The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 30, Ed. 1, Friday, January 16, 1987 Page: 2 of 8
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the Journalism trtd Mats Communication Division of Abflono Christian University Abilene?. Texas 79699..Tht
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"Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead i V
make Up your mnd not to put any stumbling block or bbmcf& n; ' J .
your brother's way" Romans 14:1 2. ' ''"" ' '' ' ' ' ; i
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opinions espea
the offldal rollcv of the ACU
Signed Columns represent the Individual views of tha
editorials
Deadly errors tragic
Death is tragic but when it occurs
because of the incompetency of the
medical profession it's unacceptable.
An Associated Press report last
month indicated that as many as 75
percent of the 2000 or more
anesthesiology-rclated deaths in the
United States each year are the result of
mistakes by doctors.
Experts estimate anywhere from 50 to
75 percent of the anesthesia-related
deaths didn't have to happen. Doctors
claim as many as 10000 people per
year die from malpractice.
Even defense lawyers claim malprac-
tice is evident in three-fourths of the.
cases. WhJnJtfoctorsand-lawyers are
admittingToulplay the anesthesiology
system is not working.
Problems such as failure to maintain
Hotei arsonists deserve no mercy
It's difficult to believe that union
members could be so. filled with hate
over a labor dispute that they would set
fire to la hotel housing a thousand peo-
ple. " '
Yet there is a strong suspicion that
this may have happened New Year's
Eve in San Juan Puerto Rico. Scores of
people died in the fire and the toll
mightTeachlOO. - .
Whilean official finding has not yet
been released the Puerto Ricari at
Diversification solution for farmers
Now comes one of the first sugges-
tions of tEe new year on how the plight
' of the American farmer might be eased.
Ben E. Boothe a Fort Worth banker
thinks the answer is diversification.
Diversification is not a new idea of
course but in Boothe's view it never
really has been given much of a chance.
The long-term solution he has in
mind is an educational program to
overcome the resistance to experimen-
ting with hew crops....
A farmer must be convinced that he
can make as much money on 100 acres
Emotional
Wheri.a'new edition of "Great Songs
of the Church" rolled offthc presses
last February a principal hymnal used
by the Churches of Christ had finally
been updated.
We are a group of autonomous and
conservative churches that emphasize
congregational singing without in-
strumental accompaniment and all of
our religious music can be found in our
hymnals. After 65 years and two edi-
tions "Great Songs" needed to be
revised. I was the music editor.
Dictionaries road maps even transla-
tions of the Bible are updated. And
with such traditional admonitions as
"we are One in the Spirit we are One
in the Lord' jumping offthc printed
page I assumed that the people in the
pews would be if not happy with at
least tolerant of the revisions.
I was wrong. My mail seldom arrives
now without some scalding missive
decrying my total lack of understanding
of old people my misguided apprecia-
tion of city folks or stressing the need
for keeping to The Ojd Paths (always
capitalized). What had happened was
that the wire services got hold of a story
and a slight misunderstanding then
kindled brush fires from Maine to
Hawaii.
I vaguely remember a playful inter-
view with a reporter who telephoned
and asked if I was the commie-pinko
ratfink whoot rid of that old gospel
song "Bringing In the Sheaves" And I
SMTifyl
authors.
. . ' . -
y
patients' oxygen supply or placing
breathing tubes in the digestive tract
instead of the body's airway arc com-
mon problems in anesthesia malprac-.
ticc. ;
How could a doctor who isa-
specialist in administering a sleeping
drug during surgery misplace a
breathing tube?
The legal profession has been asking
the same question. Lawyers and judges
should be commended for helping the
medical profession examine this pro-
blem. New medical technology can help
professionals but when technology is
-needed -to correct human erforahd ir-
responsibility the problems have riot
been solved.
There is no room for human error.
torney general has been quoted as say-
ing the fire resulted from arson. And
the governor of the island said that
suspicion has focused on the "very
'tense labor situation that existed" at the
hotel.
Should the fire be found to have been
deliberately set federal and local in-
vestigators should spare no effort to
-determine who was responsible. The
-perpetrators would deserve no mercy-
Valley Morning Star
of berries vegetables and food crops as
he can make on 2000 acres of cotton or
milo for instance.
Boothe questions the wisdom of
spending $100 million a year importing
strawberrries from Mexico when they
can be grown at home.
