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Submission

I found David Instone-Brewer’s article ‘The Perfect Wife’ (November) rather strange and somewhat alarming. It’s the first time I have heard wifely submission described as part of God’s curse on Eve. I thought the curse was that Adam would ‘lord it over her’ and that her ‘desire would be for her husband’, meaning that she would desire the male role?

He then goes on to write that Peter and Paul’s teaching on marital relationships had necessarily to ‘commend Aristotle’s…rules because of the danger to the Christian message if they taught equality’. But since when has the Christian message needed to be curtailed for expediency’s sake? Perhaps most notable of all, he then finishes by quoting Ephesians 5:21, choosing not to include the very next verse: ‘Wives, submit...to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.’

Mike Caffrey

Reconsider assisted dying

I read the story on assisted dying (‘News’, November) with interest. I have been a practising veterinary surgeon for the past 36 years, and a Christian for about 50 years.

I often have conversations with my animal owning clients who face the choice of assisted dying for their pets, and the emotional traumas that entails. Many clients say to me ‘if only we could do that for humans.’

Perhaps we should reflect and reconsider our approach to killing and relief of suffering? We need to pray harder about the patients who are on this difficult journey.

Discernment of God’s will in life, death and dying will always be a challenge, but we need to embrace it. It’s important to discuss specific examples of diseases and conditions patients face with their physicians, rather than working on generalisations. As a friend said to me once, ‘we are all going to die someday’.

Paul Manning

Church needs publicity

It was good to read ‘The letter of Joel Edwards to the church’ (October) as I had missed reading Joel’s wise input into the media since he left the Evangelical Alliance.

I’m not surprised the taxi driver who Joel mentioned lacked knowledge of the good work being done by parachurch organisations such as food banks. Fifteen years ago Christian sportsmen and women could be quite open about their faith and it would have been reported in the media. Christian charities often had ‘Christian’ or ‘Mission’ as part of their title, but during the time of the previous but one government it became apparent that if Christian charities wanted access to public funds they were encouraged to hide or disguise their Christian foundation.

I strongly believe that one of the major issues confronting the Church today is finding a way to get more publicity.

Derek Redman

Don't be fooled

I sent for a copy of Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness on the basis of Greg Haslam’s book review (October). Greg used the word ‘accessible’ in his last paragraph, but having reached page 78, I feel that the scholarly content of this well-reasoned book on ‘Christian Persuasion’ might have been highlighted in the review. I am determined to finish the task, but do wonder if some readers may find Dr Guinness’ latest book rather heavier going than they were led to believe.

Peter Swan

Pay your taxes

Thank you for the Doctrine Detective piece, ‘The truth about tithing’ (October). It’s not often that I find something approaching a ‘theology of tax’ to help me consider how we can best work out Jesus’ commandment to ‘love one another’.

I feel it a privilege to pay tax and have actively avoided options which would have meant I could legally have paid less. I quite like there to be teachers, nurses, street lights etc…

Adrian Ashton

Competition Winner

Congratulations to our new subscriber Sarah-Louise Dee, who has won a Spring Harvest holiday at Les Pas Opton worth £2,000.