Christians given challenge

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 8

Christians given challenge

An American professor of theology has challenged main-line Christians and fundamentalist Christians to try to see each other’s view. A professor of theology, at the Eastern Baptist Seminary in Philadelphia, Dr Ronald Sider, said that his challenge was for both to be more Biblical. Preachers in the fundamentalist or evangelical churches should say more about the poor and social justice, while those in the main-line churches should be orthodox in what they say about Jesus.

The main-line churches were losing numbers

while the evangelical church was growing because it was faithful to the traditional heart of Christian faith, he said. “The core issue is whether we still believe that Jesus is the true God as well as the true man. “The reason the conservative churches are growing is that some of the main-line churches have sold out the heart of historical Christian faith.” Dr Sider said the mainline churches were courageous in the 1960 s and 1970 s when they took a stand against the Vietnam war and against racial prejudice.

The evangelical churches at the time were not much concerned about the social issues. Some Christians had gone over to the conservative churches because they were' more comfortable without sermons on social justice, he said. A trend had developed in the last 15 years for more conservative churches and Christians to become interested in social justice. In New Zealand this trend had become apparent in the last five years. Dr Sider, who will return to the United States tomorrow, was brought to

New Zealand by World Vision, the Christian aid agency, for its annual conference last week-end. He has visited various centres this week, and last Tuesday talked to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. Dr Sider said that he supported Mr Lange’s nuclear stand. Like Mr Lange, he has debated the peace issue with the American Baptist, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who Dr Sider said was an independent Baptist. Dr Sider said that as much as he admired Mr Lange’s nuclear stand he was intrigued that the Government had been

elected on a platform which included a commitment to giving 1 per cent of gross national product in overseas aid. This commitment had not been fulfilled. “The Bible says that the way you get peace is by justice,” he said. “It is always the case even with basically good people that they are tempted to put their own self-interest ahead of the poor. In the West, people are more interested in protecting their necks against a nuclear holocaust than in providing social justice for the poor,” Dr Sider said.