See Response letter from Steven Hunter  (May 16) 
                              See Response letter from Walter Wardlaw (May 29)

 Following Instructions

The letter to the editor 'Fundamental Truths' (May 16) states from the perspective of a non-Moravian that for Moravians to be Christian, 'It's all about doctrine,' and that Moravians are not teaching from the Bible when we do not teach that people of other faiths are condemned by God.

I direct the letter's author, and other outsiders who would presume to judge Moravians, to these Biblical passages. First, Luke 10:25-28, where Jesus affirms that to inherit eternal life we must love God, and our neighbor as ourselves. Second, Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus is more explicit in saying to avoid eternal punishment we must feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned. Correct doctrine or belief will not save us. What counts for faith is not belief, but actions of loving one's neighbor as individuals made in God's image and likeness.

Last is the commissioning of the disciples in Matthew 28:16-20. Even after being with Jesus throughout his ministry, and seeing his resurrected body, while they worshipped him, some still doubted. Yet Jesus does not rebuke, or judge, them. Instead he sends them off with the Great Commission, even with all their doubts. If doubts did not disqualify the disciples, how can later Christians be held to a different standard of belief?

Moravians read and interpret the Bible in light of the gospel narratives of Jesus' teachings and ministry. Our faith is evident in actions of love, not mental assent to doctrine. When every knee bows to the sovereignty of Jesus' name it will not be because resistant people have been made to believe, but because God's grace and our acts of showing God's love have melted their hearts.

MARGARET K. LEINBACH