Multnomah University - Ambassador Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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ICC M55 Face The Ncuhem WW Dr Cairns

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Carl Thompson -,,,..i. Carl Thompson Tim Killgore and Les Wirzxlouf help flean up after the evening meal. QQ M55

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One thing is certain: no one could call Dr. Earle Cairns a holy-huddler or an ostrich-necked Christian -that is, one with his head in the sand. He knows what's going on in the world and faces it head on. I never realized before how we should get involved with what's going on in society, student Monelle Allen com- mented, -not just hang around the house and wait for the Lord to come back. Dr. Cairns, chairman of the department of history and political science at Wheaton College, spoke for spring lecturehip week, titling his series of chapel messages, The American Religious Legacy-Past and Present. He also gave two lectures for evening school students and held two special sessions during the day for those in- terested. His wife, a Ph.D. who has worked as a professional chemist, accompanied him to Multnomah and during the week gave a lecture open to all students on home Bible studies. Dressed conservatively in a black coat, white shirt and narrow tie, Cairns spoke on Monday about the religious differences between each of the early colonies, and Tuesday, about the changes down through history in the relationship between church and state. However, Multnomah students seemed to be especially impressed by his Wednesday lecture, Duty of Saints in Society. In his easy-going, down-to-earth way, Dr. Cairns related how a solely Christian minority caused the freeing of hundreds of thousands of slaves in 1815 by presenting a petition at the Congress of Vienna and by providing money to accommodate those owners who gave up their slaves. Peaceful means on the part of Christians, he said, were also instrumental in abolishing slavery in early America. He explained how some Christians of the past set up monasteries and withdrew from society, while others went all out for politics and social reform and tried to change society by solely humanistic means. Dr. Cairns advocated neither of the two ex- tremes but explained that while the Christian's priority is to be spreading the gospel, there is also much he can do to get involved with society and to show his con- cern. He suggested practical things such as C13 reading United Evangelical Action, a publication which tells what is going on in Washington and what a Christian can dog C25 involving oneself in petitioning the government for those issues about which he is concerned, 135 getting involved in social action groups, and C43 infiltrating govern- ment offices. He also stressed, however, the most effective and important way of helping society-perseverant prayer. I realized, Monelle said, that sometimes we Christians don't even know the issues well enough to rationally discuss them with someone-let alone get involved in doing something about it. We just glibly spout off pat answers and think that just 'cuz we're Christians, we are really smart and donit need to know anything else. That's really wrong. On Thursday, Cairns spoke on Dynamic Christianity through Revival and on Fri- day, Doctrinal Purity in Unity. Thursday's lecture included an explana- tion of the patterns and trends of past widespread revivals. It's been a long time, he said, since there was a widespread awakening in the world-a longer dry period than any other time in history. There have been recent revivals here and there-such as in various parts of Africa and in Indonesia-but none as widespread as in the past. Will there be another universal awakening or is it too close to the coming of Christ? Perhaps there will be just local or regional revivals. He closed with the question, What part does God want you to have in a revival in Portland? One thing was clear in our minds: such a revival would not come about by our withdrawing to a monastery or by our stick- ing our heads in the sand of our safe Chris- tian circles. by Gloria Hegge IU M55