The Ohio Independent Baptist, June 1961

June, 1961 less he had overn· helming evidence that chey '\\'ere not true; buc ic would seem cliat a cescimon}r for the Lord would have shov; n the d1fferen ce between atheistic Rcss1a and the United tates without even mentioning Russia. His failure to give God the glory makes us vlonder ~ 1 hecher there is any essential difference bern•een the Russian and Ameri– can space programs after all. Bo th of them glorify man rather than God, and both boastfull}r look forward to the day when they can put a man on 1-fars and venture out among the stars. We call our space men "ascron aucs," o r ..star-sailors;' ' and the R ussians go us one better and call theirs cosmonauts." Not only are we vvasting billions that ought to go for the payment of our debts and blowing fuels and valu– able metals into space tha t we may some day need· but it seems to us in the light of Psalm 1 i 5 . 16 that modern man is out– Babeling Babel in his defiance of G od! GOING TO WI NONA LAKE With Wino na Lake, Indiana, within a day's driving distance, our Ohio churches ought to be well represented June 18-23 at the annual meeting of the General As– sociation o f Regular Baptise Churches. With provisions for child care and the beautiful groun ds, it should attract ~ g0?<1 many m o thers this year who ord1nar1ly have to stay home and take care o f their children. Then it is hoped that many young people will no t only come for the big Youth Emphasis D ay, June 20, but will cake in the Vlhole conference. Every– thing has been done to make chi~ the most useful and attraetive program 10 the 31 years of the GARBC, and the expectation is char it will also be che best a ttended. One hundred and four of the 123 churches in our association are listed as 10 fellov.-ship with the GARBC, so we ~eel ic is only proper that we push thi s meeting and urge our churches and pastors to a t– tend. The good ne\\'S has JUS t come that the First Christian Baptist Church of Coshucron ,vill be V\ elcomed into the GARBC at Winona Lake, which brings the numu<:r up to 105. There may be s 'me ochers of the other 18 that may b e t king cl1e same step. J t would 1, lease us if all of them did. Officially, our scare assoc!acion 15 ~n– rirely separate from che national ass )c1a– tJOn and v.'e are onl}' tied together br a coin~non i1arne and a common confession of faith. Yee \.Vitl1 these things in con1rnon, ic seems tl1at the logic of Cl1riscian f ellov.'– sl1j1, sl1ouJd bring all of . us rogerhcr na– tionally as \\ 1 ell as stace\.\ 1 1se. 0111e i)ast<)r or deacon rnay noc like sorne J erson or rl1ing ir1 tl1e 11acio11al l,ody, or in rl1e srarc; 1,ut our l1io association iii not J)Crsonal, bur an ass iation of cl1urcl1e , and ~o i 1J1e general asso iacion. • ur risen l ..01 d l1as rol us ro go 1 nco all 1l1e v.'or)d beginning at Jerusalc111, and sJ>r ~adJng ou; to Jud a, an1arja, a11d. un– to tl1e utcer1nosc J>ar . l f that is tru in a m1 s1011ar) sense, 1c ougl1t ro l)c in [el.lo ,, I JJl J o le 11eed dis1r1 t • 1a1io11 , nd t te asso JatJOns, nd a nat1onaJ fel lo\, sl111> 1 J1 only excuse v. e ha, e for i fus I 10 J01n rl1e eucu1nen1c I n1oveme11t 1s 1)1 f fellov. sl111> means PJ)ro, al , nd " nnot J>J>ro,e of II rl1e c rors found in n n 13 i t1 t denon11nac1ons nd for ch c marter 111 ,n n1 13 pc1st grou1> here 1 J>l 1n JJ tur .. tea 11111 " 01nmand1ng us co ;\Jtl dr . fr 1n 1110 e rh t , Jk dJ ord rl ] 11 re 111 t or cl1 t cea h1n , ,,e "ould THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST be duty bound by other Scriptures to fel– lowship with all who claim to be Chris– tians. We muse no r carry the independency of the local church so far that we think each church has the right to live all to itself, or to fell owship o nly with a few, without good reasons for it. It is true thac under our views of local church sovereign– ty no church needs give its reaso ns for ex– clusiveness