The Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1964

Jud 3 '' to ove By Rev. John E. Millheim \.'\\l 111 it ~1 great pr1, 1legc to be hert' t, .. 1lilirc"' th1, tatc a ociation "f Rcgt1l .. 1r B.. 1pt1st~. 111cct1ng here 1n ·r ,Je io. Ohio. '"I'l1\,; ti h1 t that ha, been a, .. igncc.l ll) '"llc 1, a l,1rg ne There are n1an, .... .. 1• t.c, fa 1ng the Chr1 t1 an tod a, ,. and ..... J to 1n, c,tigat the111 pr perl) involve rc"~arc h and re earch take t ime. and f 1r all pra t1 al purpo e for thi h ur on n1u t lin1 it hi inve tigation to a certain area. Be.... au e f the nature of th1 meet– ing. n1) 1n, ·e tigat1on ,vill be limited to rel1g1ou i ue . And to break that d ,, n a bit fur ther, ince ther e are n1an) religiou i ue f acing all of u toda) 1 • to o ne 1 ue in particular . One of the mo t ignificant theo– logical movement of thi generation \\ hich i exerci ing an incr ea ingly large influence in American life i the mo, ,ement called . H ew-Evangeli– cali m." Young movement Thi movement has ari en out of the oil of Amer ican Fundamentalism. I t i le than two decades old, and 1t influence i being felt strongly in almo t every area of Prote tant Chri tianit) toda)' . It i an attempt to tind a meeting place between Liber– ali m and F undamen talism. And while it 1 un\X."illing to e pou e all the tenet of Liberal1 m . it is anxious to e cape ome of the r eproach attached to F undamentali m. There dis atisfied former Funda– mentali t have har hl}' cr iticized Fun– damental1 m for over-empha izing doctrine. while they in turn h ave de– empha ized doc trine. i \ t the . Torth American Confer ence on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches which met at Oberlin College. in Sep tember 19 57, Dr. Carl F. H . H enr y delivered a me sage entitled, "The U ni ty Christ Su ta1n .·· In that message he stated : ..It i unnecessary in this context to develop the perils of Separ at ism becau"' e the present climate of discus– ion i contraseparati m and prounion. All that i needed is the observation that if contra eparati t forces tend to Page 4, FEBRUARY, 1964 investigate t 0~1cratc \\' itl1 a11 inadcqt1a tc doctrin al hc.1\1 • con tr dtl nion f orcc\ tend to in ~•~t ttpo n an c cc~ ive ba 1 ." T o the e, - vangelical , Unity 1 ·t1prcn1c and Doc trine i'i econdary . Btit U nit, with whom? With the Fundamentali t ? O! They have lo nged for aceptance a bona-fide re– l1giou leader among the recognized re ligiou group of the day . They have treated the r epre entative of the domin ant Modern-Indifferenti t force a cr eam-puff , rather than handling them a rattle nake . Coupled with thi ha been an un- willingne to continue in a con- tant vigorus defen e of the faith. Our text tell us that Jude would have rather given forth a mes age concerning our common alvation. but it was needful to exhort the brethren to earne tly contend for the faith that was once and for all de– livered unto the saints. Dr. J. Gre ham Machen describes the pre ent d ay attitude or mood of the ew-Evangelicals in his book Wl1at is Chris tianity, where he writes : ' 'Let u above all, men ay, have no controver y in the church· let us for– get our mall theological differenee and all repeat together Paul' hymn to Chri tian love. A I li ten to uch plea , my Chri tian friend , I think I can detect in them rather plainly the voice of Satan. That voice i heard, ometimes, on the ljp of good and trulv Christian men as at Cae area J Philippi, it wa heard on the lip of the greate t of the 12. But Satan's voice it i all the ame . . . Men tell us that our preaching should be po itive and not negative , that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we hall have to clo e our Bibles and d e ert it teaching. Every really great Christi an utter ance it may almost be said is born in controver y. It is .. ·.- ..... .. .. .... ...... ..., .. Editor's 'ote: T 1iis niessage was given h} Rei 1 • John E. 1,1i ll1ieim, pastor of Calvary Baptist CJ1.urch, "Z\ 1 orwalJz, 01iio, at the annual 11ieet– irig of t1 e Ohio Association of Regular Baptist Churc1ies at T oledo, Oliio, >, 1 01.•. 17, 1963. D,u.e to t11.e 111.~11J req 11 ests for tl1e message i1i ulri tteri for11z, ive are p1·i11ti11g it i11 tlze OIB. TJ11s is t11e first of a series of tliree articles. . ' ' e issues when 111en have felt con1JJelled lo take a ~tand against error that they have ri en to the really great heights in the celebration of truth. " Dr. Vance H avencr said: ' ' ome Chri tian who once cham– pioned ound doctrine beat a retreat and once in a while from trato - pheric height announce that they do not stoop to controversy. When a man contend for the faith he does not toop. Contending for the faith is not ea y. It i not plea ant business . I t h a many perils. It is a thankless job. And it is highly unpo,pular in thi age of moral fog and piritual twilight. It is a day of diplomats, not prophet . It i nicer to be an appea er than an opposer. It i the day of Era mus, not Luther of Gamaliels not Pauls." Care and Frankness In developing this religious issue facing the Chri tian Church today , I want to do so with utmost care and frankne . In ew York city at the American Museum of Natural His– tory there hang a plaque that li ts the five step that are usual ly followed before a theory i advanced and ac– ce pted. The tep are: 1. The fact are gathered. 2. The problem are ta ted. 3. The po ible olutions are listed. 4. Theorie are advanced. 5. Additional ob ervations are made.' ' I would like to follow thi trend of re earch a much a po sible o that we might come to ome definite factual conclu ions regarding the po - ition and belief of the ew-Evange– lical . There are three areas that I would like to deal with in my presentation of material. First of all, I want to deal with the background of the ew– Evangelical movement. Then in the econd place, I want to deal with the belief of the ew-Evangelical' . And in the third place, I want to give the Bimlical appeal for each in the Jight of the material pre ented . In the order that I have given. ·hall we then con ider fir t of all: THE OHIO INDEPENDENT Bl> ~TIST