TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Church vs. amusement park
___Recently I sat beside my sister as a guest in her church. Familiar melodies were played on the organ. Well-dressed families sat together, and reverent prayers were offered for ongoing missions. Friendliness was ever-present, and the importance of sharing
one's testimony was emphasized. People greeted and welcomed me as a guest. Afterward, Sunday School was interactive, filled with topical discussion and Scripture reading. I was impressed at this display of reverence and commitment.
___The fact this was a Mormon congregation in Provo, Utah, makes the contrast all the more interesting.
___Why is the Mormon church now America's fifth-largest?
___One answer is the large number of children joining from Mormon families.
___Another is a reason new converts give when asked what attracted them to the group: They were seeking a deeper and more serious commitment than what they found in many Christian churches. Before we doubt them, we should reflect on the comment. After all, instead of reverence, hymn singing and strong Bible teaching, many churches have now become amusement parks. Pastors are performers instead of shepherds. When this happens, wolves need no disguise to capture the sheep.
___Charles Spurgeon in the 19th century warned that the church's mission of amusement produces no converts. I would clarify that it does indeed produce converts, but only for many cults. People at their core are incurably religious. We as Christians have much examining to do.
___ David Sparks
___ Lewisville
Justice & mercy
___For some time now, I have dwelt in contemplation of how the God of justice and the God of mercy could be the same God.
___How can up be down? How can left be right? How can dark be light?
___Intellectually, I understand that it all came together on Calvary and that the impossible became possible, but the intellect, though preferable over the emotion, was still insufficient. It is only as layer after layer is peeled away like an onion that grace can be embraced with both mind and heart.
___"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
___God's undeserved love toward us can change willing lives. The only question is: Are we willing?
___ David Page
___ Sour Lake
Go & tell
___In a scrapbook, I have a Cradle Roll certificate indicating my sister was enrolled at "The Baptist Church of Midland, Texas," on my fourth birthday. One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother saying: "Hurry up, Julian. The Sunday School bell is ringing." It makes me very sad there is so much bickering among our people today.
___I have attended Baptist churches in many countries in my adult life. I know many missionaries working in other lands. I have always found them to be dedicated to preaching Jesus Christ as Lord and the only means for salvation. Since 1990, I have worked with a group, Global Missions Fellowship, to form churches in some of the Latin American countries. Most of the local workers are missionaries and members of the local churches. The North Americans on the trips are not necessarily Baptists. They all are "Great Commission Christians." That is the most important part.
___I wish everyone could experience the joy when, after a presentation of the gospel and you are leading a person to pray a prayer for salvation, a bystander who has come in the middle of your presentation asks, "Can you go through that with me?"
___I did not do anything more than go and tell. That is what we should concentrate our efforts on instead of this "fuss" among ourselves.
___ Julian Unger
___ Houston
Genie in the bottle
___A pagan worldview sees human lives as cattle. This meat-manager mentality is trying to con us into believing there's a difference between a cloned human embryo intended for implantation ("reproductive" cloning) and one intended for cannibalization for its stem cells ("therapeutic" cloning).
___The arrogance of this position is the assertion that the difference lies not in the nature of the embryonic entity but in the intended use of it.
___So-called "bio-ethicists" want to define human value based on brain functions. But they have forgotten why the loss of brain waves first became accepted as a criterion of death. It was the irreversibility of the loss with existing medical technology that justified a pronouncement of death. However, all functions will be irreversibly present once conception (fertilization) has occurred, whether by natural or mechanical means.
___"Bio-ethics" is rapidly becoming the art of rationalizing the unconscionable. Let's at least lock the cloning genie in the bottle before we suffer new waves of ethical nightmares.
___ Alfred Lemmo
___ Dearborn, Mich.
Focus on truth
___I was very disturbed in reading "Satan laughs," along with all the other letters (March 4).
___When are we as Baptists going to learn that it is not about a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a charismatic, a Methodist or an Episcopalian? What it is all about is preaching Jesus.
