ty. There are some Aramaic portions of the books in the captivity, how ever, which are beautifully written. To give a simple answer, the Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew with a very small portion in Aramaic. The New Testament of course, was written in Greek. Q. Wolf Creek, Ore. — “Why do sin- fid thoughts keep entering my mind even though I am a Christian? I try to put them out of my mind, hut they always seem to come back.” A. This is because we are still in the flesh. Our old nature can do nothing but sin. This is why we are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin. It is when we harbor evil thoughts that they become sinful. Temptation is not the transgression, it is when we give in and dwell on these matters. The old gospel song rightly puts it, “Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin.” The Bible tells us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Yet the wonderful word of assurance comes, “If we confess our sins, He is faith ful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteous ness.” Q . Long Beach, Calif. — “According to I Corinthians 11:1-16 do you think everyone should wear a hat in all church services?” A. We must realize that in the times in which the New Testament Epis tles were written things were de clared which were most timely. As an example, John was combatting gnosticism. Paul emphasized the danger of extreme forms of sectari anism such as were found in the Corinthian church. In addition there were cases of unspeakable immoral ity. Another example is in the mat ter of the Lord’s Supper. While we know from the Gospel and elsewhere that we are to keep it, we do not allow some of the early church’s
practices. There was the love feast first where people actually became sinfully drunk. This is not our prob lem today. Some of the exhortations deal with customs prevalent in the first century. A woman who went without a head covering, especially in immoral Corinth, imm ed iately “tagged” herself as one of ill-repute. Paul urges Christian women to be clothed in such a manner that they would not bring reproach upon the Gospel. In I Corinthians 11:16 Paul explains further, “If any man seem- eth to be contentious, we have no such custom, even the churches of God.” He points out that this matter is not one about which to argue dog matically. Our personal preference is that it is very seemly for ladies to wear hats in church. Understand, however, doing this doesn’t make one any more spiritual. It is not what we put on, but the Holy Spirit with in, and the place we have given Him that counts. Some women wear hats but they have been terrible gossip- pers. What a condemnation this is in the sight of God! Q . Caldwell, Ida.— “Would you please give me some information on the Council of Churches. It seems to me that there are a number of them, and this has been rather confusing.” A. Generally there is a local council of churches in each community, usually called the ministerial union, made up of the Protestant pastors of a local community. Across the coun try there is the National Council of Churches (formerly the Federal Council of Churches). This is made up of various denominations of Prot estantism. The World Council of Churches is the international coun terpart. There are a number of fun damental churches which are affili ated with the American Council of Churches and the International Council of Churches, which group Dr. Carl Mclntire has headed. The Na tional Council of Churches and its 27
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