July 14, 1999
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM
BF&M 'ain't broke'
___The proposed revision of the Baptist Faith & Message (June 23) is a classic example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The BF&M seems to be a perfectly adequate statement of faith.
___What believers believe is between them and God; what makes a believer a Baptist is outlined in the Baptist Faith & Message. We fear a Baptist Faith & Message "consistent with the current stand of the Southern Baptist Convention" may emphasize "precise andunambiguous" doctrine at the expense of the historical Baptist insistence
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upon soul competency and the priesthood of the believer.
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___As a result, some who are now proud to call themselves "Baptists" because of their identification with the current BF&M may no longer feel that way.
___We should be wary of changing a statement of faith that has served us so well for so long. If the BF&M does not reflect the thinking of current convention leadership, the solution may not lie in modifying the document; perhaps the "current stand" should instead be changed so that it lines up with the existing BF&M.
___ Robert and Lori Ellison
___ Marshall
No revision needed
___The vote to revise the Baptist Faith & Message statement is vital to all Southern Baptists. It could be the decisive decision that causes most Texas Baptist leadership to drift even further from the SBC.
___I didn't have any problem with the Baptist Faith & Message of 1963. My fear is that rewriting it will result in a statement that reflects only fundamentalist theology and posture.
___The revision committee does have an opportunity to speak significantly to all Southern Baptists. The words they choose and the sentences they write will make a difference to the ultimate future of the SBC.
___I wish they would conclude their first meeting with a motion to "disband" due to a lack of purpose. We don't need another revision; we need revival and spiritual reconciliation among God's people.
___ Pete Freeman
___ The Woodlands
Baptist chasm
___The article regarding Richard Land's charges of slanted news on CNN (June 23) is another example of the chasm dividing the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___Phil Strickland (director of the BGCT Christian Life Commission) often reminds us our Christian Life Commission does not speak "for" Texas Baptists but "to" them. Land, the leader of the SBC counterpart, was endorsed for a TV appearance as speaking "for" Southern Baptists.
___For Richard Land to describe himself as "needed" because of his "mean streak" speaks volumes. Perhaps CNN should be commended for their discretion. After all, what example of Jesus or fruit of the Spirit or inerrant biblical command produces a mean streak?
___Support for both the BGCT and the SBC requires theological schizophrenia! There is an alternative.
___ Mike Bergman
___ Salado
Lost opportunity
___Richard Land alleges CNN is slanting the news, because they declined to invite him to speak during a program on the Southern Baptist Convention.
___Sadly, freedom of the press is sometimes restricted to those who own one, but that does not mean we as Christians should "cast the first stone." Jesus did not convert anyone by being judgmental or making threats.
___Jesus admonished his disciples to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." I, too, struggle with meekness and want to misuse that illustration of Jesus tossing the folks out of the temple, but then the Holy Spirit reminds me that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
___When Christ got irritated with the Pharisees' questions, he used Scripture and lived it in front of them. Sometimes they slithered right away because they could not argue with his effectiveness.
___I have to take a step back and remember that Jesus prayed, agonized and wept over a lost and dying world. He even went to the cross for us. If we get angry and make boasts or threats, we are playing right into Satan's hands. Not only will we not get interviewed on CNN, more tragically, we will have lost the opportunity to exhibit the love and grace Christ bestowed upon us.
___ Charlotte Heldenbrand
___ Kilgore
What counts?
___I read with great interest Paige Patterson's statement that his "purpose ... is to remind Southern Baptists that our focus across the years has been the conversion of men and women to faith in Christ" (June 23). I applaud and agree.
___However, does he think this conversion cannot happen in services with "12-minute sermonettes generated by the 'felt needs' of an assembled cast of post-modern listeners, augmented by drama and multiple repetitions of touchy-touchy, feely-feely music"?
___This kind of authoritarian rhetoric is causing many younger Southern Baptist ministers to distrust the motives and intentions of the leadership of the SBC.
___The majority of my friends have come to know Christ through churches that utilize drama and praise music. Should I tell them that it didn't count?
___ Kenneth Noles
___ Corpus Christi
Discern Tutu
___I was astounded at the article lauding Desmond Tutu (June 16), especially the apparent acceptance of his Universalist teachings. He stood against apartheid, but that does not mean he always speaks the truth.
___Tutu says, "God loves everything about me, my light and my darkness, my righteousness and my sin. All of me, God embraces." If God embraces our sin and darkness, why was Christ forsaken on the cross? Why are we admonished to cast off the works of darkness (Romans 13:12)? God hates our iniquity (Hebrews 1:9), and to suggest otherwise is blasphemy.
