April 7 1997

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Yancey's excellent synopsis
Philip Yancey has again stated what so many evangelicals feel but have difficulty expressing. His essay "A State of Ungrace" [Feb. 3] is an excellent synopsis of the struggle many have with the tension between state and church. He is correct to assert the church is too preoccupied with its role as the countervoice in the culture wars while forgetting its central focus: the proclamation of the whole gospel message of love for all people. The church has all too frequently co-opted the world's methods of protest to advance the kingdom.

I find the tendency by those so intent on fighting back the tide of paganism in a post-Christian America is to forsake the whole counsel of God. We can learn from the early church as a model, yet we can learn how it can be expressed today through the examples given throughout Christian history.

-Rodney Nelson
Vancouver, Wash.

* I am sorry to hear of Yancey's troubles following his interview with President Clinton. It seems like the age-old problem of loving the sinner yet hating the sin. Many hate the sin and the sinner. They are the kind that wrote nasty letters. Some have loved the sinner and the sin. This seems to be the culture that nurtured Mr. Clinton. It seems to me, though, that Yancey has walked the line well: loving the sinner and still hating the sin.

Abortion is a brutal practice, and government support of it is reprehensible. To those who insist on "civil" discourse, the Bible says, "Open rebuke is better than hidden love." I would submit that Mother Theresa's rebuke of President Clinton was Christlike, uncivil, yet still within the character of God's love.

-Frank Augustine
Clifton Park, N.Y.

* Warning us against political idolatry, Yancey says "grace is ...