September 25, 2000
Texas Baptist Forum
Mom knows boys
___As a mother, I think I can put Baptists' denominational feud into perspective.
___Mothers all are familiar with 2-year-olds. We all have heard children defiantly saying, "No!" or seeing a child grabbing a toy soldier from another child's hand and declaring,"Mine!"
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___What we have here is "big boys" playing with the same "little boys" attitudes. However, the stakes are higher this time. What is at stake here, according to the 1999 Annual of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, are the people (not toy soldiers) in churches that total 2,774,713 members.
___ Mary Bishop
___ Mount Pleasant
Denied the word
___I've been a Southern Baptist for over 45 years. For many years, I lived outside the Bible Belt "on mission" as an Air Force officer and as a lawyer.
___Since returning to Texas, I have been increasingly shocked and saddened at the venom being directed by BGCT leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention and vice versa. Your recent editorials and commentaries by BGCT leaders are typical of the inflammatory rhetoric and name-calling being shot by both camps. It is all disgusting.
___I've heard people from both sides say they do not believe there is hope of reconciliation. Fellow believers, Jesus is in the business of reconciliation, and anyone who has given up even the possibility of reconciliation has effectively denied the word of God they claim to uphold.
___I'm ashamed of the apparent lack of repentance, remorse and humility exhibited by many Baptist leaders, including the hateful tone and words I detect in BGCT publications. The recent committee report on our seminaries is just one more example of self-justifying hypocrisy. If the committee really believes all that, it should have recommended defunding all those "heretical" institutions.
___I can find plenty wrong with the bombastic demagoguery being delivered by Baptist leaders at every level. So, too, can the lost world around us.
___ Charles Nicholson
___ San Marcos
Renounce idolatry
___I am 43 and was raised as a Southern Baptist. For two decades, I have grieved over and been embarrassed by the fighting within my denomination. I have concluded reconciliation is no longer possible. It is time to get on with the next step, so the healing and refocusing can begin. I commend the courage reflected in the BGCT Administrative Committee's recommendations.
___The comment by SBC leaders that no state convention can unilaterally quit cooperating is laughable. The last I heard, Baptists have a congregational form of government. No one can tell a congregation, an association or a state convention how or where to send its money, or for that matter, when to start or stop giving. It is a decision for the body to make.
___There are enough lost souls, hungry people, orphans--and dollars in Baptist pockets of all stripes--to support separate efforts by the SBC, the BGCT, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and any other Christ-centered ministry or agency. It is idolatrous to cling to these human institutions or our "heritage." The Jews did that and missed the Messiah.
___It is imperative that we renounce this idolatry, cut the denominational cords and get refocused on the eternal kingdom, not these temporal agencies. Enough is enough.
___ Marcus W. Norris
___ Amarillo
Word change
___What a stupid, selfish, egocentric and self-centered decision the Seminary Study Committee has made regarding defunding the SBC seminaries.
___I have been a part of prayerful discussions concerning the use of Cooperative Program funds, and it has been quickly ascertained that an individual or church could nitpick allocations to death. If our sovereign Lord is in control of the funding, then it will be done as he chooses. If not, then those making the decisions will have to answer to him.
___When the process of differentiation begins, where will it end? The word "cooperative" in the Cooperative Program may have to be changed.
___ Clinton Tittsworth
___ Wichita Falls
Killing a corpse
___If the Southern Baptists' leaders are not aware that the Cooperative Program has been dead for many years, they are either blind or they define "cooperation" differently than the rest of the world.
___The Cooperative Program became ill in 1979 and expired in due time because all moderate Baptist representation was systematically excluded from the boards and committees of the SBC. For the president of the Executive Committee and the presidents of the six seminaries to say the BGCT's proposed budget changes will effectively end the Cooperative Program if adopted is to imply you can kill a corpse.
___It further indicates they think cooperation is a one-way street --that we are obligated to cooperate monetarily with them, but they have no obligation to cooperate with us in policy decisions, governance, etc.
___Similarly, SBC President James Merritt says he can't imagine why Texas Baptists might be concerned about the SBC seminaries and that he is at a loss as to why Texas Baptists would not enthusiastically want to support what's going on in our seminaries. Either he is one of the most naive men alive, is totally lacking in perception or he was being disingenuous. I hope he is either naive or lacking in perception.
___ George A. Edwards
___ Dallas
Smell the revolt
___I urge Texas Southern Baptist pastors to wake up and smell the full-scale revolt now under way by the BGCT leadership. The move to defund our SBC seminaries and shift funding to the new anti-SBC academic institutions should be a wake-up call for our pastors who consider themselves inerrantists and SBC loyals.
___There is obviously no room left on the fence. It is certainly the "last straw" for me.
___ Miller McClure
___ Farmersville
Just adjust
___If any readers find the recommendation to defund the six SBC seminaries mean-spirited and divisive, adjust.
___Should the measure pass in October, simply adjust by designated offering to the SBC, so that the percentages going to the SBC/BGCT remain the same as they stand today.
___Vote what you will. We're not going to punish the seminaries just because some have an ax to grind!
___ Steve White
___ Dallas
Fulfilling Scripture
___Several months ago, I sent a letter to the opinion page with the statement, "Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. ... i.e., Texas Baptists."
___However, I now believe that we need not condemn our Southern Baptist leaders, because they are fulfilling Scripture, if I may lift from context and paraphrase Matthew 10:35, "I come ... to turn brother against brother."
___ Don Phillips
___ Fort Worth
God's abundance
___I was deeply moved by R.C. Buckner's odyssey to Galveston to rescue orphans and crippled children (Sept. 4). Supporting institutions such as Buckner's proves our religion is genuine and prepares the way for evangelistic harvest.
