April 7, 1999

Texas Baptist Forum
Prioritize the task
___Regarding public prayer at football games and graduation ceremonies, we are missing something terribly critical.
___When we in the Bible Belt demand freedom in public prayer, we often forget this freedom extends to those who pray to Buddha, Mohammed or even Satan. We cannot assume public prayer will mirror the Christian worldview.
___This leads to the real

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question: When will we Christians expend the same energy over the lostness of our society as we do over its politics? We have failed in sharing the hope found in Christ. Instead, we have spent enormous resources fighting abortion, drinking, assisted suicide, divorce and public school prayer.
___An effort was made to boycott a chain of stores that sold pornography, with very little impact. But the owner of another chain of stores was introduced to Jesus. After his conversion, he demanded that pornography be removed from his stores.
___How many more lives would have been changed if the energy poured into this boycott had been channeled toward winning lost people to Christ? And what would the state of our nation be if this had been done over the last 100 years? Public prayer would not be an issue.
___We may never assume lost people will act anything other than lost. So, although our rights as Christians are important, we must prioritize the task Christ left for us, because God sent his Son "not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."
___ Sherri Wirt
___ Fort Worth

Correcting God
___To Nancy Hyle's letter regarding women speaking in church (March 31), I say, "Amen and amen!"
___I offer 1 Corinthians 11:5 as a guide: "And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved."
___I have been told by learned pastors that "prophesy" means preaching God's word. If God calls a woman to speak in any manner in church, who am I to tell God that he is mistaken?
___ J.B. Sitton
___ Cisco

Scripture songs
___In response to Elizabeth Hobbs' "Sustaining songs" (March 24), yes, the days of singing the first, second and last verses of a hymn are indeed coming to a close.
___Whether we want it or not, with each generation comes change in music styles and in word usage. For example, I have never heard a youth use the word "bulwark" in a sentence. We should accept that change and not condemn it.
___Most of the choruses--which are sung from the heart, not the hymnbook--are Scripture. Doesn't it seem appropriate that they would give "comfort and encouragement" to the singer? The "repetition" she mentioned aids in memorization. Besides, in heaven the four living creatures of Revelation 4 are forever repeating, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come!"
___Now, that's hardly "children's Sunday school."
___ Allison Roorda
___ Lake Jackson

Ivy Leaguers
___In "Where are the Baptists at Harvard?" (March 10), the fact was brought to light that not many Baptists are included in the "diversity" of Ivy League schools. Though this is true, I believe the Ivy League schools deserve a fair shake.
___I have a son who will graduate from Dartmouth this June. I have been pastor of a Hispanic church for 15 years in Laredo with a salary much less than my counterparts in most of Texas. I say this to stress the fact the folks at Dartmouth knew that I pastored a poor church in South Texas, they knew we were Baptists and they still accepted my son and granted a substantial scholarship, as well.
___When some Baptist brethren heard the wonderful news, instead of rejoicing with us, they asked why our son wasn't attending a Baptist university.
___I believe our Baptist schools are among the best, but I also believe the Lord leads his children in different directions. Our second son attends the Univer-sity of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and we are just as proud of him as we are of his brother. Our third son will have to make a decision between Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth.
___I say this to encourage my Baptist family that our children need to follow God's will for their lives, and it could very well be an Ivy League school or a Baptist one.
___Parents, please pray for and with your child as together you seek God's best for your children.
___ George Levant
___ Laredo

Theological stench
___In "Calvinism misses point ..." (March 24), Frank Page's position on grace is void of Scripture, and his opinion of Calvinism is flawed.
___Page said, "Calvinism presents a God who arbitrarily selects some to be saved and some to be lost." The Apostle Paul says all have sinned and the penalty for sin is death (Romans 3:23, 6:23). The penalty applies to all humanity except those to whom eternal life is given; no arbitration.
___The Lord taught how one is saved in John 6:35-71. The theology of Scripture is God-centered, not man-centered. God's purpose in election is for his glory through obedience of --and service by--those elected. This does not suggest universal salvation but teaches that all humanity will bring him glory. Three times Scripture tells us that every knee will bow before him. Through this, the Lord will receive glory from even the unregenerate.
___The irony of Page's message is that B.H. Carroll, Southwes-tern Seminary's founder and first president, was a five-point Calvinist. Did Carroll also miss the most important nature of grace? Page's opinion is misinformed.
___ The Apostle John tells the elect to believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). Counsel such as Page's has spread across the Southern Baptist Convention like the stench from a clogged toilet in desperate need of flushing.
___ Kenneth M. Axelson
___ Pasadena

Sovereign grace
___Looking at God's grace through the eyes of "sovereign grace" is the only way to truly understand and appreciate grace. For Frank Page (March 24) to say that Calvinism presents a God who "arbitrarily" selects or is "capricious" and even "cruel" in his selection totally misrepresents the doctrines of grace.
___I find it ironic that he would preach his message at South-western Baptist Theological Seminary, where its founder, B.H. Carroll, himself was a Calvinist.
___God did not draw our names from a celestial hat. God does not operate by chance. He knew whom he would select. He foreknew and foreloved his elect. God did not blindly draw our name because God is not blind. Yet we must insist that it was nothing that he foreknew, foresaw or foreloved in us that was the decisive reason for his choice.
___"God chose us in him before the foundation of the world ... according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians1:3-5). God's choice of the elect is sovereign but not arbitrary.
___ James R. Segura
___ Pasadena

Not random
___Frank Page (March 24) claims Calvinism teaches the nature of God is capricious and cruel, and he randomly selects those to be saved. I disagree.
___God does not randomly select. Ephesians 1:4 states that God "chose us in him before the foundation of the world." This verse describes God as neither capricious nor cruel. It is because of God's grace and mercy that all mankind is not condemned to hell.
___God, by his divine providence and infinite love, ensured the salvation of many. The Holy Spirit of God draws men and women unto repentance and faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Glory be to God and God alone to those who come to faith in Christ.
___This view of salvation did not start with John Calvin. He proclaimed, during the 16th century Reformation, the biblical view of salvation that was proclaimed by the Apostle Paul and St. Augustine, a fourth century bishop.
___ Jeff Hancock
___ Mesquite

Wrong century
___Frank Page is entitled to his own views about Calvinism (March 24). However, your article would have inspired more confidence if it had not placed John Calvin (1509-1564) in the 17th century.
___ John Pretlove
___ North Las Vegas, Nev.

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