Opposing view

PASADENA, Calif.--David Antion of Guardian Ministries has announced the availability of a "synopsis article" he wrote about the "deity of Jesus."

Dr. Antion says his article is "a response to the one-God theory being widely presented among the Churches of God."

Dr. Antion served as the opposing presenter at the 2004 meeting of Ken Westby's One God Seminars near Washington, D.C. (see "One God Seminars Introduce David Antion on the Side of 'Binity,'" The Journal, June 30, 2004).

To request Dr. Antion's synopsis or a series of 13 sermons as MP3 audio files on a CD, contact Dr. Antion at davidantion@earthlink.net.

Should women preach?

GLENDORA, Calif.--The Worldwide Church of God, after a three-year study by its doctrinal team, has concluded that it is biblically permissible for women to be "ordained as elders and appointed as pastors."

The summary paper is titled "Women in Church Leadership, Conclusions." It is (obviously erroneously) dated "December 2007." The preface is signed by WCG president and pastor general Joseph Tkach Jr.

The paper concludes that the prohibitions invoked by the apostle Paul "were rooted in culture or based on specific circumstances in his churches," and the church should not deem it necessary to consider those restrictions as "permanent."

"Our understanding is that the question of whether women may serve as elders and pastors is a cultural question on which the Bible doesn't set forth a permanent restriction," the paper states.

"The scriptures concerning this question are cultural and social in character, concerning the leadership of the church in the first century."

The paper continues: "Since we do not want to forbid something that the Bible does not forbid, we will no longer forbid women from being ordained as elders and appointed as pastors.

"We want churches to be led by the best personnel available, without making unnecessary restrictions on who that might be."

The WCG is online at www.wcg.org.

Finance matters

BIG SANDY, Texas--According to Journal publisher Dixon Cartwright, this newspaper is having trouble making ends meet.

"This has never been a money maker for my family and me," Mr. Cartwright said, "but the cost of operations is way up and it's been difficult for us to stay afloat."

To augment income, the Cartwrights began a classified-ad publication (now a Web site) that publishes free and paid ads for East Texans, but that enterprise is not yet a viable income producer, the publisher said.

Also, he noted, whereas in years past readers have donated funds to help pay for free subscriptions and supplement the subscription costs for non-U.S. subscribers, such donations have drastically fallen off over the last two years.

Therefore The Journal is inviting readers to donate funds to help pay for free subscriptions to U.S. and non-U.S. subscribers who request them and to help subsidize the actual costs of foreign subscriptions.

"We definitely want to continue sending subscriptions outside the country," he said, "but our typical monthly cost for sending a subscription out of this country is $5, and almost all of that is for postage. That's a cost of $60 a year, and yet we're charging subscribers only about $30 a year, which in many cases is more than they can afford."

Anyone inclined to help out may write The Journal at one of the addresses listed on its contact page.