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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1981)
letters Greek rebuttal I'm usually not easily provoked to write rebuttals to people knocking my way of life, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the Oct 30 letters concerning Greek life have gone too far Time and space do not permit me to refute both derogatory ietters, so i wili con cern myself with a letter by John Grove entitled Greek Excess Grove has the right to his own opinion, and I respect that, but I have absolutely no respect for his stereotypically derived false contentions He is upset that the greek system has been described as a “microcosm'’ of American society and that it's ' structure and organization place it in a class of ideologically uniform, socially biased, and ritualistic organizations '' He says that society is “adverse to pretty rules that impinge upon per sonal freedom " Grove, I think a $50 ticket for roller skating on uncrowded sidewalks in Eugene is pretty petty, yet you and I are subject to it. are we ideologically uniform? Also, how many fraternity rituals have you sat in on? All of the rituals I've sat in on (six initiations or 24 rituals) have been saturated with strongly positive biblical and philosophical quotes, how does that "impinge on personal freedom7" As to your evaluation of our structure and organiza tion not being a "microcosm of American society,'' you ob viously have not looked into the matter The structure and or ganization of the Greek system is that of any business organ ization — from Exxon to the UO Bookstore This organization starts at the top with the pres ident of the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic who oversee the operation of the interfraternal committee sys tem Aiso, in each and every fraternity and sorority there are officers elected to oversee chapter activities and the chapter committee system Throw in all the committee chairman and members and you've got a large number of people involved All of these leadership positions and com mittee activities are recognized by employers around the country as practical learning experiences that can be directly applied to the real world As an economics student, Grove, can you not see the benefit here Can you not see that since the Greek system is a miniature bu siness society, and that the majority of Americans are in volved in a business of some kind, that the Greek system is in a way a "microcosm of Amer ican society7" Grove, you say that you are insulted by the Greeks' lofty an alogies (i.e "Pan-Hellenic Councils'). well I'm insulted by your name-calling and stereo typing based on narrow and shallow reasoning Your ar gument, like some of the Greek classifieds, is. in your words, "intellectually stunted!" Don Chambers Jr. Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity Senior, economics Cults criticism Regarding several criticisms of two articles on cults (Emer ald, Oct 23) First, Merrl Horine (Nov 6) labels them "opinionated Dick Beswick and I were interviewed — along with others with differ ent perspectives — for our views and opinions We have studied cults and taught about them, as Christians — as our views demonstrate — but that does not make the entire article "opin ionated " Second, Horine dismisses the Bible as "translated from a long dead language by modern, human translators " Biblical Greek and Hebrew are hardly "long dead” — centuries of scholarly study have kept them alive worldwide The perennial "but hasn't it been translated so many times..." argument ig nores the fact that modern ar cheological and textual discoveries reveal more about the Bible than previously known (see F F Bruce, The New Tes tament Documents — Are They Reliable? and J W Mont gomery, History and Christiani ty ) Third, Linda Jecson (Nov 4) accuses Christians of "picking and choosing” from the Bible (as we described cults as doing) if they don’t obey the Old Tes tament dietary laws, etc Biblical Christians accept the full inspir ation of the Scripture and inter pret Scripture by Scripture (sola scriptura) From the New Tes tament we know that not every Old Testament imperative is presently binding, i.e the die tary laws are fulfilled by Christ as are Old Testament rituals (see the book of Hebrews). The relationship between the Tes taments must be considered in biblical ethics Also, the fact that some Christians (rightly or wrongly) emphasize certain parts of the bible more than others is certainly not the same as deleting what is disliked (as do the cults) Douglas Groothuis Graduate, philosophy Christian perspective Our interview on cults (Ri chard Beswick and Doug Groothius) was not a defense of Christianity, but rather a Chris tian perspective on the new cults Christendom has been tagged with many criticisms — some of which I share I think Eastern pantheism (and its many forms like Gnos ticism) fails as a candidate for moral, kind-hearted people who practice and believe eastern religion. The point is. that in a system where distinctions between opposites (like good and evil) are thought to be illu sory — many groups, historical ly, have used this to be an ex cuse for pretty gross behavior Now gross behavior in the name of Christ is also an historic fact, but Jesus predicted wolves in sheep's clothing I said that it is always danger ous to pick and choose from the Bible and not take it as an in spired whole Do not read into that remark a defense of estab lishment churches who end up doing the same thing. Jesus did much to promote the equality between men and women and Paul strengthened that thrust J although he gets a lot of bad press on issues