January 26, 2000
Texas Baptist Forum
Bless, not curse
___Followers of Christ are given the wonderful opportunity to bless others. When a child of God shares with another person a word of encouragement, a prayer, a word of hope in the name of Jesus, a supernatural blessing is released. The opposite also is true; a curse hinders and halts all that is good in the lives of others.
___We far underestimate the power of good and evil in the words we speak and write.
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___When Christian leaders slap each other in the face with stinging criticism over definitions of "submit" or "inerrant" or "women in ministry" and for a laugh make fun of those who have different definitions, how it must grieve God deeply.
___I wonder what our leaders would do if their grown children publicly criticized or made fun of a brother or sister in the same way some of our leaders are doing in the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Southern Baptists of Texas and Texas Baptists Committed.
___How grieved that father would be.
___My prayer is that the Texas Baptist reconciliation covenant will be signed with serious commitment by enough of God's children in the Baptist family that the cursing will stop so that the blessings can be spoken and released in our lives and world.
___ Bubba Stahl
___ Boerne
Better figure
___Christians should not be alarmed or even disappointed at the Barna poll (Jan. 12) that says Christians are more likely to divorce than non-Christians.
___Barna's study showed that 27 percent of "born again" Christians are divorced or have been divorced, compared to 24 percent of those not "born again." Ideally, there would be no divorces among dedicated Christians, but realistically the 27 percent figure for Christians is better than the 24 percent figure for non-Christians.
___Why? Because more Christians get married in the first place. The poll doesn't take into consideration how many failed relationships the two groups experienced. Neither are there statistics at the courthouse that tell how many times couples move in together, cohabit for a time and then split.
___ Joe Hewitt
___ Rowlett
At-risk
___My wife and I have been married over 50 years. Little did we know the possible risk presented to our marriage by being Baptist (Jan. 12).
___I wonder if these divorces occurred before or after becoming a member of a Baptist church. This would determine whether being Baptist increased the risk of divorce or perhaps Baptist churches are ministering to divorcees.
___ Ralph Storm
___ Corpus Christi
Bad treatment
___I love being a Baptist and reading the Baptist Standard. Yet I was saddened by the letter "Not like Falwell" (Jan. 12).
___In the letter, Jerry Falwell was slandered. This is not how God wants us to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible speaks against anyone speaking against a pastor--God's man and shepherd for the church. This is serious, and this lady should repent.
___My greatest sadness is that the Baptist Standard would print a letter slandering a pastor. He has done much for the cause of Christ.
___You, too, should repent and ask Rev. Falwell to forgive you.
___ Kelly Price
___ Tyler
Enough of this
___The Jan. 12 Baptist Standard had nine letters, eight of which referenced the SBC controversy. Haven't we had enough of this?
___Let us declare a moratorium on these types of letters and concentrate on letters that tell of all the good that is being done in various churches.
___We need to know the positive things that are being done. Please, let us concentrate on these positive things that build us up and pull us together.
___ Lois Anderson
___ Texarkana
___Editor's note: Texas Baptist Forum is the readers' column. Published letters reflect a common cross-section of correspondence sent to the paper.
Library statistics
___If Al Mohler's statistics about professional librarians are correct (Jan. 12), does that mean three of the four professional librarians at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have read "The Joy of Sex," three of the four believe Anita Hill told the truth and three of the four do not believe AIDS is a punishment from God?
___Perhaps Southern is a more moderate seminary than Mohler would have us believe.
___ Lisa Harper Wood
___ North Richland Hills
Mary Lou's blessing
___Thank you for interviewing Mary Lou Retton Kelley (Jan. 19). What a blessing!
___She sounds so precious, and I am thankful she is gently sharing her faith, since God graced her with such a wonderful talent and platform from which to share.
___Will Mary Lou actively participate in sharing her testimony during the Reach Out 2000-Sydney, Australia's Evening with the Stars, which Lay Witnesses for Christ sponsors? As chaplains to the world's Olympians, it seems to be an awesome place to be used.
___I pray she will be one of many who team up to share the light of God's love to the dark world when the Olympic torch is being lit. May God bless her and her family as she testifies of his love and grace.
___ Sherry Dale
___ Trophy Club
Help for poor
___"Most Americans don't give to poor" (Jan. 5) causes me to wonder if someone wrote that while asleep.
___That 42 percent have donated money to non-profit groups serving the poor and 33 percent have donated volunteer time to help the poor is not an "only," but much better than could be expected.
___Consider that those gifts do not account for all help for the poor, since far more do so directly, helping needy neighbors, people in their communities, relatives, others in need they encounter. This is not considered in those percentages.
___Also, many Americans are themselves "the poor" who need help.
___So, it does not make much sense to be disappointed that anything less than 100 percent of Americans help the poor. That would be to disallow that many of them are poor themselves. I would wonder how even these statistics of 60 percent or more actually helping the poor would compare to the percentages of poor Americans.
___ Jenell Guthrie
___ Cleveland
Satellite sessions
___Is anyone in the BGCT seriously studying the motion made at the past two convention meetings that we create regional locations as well as the central location for the BGCT annual session?
___The current format of conducting annual sessions in one location has become burdensome. Why is it necessary for messengers to travel such long distances in order to meet? With available technology, messengers could meet at regional sites while participating fully in discussion and voting. Many people would participate in the annual session if they did not have to take off work for three or four days and travel hundreds of miles to attend.
___It seems possible that if such a practical change were made in both the BGCT and SBC annual meetings, some of the tension among us might dissipate.
___ Tracy Watson
___ Hamlin
It's not over yet
___You gave wonderful coverage to Youth Link 2000 (Jan. 12). Now it is time to state when the 20th century ends and when the 21st century and the third millennium begin. Jesus assured us the truth sets free.
___The Science and Engineering Research Council of the Royal Greenwich Observatory notes: "A millennium is a period of 1,000 years. The question of which year is the first year of the millennium hinges on the date of the first year A.D. ... The sequence of years going from B.C. to A.D. does not include a year 0. The sequence of years runs 3 B.C., 2 B.C., 1 B.C., 1A.D., 2 A.D., 3 A.D., etc. This means the first year of the first millennium was 1 A.D. The 1,000th year was 1000 A.D., and the first day of the second millennium was (Jan. 1) 1001 A.D. It is thus clear that the start of the new millennium will be Jan. 1, 2001."
___Many celebrated the first day of the last year of the 20th century. There was nothing wrong with that. Spending $3 million claiming to welcome a new millennium and being one year early needs explanation.
___Trust our young people. They can take it. Just give them the facts. Otherwise, prepare to explain to kids in 10 years that 2009 is the 10th year of the 21st century. Good luck!
___ Cyrus Fletcher
___ Baytown
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