Your Views

Dear Editor,

In his letter (April en), Andrew Proud quite rightly points out that the use of “propitiation” in hymns is rare. For many years, our church used Gadsby’s Selection. I found one hymn in there which uses the term: hymn 130 by Joseph Hart. Praising the character and offices of Jesus Christ, verse two reads:

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your brief obituary of my good friend John Wesson in the April issue of en.

Dear Editor,

I was particularly grateful for the letter in your April edition raising the question of training for ordinary Christians and church members. The concern raised was an entirely valid one that churches must take seriously. Failure to offer such training raises the spectre of creating a two-tiered religion with a caste of super-believers that require special training that is simply beyond the ken of the ordinary Christian. Or, to put it another way, runs the risk of a return to the errant clergy-laity divide of Roman Catholicism that fundamentally denied the existence of a priesthood of all believers.

Dear Editor,

How I appreciated the article sent in by Rani Joshi on being single (March en). I am a retired, female, missionary who was (I think) well cared for by my church while serving overseas. Since I have returned it’s been quite different.

Dear Editor,

I have read the debate between Matthew Roberts and John Stevens on “concupiscence” and have to confess that I did not fully understand it!

Dear Editor,

In the March issue of en, Jules Loveland thinks what churches need in regard to safeguarding is a conversation. “Now is the time for churches to have an urgent and honest conversation about the churches ability to protect people from harm, its culture, and how it is held responsible.”

Dear Editor,

I was very interested to read Glen Scrivener’s article “We’re almost ALL digital evangelists now” in your March issue.

Dear Editor,

Andy Lines’ article “When secondary issues feel like primary ones” in the March issue of en does not mention the issue of what is the judgement of God on the unsaved on the Day of Judgement.

Dear Editor,

In March’s Evangelicals Now, Bill James seeks to address what he calls “The problem with empathy.” A few Christian writers and speakers have sought to argue in recent times that whilst we ought to sympathise with others, we shouldn’t empathise. Some have gone so far as to call empathy sin.

Dear Editor,

In his review of the Christian Standard Bible (en February), Vernon Wilkins bemoans the replacement of “propitiation” by “atonement”.

Dear Editor,

I’m interested to know why there is very little training of Christians in general. What do I mean? I cannot remember ever seeing a course on how to read the Bible well, that is open to everyone. There are many courses out there and they all seem to have the mantra – for ministry leaders and teachers. Why is there this unspoken belief that those who are going to teach are the only ones worth teaching? I, personally, would welcome a course on different methods of tackling the study of the Bible. I am never going to teach anyone, I'm not gifted that way. But I still wish to get as much from my Bible study as I can, so I can grow in my faith.

Dear Editor,

I was 12 when David Steel’s Abortion bill was signed into law. It was said then that about 6,000 legal abortions per year where expected as a result of the Act.

Dear Editor,

In your February feature, Martyn Whittock says Christian Nationalism is a contradiction in terms. Really? Does he disapprove of Christians supporting the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine? What about Nelson Mandela, head of the African National Congress – a nationalist organisation? Again, what about Gandhi, Kenyatta, Nkrumah, etc., who were nationalists in the cause of colonial liberation. Were they wrong? That was in the 20th century. In the 19th century, Greece, Italy, Poland – just about all Eastern European countries – were the products of their nationalist struggles against foreign feudal Empires like the Hapsburgs, Romanovs and Ottomans. Were those struggles wrong too?

In the February issue of en, we carried a letter regarding Donald John MacLean’s article on covenant published in the January issue. We asked Donald to respond:

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

I am writing with respect to Nicola Laver’s piece on education at home, or as she or a sub-editor have inflated it, ‘Bill may force reporting on Sunday School attendance’ en February 2025.

Dear Editor,

From a February book review, [Mud, Bullets and Open Roads, reviewed by Stephen Ayre] on page 28: ‘David also suffered the blow of losing his first wife, Jenny, to cancer, but God is always faithful and provided a second wife, Mary’.

Dear Editor,

Toby Pitchers argues persuasively for apologetics, and yet I have my doubts because of an important glitch. When Peter writes ‘Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope in you’, it is not at all intended as a rational argument, but as an explanation for suffering for doing what is right.

Dear Editor,

Donald John MacLean, the President-elect of Westminster Seminary UK, gives an excellent summary of most of the main Biblical covenants in his article in the January 2025 edition of en.