April 2, 2001
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM
Pure thoughts
___A woman complained to her husband that she'd seen their next-door neighbor undress in front of his window.
___Looking at the neighbor's window, the husband said, "Honey, you can't see anything from his waist down."
___"I know," she replied, "but if you stand on that table, you can!"
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___Marcus Aurelius said, "A man is what he thinks about all the day long." Norman Vincent Peale said, "Change your thoughts and change the world." And the Lord Jesus said, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
___Some people can see more through a keyhole than others can see through a door wide-open. And the reason they find so much trash is obvious. They look for it.
___"Think on that which is pure" (Philippians 4:8).
___ Doug Fincher
___ San Augustine
Seminary support
___Many years ago, our children's homes were not included in our Baptist General Convention of Texas budget. Instead, we took an annual special offering for them in our churches.
___Then it was felt it would be better to include them in the budget. It was a step of faith to make a significant increase in our state budget. The churches responded royally by increasing their Cooperative Program gifts, and the crisis passed.
___Once again, we face a need to provide for our first-class Hispanic seminary and two new Texas seminaries to help our established Southern Baptist Convention seminaries provide enough graduates to meet the need of our increasing population.
___Those churches choosing the BGCT 2001 adopted budget option will be meeting the needs of our own seminaries. However, some churches will have trouble making the decision to reduce their worldwide mission budget to accomplish this.
___These churches should consider either increasing the percentage their churches give to the Cooperative Program or increasing the size of their church budgets through stewardship, (if they leave the percentage the same).
___Either way, a 5 percent increase in the dollars sent to the Texas Cooperative Program would make your support equal to those choosing the BGCT 2001 adopted budget.
___Together, we would all receive the blessing of seeing our three Texas seminaries receive adequate support.
___ James A. Puckett
___ McKinney
Churches control
___There are more organizations all the time. Makes a person wonder if people are interested in building God's kingdom or building their own kingdoms.
___This process seems like secular companies. Every time someone moves up a notch, they begin building their own organization to justify their job. They develop "make work" to keep everybody busy and make jobs for more people. Soon, you have all chiefs and no Indians. The company becomes so top-heavy it finally tips over.
___If you stand back and look, the "Baptist organization" is looking more that way all the time.
___My limited understanding of the Baptist church is that it starts from the bottom up. If this is so, why are we being faced with making a choice of which organization we are going to go with?
___In the Baptist Faith & Message, I see nothing about higher organizations with presidents and so on.
___Maybe instead of controlling organizations, there should be supporting organizations. There would have to be a connection between the churches and their missions, such as missionaries and learning institutions. I guess it would make sense to have one organization per state and one central organization, but these would only be to support the churches. Everything would be voted up or down by the churches.
___I don't see why every time someone gets an idea they have to go out and start another convention. Just let the churches control everything.
___ Charles J. Nave
___ Brownfield
Low spin
___Related to Mark Mitchell's "False perceptions" letter (Feb. 26) concerning the missing information in the Atlanta "gay-friendly churches" story and Lain Teel's "Wrong door" letter (March 12), may I add that you are taking "spin" to new heights (depths?)!
___ Bill Morgan
___ Midlothian, Va.
Real issue
___The real issue ripping our denomination apart is not "SBC versus BGCT." Which leadership should you follow? Every born-again Baptist knows he must follow only Jesus Christ.
___ It is not "Do you believe the Bible?" Every born-again Baptist believes the Bible is true as long as it is interpreted God's way through the power of the Holy Spirit.
___ It is not "Jesus versus the Bible." Which of the two is the true word of God--the proper criteria for interpreting Scripture? Every born-again Baptist knows Jesus is the living Word of God and the Bible is the written word. They do not contradict one another.
___ It is not "Which Jesus do you believe in?" Do you follow the Jesus of the Bible or some other Jesus? Every born-again Baptist believes in the Jesus of the Bible.
___ The issue is "Which Bible do you believe?" Do you believe the complete, unabridged edition, inspired by God and preserved through the ages, or the latest, condensed version, revised by men? The issue is not whether the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message accurately summarizes the teaching of the Bible but whether any such summary is an adequate substitute for the Bible.
___ Does the BF&M really contain the "essentials" of our faith as it claims? Is it really suitable as an "instrument of doctrinal accountability" as it claims?
___Should we become like other Christian denominations and cults that place their own documents above the Bible? That is the real issue. All others are secondary.
___ Donnell Hewett
___ Kingsville
Coming annihilation
___The Clinton administration's close ties with China and the loose security the past eight years has prepared China to fulfill her prophetic role of annihilating one-third of mankind.
___Revelation 9:13-17 tells of an army of 200 million men that cross the Euphrates River to slay one-third of mankind.
___China could field an army of 200 million soldiers.
___In Revelation 16:12, we are told the Euphrates River is dried up to make way for the "kings of the east" to cross. The Euphrates River has been dammed. So, with the flip of a switch, the river can be dried up.
___Clinton signed an executive order that allowed a company to sell extremely dangerous technology to China. Why? We are told in Proverbs 16:4, "The Lord has made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for the day thereof."
___ Elsie Graham
___ Olmito
Don't drink
___Alcohol in beer, wine or whiskey is a habit-forming, narcotic, poisonous drug that beclouds the brain, depresses the nerves, distorts vision, retards reactions, releases inhibitions and dethrones reason. If you drink alcohol, your thoughts become jumbled, your judgment becomes impaired and the brain centers governing speech, vision and balance go haywire.
___The moderate social use of beverage alcohol is the chief cause of our present-day traffic slaughter.
___If our teenagers never take the first drink, they never will be ruined by drinking.
___According to the great prophet Daniel, strong drink defiles. Daniel 1:8 says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine that he drank."
___If I were a grave digger, I would give non-drinkers a discount. I urge parents, ministers and community leaders to discourage the use of alcohol and encourage total abstinence.
___ J.S. "Slim" Sullivan
___ Longview
Set free
___Elizabeth I was a monarch with power. Elizabeth II is a monarch without power.
___The pope is a religious monarch with power. The watchword of the founding fathers was democracy, which the United States has attempted to preserve. The watchword of Baptists was "priesthood of the believer."
___The United States now has an oligarchy of robber barons. The SBC has a religious neologistic oligarchy.
___Jesus said: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).
___ Don Phillips
___ Fort Worth
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