April 14, 1999
Texas Baptist Forum
Baptist labels
___To live within cultural contexts causes us to have to label ourselves for identity. The problem consists in choosing labels that do not identify correctly or carry more emotional, rather than rational, content.
___What does it mean if one says, "I am a Southern Baptist?" Maybe such a one resides in Connecticut, Oklahoma or Idaho."Southern Baptist" refers to denominational entity, not personal identity.
e-mail marvknox@flash.net
___Who is Southern Baptist? A Baptist who lives in the South or southern area of the United States. "I am a Southern Baptist" can mean a number of things. I wonder if our Lord Jesus is interested in one being a "Southern Baptist." Jesus was certainly not a "Southern Baptist"!
___Now another label is used, "I am a Texas Baptist," which means one is a Baptist who lives in Texas. Better to say, "I am a General Convention Baptist," which is what we are if we identify with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. More confusing is when one says, "I am a Southern Baptist of Texas."
___We label ourselves on the basis of what is really an "in-group" complex, more emotional than rational. Then all the "out-groups" have problems trying to figure out "who in the world we are"!
___ Ernest E. Atkinson
___ Tyler
Baptist labels II
___The label "Fundamental" is being used rather freely today.
___One writer said that the Fundamentalists today are children of the Fundamentalists of the 1920s. Being very familiar with the situation in the '30s and '40s, I'd like to set the record straight. In those days, the only Fundamentalists in Texas were followers of J. Frank Norris, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, called "Norrisites."
___I knew Dr. Norris. Heard many things he said. He often vowed to put an Independent, Fundamental, Baptist church in every county seat town in Texas. Dr. Norris contributed to the Baptist General Convention of Texas so he could speak and vote in conventions. But Norris harassed Texas Baptists with a vengeance.
___If you impose the situation today back on those days, all non-Norrisite Baptists would have to be moderates, which was not the case.
___ H. Franklin Dearing
___ Belton
Patterson
___In the March 31 Standard, Leonard Denney stated, "Those are strange words coming from our convention's most ardent practitioner of character assassination by written and spoken word." He responded to President Paige Patterson's expressed concern with those "who are often unkind, uncharitable and un-Christlike in how they express the gospel and how they establish the mandate of God."
___I have listened to Patterson for more than 20 years. In the early days of the conservative attempt to restore conservative biblical teaching to all Southern Baptist Convention schools and agencies, he was maligned. Not once--publicly, privately, in his home nor from the pulpit--did I hear this great man of God utter one word that could be called character assassination.
___In fact, students at Criswell College where he was president were admonished: "Love those people, and pray for them. We're going to spend an eternity together." I've heard nothing in the intervening years to make me think any different than that he is one of the most godly men I have ever met.
___Perhaps Brother Denney is mistaking character assassination for standing for the word of God. I have heard Patterson attack another man's liberal theology, but never another man's character! Praise God for Patterson. And praise God for caring brothers like Denney and a paper like the Standard that will allow folks to air their differences in love.
___ Wally Williamson
___ Dallas
Patterson II
___Leonard Denney, bless him, hit the nail on the head. Does Paige Patterson now claim to be "born again"--"born again" and not accept responsibility for what he and others have done to Baptists? The longer I live, the more amazed I become!
___ Darlene E. Corbitt
___ Tomball
Unpardonable sin
___Clark Andrews wrote that the "sin of simple disobedience and rebellion" sends us to hell (March 31).
___I thought it was only the sin of unbelief that sent us to hell.
___ Zelma Stringer
___ Midland
What courage?
___Your front-page article about Rep. Chet Edwards receiving the "Courage Award" (March 31) was quite interesting. Does the Baptist Joint Committee think it courageous to support the killing of unborn babies?
___Edwards has consistently voted against any and all pro-life legislation, including voting against the bill that would have made partial-birth abortions illegal.
___True courage is to "defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked" (Psalm 82:3-4).
___Too bad Edwards doesn't show a "peculiar and unusual kind of courage" when it comes to protecting the rights of the unborn. Religious liberty can only be enjoyed if you make it out of the womb.
___As a Baptist, I am ashamed that we would bestow a "courage" award on someone who has not shown courage with respect to innocent unborn babies and who has a glaring lack of respect for the fundamental right to life.
___ Terry Manning
___ Killeen
Stinkweed
___The so-called "five points of Calvinism" is a false teaching that has allowed Satan to mislead many otherwise sound Bible students.
___This teaching does violence to God's word. It presents the Scripture out of context. Calvinism eats away at the heart of the Bible.
___It nullifies John 3:16 and the central truth of God's entire word. It also nullifies God's nature and his holy character.
___Calvinism is to the church as a malignant cancer is to the body.
___With misinterpreted verses, it teaches the following error:
___Total depravity (John 6:44; Romans 3:9-12; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19)
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___Calvin used these verses out of context and failed to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture in an attempt to prove his erroneous teaching.
___When understood in their proper context, these verses prove just the opposite of Calvin's view.
___Even though Calvin's acrostic spells "tulip," it smells like a stinkweed and is as poisonous as a deadly cobra, a tool of Satan.
___ Tommy Hall
___ Princeton
Make a statement
___I would like to see all of our churches and people proclaim this message to express our faith and practice, public morals and ethics:
___"Trade your beer for a Bible."
___"Do not read and drive."
___"Get a designated reader."
___I'd like to see it on bumper stickers, billboards, church boards, etc. We need to make a statement.
___ Cecil F. McKee
___ Huntsville
Seniors neglected
___Your article noted many senior adults are not in church (March 31).
___Many of these adults are not in church because they lack transportation. Others are not there for health reasons.
___My mother attended the same church for many years. She also was a Sunday school teacher.
___When she was no longer able to attend church, she was ignored by her pastor. For 15 years, the pastor visited her two times.
___She lived in her own apartment until she was 95. She lived in a home for five years. No pastor visited her at the home.
___Senior adults are neglected by their pastors. I am over 80, but I am one of the lucky ones. I can still drive myself to church.
___ R.B. Weaver
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