___Does God care if you were dunked or sprinkled when you were baptized?
___The things churches disagree on for the most part are silly--based mainly on tradition.
___It is fine to attend a place of worship that suits your needs and your style. But winning souls for God's kingdom isn't about my needs or my style.
___It is time we as the church (all believers) lay aside our differences and focus on the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that nobody comes to God except through him.
___Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
___Can the world tell if you are a disciple of Jesus, or do they just see a prejudiced Christian?
___ Cole Rogers
___ Andrews
'Mate' vs. 'spouse'
___Have you noticed how the expression "your mate" has crept out of the woodwork lately? It used to be "your wife," "your husband" or "your spouse." I grew up thinking "mates" referred to animals, not humans.
___God made "the man and his wife" (Genesis 2:25), and "Adam lay with his wife" (Genesis 4:1).
___The Bible refers to men and their wives, not "their mates." While "wife" appears 306 times in the Bible, "mate" only appears six times and refers every time to animals or birds.
___Since political correctness has replaced scriptural correctness, "mate" soars high because it doesn't offend the anti-marriage crowd or those who choose a mate of their same gender.
___As I watch TV's infatuation with the term "your mate," I wonder if they realize they're lowering humans to the status of animals?
___America might not have the luxury of a long, leisurely decay before God's patience runs out. No civilization can improve on God's plan for human lives. And his plan for us is to have a spouse, not just a mate.
___ Doug Fincher
___ San Augustine
How long?
___My Catholic friends tell me we Baptists are becoming more Catholic. We see the parallel between their hierarchical structure and ours.
___The Southern Baptist Convention president is the pope; agency heads are cardinals; the Executive Committee is the holy see. The Baptist Faith & Message is our creed. This would be laughable if it weren't so true.
___I cry, "How long, oh Lord, how long?" How much longer can we say we believe the Bible when our actions betray us? How long before we destroy ourselves and there is no SBC, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Southern Baptists of Texas or Southwestern Seminary?
___"Lord, how much longer?"
___ B.R. Tucker
___ Fort Worth
Teach them to be Baptists?
___How sad that we have a committee of Christians(?) who waste time trying to write a creed for our missionaries, to be very certain that they are teaching all new Christians to be Baptists.
___Perhaps they should go back and read the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). I have several Bible translations, and none of them say, "Teach them to be Baptists."
___If they want to know what is really needed on the mission field and the problems the missionaries face, I would suggest that they go live on the mission field for a few years. The impossible situations our missionaries and families live in are made bearable only because they love the Lord and the lost.
___I have done short-time mission work for 11 years, and I know what I am talking about. I am very sad about the foolishness of Southern Baptists, and I am sure God is very sad too.
___Let's forget about signing "papers" and get about the business of witnessing to the lost.
___Evelyn Barnett
___Snyder
If it's not broken, don't fix it
___Were I a Baptist missionary, I would not sign the new Baptist Faith & Message statement.
___What I do envision for the Southern Baptist Convention is a slow move to a more and more powerful theocracy. I know a few places in the world today where people would like to remove the theocracies they have.
___There is nothing wrong philosophically with the older BF&M statement, and I believe that if something is not broken, don't fix it.
___Grover Clifft
___Lamesa
Baptist strength is to agree to siagree
___The rift going on about affirming the Baptist Faith & Message, as required now for Southern Baptist Convention missionaries, will cause many more problems than it will solve.
___After being a Baptist for years, I do not believe anyone should be required to 100 percent affirm the BF&M to be a missionary. (Are church members next?) This violates the basic idea of the priesthood of the believer.
___ Certainly, a person must believe in "Christ crucified" to be a Baptist, but affirming such change as adopted in the last BF&M modification, which are peripheral, should not be required, as they have no affect on the message of salvation.
___The strength of the Baptist denomination is the opportunity to agree to disagree on many matters.
___No missionary should be required to accept the BF&M in its entirety. That is doctorial and not scriptural. This requirement should be changed before it does more damage than good—resignation of good missionaries and further split in the Baptist denomination.
___Bill Freeman
___Kingwood
Reminds me of the Pharisees
___ I am deeply troubled that there are politicians in the Baptist convention who would set themselves up as priests, who do not recognize the competency of the soul.