___In another example, Tutu said to a group of Buddhists, "It is people like you, ... who will ensure that God's world comes to what God has always dreamt God's world would come to be. ..." Besides the fact Tutu apparently believes Buddhists are our spiritual brothers, he suggests God will fail in his plan for this world if we don't do our part. In Isaiah 55:11, God says that his word will accomplish the purposes for which it is sent. God chooses to use us, but he is not dependent upon us.
___As disciples of Christ, we must practice discernment. The things Tutu says sound very good and soothing, but they fail the test of Scripture.
___ Curtis L. Moore
___ The Colony
SBC's name
___The name "Southern Baptist Convention" has meant a great deal to me and my family.
___We were raised in Southern Baptist churches, pastored by Southern Baptist pastors and nurtured by scores of Southern Baptist laypeople. I was licensed, ordained and schooled by Southern Baptists and am now serving in a Southern Baptist church.
___Any proposal to change or not to change the name is not an issue of theology or location. It is an issue of missions. I am asking, "What will be best in order to reach masses of lost people throughout the world?"
___ Don R. Norris
___ Midland
Voucher laws
___In Michigan, the new voucher law allows students from Muslim families to study the Muslim religion, partially financed by public (taxpayer) monies. In other words, if I lived in Michigan, I would be forced by state law (I have to pay my taxes) to support the teaching of Islam.
___I am opposed to any such arrangement. No one should be taxed to pay for the religion of someone else.
___In other words, I am a Baptist. Our faithful Baptist forebears believed in the separation of church and state for a reason.
___ Dan Gentry Kent
___ Fort Worth
Altars, not kitchens
___I find it discouraging there are no altars or prayer benches to kneel and pray in Baptist churches. What they refer to as an altar is actually the steps leading up to the platform.
___Also, instead of an altar call at the end of the services, it's an invitation to come down and talk to the pastor. A lot of people would much rather go to an altar and talk to God on a one-on-one basis, and steps just don't cut it.
___It's too bad that so many churches would rather have kitchens instead of altars.
___ A.M. Womack
___ Amarillo
Name change
___The successful name change of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board has been anything but "well-received" as quoted from Jimmy Draper (June 23).
___The vast majority of Baptists I have heard remark that it will always be the "Sunday School Board" to them.
___This sympathetic feeling resulted from the sense of ownership Baptists took in their publishing house. Ministers of education could experience a sense of loyalty when ordering curriculum. It is shameful that Southern Baptists have lost their publishing house, because we no longer we have "our own" literature.
___The name change to LifeWay Christian Resource is, I'll admit "successful." Any business man will confirm that changing the name of the company to make it more "marketable" is profitable for the business. So, I guess in a business sense this has been a good move. This will undoubtedly open up the market to reach other denominations, will increase production and will provide more non-profit moneys to pay those executive salaries.
___However, the name change does nothing to help the Southern Baptist denomination. I am afraid this removal of "Baptist" from the name is indicative of the current trend to remove "Baptist" from church names. I don't know about you, but I am still proud to be a Southern Baptist, and I fear for the day I arrive at our church and the name has changed from the First Baptist Church to the First LifeWay Church!
___ John Yeates
___ Comanche
___Thanks for the article on the Hallelujah Diet (May 26). We may all need to focus on what the Bible has to say about what God furnished for mankind's sustenance (Genesis 1:29 and 9:3).
___We may all try to "lean not on our own understanding" and try "not to conform to the ways of the world" and know that "his ways are not our ways and are higher than our ways."
___Boaz and Ruth had an interesting meal in Ruth 2. I tried this and found that the next day, my head was clear and all faculties working at peak. As this meal was repeated, I found a few pounds had melted away, too. Even Daniel and his colleagues found "their countenance was better even after only 10 days" with their "veggie" diet.
___With today's diseases at a rampart pace and doctors' offices filling up for cures for every little ache and pain, and with the common knowledge that over 90 percent of the cancers are caused by diet, isn't it time we get back to our "instruction manual" and fall down on our knees giving praise and glory to our Lord and ask his guidance in our diet as we do for our lives and our loved one's lives while we study his word daily?
___Maybe this way we won't have to end up with a medicine cabinet chock-full of unused pills and such when we go to be with our Lord.