like feminism and slavery because Paul. too. gets read selectively by critics The Bible will always cut against the majority grain, but that is due to sin and not incon sistency within the text. I am glad to talk with anyone who is really concerned with these is sues and not just in writing let ters to the editor Richard Beswlck Restoration Campus Minister ROTC no! Pres Paul Olum's view in the Environmental Law Clinic and ROTC, as reported in the Emer ald, left me totally confused It is not clear whether the confusion stems from Olum, from the Emerald reporting, or from mis understandings on my part As I read it. he seems to regard the law clinic as some thing essentially foreign to the University, appropriate for ad ministrative decisions, while the ROTC is an intergral part of our academic program and therefore the responsibility of the faculty. I am glad that we agree that it is the faculty re sponsibility to decide curricular matters and the nature of our academic prgram — not the province of administration The University gets outside monies to assist in running many of its important programs — in our department, for exam ple, large government grants for Genetics Training Program, Molecular Biology and Neuro biology The difference is that in the case of ROTC the Department of Defense not only supplies most of the money but also ap points and pays the staff, deter mines their tour of duty with us and controls the curriculum The students even have to take a loyalty oath when they enter the program and sign a contract to serve in the army after graduation as they go into the advanced portion of the pro gram In practice, military loyalty oaths are not interpreted to mean basic intelligent loyalty to our country — which could in volve very active opposition to the policies of a given adminis tration — but rather to mean obedience to directives and order handed down from higher up in the military hierarchy. This is antithetical to every thing a good University should stand for. I am not aware of any of these objectionable features in connection with the law clin ic. . Bayard H. McConnaughey Department of Biology Parousia It will come as suddenly as a thief in the night. No one will know the time that it will happen We will be studying, partying, planning, loving and eating Everything will seem routine and normal The day of Jesus Christ will come And he will descend from the clouds on a white horse surrounded by angels. No, this is not a fairy tale It is not even simple fiction Truth. He will really come and judge the world Every single person will have his chance to stand before the Throne of God It won’t matter if you are alive or dead, liberal or conservative, a demonstrator or a doctor, a student or a nice, elderly woman living in Beverly Hills. It won't matter what nice things you did for people It won't matter what church you attended. It won't even matter if you read the Bi ble Did you accept Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, into your heart? Did you believe in Him? He did die for you and me, and now He is alive He loves us with a love that no one on Earth could ever give It is not a choice between heaven and non-existence It is a choice between heaven and hell, and they both exist We have a chance to make that choice everyday, and whatever you or I choose right now is deciding what will happen to us when we hear the voice of God on that wonderful and terrible day Anyone can believe in Jesus Anyone can pray Search your soul Think about it. Really think about it. If you decide that you believe, you will spend the rest of eternity with The King If you decide that there is something else, or that there is more than one way, then you will spend the rest of that same eternity in hell in torment. You don't need to understand all the mysteries, and you don't need to send your brains away in a bag. Pray. Jesus loves you. Think about it. Mich ad Schroeder Senior, biology Bike victim On February 4, 1981, I was struck by a bicyclist in the University Avenue crosswalk on my way to a night class. The force of the collision knocked me to the pavement, resulting in multiple facial lacerations, tem porary loss of feeling in my right arm and hand, and a permanent scar above my eye. As I lay bleeding and unconscious in the middle of the street, Univer sity campus security officer Hal Frey was quickly on the scene to administer first-aid and tran sport me to medical facilities. Later, Hal visited me in the hospital offering any assistance he could. I was saddened, then, to read in the Emerald that Hal Frey also fell victim to a bicyclist while crossing a street. Many of the circumstances were all too familiar, a speeding bike, no lights, and absolutely no warn ing The lesson to be learned here is obvious; a bicycle can be a dangerous weapon, similar to that of any other moving vehi cle Anyone riding a bicycle at night without a light is a fool, endangering innocent people in the process. Further, an ap proaching bicycle is virtually silent. Consequently, the in nocent pedestrian is placed in an extremely vulnerable posi tion neither seeing nor hearing anything coming To this day I continue to see bicyclists on campus wreck lessly weaving past pedestrians at crosswalks, sometimes oper ating their vehicle without the use of hands on either the steering bar or brake controls. This mindless behavior on the part of the uncaring few must cease; after all, you could be the next victim of their irresponsible conduct. To Hal Frey, a top-notch professional security officer and a wonderful human being, I send my wishes for a quick and full recovery. Gerald E. Kosanovic Graduate student
