May 22, 2000

Texas Baptist Forum
Ugly names
___Name-calling is not pretty in non-Christians, but when a person uses name-calling under the cloak of Christianity, it shows just how far Christianity has penetrated their soul.

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

___Can you visualize a judgmental attitude being one of the actions of Jesus Christ? It's a form of hate leading to murder or destruction of another.
___Matthew 22:34-40 is labeled the greatest commandment by Jesus Christ, and it commands love, not hate and destruction.
___ Erline Evans
___ Lubbock

Appropriate tag
___In response to Jeff Caldwell's letter (May 8) regarding what name to call a leading inerrantist author who writes that holy Scripture and church tradition clearly teach the selection of some women as deacons I suggest that neither tag--conservative nor liberal--is appropriate. He is a Christian.
___ William Menger
___ Huntsville

Apply principles
___Those who debate the death penalty must drop such labels as "uncivilized" and "barbaric." Two principles must be applied in this debate in our society--fairness and jeopardy.
___Many, but not all, opponents of the death penalty base their position on emotions and labels. Their denial of deadly force in the execution of murderers is unfair and highly selective. If we remove significant jeopardy from killing another person for one's whims, a person could murder someone, turn himself over to the authorities and claim the right not to face real jeopardy for the crime.
___To make a life more significant than their victims' lives simply because they are on death row flies in the face of fairness.
___ For those who wish to substitute life without parole for the death penalty, fair jeopardy applies. How do we hold anyone against their will without the threat and use of deadly force? To say the state cannot use deadly force to execute a killer, but a guard must use deadly force to protect society, including opponents of the death penalty, is inconsistent, claiming the protection of deadly force while labeling its use by the state after due process as barbaric.
___The wedded principle of fair jeopardy insists that no one has the right to take another person's life without putting their own in jeopardy.
___Putting the state after due process in charge eliminates uncivilized personal revenge while claiming the protection of the state from jeopardy from such revenge.
___ Cyrus B. Fletcher
___ Baytown

Selfless love
___The article about San Antonio's Manor Baptist Church giving its property to First Mexican Baptist Church (May 8) really touched my heart.
___Pastor Keith Herron and his congregation obviously have a heart to evangelize and reach their community for Christ. It was obviously very hard to give away something that was so precious.
___I am so thankful to these two congregations, working together selflessly for the cause of Christ. Thank you, Manor Baptist and First Mexican.
___ Jean Whitmore
___ Fort Worth

Clear critique
___I am so thankful for Charles Wade's clear critique of the Southern Baptist Convention's 1998 article on the family that was added to the Baptist Faith & Message statement of 1963. He said, "The article is not wrong in what it says but is limited because it does not fully say what the Bible says."
___One of the SBC leaders, in defense of the article, challenged anyone dissatisfied with this effort to strengthen the family to talk to the Apostle Paul.
___So, I did! I told him what the brethren had done with his instructions to Christian couples. In his characteristic affectionate manner, he started to say, "You stupid Galatians," but instead he said: "Can't those transparent male chauvinists read? Why did they ignore what the husbands are supposed to do? (Ephesians 5:25-28). Why didn't they see my summary-imperative? (Ephesians 5:21)."
___When I left this encounter, I thought I heard Paul muttering: "When will those Baptist preachers quit trying to manipulate the 'dumb sheep' with prooftexts? Don't they realize that what they call 'inerrant' is being made errant by such machinations?"
___Well, he could have said that!
___ Lillian Wheeless Brown
___ Austin

Disturbing content
___The production of "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" presentations is a growing wave in Baptist churches in Texas.
___Our church had one last June and had another recently. I participated in the drama but became disturbed by the content.
___Six or seven vignettes are portrayed in which the actors represent saved or lost persons on the edge of eternity. Seconds later, they die and are transported to the Great White Throne of Judgment and stand before the angel with the Book of Life. The speechless angel scans the book and nods her head "yes" if they made it and points away if they didn't. The actors are then invited up the golden staircase into the arms of Jesus or dragged out of heaven by Satan and his demons to hell.
___First, it is not common for a person to accept or reject Christ and die seconds later.
___Second, Scripture is misconstrued in this drama. People are led to believe something that is inaccurate. Only the lost will be at the Great White Throne of Judgment. The Christian will face a different judgment of their works, not their salvation. Their judgment was put upon Jesus at the cross.
___I am disturbed by the glaring inaccuracies and the willingness of Baptist churches to overlook them.
___Dramas that illuminate the need for Christ are useful, but must we tolerate misrepresenting the Scripture to achieve that goal?
___ Margie Brough
___ Texas City

Worthy role model
___Thank you for the article on "Texas churches with increased baptisms" (April 24).
___A great portion dealt with my mentor, Pastor W.R. Smith Sr. of Bible Way Baptist Church in Dallas.
___He has been a great influence in my life since the days we were in Bible college together. He is a man with great passion and consuming vision.
___The beautiful facilities of Bible Way and the even more beautiful congregation are no accident.
___I preached many times at Bible Way when they met in the house on Fordham Road, mentioned in the article. Every time I came into that "house," I saw W.R. Smith's vision on the back wall--a hand-drawn picture of the building they are now in.
___His visions are not over. It would do any pastor a whole lot of good to visit him and "see" all that he is trusting God to do in the future for Bible Way.
___I will continually do so because he is my mentor in church planting.
___ John Turner
___ San Antonio

Unforgivable sin
___I read the story on the North American Mission Board expanding its policy on divorce to include chaplains (May 15). I am concerned about how easily we Baptists pick and choose what sins we stand against.
___What about gluttony, gossip, drinking, fighting among ourselves?
___These are mentioned in God's word as being sin. Are any of these disqualifying factors in determining who gets to be a chaplain or missionary? Somebody please show me in the Bible where divorce is the unforgivable sin. It's not! At least not by Jesus.
___To the church, however, it seems to be.
___Divorce is not God's plan, or even his idea. But it is something we as a body have to deal with, and we don't deal with it by telling them they are not worthy to serve God.
___Jesus spent his time with the sinners and even put some in charge.
___I guess we still have a lot to learn from his example.
___By the way, a divorce is when one family splits and forms two or even more separate families. How many times has our convention done just that very thing?
___ Chuck Schobert
___ Nocona

Disney boycott
___I note the boycott of Disney World is still on for the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando.
___Ignorance is bliss--I guess.
___ Darlene Corbitt
___ Tomball

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