September 24, 2001

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Whale's belly
___ The destruction of New York's Twin Towers has brought a somber mood to our country. Political wrangling, show biz news, the future plans of Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson and even the New York Stock Exchange have been placed on the back burner.

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___In the past few days, I haven't heard anyone arguing against prayer--in school or anywhere else.
___The United States is in the belly of the whale and is asking God for deliverance.
___Can good come from something this tragic? Being swallowed helped Jonah. And it'll help us too, if it brings us back to God.
___ Doug Fincher
___ San Augustine

Reconciling power
___Following the tragedy that took so many lives Sept. 11, congressional leaders stood together affirming President Bush. So great a threat to our security required national unity in the face of terroristic threats that transcended political differences. Bipartisanship is necessary to our survival.
___Christians acknowledge Jesus Christ as One who is greater than any head of state. Indeed, the ultimate New Testament confession is, "Jesus Christ is Lord" (1 Corinthians 12:3). The bond that unites believers in Christ transcends difference that divide us. Unity is necessary to our discipleship.
___In recent years, Southern Baptists have permitted differences to take precedence over the ultimate confession that Jesus is Lord. We have neglected the words spoken by Jesus to his disciples in the hours immediately before the cross: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).
___ Well-meaning leaders at both ends of the theological spectrum have felt called of God to calibrate "orthodoxy" more to their own ever-narrowing or ever-widening perceptions of the biblical message, and then impose it on all believers.
___This has produced escalating divisions in the largest body of evangelical Christians in our land. And these contentions in turn are discrediting our witness to the reconciling power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
___Is this recent tragedy great enough to produce in us the brokenness that is the true evidence of living gratefully within the reconciling grace of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)?
___To this end I pray and work.
___ Jack MacGorman
___ Fort Worth

Wouldn't believe
___Our nation was shocked by the horrendous attacks on New York and Washington. In the midst of our grief, many have asked why God would allow such things to happen.
___While I'm not sure I can adequately answer the question, I have been struck by two seemingly unrelated articles. First, when I received my Sept. 10 copy of the Baptist Standard, I saw an article describing the need for chaplains in the Army. Then I received my copy of the Southwestern News (which was printed well before tbe attacks), and on the cover were the words, "Reaching the Muslim World."
___I don't believe this is purely a coincidence.
___Perhaps Habakkuk 1:5 sheds some light: "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days--you would not believe if you were told."
___ Danny J. Gilliam
___ Orange

Shame on hate
___Usually I can resist the temptation to respond to every extremist view expressed by Jerry Falwell. But now that he has aligned himself with, and has been embraced by, the Southern Baptist Convention, I am compelled, as a fellow Baptist, to enter my strong dissent to his recent remarks.
___Falwell indicated on Pat Robertson's show that God let the horrible terrorist attacks happen because of the gays, lesbians, feminists and abortionists in our society. In so doing, he evidenced the same generic hatred that drives the terrorists. The cause of this disaster was the extreme hatred of radical Muslim fundamentalists. Now Falwell, a fundamentalist of another sort, uses this tragedy to blame his own targets of hate. How is his hate different?
___He implies God was allowing this to happen because of sin in our society. A God who saw the towers fall and says to America, "This is punishment for your sins" is not my kind of God. The God I worship is weeping and suffering, taking unto himself the pain felt by every person who suffered. He is crying for the victims and crying for the haters. He is feeling every pain, reaching out his arms to embrace every person who hurts.
___I believe God also is angry. And from that anger will flow ultimate justice. But anger and hate are two different things. Anger seeks specific justice. Hate seeks broad destruction.
___Shame on those who use the pain of America to promote their own forms of hatred.
___ Phil Strickland
___ Director
___ BGCT Christian Life Commission
___ Dallas

Take note
___Upon reading several of the current Baptist General Convention of Texas-said, Southern Baptist Convention-said opinions, I am shocked that the separation of two fundamentally alike groups would have no real feeling for each other in the line of fire that our country is now obviously in.
___I do hope you real Baptists take note. Our country has been attacked by an evil that my generation can hardly understand. I have never seen approximately 5,000 people massacred before.
___My brothers and sisters, we are at war. Please put aside the petty bickering over being far-right and far-left. All you are really doing is hurting God's ministry.
___I hope you will take this to heart and consider the Bible as your source rather than any one convention. I love Christians that happen to be in one convention or the other and can work with both groups.
___ John Mark
___ Waskom

What God wants
___After reading about pastor search committees (Aug. 27), I couldn't help but wonder: Does anyone really care what God wants anymore? Does anyone still believe God has a perfect will and plan and he has "his" man for the job regardless of what we want in a pastor?
___There were a number of comments in one article about how difficult "pastor shopping" has become, and there is little wonder. Any time we endeavor to do something that is solely God's job, it's going to fail, as proven countless times.
___"Surveys," "what we want in a pastor." It reminds me of Israel during the time of the Old Testament prophets when the people insisted on their false prophets--prophets "they" wanted, prophets who would tell them what they wanted to hear. Need we be reminded that just like in those days, judgment is coming again?
___How did the first church choose their leaders? Fasting, praying, seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit. We would do well to learn how to do the same.
___ Travis Priddy
___ Early

'Bar' music
___One of the most persistent--and incorrect--arguments for the use of Christian rock in the church is that Martin Luther borrowed pub tunes and turned them into hymns such as "A Mighty Fortress." Nothing could be further from the truth.
___The misunderstanding arises from the fact the tunes used by Luther were in bar-form, a musical term meaning that the tune had two identical phrases followed by a contrasting third phrase. Bar-form has nothing at all to do with bars, pubs or drinking songs.
___Luther did borrow secular melodies but carefully chose ones without improper associations. He also wanted to continue using Latin in the service, an often-overlooked point.
___It also has been suggested that because John Calvin thought the organ was a tool of the devil, "traditional" churches should be willing to give up organs in favor of pop instruments. In truth, Calvin banned all instruments in worship; he would have objected just as strongly to guitars and drums as he did the organ.
___Christian rock has a legitimate place in the church, just as do other forms of music.
___What the place of these various styles is may properly be debated. In fact, the debate is not at all bad, for music holds an important place in the life of the church. Only let us debate in love and with full understanding.
___ David W. Music
___ Fort Worth

Falwell, Robertson flat wrong
___Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are flat wrong. How dare they attack Americans by blaming the ACLU, gays, pro-choicers and the Supreme Court’s prayer in public school rulings, when we were just attacked by foreign enemies?
___They claim to know God’s will and that God withdrew the "hedge of protection" from America because of our faithlessness. Was that true at Pearl Harbor, or the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter? How about in the War of 1812 when the British burned the White House? Whom would they scapegoat for those times?
___We live in a fallen world, where evil is present and active and bad things happen to good people and sometimes bad things happen to good nations.
___To quote Joel Gregory in his book, "Too Great a Temptation": "I never belonged to the school that seems able to peer over the divine shoulder and thus discover the will of God."
___Where God’s will fits into America’s experience with these terrorists’ attacks belongs to a higher venue than presently available. What I do know is that as a Southern Baptist and a deacon, I would expect pastors of my faith to help bind up our wounds, to pray for our government to seek out these evil men and to do justice. After all, what God requires of man is to "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with him" (Micah 6:6).
___ J. Grady Randle
___ Houston




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