___ This whole purging reminds me of the Pharisees. I feel sure that must also have been what happened in the Catholic Church.
___Our heritage as Baptists has not been for a few men to tell us what to think or believe. Our churches have flourished because we had been true to the priesthood of the believer, allowing our members to approach the written word through the Holy Spirit. Even more importantly, an encounter with the Living Word, Jesus Christ, has been pre-eminent.
___It saddens me that a few controlling politicians can tear apart what Baptists through the centuries have stood for.
___Monette Gossett
___Weddington, N.C.
Cut connection with SBC
___ Why not get Texas to have its own foreign missionary-sending agency? The organization is already in place for missionaries serving in Texas. Either use the same or have another organization for international missionaries.
___Take the money—or most of it—that now goes to the International Mission Board and fund our own agency for support and sending purposes.
___Since it seems that the SBC and current IMB are bound and determined to force legalism on all personnel, the time is ripe to cut off all connections with SBC.
___Why allow ourselves to keep on living in a state of uncertainty and frustration over an organization that has long since departed from former principles and that shows no indication of willingness to change or relent?
___E.V. May Jr.
___Livingston
Jesus did not submit to creeds
___Calvary tore the veil of the temple, creating Baptist belief of individual priesthood. This group followed the Holy Spirit with support from leaders.
___After 1900 years, a few decided leaders should rule. "It takes only one wrong person to infect all the others" (Galatians 5:9). W.A. Criswell said, "The pastor is the ruler of the church."
___ They called opposition "moderates who doubted the Bible." Incorrect slur campaigns help elect them in the Southern Baptist Convention.
___They started ruling by firing opposition; changing organization names; proclaiming a Disney boycott; changing the structure of the International Mission Board; asking missionaries to follow God-appointed leaders regardless of agreement or understanding; requiring the priesthood to submit to the group (example: a supervisor told missionaries, "I'll pray tonight, and tomorrow I'll tell you what God's will is for your life" (Oct. 22, 2001); and requiring missionaries to sign the Baptist Faith & Message.
___ Jesus did not submit to creeds. Would he be fired? With each missionary removed, how many souls are doomed to hell? Will fired missionaries sue the IMB to retain God's calling?
___Radical fundamentalist invaded Baptists under the name "conservative." While radicals scream, in ignorance or with deception, that moderates doubt the Bible, and rulers agonize the Holy Spirit by raping priesthood, moderates have not changed to their way of thinking.
___Most conservatives would be on the same page with moderates if they stopped listening to radicals and rulers.
___God-appointed does not mean appointed-God. All men should be watchful and protest their spiritual leaders becoming spiritual bosses.
___Rex Ray
___Bonham
Heritage turned on its head
___The bottom line of Baptist controversy may well be the bottom line. Money and the power of money seem to be all that really matters. Inerrancy and liberalism were just a smokescreen to grab the Southern Baptist Convention purse strings.
___The tragedy is that ordinary Baptists, the main supporters of cooperative missions, are being manipulated by SBC power-mongers who are from mega-churches that have never been generous with the Cooperative Program.
___Most SBC mega-churches are Baptist in name only. They are independent religious corporations controlled by CEO pastors and small executive committees, the same model playing out in the SBC.
___The hallmarks of a true Baptist body are openness and democracy, where the individual is respected and involved in decision-making as well as financial support. If the pastor's salary is not a matter of public record, and individual challenge, it likely is not a Baptist church.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas is a far more open democracy than the SBC. Does anyone know what any of the heads of SBC agencies make? At least BGCT salaries are matters of public record, and individual church decisions determine the BGCT bottom line.
___The SBC angles for more money to keep the few in power, who then tell ordinary Baptists what to believe and how much to give.
___Baptist heritage has truly been turned on its head.
___Joe Webb
___Marble Falls
Baptists have traded love for a desire to be right
___ A great lesson can be learned by Texas and Southern Baptists from Jesus' words in Matthew 22:37-40. It would be beneficial of all those involved in our political and theological struggle would heed these words carefully and not be mere "hearers of the word."
