MWR : Articles : Letters

Articles : Letters

Feb. 6 issue

Whose identity?

Six writers, including five pastors, ask whether Mennonite Church USA’s teaching on same-sex relations is cause for dividing the church, or whether we might maintain unity in the midst of diversity (“Should One Issue Define Us?”, Nov. 28).
Plain vitality

Thank you for printing Luke Bennetch’s article, “Gospel Should Change Lives” (Jan. 23). We need to hear more from the Mennonite and Amish groups that have not followed the “drift,” as conservative Mennonites would say, or have not become “acculturated,” as mainstream Mennonites would say.
War and history

There was good reporting in the Jan. 16 MWR: three articles stressing the stark realities of war and militarism. The editorial discloses Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s rare beliefs on the effects of militarism in the U.S. The article by Peter Monkres reports the horrible human suffering and astronomical costs of warfare. He says those who know should teach the public of the “sad and bitter lessons of war.”
Valuing the vision

My reintroduction to the Mennonite church has been primarily through Mennonite Weekly Review. It has been encouraging to see how faithful you and many of your contributors are to the Anabaptist vision that I studied in seminary nearly 40 years ago. But as I read letters to the editor I also see that many seem to be uncomfortable with being a part of a minority expression of the Christian faith. Some even want to drop the designation “Mennonite.”

Jan. 16 issue

Change is a blessing

Responding to “Should One Issue Define Us?” (Nov. 28), Ron Stucky (Viewpoint, Dec. 12) says, “It should not surprise us that in the future those who are against homosexual behavior will become a minority.” For many this would be a blessing: breaking down barriers of hate, suspicion and myth about the gay community in general.

Jan. 9 issue

Atonement mystery

Since the Mennonite Brethren achieved consensus that the atonement was substitutionary (“Canadian MBs Find Unity on Atonement,” Nov. 21), then I suggest that at least the adjective “penal” be stricken from their atonement paradigms.

Jan. 2 issue

Reading Revelation

I enjoyed “Revelation Links to Advent” (Faith Matters, Dec. 19) by John A. Esau. I attended a fundamentalist Bible college in the 1950s. It was very strong on prophecy and end-time studies. The end of the world was surely going to happen in our lifetime! Later at Bethel College, I found quite a difference in teaching of the Bible. One morning in chapel President E.G. Kaufman said St. John was too long on the Isle of Patmos by himself; that’s why he wrote the Book of Revelation. I about fell out of my chair. Keep writing, John Esau!
The true church?

In response to the Nov. 28 article, “Should One Issue Define Us?”: When I joined the Mennonite church I knew it was a welcoming church. But I also knew it was a “such were some of you” church, but “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 6:11). Later I read Menno Simons’ sermon on “The New Birth,” in which he said: “Do you not know that the holy Christian church is a gathering of the righteous and a fellowship of the saints? But you really have to confess that you are an assembly of the adulterous, the unrighteous, the carnal, the murderous, the sodomitical … Therefore it follows you are not of the true church of Jesus Christ” (page 48, translated and edited by Irvin B. Horst, published by the Mennonite Historical Society).

Dec. 19, 2011 issue

Institute responds

I came upon “Students Protest Military Academy” (Dec. 5) via Google Alert. Thank you for the opportunity to correct the many misunderstandings about the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation it reveals.
Sharing the wealth

While thinking about the distribution of wealth, I read two articles in the Nov. 14 issue, “Who Speaks for Justice?” and “A Full Life, Joyfully Shared.”