Values and Truth: Facing The furture in the Presence of Jesus Christ (July/
August 2004)
by
Viola Larson
Sunday morning, after church, my husband and I stood drinking coffee with a
friend we have known for years. When we first met she was a nurse working
with Nurse’s Christian Fellowship, part of Inter-Varsity Christian
Fellowship. That was many years ago. Now we are all Presbyterians attending
the same church. We were discussing her nursing career and the changes that
have occurred over the years in her field. She mentioned a decision she made
and one that affects her career. Because she is a Christian and desires to
be faithful to the Lord she has made a decision not to join the California
Nurses Association because of their stance on abortion and gay/lesbian
rights. Because of this she is unable to belong to the American Nurses
Association although they do accept some members at large. Her decision has
forced her out of important places of authority in the nursing world. With
the same kind of focus but with a different point of view, the Presbyterian
Women’s magazine Horizons for July/August, 2004, ponders choices: how to
make them, the effects and consequences they cause as well as the human
values that under gird them.
Kikanza Nuri Robins lays the foundation with her article, ‘Living an
Authentic Life.” Her intent is to provide a formula for making value-based
decisions, with the understanding that many people fail to reflect ‘on the
principle that shapes or frames our understanding of the situation (5).”
Along this line, ‘Dispatch from Forbearance Presbyterian Church,” is a
fictional story about one woman making a decision to move beyond her empty
nest feelings. Other articles are very personal dealing with painful
decisions made by real women. ‘The Journey of Infertility: A Personal
Letter,” is one such story. Rachel Whaley Doll writes about her and her
husband’s attempts to have a child. The story is very moving and gives
helpful information on infertility and various medical methods of overcoming
the problem. One important part of this story is Doll’s advise to those who
know women who are experiencing this problem. She advises just listen when
they want to talk. Don’t try to solve the problem. Doll writes, ‘You talk
about your pain so you won’t be alone in it. So you won’t drown in it. You
tell others about your pain hoping they will understand and hold you while
you cry (24).” This is good advice when trying to comfort any grieving
person. The article is excellent.
Two new departments in Horizons, are, ‘Working for Justice and Peace,” and
‘Supporting Mission.” Both departments in this issue offer stories about
women who made decisions to start health and educational programs as
ministry. Other articles are information pieces that inform the reader about
(MRTI), Mission Responsibility Through Investment, and the recipients of the
‘Thank Offering” chosen by the Creative Ministries Offering Committee. One
helpful and informative article is ‘Sweat Free Me.” Pat Plant wrote about
loving to shop but learning to do it in a more responsible way. That is, she
now shops with an eye toward avoiding goods produced in sweatshops whose
laborers are paid unfair wages or those produced by un-environmentally sound
methods. I concur with Plant’s advice, efforts and information since I have
tried, over the last few years, to not buy items produced in China, a nation
who uses slave labor, much of it done by imprisoned Christians.
It is because of images of the suffering Christians of China and other
places that I believe this issue of Horizons has not truthfully addressed
true authentic Christian discipleship. Nuri Robins starts her article on
‘Living an Authentic Life,” by telling a story of her son’s reaction to the
torture implements of the inquisition, and affirming the historical
knowledge that at that time, ‘affirming one’s beliefs was torture and
deathfor oneself and possibly for one’s family (4).” However, most articles
in this particular Horizon narrow down to only those homegrown politically
correct issues that are of concern to the Presbyterian Women in the United
States. The problem begins, I believe, with Nuri Robins’ article. First, she
never makes a distinction between values and truth. Sometimes, one has
values that are contrary to truth. While Nuri Robins does mention the
authority of scripture she fails to make a distinction between the choices
that may be made in differing ways without transgressing God’s word and
those that must always be strictly shaped by God’s word. For instance, God
generally gives us freedom to choose our mate but only within the biblical
mandate of a woman for a man and a man for a woman. God’s truth allows us
the right to choose the material goods we need but not a materialism that
ignores the needs of the poor.
Second Nuri Robins states that, ‘most of us won’t ever have to face the
prospect of either medieval or modern torture,” clearly narrowing her
readers to a few million Presbyterian women, rather than speaking to the
whole church. When the scripture is seen as more than value laden material
and is understood as God’s revelation and is embraced as such, our eyes are
also opened to accept, with understanding, the whole universal church that
belongs to Jesus Christ. That is, we will perceive the unity of the church
and grasp an understanding of the church as those who have followed Jesus
Christ as Lord through the centuries and those who now in other countries as
well as our own follow the Lord. Our causes and decisions will then be made
in the light of the whole church, and the suffering and hardship of
Christians in the past as well as those in other countries will be embraced
as ours. Our decisions will not leave out the poor in places like Haiti and
the Appalachia, our actions will not ignore nor destroy the unborn, our
words will speak about, pray and advocate for those persecuted by any
government or entity including China and radical Moslem states. Decisions to
proclaim the gospel, the biblical revelation that Jesus Christ died to save
from sin and that he is Lord of all, will be held precious, even though that
decision may cause our own and other’s walk to be hard, even causing
‘torture and deathfor oneself and possibly for one’s family.”
In the two beautiful poems by Ann Weems there are prayers offered at the end
of each. In the first, the poet writes, ‘In the midst of our barren
wandering, O God, provide land and heir and blessing, a blessing for all the
nations of the earth, a blessing of peace.” The second poem ends with a
plea for Miriam and Deborah to pray for mercy and peace. It ends with words,
reflecting two beautiful Christmas carols, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, lift up
your hearts and sing! Sing, Miriam! Shout, Deborah! O little Town of
Bethlehem, where are your tambourines?” And yes, it is with the
Incarnation, Jesus Christ, fully God, fully human, that God has answered,
and the true peace, the true heir, the blessing for all the nations of the
earth is the work of redemption brought by Jesus Christ the Lord of heaven
and earth.