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John Calvin

What a wonderful, informative essay was the story on John Calvin (“John Calvin, We Hardly Knew Ye,” January 2009). It revealed a Calvin who was ambivalent about the doctrine of limited atonement. (I do remember that he called it a decretum horrible—a “terrifying decree.”) It is no wonder that we never have a sermon on the Canons of Dort, which cover the subject extensively.

But the Bible does give a more cheerful answer in 1 John 2:2: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

—Walter VanderBeekCaledonia, Mich.

Seeing God in Disability

I want to express my gratitude to The Banner for the recent article by Mark Stephenson (“Made Like Us,” December 2008) and the news item about Dan Woodwyk (“Church Installs Deacon with Down Syndrome,” January 2009). I know that God shows us a bit of himself through people with disabilities. I have been amazed at the “clarity of vision and wisdom” displayed by those I have met who have impaired vision. God tells us in his Word that he uses the “weak” to teach the “strong.” Thank you for showing us that we can learn much if we take the time to watch, listen to, and learn from all his children.

—Bev OvereinerGrand Rapids, Mich.

Google News

The article “Grassroots News” (Tuned In, December 2008), states: “Selecting the ‘news’ button in Google’s main page gives you dozens of links divided into subtopics such as national and international news, sports, science, and technology. In Google’s case, news stories are chosen by editors.”

Google actually uses an algorithm that scans new sites for stories with the most “hits” and scores them for relevance. Then the story is deposited into the news page. To see evidence of this, all you need to do is go to the Google news page and press F5 (to refresh your browser) every two or three minutes. You will see that the stories on the page change as their relevance and popularity increase.

As someone who’s been a webmaster, I can tell you that it would be almost impossible for even a crew of editors to make those types of rapid updates on a webpage.

—Sandy LareauRamona, Calif.

Use of Cereal Grains

I am writing in reference to the article titled “Food for a Hungry World” (November 2008), and particularly about the sidebar on page 23. Granted, many tons of corn are used for “feeding livestock and making fuel,” but how many tons of cereal grains—wheat, barley, and rice—are used to make alcoholic beverages? And how many tons of grains are used to make pet food? It would be helpful to readers to know.

—Rev. Robert RuisMonterey, Calif.

Prosperity

I must take issue with the article “Is Prosperity a Blessing?” (November 2008). Luke chapter 6 is not talking about economics when it says “Blessed be the poor.” Nor is Jesus talking about physical starvation when he says, “Blessed are you who hunger.”

What Jesus is referring to is those who realize their spiritual poverty and their inability to redeem themselves and those who hunger for righteousness. It is wrong to take this passage and the parallel found in Matthew 5 as God’s commentary on economics or as a call to arms for a new world order. What is being described here is life in the kingdom of God.

I remain unconvinced that the ideal of material blessings as a reward for obedience in the proper use of our God-given talents is strictly an ideal for the Old Testament.

—Julian HudsonPonoka, Alberta

Shoebox Giving

Is shoebox giving appropriate? We’d like to share a perspective that we hope will help the discussion following “Christmas Giving” (IMHO, November 2008). As co-directors for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, we have the privilege of visiting some of the neediest places in our world. Two things give us great joy: (1) mothers proudly telling us that because of what they have learned in their development groups their children aren’t dying anymore; and (2) seeing Christians engage in the transformation of their communities and then having new believers declare Jesus as their Savior.

We also see communities who struggle to get transformational development started and will quickly give us a long list of requested help. It often comes from a learned dependency on outside resources, the very thing that hurts real transformation and empowerment. The giving of Christmas shoeboxes is not in itself harmful, as long as it is part of an empowering process in the communities. If you support these projects, please make sure that throughout the year you also support truly transformative ministry. That is where investment is needed.

—Andrew RyskampIda MutoigoCRWRC

Clarification

The declaration of Efren Echipare as eligible for call based on special gifts (Church Order Article 7), “News from Fall Classis Meetings” (January 2009), is one of three cases recognized by the Christian Reformed Church’s Candidacy Committee as being in process before the Article 7 rules were changed by Synod 2006.

Corrections

Regarding “John Calvin, We Hardly Knew Ye” (January 2009), Rev. John Hesselink is the Albertus C. Van Raalte Professor Emeritus of Theology at Western Theological Seminary. He is not professor emeritus of New Testament Theology at Hope College. The Banner apologizes for the error.Rev. Christian Pedersen successfully sustained his examination for Ministry of the Word by Classis Minnkota. The Banner regrets the omission of his name in the January issue under “Entering Ordained Ministry,” p. 15.