to another church or to a bish op or pope; bur it does need to answer its Lord , who has told us to love one an– o ther. Love and fellowship are no l ess obli– gations than separation from error. It would seem, then, that if there is no error that separates us from o ther Regu– lar Baptise churches, we should fellowship V\'ith them. In a g iven community we can do that without any organization , by per– sonal contact and union m eetings; but in the la rger field the m o re practical way to do it is by way of associa tion ti es. We do no t want the cu rse of M e roz to fall upon us. The General Association of Regu la r Baptises is in a g reat battle against mig hty forces of error and apostasy. Let us no t be like the village of Meroz tha t refused to come co help aga inst the mig hty. MORE ON THE DIVORCE QUESTION Several pastors have expressed their gratitude for the discussion of the divorce question in the April OIB. Among them we quote Pastor Louie DiP lacido o f Mas– si lon as typical in his reaetio n : ' ' I appreciated you r comments on the divorce question, and feel that chis prob– lem should be carefully studied by every p as tor , since it is an ever-increasing threat to the Bibli cal stand that our churches take on ocher issues. I think more chu r ch– es should get together in local o r regional fellowships and discuss the question so that m ore people will becom e interested in studyi ng the sub ject tho roughly. We have faced it here, and in the past two years have given it much time in s tudy, with the result tha t we are more keenl y aware of a growing tendency to accept less than a Biblical position because of the pressu re brot..ght upon pastors by those v. ho have l--ce n 'softened' through com1) rom1se \\ ich the world's arr1tu<le on the problem " ome fev.• years ago \\ e had been ,,·arned that discussion of this question \\ ou Id blo\.\ our assoc1ac1on sky l1igh, bur 1t has done norh1ng of rhe kind. 1:unda111enta1 Bible belie\ers \\ant n1o ral J)roblems d1sc.us ed in rhe J 1ght of all rhar rhe Bib le reacl1es, ,ind v.. hen chose that enter the disc uss1on h,1, e lo, e and cons1deratior1 for the: l1onLst v tt.'\\ s of rheir b1ecl1ren, surl1 di,<.l'!>s1on ,, 111 unite us rather cha11 d1\ 1dt \X't 1n, it<. both rl1ose that ag1 cc and disagrt.t. \\ 1th \\ hJt ,, e said to v.rricc ar1d cx1)lain chLu \ IL\\'i \\ t do not ex1 ecr ir ,,,ill ll"'ad u~ r(> su<. h unani11, =-y tl1at \Ve ca11 cake an offi iJI 110- sition " "' an a.ssociation, not ,,·oul'-l ,, t ,, .1nc a11 off,ci,ll 1>1onoun cn1enc in ,vh,1c is, ,ttrcr all, a lo al J>roblen1; but ,, e l<) beli vc c}1at su h a {li~cussion and study ,vc ul l heJ1> tc, unite ou1 thurches i11 lis c1uraging divor e • 11d in .screngcl1e11ing our l10111e • Page Three The Ohio Independent Baptist Published M onthly by THE OHIO ASSOCIATION OF REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCHES Publication Office 15 3 South Jefferson, Berne, Ind. Editor RALPH T . NORDLUND 586 Maple Street Fos toria, Ohio Circulation l\fanager MR . JOHN KAUTZ 45 19 Welling ton Ave. Parma 34, Ohio Subscription Rate· Per single copy _ ______ __ ___ _ $ .15 Per Year __ _____ __ __ _______$2.00 D EADLINE FOR NEWS: 15th of each month Adi.ertising Rate : Per column inch - ---------- _ $2 .00 Per half page ----------- --· $2 7 .00 Per full page --- ----------- $50.00 econd class p osrage paid at Berne, Indiana. Postmaster . Please send form 3547 to The Ohio Independent Baptist, 45 19 Wellington Ave.. Parma 34, Ohio. OU CIL A D OFFICER Chairn,a11, Rev. Hall Daute1, 1209 econd c. Po rtsmouth, Ohio ecretary Re, Adam _,\ Galt pen<.er, Oh10 '1."'l'e,1s1, /'er Re, 1· l•red Ilusst} 61 \X ,tsl11ngton .•\, e 1le , 011 io ,1Cissio11,1ry .h,11. Rev. I, nn Roger - ~')~ Br,} Jen ort 11 t 1cld, l1io } ' 01,t}J Dire tor Rev. ,len1\ (, reen,, l l . Ke11~1 u , con J>ia e " p1 in field, hio RI.. l 111 J }l LL - Dl 7 ----------------------------------~--