November - December 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel

Letters to the Editor

Greetings in God's grace through Christ Jesus. After reading the few issues of T.S.S. I've received and especially the last (May-June), I believe all involved are putting forth their best effort to provide a wide range of topics and be a conduit for Sabbatarians.

Your editorial "An Appropriate Topic?" gave me something to think about in earnest...love! Of course, we're not speaking about the hugs and kisses and outward show many of us may have experienced in worldly Christians, but that agape' love that is rooted in the moral standard set forth by Christ's example through obedience and service.

Being in prison brings me in constant contact with the incorrigibly wicked daily and I'm a definite outcast from all Christian groups, due to my rejection of Sunday worship and priestcraft. However, from time to time someone of little religious affiliation will comment that I myself can be better trusted than others, because I maintain the principles of God's Law. To them, this code of ethics is positive and to be respected, but in tuth, it's more of a right response towards God's love for us. It's how I've come to see God's commands in relation to His concern for our wellfare and those who we come in contact...reciprocal concern.

So, yes, I agree, Christ has given us tools to overcome our prejudices and demonstrate that His way is the only right way (John 4:16). To God be the glory!

Ron Ilchyn

I had the blessing of meeeting the President of the BSA, Dr. Sidney Davis at a Sabbath observing church in Huntsville, Alabama. He handed me a copy of the Sabbath Sentinel...I have not been able to put it down. Blessings of information and the confirmation of the fact that there are many, many Sabbath keeping groups and denominations under the umbrella of Christianity thrilled my soul. I am a volunteer prison chaplain who keeps the true Sabbath and teaches the same. The resources I have been guided to in your publication and more thoroughly in your website will greatly assist my efforts to share the Sabbath truth with the inmates and others God has brought before me.

Michael Delaney

You've rattled my beliefs about women in the Church with your current article in the Sabbath Sentinel. I'm just wondering what your perspective is on the man as the spiritual and/or physical head of the family and home. Do you agree with the current secular view that marriage is always a 50/50 partnership? I can tell by your writing that you have done a lot more Bible study than I have. I generally only read on the surface and I sometimes get confused when (original Greek and Hebrew meanings) come into play.

Paul Barnes

Thank you so much for your kind words. It is our great privilege to write and publish articles designed to help the Sabbatarian community consider scriptures in different lights. Such was the intent on the article about the role of women in the Church. I hope that it did not so much rattle your beliefs as give you pause to consider whether something that we believed might be in error.

I certainly do not support the idea that marriage is a 50-50 proposition. We all have different gifts and talents. Some of us are better organizers than others. Some do a better job of handling finances. As partners in a marriage, we ought to develop the talents and gifts God has given us so that we may better serve our mate, our "helping counterpart." If that means that our wife is a better bookkeeper, then we men ought to get out of her way!

Some men are excellent cooks. Why should they not cook then? The answer is that they should not only cook, but develop that talent to the benefit of the family. There are certain roles that each partner can not fill for the other. Certainly, no man can bear a child. No man can bring his wife to salvation. Neither can a wife bring her husband. But, beyond those roles, the idea is to contribute to the marriage in the ways that we are strongest, and to defer to our partner in the ways that they are strongest. Sometimes that is going to mean that the wife directs the husband. Sometimes it will mean that the husband directs the wife. But, the direction will come from mutual understanding of each other's strengths, and not from the mistaken understanding that the husband has to call the shots in everything. As husbands we have a duty to help our wives develop their talents, and vice versa. That is why there is no such thing as a 50-50 relationship. But, Godly people help their mates become all God made them to be.

Ed.

TSS

November - December 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel