February 18, 2002
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Uninspiring Forum
___Your (Texas Baptist) Forum sure is uninspiring. I never heard so much griping and complaining over a simple statement of faith (Feb. 11).
___Everything we believe isunder attack by the world. I wonder how Jesus would address these petty issues. We need to be about our Father's business and get back to soul winning and reading our Bibles. Bad things are happening around us, with the Middle East coming to a boiling point.
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___The small squabble you have going on now will be child's play. The survival of our children depends on our prayers now.
___Get back to basics and fight the good fight. Hell enlarges each and every day.
___ John Sanders
___ Shallowater
Dubious notion
___I must take Mike Terry to task for his insistence that the traditional Calvinist notion of predestination is scripturally necessary (Jan. 21).
___Even more dubious is the notion that human free will is contrary to God's kingship. Are we to believe God created some human beings merely so they should fall and suffer eternal damnation? Not if the Bible is true.
___Yes, some will make it to heaven while some will not. If it helps to refer to the saved as "the elect," fine. This does not, however, mean we have no free will. The best refutation of this view is Scripture itself. See 2 Peter 3:9.
___The Bible teaches the failure of the application of the promise lies upon us. It's not God's fault, us being kings of our own dunghill. God's word itself serves as a powerful testament that while God is all-knowing, we his subjects are free to accept his offer or to reject it and suffer mightily.
___The best we can do truthfully with this strain of predestination is boggle. We can't understand God's point of view with our own minds. Any who theorize man's vain attempts at neat categorization are making man's theories king over God's true theology of his universal gift of salvation.
___ David Walker
___ Wylie
Obvious plan
___After reading about the Missouri convention split and the Southern Baptist Convention's refusal to accept any money passed through the new moderate convention (Feb. 4), the SBC plan for the Baptist General Convention of Texas becomes obvious.
___Siphon off enough money through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention directed to the SBC so that the BGCT becomes a "victim" of the financial needs of its institutions and has less budget money to send for missions. Then, simply refuse to accept any mission money the BGCT was giving.
___It will be easy for the "directing" churches to send the check to the SBC or to the SBTC--which gives a large fraction to missions, since it has no institutions, other than the SBC, to support.
___Those of us who feel strongly that we have a personal commitment to "our" foreign missionaries will then put more pressure on our churches to cut the BGCT out completely. If you want to support foreign missions, you will have to go with the SBC.
___The only hope is for a large fraction of the recipients of the International Mission Board's Baptist Faith & Message form to refuse to sign and refuse to explain why--other than as a matter of longstanding Baptist principle regarding creeds.
___Missionaries should not be used to hammer the rest of us into submission, but they are.
___ Bennett Willis
___ Lake Jackson
Tarleton & ministry
___Southwestern Seminary Music Dean Benjamin Harlan assesses that church musicians who do not value their role as ministers will not last long-term (Feb. 11). He is absolutely correct.
___He had to know, however, that his illustration would not go unchallenged. He needs to be clearly informed that simply being a "guy who's a business major at Tarleton State University but plays the guitar and wants to be a worship leader" is not synonymous with taking the ministry casually.
___A Tarleton B.B.A. (Class of '83), a guitar and a very successful 18-year ministry can easily co-exist in the same church office. At least they do in mine.
___ Van Christian
___ Comanche
Anything but beautiful
___I saw the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games held at Salt Lake City, and it was absolutely beautiful. What bothered me was that some of the players pledged to do their best "in the name of sports." Others discussed lighting the fires within, with no mention of the Lord.
___That was anything but beautiful. Are we as Southern Baptists reminding our young people that as Christians we are "under God"--not sports? God made the earth, and the "mother earth" mentioned in the opening ceremonies is not mentioned in the Bible.
___ Molly Bull
___ Uvalde
Real tragedy
___I am very disappointed in the Standard reporting and editorial concerning our Southern Baptist missionaries (Feb. 4).
___Once again, you have obfuscated the facts and are using your influence to demagogue the issue.
___The ABP article and your editorial are sprinkled with half-truths born from anti-Southern Baptist Convention biases. Texas Baptists deserve better.
___I find one of the closing questions, "Who will protect the missionaries if we abandon them?" very ironic. It is the Baptist General Conventioin of Texas, along with its counterpart, Texas Baptists Committed, that are abandoning the SBC missionaries. In a day of unprecedented missionary appointments, BGCT missions giving has declined. While at the same time, Texas Baptists Committed is encouraging SBC churches to stop giving altogether to the International Mission Board and contribute instead to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missions program.