___"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Many involved in this conflict are so sold to their interpretation of the Bible that they fail to seek to honor God through the fellowship of his people. Honoring what we believe about the
___ Bible seems more important than honoring and loving God.
___ "Love your neighbor as yourself." We have sought total agreement in all matters and doctrine and place targets on the backs of people groups (Jews, homosexuals, etc.) and corporations, not out of love, but with a judgmental finger pointing at them and their lives and letting them know they will never be welcome in our presence.
___ "All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Our debates and actions are not filled with love. We wonder why baptisms and conversions are down in our churches. It's because we have, not love, but a desire to be "right." When unbelievers can once again see a people that love God earnestly, love one another dearly, and love them sincerely, then our evangelistic efforts will return good fruit. Then we will see the Spirit move through our denomination once again.
___ J.D. Allen
___Waco
Literature inadequate
___I was Baptist-born and was Baptist-bred. And when I am dead, I suppose I will be Baptist-dead. I love Southern Baptists; I am one. With that said, I am sad in the "milk" we give, as a denomination, to our own people through Sunday School literature!
___ It has limited substance. It is the same themes over and over and over—supplying limited growth as a believer. I believe we will give an account for this one day, when we stand before our God.
___ The themes are repetitive—salvation, the Great Commission, giving, loving others as ourselves. While these are no doubt great truths of the Bible for the believer, they do not help nor offer the believer hope and answers for basic everyday trials and tribulations. Oh, that we would get writers that would give us the word.
___ In addition, we are a denomination of great waste. We spend hundreds of thousands on literature publication, ordering and postage when we could provide this off the Internet and save our denomination hundreds of thousands of dollars.
___ The argument is people will not go to the web to get the material for any particular Sunday School lesson. So, instead, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide our people (the same who won't go to the web) study helps that they will not read before Sunday, either!
___In light of both, which is the best method of good stewardship as a denomination?
___David Allenson
___Temple
Soul competency at stake
___In 1997, I wrote a master's thesis for partial fulfillment of the MA degree at Southwestern Seminary titled, "The Competency of the Soul as the Fundamental Baptist Distinctive." There is nothing groundbreaking in the document. I simply attempted to restate the fact of the "fundamental" nature of soul competency in Baptist Christianity in light of developments in Baptist life over the past 23 years.
___At issue in this battle is the competency of the soul. It is rooted in the reality that all human beings are created in God's image.
___Soul competency involves the human capacity to respond freely to God within the context of a love relationship. Soul competency, therefore, universally applies to all human beings.
___In short, the individual conscience is sovereign; God will not delegate matters of religion to any human institution or authority. The competency of the soul is then inextricably related to the priesthood of the believer, democratic church polity and the separation of church and state. It also carries very significant implications for the nature of Baptist cooperation, pastoral leadership and religious authority. Logically, they all rise and fall together like a house of cards.
___This battle is "fundamentally" about the competency of the soul, the one and only fundamental Baptist distinctive.
___Everything is at stake here.
___Don Fawcett
___Santo
Above all, my brethren, do not swear
___Southern Baptist Convention leadership is using the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as an "instrument of doctrinal accountability."
___Consider what the inspired word of God—2 Timothy 3:16—has to say about any addition to just saying a simple yes or no. Jesus says in Matthew 5:33-37 not to swear at all (v. 34). He says, "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one (v. 37).
___ The 2000 BF&M is a document written by men. International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin, and others, say you must sign a form saying you affirm this document so people, who financially support you, will know what you really believe.
___ In James 5:12 we read, "But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No,' lest you fall into judgement."
___ No amount of double talk can change this affirmation statement from an oath.
___ Who will you follow? Will it be Rankin or Christ? The Apostle Paul says in Collossians 2:8, "Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosphy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from evil powers of the world, and not from Christ."
___ Are you being lead astray? Are you being lead to sin? I think so. When are SBC members going to reject this "empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense"? I already have.
___Larry W. Walker
___Beaumont
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