October 23, 2000
___There was no attempt to make this action a weapon in another state convention's internal affairs. I worked alongside Dr. Crews and all the board committees; I can tell Texas Baptists there was not one word that this action was a tactic to influence political outcomes. It hurts to hear charges by others as to our motives when they are wrong. ___We at Golden Gate take our responsibilities seriously and humbly as we equip men and women for ministry in the West and mission work around the world. I hope Texas Baptists decide to generously support SBC seminaries as they have in the past. If they don't, then we will make the necessary adjustments and go forward. We have a mission. And we will, as God makes possible, go about doing it. ___ John C. Funk ___ Chairman, GGBTS trustees ___ Westlake Village, Calif. Want money ___Southern Seminary trustee David Wilson (Oct. 9) says he has never seen "anything like what is in the report" of the BGCT Seminary Study Committee, but he doesn't say the incidents cited by the report never happened. Our facts are accurate and well-documented. ___Second, he says he thought the committee left Southern with all preconceived ideas corrected, especially the "Calvinist" issue. That is untrue. We came with researched questions, to which seminary leadership responded. The Calvinism issue continues and is more prominent at Southern than ever. Baptist Press recently (Oct. 11) announced the hiring of a Presbyterian professor. Southern continues to hire non-Baptists to teach our Baptist students. ___Finally, Wilson misses the point on the matter of Southern Baptist Convention trustee selection. Our report does not opt for any particular church to be represented on SBC boards. It does point out there are no trustees who do not meet the "political agenda" of current SBC leaders. Whereas, on almost all BGCT boards, there are representatives of all political and doctrinal viewpoints, some of whom do not agree with BGCT leaders. The BGCT is inclusive; the SBC is exclusive. ___No one proposes that any particular church must be on a board for us to continue to give our Cooperative Program gifts. However, by excluding so many Texas Baptists from conservative, Bible-believing churches simply because they will not go along with the SBC leadership is a form of "taxation without representation." They want our Cooperative Program money, but they do not want us. ___ Bob Campbell, chairman ___ Seminary Study Committee ___ Houston Fodder for attack ___The conflict between the SBC and the BGCT reminds me of the battle between the candidates for president. ___As Bush and Gore stump and debate each other, they promote their own agendas and caricature the opponent with little concern for truly addressing the issues and what the other side is actually saying and meaning. The only things spoken are fodder for attack. ___Likewise, the respective leaderships of our national and state Baptist conventions have yet to demonstrate that they understand the sincere concerns of one another. It is indeed a sad day for Baptists, not to mention Christians as a whole, that the gap between secular and religious political mannerisms grows ever so narrow. ___ David H. Rogers ___ Zapata God's humor ___If ever I doubted that God himself has a sense of humor, the ongoing SBC/BGCT matter has eliminated my doubt. ___How very funny it is that those big, bad Texans who mounted their steeds and cracked the whip for a better SBC and now ride herd over some of the most cantankerous SBC agencies have themselves been cut off from their Lone Star brethren. How very funny to think that having branded the whole convention, these silly men just cannot put the fiery iron on their base camp. How truly ridiculous these cow pokes look as they try to lasso and "horn swoggle" with a rope of sand. ___What a great parody! Only a secure God could have written such great comedy. Carry on! ___ John B. Hancock Jr. ___ Cedar Hill Don't kill ___Abortion divides us: Either we accept abortion under certain conditions or reject it under any condition. The editorial regarding RU-486 (Oct. 9), rightly states there are exceptions in step with the BGCT. ___First, the health of the mother at risk: My mother's health was at risk giving birth to me. Whose mother's health wasn't? Rachel, mother of Benjamin, would say hers was. A doctor's report to the family beginning with, "We did everything we could for the mother and child, but ..." could be acceptable by all, regardless of the content of the remainder of his report. ___Regarding pregnancy due to rape and incest: It is erroneous to assume the effects of one traumatic experience can be repaired by going through another. Those who oppose abortion but allow it for rape and incest must argue that the activity of a third party rewrites the rules for deciding who gets to live. And they therefore must accept that a person born as a product of rape or incest, regardless of age and quality of life (Ethyl Waters for example, who was born of rape), should be murdered as unworthy of living. ___A person cannot stand on both sides of a fence that tall. ___Abortion is wrong. How can there be exceptions? We should do what Charles Wade's article in the same Standard suggests: "Ask God to grant Baptists a dose of 'more sense.'" So, I did. He still says, "Don't kill." ___ Ken Lasater ___ Malakoff Greater evil ___Abortion is a most