord of home, church,and school that will not be easily broken. Wecannot allow a godless, humanistic world or awarped, unholy “Christianity” to teach our chil-dren and expect them to come out on God’s side.

As parents we must lead by example! Fathersand mothers must love God, each other, andtheir children enough to rise up and train theirchildren. If we want our children to be in favorwith God, we must take the Bible way that leadsus there!

4. In our homes, we need a love that will sac-rificially teach, guide, and correct until theabove becomes part of the character and beliefsystem of the child that is so quickly growinginto an adult. It takes work to pass on Biblicalvalues, faith, and conviction in today’s wickedworld. As true Christians, we reject the philoso-phy of no God, no absolutes, and no moral re-straints! There are better answers than buildingmore prisons, hiring more police protection atour schools, or wringing our hands and shakingour heads because another officer lost his lifewhile answering a domestic violence call. Thereare Bible answers! Let us rise up, give, and livethem.

5. To be fair with this subject, we must ad-dress the professing Christian church. Manypastors and churches have compromised theplain Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many no longerhold to the Bible requirements of repentance,faith, and obedience that are necessary for sal-vation and change in how a person lives. World-liness abounds in the pursuit of wealth, sports,entertainment, and sensual pleasure. Bibletruth is being replaced with psychology, Easternmysticism, social programs, food, fun, andgames. As a result there is no holiness and notestimony against sin or power to overcome it. Itis a sad day when the professing church acts,looks, and lives like the ungodly world!

Many have understandably become disillu-sioned. However, the answer is not to stay homeand give up. Rather, we must wake up! (See Ro-mans 13:11-14.) The good news is, there are stillgood Biblical churches to be found! Writing tothe address in this magazine may assist you inyour search. Truth comes with a price. But noprice is too high to pay for the spiritual safety ofyour family.

As faithful Christians and concerned parentswe still have the opportunity to shed a littlelight in a very dark world. By God’s grace, let usdo whatever it takes so that our children willknow what it is to be in favor with God!

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The Christmas season has just passed. Manythink of it or observe it as a secular holiday, butit does have deeply religious origins. The firstpart of the word is “Christ.” Christmas wasoriginally observed to remember the birth ofJesus Christ who came to the world to save peo-ple from sin and take them to Heaven whenthey die. It has turned into an annual celebra-tion with an emphasis on money and the thingsmoney can buy. However, we should think ofJesus Christ and the lessons we can learn fromthe events around His birth. For example, wecan learn lessons from those who related toChrist and his mother Mary. The story of Maryand Joseph seeking a place to stay at an inn isan interesting part of the account. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and

wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laidhim in a manger; because there was no room forthem in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

Every Christmas, thousands rehearse theChristmas story and remember how theinnkeeper had no room for the hum ble family ofthe Christ Child, so they stayed in a stable andthere Jesus was born.

The Bible, however, does not say the inn -keeper was especially cruel or heartless. Theresimply was no room left in a crowded town atthe time of a great census when people were re-quired to go back to their hometowns to becounted. Had there been one vacant spot, cer-tainly the good fam ily would not have needed tostoop to a stable.

Again this Christmas, thousands had no roomin their lives for the One who came to savethem. Their excuses are far less valid than thoseof the ancient innkeeper. Many moderns simplyignore Jesus the Saviour and Lord, offering Himno room at all in their cluttered lives.

There are at least four reasons for the NOVACANCY signs on the hardened hearts of themultitudes. We need to allow the Lord to searchour lives to make sure none of these things areweaning us away from total com mitment toJesus Christ.

Possessions so easily can become lit tle gods,leaving no time or energies for the true God.Sometimes we face obviously dan gerous godssuch as alcohol, drugs, pornography, movies, TV,

and the sports and entertainment craze. Butoften the problem centers in the gods of thingsthat seem to be less dan gerous. Houses, lands,automobiles, bank accounts, prestige, and posi-tion can easily become gods that crowd out de-votion to the true God.