___This is the real missions tragedy of unprecedented proportions.
___ Bob Pearle
___ Fort Worth
Not enough
___During the years I directed the appointment process for missionary candidates at the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) I discovered many Baptists did not understand the significant difference between a person's confession of faith and their doctrinal statement. Since Baptists affirm they are a confessional people and have no creed but the Bible, attention is often directed to Peter's confession in Matthew 16:16 and to the confession of faith in Romans 10:9-10 to illustrate our "confessional" sharing of the deepest convictions of the soul.
___For many years, missionary candidates were requested to write "in their own words" their confession or statement of faith. Although there was one recommendation adopted in 1919, but never implemented, for candidates to subscribe to "A Statement of Belief," it was not until 1970 that FMB trustees required candidates for appointment to sign their response to the question, "Are your doctrinal beliefs in substantial agreement with those adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention as printed in the Baptist Faith & Message?"
___Unfortunately, the IMB is not only requiring candidates to sign before they are appointed, but now will require missionaries who have already been appointed, many of them 20- and 30-year veterans, to affirm and sign the new Baptist Faith & Message--or else.
___How sad. "Confessing with one's mouth, and believing in one's heart" seem no longer to be enough.
___ Louis Cobbs
___ Tyler
Doubly refuted
___It seems the Standard and the BGCT are once again playing the role of the stamp which hits the ink blotter before leaving its mark. You absorb everything, but you always get it upside-down and backward.
___Jerry Rankin's letter (Feb. 4) is a mark of wisdom and courage which will end controversy, not create it. Our bosses, the SBC churches, have been asking for clarity on this issue. The request of our president to our missionaries will bring a final, definitive assurance to our churches.
___As a trustee, I know our dear missionaries are fervently in line with our beliefs and our mission. The letter will not offend them because they too want to end this matter once and for all.
___What Rankin has done was meant to bring harmony and end controversy. Your actions are obviously meant to do damage to the field and hurt our teams, or else you would not have had such a harsh criticism.
___When you see the healthy response from the field, you will be doubly refuted concerning your attempts to stir controversy.
___ Tom Hatley
___ Rogers, Ark.
Different priorities
___I read about the IMB decision to require our wonderful missionaries to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Later, I watched NBC's "Today Show" broadcast its pre-Olympics program from Salt Lake City. I was stunned when I heard Katie Couric announce, "Next, we'll visit with Donnie and Marie Osmond, who will help us dispel some of the misconceptions about the Mormon Church."
___How ironic. While SBC leaders are scrutinizing the beliefs of our missionaries and making them sign a man-made document, the Mormons are using a national TV platform to "dispel misconceptions about the Mormon Church."
___What's wrong with this picture? Our missionaries are born-again Christians who have given their hearts and lives to their Lord. What in the world does signing the Baptist Faith & Message have to do with a Christian, called by God, going to the mission field?
___So, while the Osmonds are clearing up "misconceptions," SBC leaders are squeezing our own missionaries into signing what amounts to an SBC loyalty oath. As a Christian, my loyalty oath is with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, not to a piece of paper written by men. My loyalty oath is a promise, signed with the blood that Jesus shed for me. If that promise is good enough for the Lord, what can a mere man ask of me?
___While false religions and cults "convert" millions, the SBC requires our missionaries to sign a denominational loyalty oath. What are our priorities?
___ Craig Morin
___ Tomball
Will of God
___I read the editorial about the distraught parent concerned that his children on the mission field will have to sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message (Feb. 4). According to Marv Knox, these missionaries "believe the Bible completely."
___Well then, sign the agreement and keep on serving. Do not sacrifice a great ministry over lack of submission. The Bible they believe makes clear that believers are to submit "for the Lord's sake to every human institution."
___1 Peter reminds us we are to submit so that we may "silence the ignorant" (the lost). Our rebellion gives the lost reason to question our integrity.
___Asking those at the IMB to go to the field and see what our missionaries are doing, to see how hard they work or how much they suffer is not the point. (I am so grateful for our missionaries who serve under such conditions.)
___Keeping a ministry, such as the IMB, moving together in unity is not only proper, but a biblical requirement of leadership. Keeping people who will not submit is not the goal either. To keep a ministry or a church on track and growing sometimes means losing a few people. God always blesses his word and our submission to it!