___ John White
___ Lubbock
___If the current debate on "contemporary" versus "traditional" church music seems to be getting nowhere, it's because the problem is being defined in ways that preclude resolution.
___Defining it in terms of personal preference or style is fruitless for, as the aphorism says, "matters of taste are not to be disputed." In any case, we should attend worship to hear what we need to hear, not just what we like.
___Definition by time (the year the music was written) isn't helpful because some old hymns are quite trivial and a few new "choruses" are adequately serious. Nor does the age of the worshiper have anything to do with it. This spring I saw an audience of all ages moved to tears by a brand-new (but appropriately serious) Easter cantata.
___We won't progress until we ask of each hymn or chorus, old or new, "What does the music mean?" The music itself has meaning quite apart from any words set to it. That's why the old standards became standards: Their music expresses meanings appropriate to worship. That's why much "contemporary" music fails: Solemn words are set to trivial music, and thus present an inadequate offering to God (see Malachi 1:7-9).
___Yes, answering that question requires heart-searching prayer and serious mental work. But if we're unwilling to do it, aren't we saying God isn't worth the effort? And if we keep using self-defeating definitions, aren't we just finding excuses to please ourselves rather than God?
___ Donn Taylor
___ The Woodlands
___As I read your editorial regarding revision of the Baptist Faith & Message statement (June 23), I was filled with great sadness.
___I would love to believe your gentle words of warning could never come true, however, it seems inevitable that our great confession, the Baptist Faith & Message, will be the last casualty of war in a pointless struggle for power.
___I consider myself neither a moderate nor a conservative (which in some people's eyes makes me a liberal), but rather someone who believes that if we take seriously the great commission, we can only achieve this end through unity in the body of Christ.
___I am a Christian because I love and serve my risen Lord, Jesus. I am a Southern Baptist, however, because the BF&M by its very nature emphasizes the priesthood of the believer--not the priesthood of whoever happens to be in power of the Southern Baptist Convention. The moment that the BF&M becomes "exclusive" is the moment Baptists join the countless other creedal denominations.
___It is my prayer that those doing this "doctrinal study" will search their hearts and God's word for common ground.
___ Robert Sarles
___ Colorado City
___I was shocked that the Southern Baptist Convention voted to re-evaluate the Baptist Faith & Message and to restate it in terms that "...reflect the current stand of the Southern Baptist Convention." The Baptist Faith & Message to which I ascribe articulates a core of beliefs that are consistent with Scripture. Forgive me, but I will stand on Scripture, not "the current stand of the Southern Baptist Convention."
___It seems that Paige Patterson defined "Southern Baptist preacher" as one who exclusively preaches expositorily. The professors at the Southern Baptist university I attended taught that any ethical means of proclamation that brought people to the Cross was "right" preaching.
___Change neither the time nor the number of terms for SBC president. This suggestion is nothing more than a naked ploy to solidify power.
___Now the critics of the SBC will crawl out from their niches and rail, pharisaically, against the convention. Why? The SBC I knew and loved is dead. Religious liberty, cooperation and winning the lost no longer matter. We have sunk to the level of politicians hawking their self-aggrandizing programs.
___How many more souls will be lost while we dictate the correct method of preaching? How many missionaries will we withdraw from overseas because "we won't give to those people"?
___How disgraceful we've become. How I wish that each side would shut up. However, it seems easier to criticize, or to control, rather than lead someone to Christ.
___ Jim Patton
___ Bruceville
___(Name) Garrett wrote an interesting article about the trend toward not using the name "Baptist" on innovative churches (date). The three reasons given for this may be, to some degree legitimate, as are the comments by Mr. Garrett. But I like seeing that name on churches for purely selfish reasons.
___I came from another religious tradition and have only been a Baptist for a little over five years. As I go on vacation, I like to visit churches, and I go to those with the name "Baptist" because I know what their doctrinal stance is going to be--generally.
___I know that when I go in, there won't be any glossolalia, won't be a "Holy Ghost Revival" (the Holy Spirit doesn't need reviving; people need revival). It is a lot like going to a supermarket and finding the shelves full of cans with no labels. I like the labels, because I am fond of corn but don't care for asparagus. I want to know what is inside.
___The only disappointment I have had as a Baptist is I haven't learned much "Baptist" history. I even suggested a class on Baptist distinctives, other than the Baptist Faith & Message, and history for discipleship training, but nothing has happened yet. Many longtime Baptists know little history, and I think this is sad.
___ Earl Newsom
___ Wylie
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