unfortunate and traumatic experience, but I am not sure that ending a fetal life, terminating an unwanted pregnancy, is a sin in God's sight. ___However, in view of the sacredness of human life in God's sight, I am certain that bringing an unwanted child into this world is an awesome sin. If both are evil, the latter is the greater. ___ Bruce Lowe ___ Dallas Both guilty ___The article on John Wilkerson and the Integrity Committee (Oct. 9), was a great example of duplicity. He bemoaned the mailout, "The Truth About the SBC ..." as a desperate move, and the SBC's website as a waste of funds that could have been used to "reach the lost." ___I cannot help being reminded of John 12:5-6, where Judas complained of the waste by the woman who anointed Jesus. Both sides are guilty! ___ Bill Wright ___ Mesquite Very sad ___Leaders of the North American Mission Board have reduced the budget for Christian social ministries to $3.69 million, less than 3 percent of its total budget and one-fourth of the amount budgeted in l995. I am sad. ___Fifteen of the 30 years I served with the Home Mission Board staff were in Christian social ministries. CSM, with about 350 missionaries, reported every year more professions of faith and baptisms than any other department, including evangelism, language missions and church extension. Mission leaders were not surprised. Our mission strategies followed what Jesus did, "Bring good news to the poor, ... proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19). ___Current mission leaders stated that CSM, what Jesus did, will receive "less attention and lower priority." Money will be transferred to computer Internet, prayer evangelism and other word ministries. ___To the question, "Are you the one ...?" (Matthew 11:2), Jesus answered, "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them." ___Are we, Baptists of today, the people following Christ? Log on to our web page, listen to our prayers, hear our gospel talk, know our focus to be the Bible and read our confession of faith--the "instrument of accountability." ___I am very sad. ___ Nathan Porter ___ Crawford Show me the money ___Make no mistake about it, non-Baptists can see through the thin veneer of argument. While we're all standing around identifying ourselves as followers of Jesus versus the Bible, the non-Baptist's resounding "Ah-Hah!" was heard all across the nation when the BGCT's $4.3 million got a proposed redirection to "special Texas needs." ___In their minds, the argument is not about Scripture or anything else with such lofty ideals. To them, the words of an imaginary superstar ring true here. It's "Show me the money!" time in Texas! ___I am reminded of the disciples when they "came to Jesus and asked, "Which of us is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" We all should pay attention to the words of Jesus, when he responded, "Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ... How terrible it will be for anyone who causes others to sin. ... And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away." ___"Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall." And in the eyes of the non-Baptist, their question is not if we will fall, but how far! Our urgent question should be: Are Baptists focused on the lost and dying world enough to see the results of their argument, or are we all blinded by our pride without one eye be gouged out? ___Pray for reconciliation! "Can Christ be divided into pieces?" ___Charles D. Ashley ___ Irving Southwestern and Baylor intertwined ___ If Texas Baptists choose to reroute funding away from Southwestern Seminary and toward Baylor's new seminary, it will be a choice based upon ideology and not quality of scholarship, the recent committee report notwithstanding. I am a Baylor graduate, where I attended as a National Merit Scholar on a full academic scholarship. Today I am a Ph.D. student at Southwestern Seminary. My professors and my colleagues challenge my abilities every day. The academic quality easily matches that of Baylor. ___Of course, it is easy to understand why the two schools exhibit comparable scholarship. Consider the number of Baylor faculty who list SWBTS in their educational pedigrees and the number of SWBTS faculty who have ties to Baylor. The student body at SWBTS is full of Baylor graduates. If the BGCT belittles the quality of the faculty and student body at SWBTS, then the BGCT largely belittles the products of a Baylor education. ___Baylor gave me a wonderful education, and I thank Texas Baptists for that opportunity. Southwestern is building an excellent education upon the worthy foundation laid in Waco. Degrees from both institutions hang on my wall. They are two good schools. I call upon the BGCT not to impugn the ongoing academic tradition of Southwestern Seminary. ___Bart Barber ___Farmersville All are bickering ___As I read Down Home (Oct. 16), I laughed alongside Marv Knox as he compared the two presidential candidates to bickering children. Sadly, my laughter changed to tears as I read the adjacent editorial. ___ The similarities between the American presidential race and the bickering between the BGCT and SBC are uncanny. In the editorial, Knox documented statements by Charles Wade and Morris Chapman. I discovered few differences between this dialogue and the "he said, she said" debates of little children. ___ Unfortunately, just like a parent is