Pleasure seeking is another evil thatcrowds out the Saviour. Sinful living crowds outthoughts of Christ and repentance. Satantempts mankind to imagine that only the thingsthat can be seen and touched are real. If that isall there is, why live for an unseen God, andwhy prepare for a nonexistent eter nity? TheBible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”Thousands will find out too late that what reallymatters is eternity.

Pride also closes many hearts to the truth. “Idon’t need to be saved; I’ve lived a good life; Ican take care of myself; I’d be embarrassed to bea religious fanatic.” And the excuses go on.

Procrastination is a fourth reason for manyof today’s NO VACANCY hearts. Never put offobedience to God. Death or the return of Christcould forever close the door to repentance. Aprocrastinating heart may also become hard-ened to the point of no return. Many procrasti-nators have rejected the gen tle wooing of God’sHoly Spirit so often that they can no longer hearthe call. They may find it impossible to repenton their deathbeds. God’s Word pleads with theprocrastinator:“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou

knowest not what a day may bring forth. Watchtherefore, for ye know neither the day nor thehour wherein the Son of man cometh. To day ifye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now isthe day of salvation” (Proverbs 27:1; Matthew25:13; Hebrews 3:7, 8; 2 Corinthians 6:2).

Search your life. What about the excuses ofmaterialism, pleasure, pride, and procrastina -tion? Should you find any of them lurking inyour being, repent and turn to Jesus Christ. Thevacancy in your life and in your eternal futurecan never be filled if you sport a NO VACANCYattitude. The Christ who had no room in the innis asking for “room in the inn of your heart.”

—RLB

Feature Article for Youth . . .No Room Again?

Reaching Out - page 6

“Where wast thou . . . When I made the cloud thegarment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it [the earth], And brake up for it my de-creed place [Genesis 1:7], and set bars and doors,And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further:and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?” (Job38:4, 9-11)

One of the outstanding physical confirmationsof the Biblical account of history is the abundantevidence of a dramatic climate change on ourearth. Secularists refer to this era as the “ice age.”However, the middle latitudes of the earth re-ceived abundant rainfall, causing more rain on theearth than snow, especially in the warmer sum-mers. Pluvial refers to heavy, frequent rainfall.The American west saw pluvial rains with theGreat Salt Lake (ancient Lake Bonneville) 877feet higher than it is today. Looking through Sa-hara desert sands with radio wave technology, sci-entists see the beds of large river systems like theNile. Ancient shorelines indicate that Lake Chadwas once 17 times larger than today. The Arablands, like the area of Sodom, were once “well wa-tered” (Genesis 13:10). A few isolated oases in theSahara desert with crocodiles in them are rem-nants of the past forested river systems.

A Tropical ArcticRecently I was in Canada and was shown an ar-

ticle in The Canadian Geographic titled “OurTropical Arctic.” A team of scientists from theUniversity of Saskatchewan found a deposit of fos-sil vegetation: tree stumps, forest floor litteredwith pine cones, and such like. They found this onAxel Hieberg Island just 1,000 miles from theNorth Pole! This is just west of Ellesmere Islandnear the north end of Greenland.

The scientists excavated and removed from the

hard permafrost one of the tree stumps with rootsextending out in all directions about ten feet. Thewood was not even mineralized. They could carveit, split it, and burn it. Yet bound by their evolu-tionary notions, they gave it an age of 45 millionyears. Bible chronology would put the centuriesimmediately after God’s worldwide destruction ofthe earth by water just over 4000 years ago.

In the layer of leaf litter from this “ancient”forest floor, they found leaves of warm climateplants like cypress and dawn redwood trees. Thegrowth matched what is now found in the subtrop-ical Okefenokee swamps of Georgia and theFlorida Everglades. These remnants of a prehis-toric forest were found scattered over the groundand in a layer in the side of a barren gravel hill.Today none of the approximately 100 plant speciesthey can find there grow higher than a hikingshoe. They have to crawl on hands and knees toexamine them.

From other sources we find similar discoveriesback through history. There is evidence for mil-lions of large mammals flourishing at one time onSiberian and Alaskan grasslands. Their bones andivory have been found along the coasts. An earlyexplorer of Siberia, Bunge, explored the NewSiberian Islands in the Arctic Sea in the summersof 1882-1884. He collected 2,500 specimens ofbones and tusks.