The Boothe plan might not be the
ultimate answer to America's farm pro-
blem. But the argument that some
long-term solutions to the nation's farm
crisis are necessary for the sake of all
the people is irrefutable.
Tyler Morning Telegraph
outcry
recall that with my usual fast lip I
mumbled something to the effect that
such bucolic imagery might not be as
applicable in our mostly urban society;
that we had to limit but not eliminate'
such songs. At least that's what" I
thought I said.
That verbal miscalculation turned in-
to the lead sentence of a story saying
"'Bringing In the Sheaves' is out
because it's too rural but 'Victory in
Jesus' is in . . ." The item apparently
caught the attention of every editor in
.America on a slow news day and from
sea to shining sea readers ripped it out
and pasted it on their mirrors to spur
the vitriolic juices. Robert Burn's line
about "nursing her wrath to keep it
warm" comes to mind.
I should have remembered Hymn
No. 459; "It only takes a spark to get a
fire going." In fact "Bringing In the
Sheaves" had not been dropped like
all other songs it is indexed under its
first line "Sowing in the Morning"
Truth to tell it's not my favorite hymn.
There's nothing wrong with the song
but the chorus goes: "Bringing in the
sheaves Bringing in the sheaves We
shall come rejoicing Bringing in the
sheaves." It's not what I would call an
awe-inspiring religious concept.
Nonetheless our advisory committee
suggested keeping it. There are those
who need a modest amount of such
simple texts no hymnal our editorial
committee felt should ignore that.
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Evolution pulls
eyes off Jesus
To the Editor:
Let me clearly state that I have not read
'Js. Genesis. "Aiyth?" nor do I know
many of the details of the attacks on
ACU or the rebuttals.
Any one who is truly born again in
Christ has the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit who teaches and guides us into
all .truth; therefore there is no need to
be so careful cumbered and troubled
about what a believer is exposed to.
A muscle cannot become strong
unless it is exercised against something
... a battery cannot give power without
a negative pole as well as a positive pole
'..".. "' light burning in the brightness of
day is often overlooked but in darkness
its beam reaches cut clearly.
Just teaching and exposing students
to only the "correct and true" things
will not necessarily prepare them or
strengthen them to go forth in this
world as His light and salt. We must
be wise as serpents as well as innocent
as doves. We must know the false so
that we can teach the true!
I believe that ACU must teach and
present everything contained in a field
of knowledge whether it is truth as a
Christian knows it or not. Teaching
about evolution does not mean that one
accepts it as truth. It is a "theory" and
this should be clearly pointed out as it
is the greatest weapon that a Christian
science teacher can have.
dr.jackboy;
i-jsJ :'. tii nr-yui
guest column
Hymns and gospel songs can trigger
emotions in the depths of our being. Or
as a fine church musician told me "It
takes neither brains nor training to be
emotional abtfut our congregational
niusic."
I thought I had understood. I had
grown up listening to weekend broad-
casts of the "Grand Olc Opry" "Na-
tional Barndance" and the "Louisiana
Hoyride" and it is still a heart-rugger
of mammoth proportions to hear the
Chuck Wagon Gang sing "I'll Fly
Away."
Hymns of all faiths evoke such sen-
timent. The reason is simple; a major i
part of our religious vocabulary comes
from the constant repetition of hymns.
Neither "Monday Night Football" nor
"Miami Vice" carries anything like the
emotional power of a remembered
hymn sung by our parents These
artlessly beautiful works embody life
and love and comfort qualities in
shot jupply in a. world were few tradi-
tions remain. And fiddling around with
these tunes is tantamount to fiddling -around
with our memories.
Therein lies the emotional deadfall
into which I blithely threw myself dur-
letters to the editor
accom pan i0 hy m rial
A)
If-someone's faith is so weak that it
can be changed by exposure then it
wasn't much of a faith inthc first place.
How Satan loves to pull our eyes
. from Jesus and onto each other! When
brethren begin arguing and judging one
another it makes his job very easy! And
once we have hardened our hearts
towards one another in a dispute it is
very hard for the love peace and joy to
flow again between us.
Remember that Jesus spent most of
His time on thb earth when He walked
as a man showing love and mercy and
doing the wUI of His Father. Our goal
is to grow into Him and to conform to
His image: I agree wholeheartedly with
Charles Trevathan's final conclusion.
"Let us indeed look up to Christ reach
out to one another and move forward as
the body of Christ."