forced to listen to both sides when children squabble, Texas Baptist churches are forced to listen to both sides of this denominational dispute. And what is worse, it seems our churches will soon be forced to make a choice too. What a sad day for Texas Baptists! ___ Scripture states that God's desire is for us to be brought to "complete unity". (Conveniently, those are the words of Jesus himself in John 17:23, so both sides should be willing to hear them!) Jesus adds that the reason he was praying for unity in his followers was "to let the world know." Texas Baptists, what are we "letting the world know" with our current bickering? ___ Knox was right when he said that the presidential candidates needed a time out. Right now, our Baptist leadership on both sides needs to take a time out too. They need to be sent to the corner, the corner of their prayer closets! ___ Kristopher Barnett ___ Forestburg Honest debate no longer possible ___ Thanks for your balanced and professional view of the debate occurring between the SBC and BGCT. As a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, I am disappointed, but not surprised at the seminary's move to prematurely cut its budget. Most wise Christians should recognize this as simple political one-up-manship. ___ I urge Baptists to pray, think and vote to remove ourselves from the SBC. I no longer think honest, open debate is possible with this group. ___ Joel Blaylock ___ Allen Do something about Wiccans ___ I was shocked when I saw on the news that a Wiccan priest was asked to pray at the opening of the city council in Dallas! What in the world were these folks thinking of? Is there anything that can be done? ___I was saddened to hear that only one voice was raised in protest and he was "escorted" out. What a sad commentary on the Dallas leadership. ___ Lindsey Bloodworth ___ Victoria Proposals will force more division ___ If the BGCT supporters have their way and lower the amount of money sent to the SBC through our Cooperative giving, I fear grave consequences will result. ___First, Texas churches will be forced to choose between our usual SBC way of church financial participation or the BGCT plan to keep more funding for Texas projects. Since this will sadly require the local congregation to vote on this issue, a disastrous situation will occur. ___ Many of our local congregations hold strong ties to the SBC and likewise many hold strong ties to the BGCT. This forces membership with the lesser vote to align themselves with another congregation that supports their position, which will lead to more confusion and division among local congregations. I also anticipate some to seek a different denomination. ___ If the BGCT supporters have their way, the local pastor is placed in a position of choosing sides, which will automatically offend some of the membership. The old adage says, "If it ain't broke don't try to fix it." This needs to apply to our Texas churches. Why not leave it alone? We have a good thing going now, Why tear it up? Let's get about the main business Jesus wants us to do and that is winning the lost to him. ___ Brad Bullard ___ Junction Be still and know that He is God ___ Somewhere on the road of life division has taken root among Texas Baptists. Now it appears that a further split is imminent and unavoidable. ___ What if everyone began to talk about our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? He is our glory--not accomplishments as Southern, Texas or even Baptist. ___Don't we remember the advice of Gamaliel to the Sanhedrin concerning the Apostles? The Apostles had nothing but the Holy Spirit and a willingness to lay down their lives for Jesus. Somehow we feel the need to defend ourselves when God is our shield and defender. The Apostles had no conventions, budgets, committees or facilities, and they turned the world upside down with the power of God. ___ Psalm 1:17 reminds us of the sacrifices of God—a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Our God can make a way where there seems to be no way. Do we remember and believe Him, or do we trust our methods, words and actions. Jesus told us to abide in him in John 15. In verse 5, he reminds us we can do nothing apart from him. ___ Sadly, I do not believe Jesus will prevail. The body of Christ will once again be wounded by its own lack of forgiveness and humility before the cross. Could we not once be still and know that He is God? Could we as the righteous live by faith? ___ Don Hancock ___ Bryan Seminary needs Texans' prayer and support ___As a faculty member at one of our seminaries, I want to give a positive testimony to all my brothers and sisters in Texas. I find that God is indeed active here in the lives of our students, faculty and administration. ___ For me, it is an honor and great privilege to teach in this place. Throughout our current time of transition as a school, God's sustaining grace has been incredibly evident. There is much here worthy of your support. As always, we need your prayers. But I also ask you to continue joining God in the work he is doing on our campus. ___ Lee Hinson ___ Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary ___ Kansas City, Mo. Reduce news coverage of controversy ___ How long will the Lord permit this bitter infighting to continue? Baptists have a long, sad history of strife, splits, etc. We seem never to learn. Priesthood of the believer