Only a few (less than three dozen) actual frozenfleshy parts of mammoths have been recorded.The most complete was the Beresovka Mammothfound in 1901. It took the scientific expedition afew months to reach it. Travel over the permafrostland is very difficult in the summer. The soilthaws into a bog a foot deep (more or less) fromwhich the water cannot escape because of hun-dreds of feet of ice below. Until they got there, wildanimals had already eaten the flesh from the head

The Pluvial “Ice Age”

–Elvin StaufferSCIENCE

THE BIBLE ANDTHE BIBLE ANDSCIENCE

Reaching Out - page 7

and back. The rest was intact except for the tusks,which the original discoverers had removed.Grasses and herbs were still found in the mouthand stomach of the mammoth.

Arctic Weather PatternsIt is evident there have been big weather

changes in the past in the polar regions. Do wehave any information how and why these changescame about? Scientists have proposed over 60 the-ories of how the world slowly chilled to produce an“ice age.” They are all counterproductive becausecold air is dry air. Cold air cannot hold the abun-dant moisture that is needed to transport theoceans onto the continents. Evidences show thatduring this time the oceans were also lower: sta-lactites 300 feet down in Bahaman water caverns;50,000 piedmonts (flat topped volcanic islandshundreds of feet below the surface in the PacificOcean), river canyons extending deep into theocean, and so forth.

The natives of Barrow, Alaska, say they are notEskimos—they are Hyperborean. In Greekmythology, Hyperboreans were “inhabitants of anorthern region of sunshine and everlastingspring beyond the north wind” (Webster). Withthe earth’s axis tilted twenty-three and a half de-grees towards the sun, in the summer they have24 hours of sunlight. Can we imagine how thingswould grow if temperatures averaged in the seven-ties in this “land of the midnight sun” instead ofbelow freezing? Winter, of course, would be warmtwilight and darkness.

There is only one model to produce the effectsthat are evidenced in our world. The earth had tohave a quick change from a warm world to a worldwith warm oceans and chilled continents. This isthe effect of the Biblical flood when a warm, invisi-ble water vapor blanket condensed and left theearth open to the chill of space.

What happened at this world deluge that theWord of God says men “willingly are ignorant of”(2 Peter 3:5)?

An Eye Witness ReportAt Creation God (who was there) placed a body

of water above the firmament (Genesis 1:6-8).This water vapor blanket stored radiation andtempered the earth’s climate worldwide. Therecord of this first world is in the sedimentaryrock layers averaging two miles deep around theworld. They contain such revealing things as dinosaurs north of the Arctic Circle and coal andredwood tree fossils in Antarctica!

These waters from above condensed (Job 38:10)and covered the earth, along with warm watersfrom the wells of the great deep and volcanic ac-tion (Genesis 7:11). According to 2 Peter 3:6, “theworld that then was, being overflowed with water,perished.” The earth was then opened to the chillof space. As the continental plates rose above thewaters (Psalm 104:8) they chilled quickly, espe-cially in the north, with a new snow cover that re-flected 90% of the sun’s radiation. But the oceans?Water absorbs 90% of the sun’s radiation, so ittook centuries for the oceans of the world to mixand cool down toward the poles. Continual stormsmoving up the Atlantic coast built up snow packsin eastern Canada.

Thus we have the cause for the temperate arcticcoastal plains in the post-flood world. No long,gradual uniformitarian conjecture would leave theearth with such contrasting temperatures betweenland and oceans where favorable storm tracksbrought snow blitzes off the oceans; ice packs builtup on continental centers and moved outward. Anancient map shows the coast of Antarctica, whichancient mariners evidently knew about.

The other likely ingredient for an “ice age” wasa shroud of aerosol gases and dust from extensivevolcanism. This cooled the summers at first andprevented the ice packs from melting from winterto winter. The evidence is in multiple heavy ashlayers in sedimentary rock and ice core borings.

