Editorial
January/February, 1997, BRF WITNESS
Volume 32, Number 1
The BRF Witness is a slanted publication. We admit it. If it were not slanted in favor of what we believe to be basic Christian truth, we would not publish it.
We are slanted:
- in favor of teaching and preaching the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, without error in the original autographs.
- in favor of belief in the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His visible second coming, and His substitutionary atonement.
- in favor of the Ten Commandments, the biblical codes of decency, the rights of others, and the need to carry out the responsibilities that should go with our privileges and freedoms.
- against the new theology which rejects many orthodox Christian beliefs, and views God as being in the process of growth and change.
- against the new morality which accepts situation ethics as its premise, and sets no limits to diversity within the church.
- against the new evangelism which emphasizes dialogue instead of proclamation, and mutuality in mission instead of winning people to Christ.
- in favor of declaring that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and we are slanted against the commonly held idea that other religions are pathways to salvation, or that one can be in a right relationship with God apart from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
- in favor of accepting biblical guidelines for human sexuality (chastity outside of marriage and lifelong fidelity in marriage) and we are slanted against premarital or extramarital relations, trial marriages, cohabitation outside of marriage and homosexual relations.
- in favor of affirming that the mission of the church is to evangelize the lost and to nurture believers, and we are slanted against discarding clearly mandated New Testament beliefs and practices which Brethren have historically observed.
–HSM