October 22, 2001

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
New York thanks
___"Thank you" is insufficient for all the prayers, cards, gifts of Bibles, calls, e-mails and generous checks sent to Metropolitan New York Baptist Association the past few weeks. We have persevered by the prayers of God's people.
___Volunteer teams came to cook, counsel, encourage and just be with us as we find our

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

way through this national time of grief. Thank you, one and all.
___Everyone wants to do something. We do not need more Bibles, cards or volunteers. We have a disaster relief fund you can contribute through to families, churches doing ministry and future programs for pastors and communities following up on the tragedy.
___You can reach us at MNYBA Disaster Relief, 236 West 72nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10023.
___If you want to be informed of future options, write or e-mail at MNYBA2@aol.com.
___Thank you again!
___ David R. Dean
___ Executive Director
___ Metro New York Baptist Association
___ New York

A new low
___I am appalled at the Baptist Press and Southern Baptist Texan attacks on Buckner Baptist Benevolences (Oct. 8). Have we reached a new low as Baptists?
___The "guilt-by-association" is not a new tactic, but now there is a new target. Things must not be going well for a writer to resort to attacking a ministry that has done so much for widows and orphans. Has Baptist Press totally lost its integrity?
___Ken Hall is correct in saying the article "misrepresents the facts" and makes "immoral assertions."
___Our church not only supports Buckner through our Cooperative Program giving but through designated-budget giving. We will continue to do so! Buckner is one of the most biblical ministries a church can invest its energies and finances in.
___I call on some of my fundamentalist friends who were involved in the Reconciliation Movement to step up to the plate. They know I have never hesitated to speak out on issues in the Baptist General Convention of Texas. It's time for some of them to be statesmen and speak out about how wrong Baptist Press and the Southern Baptist Texan are on this issue.
___For the sake of ministry to the down-and-out and of the gospel, we need to hear from you guys.
___May God bless Ken Hall and the faithful people who minister through Buckner.
___ Pete Freeman
___ The Woodlands

Light & darkness
___I read the articles concerning Buckner in Amarillo being one of the sponsors with Planned Parenthood of a meeting held for children.
___I have read the literature passed out by Planned Parenthood for years, and they are the biggest abortion providers in America, and most of their material is unscriptural.
___One Scripture comes to my mind about this decision to join hands with Planned Parenthood, 2 Corinthians 6:14: "Do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?"
___ Skeet Workman
___ Lubbock

Especially sad
___When will this guilt-by-association stop? I refer to the charge that Buckner Baptist Benevolences is somehow soft on abortion because of her participation in an abstinence-education program in Amarillo because Planned Parenthood was one of 24 co-sponsors of the program.
___Have my Baptist brothers really become so naive that they really think crisis pregnancy counseling is better than abstinence education? Is that a choice we have to make?
___If Buckner is guilty of being soft on abortion because of participation in this program, then Richard Land must believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary because he has signed pro-family documents with Roman Catholic leadership. And Billy Graham must not believe that Jesus is really the way, the truth and the life because he recently participated in the memorial service at the National Cathedral with Muslim and Jewish clerics. And SBC President James Merritt must be departing from New Testament faith because he participated in a White House prayer meeting with non-Christians.
___Absurd? Sure. But no less absurd than the accusations and slander hurled at Buckner over participation in an abstinence-based program.
___In these perilous times when God has given us unprecedented opportunity with searching and hungry people, it is especially sad that we spend so much time attacking one another.
___ James McGlothlin
___ Dallas

Voice for discord
___Here is one of many expected responses to the harsh and unjust comparison made by Edgar Jeffrey (Oct. 8) as he compared conservative Baptists with the Taliban. It is evident he knows little about conservatives and less about the Taliban.
___However, my point of contention is not with Jeffrey for making a baseless accusation, but with you for once again printing such poison. Why do you think that just because someone says it you must print it?
___It is evident the Standard does not want to be a messenger of peace but rather a voice for discord and division, which makes me believe you are no different than the secular media.
___Give us a break just one time and refrain from the temptation to elevate the moderates by printing such divisive statements as the "Baptist Taliban."
___ C.G. Grigg
___ Diboll

Recruiting churches
___With wonder, amazement and disbelief, I have read Rudy Hernandez's statements regarding the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention: "We have not been seeking new affiliates" and "the officers and staff of the SBTC have not become involved in a plan to increase the ranks."
___I was president of the SBTC board of directors for two years and a board member for five years. During that time, our concentrated efforts focused on getting churches to leave the BGCT and become members of the SBTC. That was one of the primary reasons we brought Jim Richards to the organization!
___The SBTC tries everything it can do to get churches to leave the BGCT and join its ranks. That is the only way it can get new members.
___I also was part of the BGCT-SBTC meetings a few years ago, and we all took a vow to speak only the truth and not slander each other.
___We left that meeting, and some of those leaders from the SBTC who were in that meeting immediately went about the state slandering BGCT leaders on every hand.
___Even though the two groups may disagree, there is no cause for ungodliness on either part.
___If the SBTC is so good, then why are they trying to build their convention by getting churches to leave the BGCT? Why don't they build it with the new churches they are starting?
___ Randy McDonald
___ Rowlett

Pray for brothers
___As I stood with him recently, my former deacon chairman remarked, "I don't know what we're going to do now. Jim Hill (executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention forced from office by fundamentalists) was all we had left."
___Texas Baptists, thank God the hotheads in your convention left and formed their own convention rather than creep through the BGCT in the insidious manner Project 1000 did in Missouri.
___Thank God for the unity and intellectual honesty you continue to share.
___Do whatever you can now to seal the door of the ark that the BGCT has become before some fool opens it mid-deluge.
___And please, please pray for your drowning brothers and sisters in Missouri.
___ John King
___ Weaubleau, Mo.

Care for widows
___I am a widow of seven years, and in that time several people of my church have helped. I have two wonderful friends who also are widows.
___Just because we are widows, people assume we are provided for by children. But some widows' children don't even call or phone.
___How does the church know or care about us if they never ask or visit? There is a time when bills are due and no money is available to pay them. Sometimes there is not enough food.
___I am not complaining, because I trust God for all my needs.
___ MaDonna Smith
___ Iowa Park

Thanks for Sept. 11 relief stories
___Thank you for the articles by Ken Camp and George Henson about the work of Texas Baptists following the events of Sept. 11 (Sept. 17, 24, Oct. 1).
___I do not know most of the heroes named, but I do know Milfred Minatrea, and every Texas Baptist can be proud of the work he does. I wished I could have been in New York to help, then I remembered I had been because I happily support the BGCT and its ministry.
___Betty B. Arrell
___Austin



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