This issue begins a sixth year for the EJournal. As there are no costs involved in producing the EJournal for circulation in PDF form by e-mail (except the small charge we bear for web-hosting), it will continue to be a free subscription. Subscribing is easy via the website and any current subscribers who wish to unsubscribe can do so by emailing an editor to have their email address removed from the subscriber list.
Two new columnists have joined: Sis G. Horwood on Gender Issues and Bro. J. Davies on Analysis/Exegesis. Columnists add to the variety of writing in the EJournal, academic and non-academic. Exegesis is central to the EJournal and there are various issues relating to gender that are abroad in the community and these need to be analysed and discussed. This is the rationale for the two new columns. As two join, one has left, and Bro. R. Morgan has vacated his column, which means that we are on the look-out for a new columnist to take on board ‘Intertextuality’.
Disagreeing with one another and putting your head in the sand are forms of behaviour which we ought to correct. Unity is the ideal for which we strive, but the flesh engenders disagreement for of all sorts of reasons. The gospels record disagreement between Jesus and his disciples; Jesus allows his disciples to express their opinions and he offers correction. Facilitating disagreement and correction is therefore important if we are to grow together; hence, the EJournal prints contrary views on topics in the form of ‘Discussions’, ‘Rebuttals’ and ‘Editorial Footnotes’ between the editors and columnists. It is part of searching for truth.
Putting your head in the sand is a form of defence and self-protection. It is an avoidance of what is uncomfortably contrary to your beliefs. If someone challenges your belief, do you walk away or do you work through the challenge? Adam and Eve were challenged and so we cannot expect to avoid challenges; God allowed their challenge as a test of faith. Confronting intellectual challenges is an important objective of the EJournal.
Recording disagreement in print is part of the process of coming to agreement and a permanent record is valuable. If someone disagrees with something that is written in the EJournal, then it is useful for everyone if it is aired in public through correspondence or a subsequent article, a footnote or a rebuttal. If there is no dialogue then there is failure to learn together. We shouldn’t therefore put our head in the sand if we read something we don’t like; we should engage in an open and constructive way with the issue at stake.
The point here is the same if we were talking about relationship problems in the ecclesia. We might ‘have nothing to do with so-and-so’ for some reason, say a perceived sleight, an upset, or a disagreement. But this is clearly not right; there should be reconciliation and forgiveness.
What is a Bible Student?