Jo Holland '
Former ACU purchasing employee
Film successful
with best critics
To the Editor:
According to "Horrors: The Movie
and Play are Different" "those who
know" the difference between the film
and stage play of "Little Shop of Hor-
rors" arc the cast and crew of the ACU
Winter Dinner Theater. This is sad
because for such learned people they
are sdme of the most biased critics ever
presented in print.
In its opening weekend "Little Shop
of Horrors" the film opened'to almost
ing that fateful interview. H
Preachers ministers priests and rab-
bis sincerely believe their ringing pro- i.
.nbtlncements are destinedto become a
" pi'rBfcheht part of our language and our
lives. Actually their words vary so
much from week to week that the
message is diluted and can be as wel-
come as gruel. Instead the constant
repetition the rhythmic pounding of
our hymns gives us feliglous'expres"
flloni Atext that is sung every two or u
three months for 20 years is like a tat-
too on the subconscious.
GREAT EMOTION: Even a single
event can imprint t hymn so firmly that
years later the heart pounds and the
breathing becomes labored at its pre-
I sentntion. A dear lady once asked me to
' lead the congregation ina particularly
noxious hymn. I asked why she wanted
it. She said "They buried my daddy
"with it." Great hymn? No. Great emo-
tion? Absolutely
When subjected to the soap of memo-
ry artistic rationales don't wash.
Obscure phrases just sound good
because we've sung them since! puberty
or before. Like "Bringing In the
Sheaves" How many know anymore
what a sheaf is? It doesn't matter. My
heart goes out to the editors working on
new hymnals for the Methodist and
Christian Reformed churches. They
have prayerfully conterflplafcdiwhat'"' ' '
would be good for their parishioners
and those supposedly docile people are
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unanimous critical end audience ac-
claim. (Variety Dec. 24.) It received
raves from such notables as Vincent
Canby Rex Reed Roger Ebert awl
Stephen Hunter. Is it so necessaml
the ACU ego to pounce upon the film
when it has achieved such heights?
Oz has been rightly praised that he
added more visual filmic humor and
quality to the stage show. It has been
noted over and over again by reviewers
that he did not allow the plant puppet
to eclipse the work of his talented and
perfectly cast actors. The plant's design
was embellished and improved so that
it could take advantage of film's
freedom. The film's plaut is by far fun
nier and more menacing than ftrnt.
stage-bound models. It became J
member of the cast (lauds to Levi
Stubb'8 great voicci
But I do not write mainly to defend
the film's merits I don't have to. They
speak for themselves. I condemn the t
titude of those quoted in the artklef
would have been better titled "Caw and
Crew Intimidated By Superior Film At-
tempt to Make Themselves Feel Better
By Taking Futile Groundless and Ju-
venile Digs At It."
Lay off the film. It has already prov-
ed itself without your biased criticisms.
Should we expect the same attitude
when the productions of "The Wizard
of Oz" and "Romeo and Juliet" come
around?
They've turned in a great product
worthy of much praise. Now it's ytfV
turn. -
Methihks you protcsteth too much.
Lowell B. Barthokmiee
BaKlmof Maryland.
now hurling such epithets as "arrogargrx
elitists." J
On the other hand these editors must
try to pacify members of their hymnal
committees who display highly personal
druthers. How many people in Ameri-
can Protestant churches have bad
memories of "Glorious Things of Thee
Are Spoken?" We included it in our
hymnal without a protest. But two del-
egates to the Christian Reformed
Church's synod have very specific
memories and are unable to sing
Haydn's melody for the "Austrian -Hymn"
a tune they remember as ( i
"Dcutschland uber alles." Should the
rest of the 300000 plus members of
that denomination lose such a strong
hymn because a handful have
nightmares? Tough question. Military
metaphors male pronouns and out-
dated missionary expressions like
"darkened islands" are giving them
trouble as they gave us because of the
emotions and memories involved.
What I know now is that hymns tran-
scend the power of reason. And that
dropping a beloved song from a hyranr'V
rates high on a taxonomy of sins V
judging by my mail the emotions for-
bid it.
(Copyright Newsweek Inc. 1986. All
rights reserved. Reprinted with permis-
sion) " Dr. Jack Boyd it a professor of music
and music editor of Great Songs of the
Church.
revisions
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 30, Ed. 1, Friday, January 16, 1987, newspaper, January 16, 1987; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92091/m1/2/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.