Considering weather processes and ocean cool-ing formulas, this land of “sunshine and everlast-ing spring beyond the north wind” would havelasted about 500 years (Michael Oard). As theoceans cooled and summer melts became cata-strophic, the ice sheets would have reached theirmaximum volume and produced a fast melt inabout 200 years. The Arctic coasts became a deathtrap for the mega fauna (large animals). North tothe temperate arctic coastal plains became thewrong way to migrate in winter. In North Americaat least 34 species of large mammals became ex-tinct.

Climate changes in the past have been acts ofGod to fulfill his purposes toward man. Neitherwill mortal man change the ongoing purposes ofGod for the future. The lesson for man is that Godexercises sovereign control over his creation(Psalm 102:25-27).

Resources: Canadian Geographic – “Our ‘Tropical’ Arctic,” 1986Frozen In Time – Michael J. Oard “An Ice Age caused by the Genesis Flood” – Michael J. OardOrigin by Design – Harold CoffinThe Genesis Flood – Whitcomb & Morris

Reaching Out - page 8

This may sound like a hard title to follow, but itisn’t. It is as simple as the functioning parts of amousetrap. In fact, the mousetrap is the illustra-tion Michael Behe used in his book, Darwin’sBlack Box, to refute Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Charles Darwin believed that all the complexityof life on earth developed over a very long time ina very gradual process where very “simple” formsof life chanced into the very complex systems wehave today.

And Darwin was honorable enough to concedethat if living systems could not have arisenthrough such a gradual process, his theory wouldbe dead. One could wish that modern Darwinistshad as much integrity.

That’s where Behe’s mousetrap came in.After showing that every component of themousetrap had to be in place and functional tocatch mice (that’s the simple definition of “irre-ducible complexity”), Behe went on to give ex-amples in living things, where the complexity ofthe system could not have developed little by lit-tle. It seems to me that Darwin himself wouldhave needed to look no further than humananatomy. Which came first, the optic nerve orthe eye? The aorta or the heart? How does onelive on a heart that’s halfway to beating, orlungs that are a million years short of exchang-ing carbon dioxide for oxygen? How could repro-duction take place before male/female systemsare fully functional?

Darwin really was twice wrong. He was wrongon the irreducible complexity level, but even morebasically, he was wrong on millions of years,chance, and the survival of the fittest as the mech-anisms to explain the sheer wonder of the uni-

verse as we know it. Darwin’s generation didn’tknow that all of life development was prearrangedas encoded information from DNA. They didn’tknow that there are no simple forms of life, andthat the DNA of every cell has information beyondcomprehension. Darwin had no inkling that DNAdebunks his idea of development of the complexfrom the simple over eons of time.

In fact, all humans did have half-developedeyes, ears, hearts, and lungs. But far from the mil-lions-of-years theory, they were protected andnourished in the mother’s womb. Millions ofyears? No. The answer is nine months.

The burden of this article is not so much to dis-cuss evolution, but to introduce the “irreduciblecomplexity” principle to the salvation of sinners byJesus Christ. This does not make salvation com-plex, but shows that the common terms come to-gether to function as a single whole. If you grewup hearing “church” terms, you are familiar withthem—repentance, new birth, faith, grace, justifi-cation, sanctification. We can carefully study andpolish them individually, but they must functiontogether in divine order, or not at all.

I’m going to lead you on for just a bit, and thencome back for major adjustment. Evangelicalssometimes consider conservative Mennonite/Anabaptist groups as heretical or cultish, having aworks religion or beliving in salvation by works.The truth, according to many evangelicals, isfaith-only salvation. One of the clearest definitionsof this concept is the late Francis Schaeffer’s expressions: “the empty hands of faith” or “faithplus nothing.”

Now for the bombshell. Not a single one, oreven all, of those church terms can save us.

The

CHURCH in SOCIETY

–Lester Troyer

Irreducible Complexity and the Plan of Salvation

The seesaw argument of faith versus worksavails nothing. If you could have the collectivefaith of all the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11,it would not save you. On the other hand, if youcould live the life of works, service, and sufferingof the Apostle Paul, even multiplied a thousandtimes over, neither could that save you.