___ I encourage these faithful missionaries to keep their commitment to Christ's call by submitting to the IMB leadership.
___This is the will of God according to holy Scripture.
___ Michael Wright
___ Tyler
Deeply saddened
___As an emeritus missionary, I am deeply saddened by Jerry Rankin's recent letter to all current missionaries asking them to sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. It:
___Shows disrespect for those who screened the missionaries before appointment.
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___To be consistent, if we cooperate financially with other Great Commission Christians, they ought to sign the BF&M too.
___ David King
___ Marshall
Hypocrites
___I just finished reading the entire letter that Morris Chapman sent to Jim Hill concerning the proposed relationship between the SBC and a new state convention in Missouri (Feb. 4).
___Hypocrites! If the new convention in Missouri is not "in friendly cooperation" with the SBC because it would allow money to pass through its offices to support the work of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then neither is the Baptist General Convention of Texas nor the Baptist General Association of Virginia "in friendly cooperation" with the SBC. Where is Chapman's recommendation that the SBC cut ties with these two conventions, including a refusal to take their money?
___The Georgia Baptist Convention receives CP funds from churches across our state who also support the CBF. Some of those funds are sent to the SBC Executive Committee, which helps pay Chapman's salary! Where is Chapman's recommendation to the GBC that they no longer accept CP funds from churches that also support the CBF?
___In his letter, Chapman stated he had given "time, thought and prayer" to make the appropriate response to the new Missouri convention's request to send CP money to the SBC. Now, let's see if he takes the same careful, deliberate consideration in dealing with the BGCT, the BGAV and all the churches in the SBC that also choose to send funds to the CBF.
___My bet is he'll leave them alone. There is too much money at stake to let integrity stand in the way!
___Mark Johnson
___Macon, Ga.
Don't compromise integrity
___What a choice our missionaries have to make (Feb. 4). If they choose to be true to their traditional Baptist beliefs about creeds, priesthood of believers and autonomy of churches, they may risk no longer serving. If they sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message to continue as International Mission Board missionaries but do not have sincerity of heart, will they be able to serve with
___I pray our missionaries will have the courage to not compromise their integrity. I pray they will trust the Lord and tell the truth. If one honestly upholds the 2000 BF&M and the required signing of it, I pray she will sign it. If one does not honestly uphold all of the 2000 BF&M and the required signing, I pray he will not sign it.
___I appreciate Jerry Rankin's past efforts to prioritize missions and not put our missionaries in this dilemma. I have been blessed with peacemaker pastors, D.L. Lowrie and Jim Henry, who tried to be denominational mediators. Some churches are looking for pastors who are middle-of-the-road, not politically aligned, focused on the Great Commission. That sounds so good, but our missionaries no longer have that option. I thankfully graduated from Soutwestern Seminary before our professors lost that option.
___It is so hard for me to see what has been gained by all this. What has been lost is heartbreaking to this Baptist from a lost background.
___Lynn McMasters
___Lubbock
Coercitive Program?
___Whereas the Southern Baptist Convention through every means of power, politics and persuasion has succeeded in splitting the Baptist General Convention of Texas, redirecting hundreds of thousands of dollars to itself while greatly diminishing the
___And whereas this campaign continues with a letter from Morris Chapman warning Texas churches of the dire consequences that minor BGCT budget changes will have on SBC work throughout the world—even though SBC income is actually up, not down;
___And whereas the SBC now openly encourages and supports breakaway state conventions that agree with its policies while refusing even to recognize or accept funds from new Baptist entities that disagree with it in any way;
___And whereas International Mission Board missionaries who, regardless of their effectiveness or fidelity to the Bible, will now be forced to sign a man-made document they may disagree with or face dismissal;
___Now, therefore, be it sadly resolved that the Cooperative Program as we have known it is dead. Say hello to the Coercitive Program.
___Gary Morgan
___ Waxahachie
Joyful noise
___I'm confused. I can't think of a single praise chorus that "demand(s) that God make us obedient to his will, bless us with his
___ Furthermore, in our worship service, which is more of a blended service with choruses and hymns, we always close with a time of commitment.
___ I've attended many a contemporary service, and have never experienced what she describes. My understanding is that we are to make a "joyful noise," and maybe that's what she thinks it is; however, I also know that God inhabits the praise of his people.
___Candess D. Watson
___Spring
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