April 21, 1999

Texas Baptist Forum
Innocent Serbs
___Thank you for writing about Christians in Serbia. It takes courage to be kind to your enemies in the Balkans, where feuds and hatred are a way of life.
___But there is a place nobody talks about, where few people seem to be speaking up against hatred--the United States.
___In parts of the country where there are Serbian communities, they are being subjected to attack daily. We have a friend, a sweet, praying Christian man, who lives in the Chicago area.

e-mail marvknox@flash.net

Every day, he meets only hostility at work.
___He is Serbian. That is his crime. He fled, as did many Serb refugees in this country, from the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia. His entire family was murdered there.
___Nobody in this country raised a voice to protest. Now, he is being tormented for similar crimes in Serbia.
___He is appalled by the things the Serbian forces are doing, but he loves his country. He can't understand why voices that are raised now were so silent five years ago, when his children were dying in Croatia.
___I am ashamed of people in this country. Are there Baptists who have the courage to stand with the innocent Serbs in Galveston or Houston or Dallas? At the very least, let us pray for these suffering people.
___ Ruth Applin
___ Cross Plains

Religious battle
___The battle in the Balkans is for religious freedom.
___In countries where Muslims are in control, it is against the law to be a Christian. The reason Yugoslavia is fighting the Muslims is because they know that if the Muslims are in control, it will be against the law to practice the Christian faith.
___The battle for religious freedom might be the United States' next fight. The fastest-growing religion in the United States is the Muslim religion.
___The United States needs to let Yugoslavia fight its own battle for religious freedom. Our country was founded on the principles of religious freedom.
___We need to spread the gospel while we still have a chance, because we might not have our religious freedom much longer.
___ Mildred Schroeder
___ Corpus Christi

Bible comics
___"Zowie! It's the Bible in comic-book form" (April 7).
___This is a very disturbing expression. God's word is holy. It is sacred. It brings joy to the believer. It is sacred and serious. It is not funny.
___Putting God's word in comic-book form degrades it. It is placed alongside Bugs Bunny and other comics.
___God's word clearly tells us to teach our children daily the value of his word. It is to be voiced, taught and put before them. We can help create a love for God's word in our children.
___Comic-book scripture will cause some to think it is funny and classify it as such.
___I pray that putting the word of God in comic-book fashion will not take place.
___ Jimmie Davidson
___ Wortham

Free gospel
___The letters defending Calvinism against Frank Page (April 7) champion the same misguided theology to which John Calvin held 450 years ago.
___Calvinists dress their theology in borrowed robes. How many Calvinists have read Calvin's "Institutes"? I dare say few. I have read the "Institutes," and the propositions I find therein are execrable.
___The title of 3.21.1 of the "Institutes" claims: "On eternal election, whereby God predestined some to salvation and others to damnation." Yes, Calvin held to double predestination.
___I have a challenge for my Calvinist brothers. Consider 1 Timothy 2:4. Calvin balks at this verse in the "Institutes," as does his predecessor, Augustine.
___Calvin and Augustine claim that God's "revealed" will--that is, the Scriptures--wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, but God's "secret" will has predestined some to life and others to death. Is this our God? No! Our God predestined us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
___One must take the preposition with the verb--in Christ! Christ is the ship bound for the harbor of salvation, on which everyone who boards freely will be saved from the torrents of sin.
___Page knows the gospel is predicated upon a free response!
___ Cameron Rhoads
___ Fort Worth

Double standard
___In your March 31 issue, you reported about home-schooled children scoring high on tests. You said the source of this information was the "fundamentalist Christian Bob Jones University."
___I question why you do not use adjectives to describe other schools you mention in your articles. I never see "former Christian Mercer University" or "liberal Christian Samford University." Do you not think that your readers know about Bob Jones?
___Is there a double standard here?
___ Larry Bowles
___ Houston

Have mercy
___We are losing America to crime, drugs, child molesters, prostitution and pornography.
___It is politically correct to support pro-homosexuality on TV. That's "free speech." But speaking out for morality is "hate speech."
___The ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia is a terrible holocaust. Is not America also guilty of a terrible holocaust? We call it the "right to choose," or abortion.
___Where are the Christians? Are they afraid to speak out?
___Even Christian politicians say, "Christ may not be the only way to salvation." Like Judas, they are willing to sell Jesus for a few votes.
___God have mercy on America.
___ Elsie Graham
___ Olmito

Unwilling to learn
___While the 20th century church has seen tremendous progress toward unity-in-diversity, it appears a few Christian groups persist in believing they possess the whole (spiritual) truth and are unwilling to learn from others.
___One of these groups, Ex-Catholics for Christ, opposes those evangelical Christians who desire to enter into friendly discussions--aimed at promoting unity--with non-evangelical Christians.
___Working with their own version of theological particularism, Ex-Catholics for Christ have called on evangelical Christians to repent and recant the ecumenical views contained in 1994's "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."
___In light of John 10:16, though, I am very puzzled: Just when did it become sinful to practice interdenominational sensitivity? Just when did it become evil to work together, under the auspices of God, to make the world more peaceful and reconciled?
___ Darren J. N. Middleton
___ Fort Worth

Defending Dobson
___I was amazed to read in "Was Religious Right 'blinded by might'?" (April 14) a statement which linked James Dobson's Focus on the Family ministry to groups whose "net result is hatred." I don't know of an informed person who is familiar with Dobson and Focus on the Family's ministry who would agree that such a statement is even remotely true. To link such a respected international ministry with such a statement is simply ridiculous.
___I am a relatively new Baptist who came from an affiliation with a very moderate denomination. I have read the pages of the Standard with interest, trying to inform myself about "the controversy." You may not realize this, but there is a lot of "hate" spewed in your paper, often between the lines, but obvious just the same. I often wearily close the Standard with a sigh, and simply renew my prayers for our denomination.
___ Stephanie Marchbanks
___ Ennis

Love & forgiveness
___In the furor over President Clinton's conduct, have we allowed Satan to gain a foothold in our lives? The hatred generated reflects a degenerative and dangerous side-effect, weakening our Christian witness.
___Have we forgotten that God is love? That he so loved the world that he gave his only Son? Have we skipped over the teaching of Christ, "Love your neighbor as yourself"?
___How can we pray, saying, "forgive us ... as we forgive"?
___We are casting aside a wonderful opportunity to witness to the love of God if non-Christians hear from us expressions of hatred and condemnatory judgment. We cannot approach the throne of God's grace with hearts filled with venomous hate.
___We should be instruments of his peace and love if others are to believe the gospel.
___ Mary Nell Reasoner
___ San Angelo

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