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I would like to know if anyone here has knowledge of what the logical process was for the original decision to withhold approval for involvement in Christian radio broadcasting. I'm not asking for debate on whether it was the correct decision or not, or what sort of logic is used now, just what the thinking was back when the question was first dealt with. I also don't mean how the decision was made in terms of whether it was the leadership by themselves, or the group as a whole.
Please don't guess. If there is no response, then I'll know that no one knows, & I'll drop it. Comparisons might also be helpful, like how was the question of automobile use dealt with in contrast to the non-acceptance of the radio, and especially non-involvement in developing Christian radio broadcasting.

Are you specifically referring to listening to Christian Radio, broadcasting Christian Radio, or both?

A good reference here is The Earth Is The Lord's and Together In The Work Of The Lord.

ken_sylvania wrote:Are you specifically referring to listening to Christian Radio, broadcasting Christian Radio, or both?

Both. I would like to know what the thought processes were for deciding not to approve use of the radio, and by extension, the decision not to provide biblical broadcasting. (The first decision would naturally make the latter extremely unlikely.) I think that had it been approved at some early time, conservative anabaptist radio broadcasting would have followed, and eventually even ownership of radio stations, to better control the programming. We are loosing our people to the false teachings coming out of main-line evangelical programming, both in the audio & literary world. Maybe the problem is that fellowships that decided to approve the radio have failed to follow through with broadcasts & station ownership. That, I suspect, was very likely a failure to make a comprehensive response to slow, and probably unplanned, change. Was radio use banned only after examples of misuse began to surface (as I've heard was the case with the telephone)?

Various CA conferences and congregations have prohibited its use over the years. There was not a single year when all Mennonites, for instance, decided not to use it.
The most recent congregation I know of, that began prohibiting its use, was Strasburg Mennonite Church in Chambersburg, PA. This congregation allowed the use of radio for decades, but finally decided somewhat recently, that the negatives outweighed the positives.

From my reading, I would say the basic concern (whether recently or longer ago) is that doctrines and worldviews that are not in harmony with NT teaching, are presented in a convincing way, and that these doctrines and worldviews then make their way into the church or draw people away from the church, especially among those who are not able to discern between truth and error or between the good and the not-so-good.