allows varied and various interpretation of the Scriptures--usually the interpretation most pleasing to the interpreter. It has been said that the only thing two Baptists can agree upon is what the third one should give to the building program. ___How can we focus on and emphasize evangelism when we seek publicity to exhibit our hatred and bitterness toward our brethren? What soul would be attracted to that type of gospel? How can we hope to build up by tearing down? ___ With a Gospel expounding gentleness, peace, love, forgiveness, etc. how can these factions allow personal animosity to permeate their very being? Surely, as Bible scholars, these factions must know that the Lord will hold each one accountable for this havoc. ___ While it seems to be the purpose of the Baptist Standard to weekly cover, in great detail, each and every phase of these factions activities, may I suggest it may be to his kingdom's benefit to reduce, to a minimum, press coverage of this constant posturing. Surely, the wound will never heal if we keep picking at the scab. ___ Unless the Lord intervenes, I shudder at the expected news coverage--by the Standard and the secular press--of our upcoming Baptist General Convention of Texas. ___ H. Terry Lynn ___ Waco Haven't seen biblical refutation of new BF&M ___ According to the New Riverside Dictionary, a creed is "a formal statement of religious belief; confession of faith." Thus, it would appear that creed and confession of faith are synonymous. ___Is the objection of many to the new Baptist Faith & Message based on the belief that it will somehow be imposed as a requirement for church or associational membership? Since all Baptist churches and associations are autonomous, this can't happen unless the individual congregations or associations decide to do so. ___As for making subscription to the BF&M a requirement for employment in SBC agencies, that was already being done. There is nothing in the new BF&M that increases its authority or somehow changes Baptist church government. It's the duty of the SBC to clearly state its beliefs and require its employees to agree to uphold those same beliefs. How else can we know whether we should support them with our finances? ___I have yet to read any biblically based arguments opposing the new revision of the Baptist Faith & Message. Everything I read is based on somebody's notion of Baptist "tradition" or what constitutes a "true Baptist." I guess getting hung up on the word "creed" is a tradition for some Baptists. However, I think upholding God's word and advancing his kingdom are among our better traditions. ___ Please pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance of the messengers to the Baptist General Convention in Corpus Christi. ___ James Mann ___ Austin BGCT Proposals just part of change started by Pressler-Patterson ___ Mike Tignor's letter (Oct. 2) begs a response. He quotes BGCT leaders as repeatedly saying, "We're not separating from the SBC." ___ For many who have been shocked by SBC leaders' actions (firings, excluding "non-compliant" churches from participation on SBC boards and agencies, etc.), the watershed event has been the recent passage of a Baptist Faith & Message that abandons principles of spiritual freedom in Christ for which Baptists have suffered and died. ___ Has any Baptist body ever presumed to enforce "doctrinal accountability" over Baptist believers and churches? ___ The last-minute addition to the new Baptist Faith & Message of the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of the believer, apparently as a concession to ensure approval of the document by messengers, speaks volumes about SBC leaders' departure from my understanding of Baptist principles. ___ It astounds me that the Pressler-Patterson coalition announced its intent to change the SBC, carried out its plan to change the SBC, prohibits mainstream Baptists from having a voice in the SBC, then assails the BGCT for proposing to change its financial participation with the SBC. ___ Is change only permitted on one side of the "cooperative" relationship? ___Betty Rutledge ___McKinney Proposals also got "strong opposition" ___ As a member of the BGCT Executive Board, I want to go on record as being opposed to the current SBC defunding proposals and supportive of the Executive Committee, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the six SBC seminaries. ___Mark Wingfield's web-page account of the Dallas Executive Board meeting titled "Funding proposals receive strong support" could have also been titled "Funding proposals receive strong opposition." During my three-year tenure as a board member, I have never witnessed such passionate dissension on any other issue. The numerous Christ-like questions and comments of several SBC loyalists that day should not be reflected or interpreted to other Texas Baptists as anything other than "strong opposition." ___ It is accurate to say the defunding proposals received a majority vote from the Executive Board. But for Texas Baptists preparing to meet in Corpus Christi, it is misleading to say the defunding proposals received our "strong support." ___Steve Washburn ___ Pflugerville ___ Editor's Note: The story reported the funding proposal received about 25 to 30 opposing votes out of about 200 Executive Board members present. The Baptist Standard
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