September 11, 2000

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM
Jesus & politics
___What would Jesus do when a new president is elected in November 2000?
___We cannot know what Jesus would do this year, yet we know what he did almost 2,000 years ago in Palestine. He acknowledged the power of the leader of the government by saying, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that

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are God's" (Matthew 22:21).
___The Apostle Paul instructed, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained by God" (Romans 13:1). "Thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people" (Acts 23:5).
___Today, Jesus would know that our nation's leader is ordained by God. He would not speak evil of the president. Why? Because Jesus has accepted all (even you and me) and shows them respect, loving them "as God so loved the world" and offering forgiveness to all of us.
___This does not mean that Jesus agrees with our rulers' sins nor our sins. Yet Jesus loves us enough to give his life for us when we all were yet sinners.
___What would Jesus do? I want to do what he would do. And this includes praying for our leaders in government, even as the Bible instructs us in numerous places.
___I do not try to take God's place of judging. That is his business.
___ Gilbert Thornton
___ Longview

Core of decline
___The infusion of religion into presidential politics is drawing considerable attention. Bush-Cheney and Gore-Lieberman are trying to convince the American people they and their parties are more religious than their opponents. This is disingenuous, in that their campaign funding is primarily provided by big money from the rich and powerful who seek special favors and who exploit and oppress the poor.
___All the way through Scriptures, our compassionate Creator expresses God's loving concern for the poor and oppressed. God brings down the powerful and lifts up the lowly. We live in a nation whose enormous wealth is unparalleled.
___Yet our politicians do everything they can to direct the wealth upward to the privileged few while allowing a pittance to raise the standard of living for the poor. They promote a system of justice that favors the rich and influential while it fails to protect the powerless people in our society.
___Our presidential candidates should cut out the political-religious posturing and get to the core of our moral decline. Greed, or the love of money, is the source of all wrongdoing. We cannot serve both God and money.
___When we take the money out of politics and compassionately meet the needs of the poor and oppressed, our candidates' cries of "God Bless America" will be genuine. The rich and powerful will be with us always, and they will always have much more than enough.
___ Paul Whiteley
___ Louisville, Ky.

Former habits
___I am seeing non-Baptist teachings beginning to come into some of our churches, such as accepting for communion those who have not received scriptural baptism. Some pastors are quite lax in this matter.
___Some of our churches are offering "open communion" and welcome anyone to participate--Methodists, Lutherans, Churches of Christ, etc. Also, I am seeing non-Baptist teachings in our churches, such as hand clapping instead of saying, "amen." And the raising of hands as the Assemblies of God and charismatics do.
___Former members of other faiths should leave their former habits in the "old" church when they unite with a Baptist church. Former Catholics and Lutherans do not bring their former habits with them when they become Baptists. These practices are unnecessary and distracting to worship services.
___ Robert Taylor
___ Yoakum

Oklahoma OK
___Praise God that the directors of associational missions in Oklahoma are willing to stand up and unashamedly declare themselves to be Southern Baptists (Sept. 4).
___Will the DOMs in Texas do the same? Much to my regret, I doubt it.
___ Russell Hale
___ Moffat

Discerning truth
___I recently received "An Open Letter to Texas Baptists" which uses the words "blatant misinformation," "untrue allegation," "false accusation," "half-truth," "attacked" and "innuendo."
___These words are used to characterize information from unnamed "individuals and organizations." By not naming any individual or organization, the signers of "An Open Letter to Texas Baptists" prevent the reader from having access to the primary documents to which they are objecting, resulting in an unsatisfactory approach if there is a problem facing Texas Baptists.
___The signers of the open letter state they "feel compelled to answer" the unnamed "individuals and organizations" and the unnamed documents "with truth." The question that begs for truth is this: How can the reader discern the truth without knowing to whom the signers refer or the information which their letter is supposed to give the "truth" about?
___I am capable, along with other Texas Baptists, of discerning the truth if I know what it is the signers of the open letter are talking about.
___ Jim Huff
___ Dallas

Litmus test
___To sign or not to sign the Baptist Faith & Message: Did God ask Moses to sign the Ten Commandments? Did Jesus ask the apostles to sign the Sermon on the Mount? Hmmm, is there someone greater than Jesus or God among us?
___To those Baptist missionaries and those prospective missionaries who do not want to sign, don't give up. It is my prayer that the Baptist General Convention of Texas will commission you under its own mission board and/or partner (contract) with some other board to send you.
___Please, Texas Baptists, pray about it, and if so led by the Holy Spirit, attend the convention this fall and work to make it happen.
___When the Baptist Faith & Message was first adopted, everyone was assured it would never become a litmus test (creed). Well, it only took 75 years to come full circle. In light of what has happened, it seems best to me to return to a motto that echoes from the past and let it be shouted from the roof tops: "No Lord but Jesus! No creed but the Bible!"
___ Carrol Johnson
___ Brownfield

Biblical meaning
___Many Texas Baptists have been reluctant to oppose openly the fundamentalists who have captured control of the Southern Baptist Convention.
___Recent quotations from some are just the tip of the iceberg of theological word magic that is floating among them. Harold O'Chester of Austin wrote, "We must affirm the Bible to be God's word and inerrant. Without that authority, our Jesus is without real merit" (July 10).
___Read that phrase again and compare it to what happened to the out-of-context phrase by a fellow Texan at the Southern Baptist Convention in June. Remember "the Bible is just a book ..." and what the fundamentalist attack dogs did with it? I am waiting for them to circle and attack "... our Jesus is without real merit."
___Now Adrian Rogers has addressed Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary students and said: "God will kill you because you're his child. If you're living in sin and God kills you, you'd better thank God for it because if you're living in sin and God doesn't kill you, you've never been saved" (Baptist Press, Aug. 31).
___These are typical fundamentalist bombasity and are worthy of opposition by mainstream, Bible-believing Baptists. Wake up, Texas Baptists. There is more going on here than power politics and personality clashes. We need to maintain sound biblical meaning and interpretation.
___ Cyrus Fletcher
___ Baytown

Awana supplement
___Many readers have expressed concerns about the Awana program replacing our former missions education programs in our churches.
___Julia Ketner, Woman's Missionary Union executive secretary in Arkansas, along with others, has worked up some very good materials to supplement Awana material related to Southern Baptist missions. She would like to share this material. Contact her at Arkansas Baptist State Convention, P.O. Box 552, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; (501) 376-4791.
___ Marie H. Lumpkin
___San Angelo

Churches that use Awana applauded
___After being a Southern Baptist for over 58 years, I must applaud those Southern Baptist churches who have bravely started the Awana ministry in their churches, even though it is not a Southern Baptist ministry.
___Somehow, we must understand that we do not have a "lock" on the Bible or on spiritual matters---that other organizations and affiliations can be just as biblical as Southern Baptists.
___ I had much rather see the 150 children involved in the Awana ministry than the 20 we had in Mission Friends, GAs, and RAs combined, before implementing Awana.
___ Bill Daniel
___ Fairfield



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