The pivotal point that would effectively captureand carry all our Christian terminology is oftenmissing. The basic building block of our salvationis the lifeblood of the Son of God. Every penitentsinner from Adam to Jesus Christ could approachGod only with the blood of a perfect lamb, slainand sacrificed upon the altar. These animal sacri-fices could not actually remove sin, but pointedforward to the only One who could save us—JesusChrist, the Lamb of God. Being without sin, Hisblood is the only remedy for sin for all time. TheBible explains the reason for this. Sin bringsdeath to the body, and by extension, damnation tothe soul. Salvation must reverse this curse of sin.It cuts directly to the source of life as follows:

Leviticus 17:11 – “For the life of the flesh is inthe blood: and I have given it to you upon the altarto make an atonement for your souls: for it is theblood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” TheNew Testament takes that claim and reveals itsexclusive nature: “The precious blood of Christ, asof a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

This fact reveals the treacherous nature of themove of popular Christianity toward includingother faiths. An extensive survey by ChristianSmith, a sociologist, reveals that well over half ofchurch young people believe there are ways toGod other than Jesus Christ. That’s hardly sur-prising in light of some very popular leaders, withhuge followings, who can’t affirm that Jesus isthe only way. This happens where people havefaith in faith, or faith in grace, and not in the ac-tual blood of Christ.

As DNA is the code for all life, so the life bloodof Jesus Christ is the code for the Christian faith.It orders and establishes all the parts and theworkings together of what it means to have eter-nal life.

I don’t know the theology of Jonathan Edwardsexhaustively. But Edwards knew that the messageof faith and grace was inoperable apart from themessage of righteousness and justice. He stead-fastly refused to give room to those who sought asofter gospel and less stringent moral standards.He knew that faith and grace did not cover forsin, and that “Christians” who lived after the

flesh actually lived in spiritual death. He knewthat hell was the best argument against the mud-dled morals of his people. Thus he told his parish,“I don’t desire to go about to terrify you need-lessly or represent your case worse than it is, butI do verily think that a number of people belong-ing to this congregation are in imminent dangerof being damned for all eternity.”

Clearly Edwards knew that the various compo-nents of eternal life function harmoniously in thelife of the believer. His position was simple. Thegood news is that the bad news is indeed bad.Once this is truly known, only then is there hopefor the sinner. But for this, Edwards was vilified,and a disgruntled faction secured his ouster.

If today’s pastors would but understand howgreat the wrath of God is, and if they also wouldmake known how great is the love and mercy ofGod unto eternal life, we might yet see at least aremnant who would truly embrace the depth ofthe mercy and forgiveness and grace of God. Theywould exercise faith as though nothing else couldsave them and walk in holiness as though theireternal destiny depended on it. They would walkwith Christ and suffer for Him as if there were noother salvation. And indeed there is no other sal-vation.

The Timeless JesusWe base our calendars today on the approxi-

mate time of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Whenpeople think of Jesus Christ, they often thinkback to that time over 2,000 years ago. However,one way that Jesus’ birth was unique is that Hewas the only man ever born who had no begin-ning. Usually we think of life as beginning at con-ception. But the Bible teaches that Jesus had nobeginning and will have no end.

That Jesus had no beginning also implies thatHe had no human father. The Bible very simplystates that He was “born of a virgin.”

At Christmastime people gather to “celebrate”a birthday. Few look back and catch a vision of thetimeless Jesus, the One who planned before theworld began to save helpless mankind from sin.

We will never know an eternal life of happinessunless we come to know the Jesus who had no be-ginning and will have no end. May we switch frombaby worship to worship of the infinite Lord ofthe universe. That’s true reason for celebration,now and eternally. —RLB

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Reaching Out - page 10

Some years ago I read a newspaper article writtenby an agnostic belittling the value of Christianity. Ap-parently his article was in response to previ ous arti-cles in the paper by Christian people proposingChristian solutions to problems such as violence andimmorality.

The agnostic’s thesis was that there is nothingmoral about Christianity. He cited wars, vio lence, anddiscrimination done in the name of Christianity. Heconcluded that Christianity is immoral and that onlywhat is done for the good of humanity is truly moral.He concluded by boldly stating that if all the advancesof science in the last thousand years were suddenlytaken away, our society would collapse. He claimedthat if all the teaching of religion in its entire historywould be done away with, the effect would be negligi-ble.

