Home MB HeraldColumns Letters April 2013

Letters April 2013

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Take a stand against abortion

Re “Sommerfeld Church pulls out of MCC” (News in Story, February). Carl Teichrib and the Sommerfeld congregations are asking important questions of MCC – questions all MBs should be asking. There is another question MCC needs to answer. Since they take a strong position on social justice and defence of the vulnerable, why are they deathly quiet on the subject of abortion? Surely there are none more innocent or vulnerable than those in the womb.

Marcyne Heinrichs
Abbotsford, B.C.

Using our minds to read the Bible

Re “Drifting away from Scripture?” (Letters, January). Henry Klassen criticizes Heidi Martens for saying “the tough part is finding out which Scriptures are cross-cultural…and which pieces were written for a specific place and time.” Mr. Klassen states that “all Scripture was written for every time and place, specifically when it relates to doctrine and God’s commands.”

What about the Old Testament verses where God commands people to be put to death for things like adultery (Leviticus 20:10) or cursing your parents (Leviticus 20:9)? All Scripture was written for every time and place? If we were to apply all these verses to our current lives, we’d be living in a world I would rather not be a part of, much less raise my two daughters in!

God always meant to replace the old covenant with a new one because the old covenant was faulty (Hebrews 8:7,13). Jesus came to this earth to usher in a new era. In John 12:47, Jesus says, “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” Unfortunately, far too many Christians have ignored what Jesus says and have instead used many Old Testament verses to justify committing all kinds of atrocities in the name of God: the Inquisition, the Crusades, slavery, and the oppression and abuse of women, to name just a few.

To suggest we should accept every part of Scripture as being for “every time and place” is a dangerous blanket statement to make. It’s to suggest we check our brains at the door and follow blindly, without thoughtful and prayerful consideration of what we’re reading. Perhaps this is the reason people leave Christianity – they can’t abide being told to trust everything purely on faith and to not think for themselves or ask genuinely seeking questions. God has given us all minds, we must use them in every area of our lives, Scripture included.

Tammy Bargen
Winnipeg, Man.

 

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Martha Stewart April 28, 2013 - 04:27

For the first year that Sam’s Place was open I was the volunteer coordinator there. I donated over 1000 hours of my time to this used book store, live entertainment and coffee shop venue which was opened to support MCC ventures and is now actually owned by MCC. After keeping the place open 72 hours a week and finding over 170 volunteers to cover 144 volunteer hours a week I was let go in May 2010. At the time I was devastated, now I am grateful because my job at the Charis Center an addictions treatment center for women run by Union Gospel Mission is much more to my liking because we actually share the gospel at my job.

Now I know that MCC often has views that are not on the same page with the all MB churches. (I grew up MB, my parents were missionaries in Brazil with the MB conference. Then when the mission board automatically retired him at age 65 he was a Pastor in MB churches till his death at age 78.) But I wanted to take this opportunity through this periodically to ask the MB church at large whether they are aware of what is being promoted by this MCC run place. Yesterday I was in there browsing the books and took a look at the GEEZ magazine featured prominently by the check out counter. To my horror it was promoting homosexuality and abortion. One article was even explaining how to have lesbian sex and this all by writer’s who claim to be Christian.

I’ve been out of the MB church since I got married in 1992 and am more in the Charismatic flow of things but I still love reading your MB Herald and I have a hard time believing that the MB church at large would promote this sort of viewpoint and would want MCC to promote this.

Now that I find this discussion going on here where the “Sommerfeld Church pulls out of MCC” I thought this might be a good place to post my concerns.

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