May 12, 1999

Texas Baptist Forum
school vouchers
___As I read the papers and I hear people talk about God being removed from school with decisions courts have made, I wonder that if we approve school vouchers we will be removing another part of God from our public schools--Christian kids.
___Where will the Christian witness come from if all the students who attend our churches are going to private schools? Christian teachers can live the life of Christ at school and have an effect, but to have a spiritual impact, there must be students reaching students for Christ

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in the halls, classrooms and locker rooms.
___It saddens me about what happened in Littleton, Colo. Maybe some more students will have to die for their faith. But is that not what Paul talked about, "To live is Christ, to die is gain!" and is it not what much of the rest of the world experiences for following Christ? It scares me much more to think how much worse things are going to get if we remove our Christian students from public schools.
___I am against school vouchers. I pray that we would spend more time and money on praying and preparing our students to reach a lost world than spending our resources on removing our Christian student leaders from it.
___ Chris Riley
___ Borger

CEO leaders
___The Apostle Paul cautions Christians to be careful of false or egotistical ministers (2 Corinthians 11:3-5).
___As Eve was misled by Satan, so are many Christians today. These ministers are leading many people into false beliefs about salvation and false lifestyles. This is happening in many Southern Baptist churches, because many churches have ceased disciplining God's converts. "If we love God's converts, we will discipline them" (2 Timothy 2:2).
___These ministers put great emphasis on their presentation. After hearing one of them, people say, "What a great messenger!" After hearing Paul, they said, "What a great message!" Too many members today place emphasis on the messenger. Messengers come and go, but God's message never changes.
___Frequently, the messengers emphasize "authorities" rather than the one authority--God's word.
___We are seeing CEO-leaders in our churches instead of servant-leaders, as Jesus was. This began in the mega-church, where the pastor is the only one with ideas, only one to speak, only one to decide where the church is going. Paul modeled the servant-leader--Christ.
___Our churches cooperate better with the servant-leader like Christ. The "head table-leader" needs to be replaced by the "towel and washbasin-leader."
___CEO leaders may be efficient, but servant leadership is most effective. Churches need effective leadership to follow Jesus in proclaiming his gospel.
___ James Griffin
___ Kilgore

Re-wording
___I am confused. I noticed three women were ordained as deacons at a Baptist church in Fort Worth.
___Women have their place in the church, but a "deaconess" is not one of them. It is not a practice conducive to Southern Baptist doctrine. In fact, in Titus, the Bible states that a deacon is to be a man. Surely some churches are not re-wording the Bible to meet their own needs.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas appears to be more liberal. The Southern Baptist Convention, in Christian love, through the BGCT should ask this church to either change their ways or not align with the SBC. But if the BGCT is liberal and supports the ordination of women as deacons, then the BGCT should align with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and not the SBC.
___I trust that somehow we can all let Jesus, the Master Weaver, mend us back together. We should read our Bibles and pray to our Master to unite Baptists.
___We should put aside our nit-picky differences and strive to serve and win the lost.
___ George Sassano
___ College Station

Calvin's beliefs
___George Whitfield, William Carey, Jonathan Edwards, B.H. Carroll and others embraced John Calvin as a theologian, and mature Southern Baptists ought to examine the issues.
___Calvin studied theology by studying Scripture. He inveighed against idols of the mind that reduce God. He attempted to penetrate beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law, believing that true equity was not when the letter of the law was followed but when the intent is honored. That God's compassion is integral to his justice. That God accommodated himself to us via Scripture. That Christ was the fulcrum of history. The witness of the universe. The mystery of the incarnation and the atonement of Christ, which is pleasing to the Father and efficacious in design. Reducing Calvin to five points is convenient but not complete.
___Calvin believed Scripture taught the ultimate goal of the atonement is to redeem the elect. We all believe the atonement is limited in some way, or we are universalists.
___Calvin believed in purposeful atonement and also in God's desire that all come to Christ.
___That God loves mankind and yet has chosen from the foundations of the world whom he will elect creates tension in us, yet this does not contradict God's sincere offer of salvation.
___We should study Calvinism not because it answers all questions, but because it attempts to say yes to all of Scripture, recognizing the difficult dichot-omies presented. We are discovering our roots in Calvin and in the Reformation.
___ Jewell Davis
___ Lubbock

Carroll & Calvin
___Whatever B.H. Carroll's propensity toward Calvinism, it is difficult to see Carroll as a thoroughgoing Calvinist.
___He rejected any Calvinistic sense of double predestination. He was far more baptistic than Calvinist in that he stopped short of trusting any theological system so completely.
___Carroll measured his words and explicitly stated his desire to be biblical rather than dogmatic. In a discussion of general or limited atonement, Carroll states: "It is in every way a difficult question. ... Perhaps no man has ever given a precise answer satisfactory to his own mind even, and it is certain no on has ever satisfied all others."
___Those are the words of a true Baptist. He was willing to discuss and allow differences of opinion, a characteristic sorely lacking in those touting five-point Calvinism in the present Southern Baptist Convention.
___ Bill Johnson
___ Jefferson City, Tenn.

Life with suffering
___I want to express appreciation for your editorial supporting the conviction and prison sentence to Jack Kevorkian (April 21). His flouting the law produced a witness for neither justice nor ethics, and following his actions would eventually produce anarchy.
___You also were on target in your observations stating that the case did involve attitudes about euthanasia.
___Many Christians have challenged us by their faith and stamina in the face of tremendous suffering. They have not chosen death, but life with suffering, and they have provided us an example of how to live. We are blessed by their courage to live with the strength God can give.
___ Thomas Lea
___ Fort Worth

Camp ministry
___I was very pleased to read Bill Pinson's article regarding Texas Baptist encampment ministry (April 21). Information provided by the Texas Baptist Camp Managers' Association clearly points out the tremendous success of this ministry.
___During 1998, more than 293,000 people attended the 28 Texas Baptist camps. There were 7,551 professions of faith in Christ, and 846 attendees surrendered their lives to full-time Christian work.
___From 1993 through 1998, more than 1.5 million people attended Texas Baptist camps. There were 41,242 professions of faith, 43,931 rededications, and 3,621 Christians surrendered their lives to full-time special service to the Lord.
___ Larry Hensley
___ Duncanville

Values confused
___The "Today" program reported that Brooklyn, N.Y., has 25 ethnic groups, and Los Angeles has almost 200 languages in its schools.
___When you recognize the diversity in religion in the United States, I am glad the courts restricted religious counseling in schools (April 28). But I also recognize that as we grow closer to the return of Christ, the devil is going to confuse every value this country has ever had.
___ Don Hicks
___ Fort Worth

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