It is true that false religions have often left a bloodytrail, but that does not mean that all religion is use-less. It is sadly true that a lot of bad things have evenbeen done in the name of Christianity. ProfessedChristianity has done much to malign the teachingsof Jesus. Consider, for example, the Crusades in whichprofessing Christians from Europe tried to invadePalestine and Israel to rescue these lands from theirMuslim conquerors. In those days, the popes andmany others took up the concept of “holy wars.”Thousands of people were killed and many liveswasted in such misled efforts. Later, Protestants sup-ported the 30-years war in Europe. Though Muslimshave often taken up the concept of jihad or holy warsas well, many Muslims still look upon Christians asbeing violent and bloodthirsty. The drinking and sen-sual dress of many so-called Christians further trou-bles many Muslims.

Jesus taught that we are to love our enemies. “ButI say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do goodto them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, andpray for them which despitefully use you” (Luke 6:27,28).

But the agnostic commented only on professed

Christianity’s bad side. He only spoke about profess-ing Christians who, in actuality, violated the teachingsof Jesus. He did not take into consideration the mil -lions whose lives have been changed dramatically bythe Christian Gospel, by faithfully following theteachings of Jesus Christ. He must not have seen thejoyful homes whose drunken fathers followed theteachings of Christ, sobered up, and made a goodhome for their children. He must not have thoughtabout peaceful home relations and neighbor relationsthat take place when people follow the teachings ofChrist. He must not have considered the schools, hos-pitals, and other insti tutions established by Christianpeople for the good of others. Did he consider the hu-manitarian work done in the name of Christ, the de-velop ment of writing systems for hundreds oflan guages done by missionaries of Jesus Christ? Didhe think about the fact that the laws in many coun-tries are based on principles of law and order foundin the Bible? Did he ever stop to consider what theworld would be like without the salt and light of theGospel of Jesus Christ?

Consider the change for good that the world hasknown because of the resurrection of Christ almost2,000 years ago. The teachings of the Bible and ofJesus Christ give purpose and meaning to life. Con-sider the hopeless ness and despair of no hope in Godin this life or the next.

The Resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, pro-claims: “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christraised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain;ye are yet in your sins . . . If in this life only we havehope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable . . .For since by man came death, by man came also theresurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, evenso in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians15:16-22).

Oh, the value of following Jesus Christ, of faith inHim, and obedience to His teachings that can trans-form our lives so that we will be a blessing to our fam-ilies, churches, and communities.

The World Today–Roger L. Berry

What Value Is Christianity?

Reaching Out - page 11

Searching the Scriptures

Searching the Scriptures, the blessed Scriptures,Seeking the Saviour day by day,Striving to learn the wondrous story,What does the blessed Bible say?

Searching the Scriptures, the blessed Scriptures,Seeking to know Christ day by day,Striving to follow the risen Saviour,What does the blessed Bible say?

Go and inquire, the King commandeth;Ask of the Lord for me and thee;Knock at the open door of mercy,Where there is pardon full and free.

—W. A. Ogden

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Take God’s WayTHE WAY . . .

Jesus died to provide the way:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave hisonly begotten Son, that whosoever believeth inhim should not perish, but have everlasting life”(John 3:16).

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he thathath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John5:12).

He that spared not his own Son, but deliveredhim up for us all, how shall he not with him alsofreely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

CHOOSE THE WAY . . .

Believe, receive, and obey Jesus:

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlastinglife: and he that believeth not the Son shall notsee life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”(John 3:36).

“He that believeth and is baptized shall besaved; but he that believeth not shall bedamned.” (Mark 16:16).

“If any man will come after me, let him denyhimself, and take up his cross daily, and fol-low me” (Luke 9:23).

WALK IN THE WAY . . .

Continue following Jesus. Read the Bible, andjoin a group of faithful believers.

“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my dis-ciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, andthe truth shall make you free” (John 8:31,32).

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’doctrine and fellowship” (Acts 2:42).