___If Buckner Baptist Benevolences needs our help today to help hurting families, it is time for us to come to their aid. Neither should our young seminarians in Waco and Abilene go without our help.
___However, must we take the money from our (SBC) budget? Such a move is to doubt God's ability to provide. "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8).
___When we plan on the basis of God's scarcity instead of his abundance, we soon lose the ability to do anything at all. In nearly 60 years of relationship with the BGCT, I have never seen us shift into retrograde. I pray we will not do so now.
___ James A. Puckett
___ McKinney
Fake rapture
___Would the Antichrist stage a fake rapture? Technology can delete people from live video in the twinkling of an eye.
___Orson Wells pulled off a deception years ago. Could we be deceived by another cruel hoax?
___Think of the reaction you would have if you saw people disappear from the TV screen and heard news reports that Christians had been raptured, and you were left behind.
___ Elsie Graham
___ Olmito
Spirit of the jealous brother
___ It is sad to see the spirit of the jealous elder brother alive today. The author of "Former Habits" (Sept. 11) should read his Bible to discover what Scripture says about order of service. Asserting that the Lord's Supper is only available to those that have been properly baptized is to add to Scripture. The blood of Jesus Christ is our common bond; thusrequiring modes of baptism to be the litmus test is tantamount to embracing the "baptism is essential to salvation" heresy.
___ Religious tradition says proclaim "Amen" but don't clap. However, Psalm 47:1 says, "Clap your hands, all ye people ..." Tradition says only the charismatics and Pentecostals lift their hands; but Psalm 63:4 says, "In your name I will lift up my hands." He asserts these are non-Baptist teachings. I mourn when I read that he thinks these expressions of worship are "distracting and unnecessary." What else in Scripture is "distracting and unnecessary"?
___ Let Scripture determine what is allowed in our worship settings. Once we allow our order of worship to become an idol, we lose God's presence and power.
___ When we begin to appreciate the diversity within the body of Christ we will be able to impact our cities for Christ--but not until then.
___ Tony Barnes
___ Wichita Falls
Texans didn't create CP
___ In response to the article about proposed changes in the Cooperative Program (Sept. 18), I find it interesting that Texans are defending the right to change something that they didn't create in the first place.
___ No one argues that Texas can change and do whatever it wishes. However, to call
___ If the Cooperative Program was established by the SBC, then how can giving to "Baptist" entities other than Southern Baptist causes qualify as "Cooperative Program" giving? I find no problem with the BGCT doing as it pleases. However, let's stop the charade of calling the support of organizations in direct opposition to the SBC Cooperative Program giving. By calling it Cooperative Program giving, it is simply another way to confuse people who think the BGCT still wants to work with the SBC.
___ Come on BGCT, let's tell it like it is for a change! Cooperative giving is one thing; the Cooperative Program is quite another.
___ Joe Barron
___ Richardson
What is a 'true Baptist?'
___ I would like to ask John Allen of Ardmore, Okla., What is a "true Southern Baptist" (Sept. 18)? One who accepts everything the SBC Executive Committee says as "the
___ To Al Mohler, I would like to say that the "cold and calculated move designed to sever the historic ties between the Baptists of Texas and the SBC" (Sept. 18) happened about 20 years ago when the takeover was planned by Paul Pressler and Paige Patterson. This was when "the whole spirit of cooperation was destroyed." Mainstream Texas Baptists are not comfortable with the New Baptist Faith & Message or any attempt to cram it down our throats.
___ I concur heartily with the concerns of the theological education study committee about the SBC seminaries. I have always been proud of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. My husband and I attended in the 1950s. My husband's brother, William B. Coble, earned master's and doctor's degrees from this seminary, and our daughter and niece attended in the 1990s before Russell Dilday was ousted. That school is no more.
___ Joy Coble
___ Lufkin
Tongue in cheek?
___ I'm not certain whether Robert Taylor, who wrote the letter "Former habits" (Sept. 11), penned those words with tongue far out in cheek.
___ William H. Ervin
___ New Braunfels
Receive non-Baptists with grace
___ My parents were raised Southern Baptist, met and married in California after World War II. There they began attending an Assembly of God church. Three years ago, I moved to Uvalde from California. There is no Assembly of God church in Uvalde. My wife, also raised Southern Baptist, and family chose to attend and join a Southern Baptist church
___ We were up front with our pastor regarding our Assembly of God background. We indicated we would not make waves or issues. On Sunday evenings, we sit in the back of the empty side section behind others who are in the middle and other side section. We occasionally raise our hands and softly clap our hands during worship.
___ The members of our church have received us for who we are. I would encourage you to receive others of faith in the same manner. God's church does not revolve around either convention faction of Texas Baptist, Southern Baptist or the Assemblies of God. It is the Lord God Almighty's church, whose head is Jesus Christ.
___ By this letter, I extend my right hand of fellowship to Robert Taylor (Sept. 11), who like myself has like precious faith in the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we don't meet here on earth, I'll see him in heaven, where pettiness doesn't make any difference.
___ Stan Lewis
___ Uvalde
Need love, respect, acceptance
___ Well, here she blows. Many of us have been trying our best not take sides and become a part of this trouble. I have been reading the stories. I most certainly did not agree with the
___ The church I attend is known for its great love and unity, and I don't expect this to change that, although it sure doesn't help. The BGCT is about to force us and many like us to choose a side.
___ This is a bad thing for us to have to do. This may cause many churches to become split in their opinions, but I believe the choice will be a simple and unified one for most churches. The two great things God uses the SBC for are missions and seminaries.
___ I really wish you guys could just love, respect, and accept each other. Slim chance of that; your hearts are set.
___ Len Tidwell
___ Joshua
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