September 30, 2002
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Jesus' presence
___Many books and articles have been written about angels nearby, guarding and leading persons. It seems so mysterious and appealing to have your own private angel watching over everything you do.
___For children of God, believers, how much more powerful and reassuring is having Jesus with you every moment of every day than to have an angel?
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___Jesus promised, "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).
___Others may be fascinated by angels, but as for me and my house, we will choose Jesus, the Spirit of God, and not a second-best.
___ Gil Thornton
___ Longview
Moral outrage
___Supposedly, we have a guide to enable us to follow Christ's example on Earth. In the past many months, letters to the editor have recorded the righteous indignation of various groups of readers about treatment of missionaries, forced acknowledgment of a creed, relationships with other organizations and other Baptist concerns. In "The Divine Comedy," Dante says that moral outrage can be a sin.
___If I may paraphrase John Trumbull, writing about art: "The whole (denomination) seemed changed into one vast arena ... on which the ... parties, forgetting their (religious character) were wasting their time, their thoughts, their energy. ... In such a state of things, what room remained (for us to live a Christ-like life)?" None.
___ Don Phillips
___ Fort Worth
Extreme disappointment
___With regard to the letter from Al Staggs (Sept. 23), I am incapable of expressing my extreme disappointment in your selection. His comparison to 1930s and 1940s Germany is offensive and, at least to this pastor, outrageous.
___Furthermore, to publish this tripe is to give credence to it. Has the Baptist Standard sunk so low as to have no other letters to publish? Or is the Standard now branching out into politics of the government as well as politics of the state convention? In the future, please avoid exhibiting your clear political bias and adhere to covering the issues to which you have been assigned.
___ Darin Wood
___ Corsicana
Duplication of services
___The Sept. 16 Baptist Standard was an eye-opener.
___On page three, the International Mission Board voices criticism of the Baptist General Convention of Texas for proposing a world missions network that would "duplicate services already performed by the IMB."
___On page nine, it was reported that the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention's human welfare and missions work will include foster care, adoption services, crisis pregnancy centers, assisted-living centers and counseling services.
___It seems this is a duplication of services already performed by the BGCT. Is one duplication OK and another duplication not OK?
___May God bring us to repentance and forgive our sins.
___ W.J. Turner
___ Sylvester
Name & word
___Some have expressed concern about the dangers of lifting up the Bible, God's word, above the Lord himself.
___Psalm 138:3 says, "You, Lord, have exalted above all things your name and your word."
___"Name" is speaking of the triune God--our heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
___God's name and his word are intertwined. When we exalt and glorify his name, we magnify and lift up his word, the Bible. When we exalt his word, we magnify and glorify his name.
___It is impossible to lift up one above the other.
___ Elois Field
___ Arlington
Worthy journey
___I would like to add my thoughts to those of Mike Farnell (Sept. 9) regarding singing old hymns in church. There have been a few times when I felt I had not been to a religious service.
___Some have said the young folks in our churches today do not like the old hymns.
___How could they?
___I suspect some have reached adulthood never having heard "The Old Rugged Cross," "It is Well With My Soul" or "The Great Physician," just to name a few--each of which is a complete sermon in itself.
___It is a long way back to Martin Luther, but I believe the journey would be well worth the effort.
___ Gordon Wiebe
___ Houston
'Very best'
___Thanks to Texas Baptists for sending 13 of your very best as volunteers to participate in Project Future and Hope. Their willingness to come to an unstable place and do a difficult task is greatly appreciated.
___These volunteers, those from other states, local partners and our International Mission Board team visited almost 5,000 Palestinian homes in Gaza and the West Bank.
___Beyond our wildest imagination, we have seen our primary goal accomplished--to share God's love in a tangible way with Palestinian people.
___Reports indicate unemployment rates up to 70 percent and malnutrition in children around 50 percent. Attacks by one side or the other are reported almost daily.
___With that as a backdrop, volunteers visited homes to say, "God loves you, and we love you." They listened as Palestinian mothers and fathers shared their heartaches and fears. Through your generous contributions to the IMB Hunger Relief Fund, they were able to give food to many hungry people.
___They also delivered school uniforms to 4,500 children. One volunteer couple, whose vast experience includes counseling in New York last fall, conducted a workshop in six locations to teach parents how to help their children deal with trauma.
___Three volunteer groups conducted day camps for children whose lives have been disrupted by the crisis.
___The vast majority of Muslim families we visted asked us to pray for peace. We would like to ask you to join us in that prayer.
___ Paul & Harriet Lawrence
___ IMB Palestinian Team
___ Ashkelon, Israel
Fallback position
___The original text fallback position of scriptural inerrancy fails when one considers 1 Kings 7:23. This verse tells us that the molten sea in the temple was 10 cubits in diameter and 30 cubits circumference, a relationship (three to one) considered by most of the world to be a fact until later years, when the Greeks taught the world about a circle's diameter, circumference and Pi.
___A godly inspired human writer would state God's message as he or she understands it and spend little time resolving such nits. But the theory of word-for-word-dictation from an inerrant source to a human writer doesn't leave room for this type of error.
___If you accept holy Scripture as being the holy word of God given to us by inspired human writers, there is no problem.
___ William M. Menger
___ Huntsville
Finding home
___Margaret Jordan wrote "Can't find home" (Aug. 12). It was excellently written and so very well expressed our views and those of so many Baptists I know!
___The only difference is that we were born in the '30s, and our kids (our own children and those that we have taught through the years) were born in the '40s, '50s, '60s ..., but we all agree that Southern Baptists have left us, not we them.
___May God be praised in spite of the foolishness.
___ Charles & Mary Graves
___ Boerne
___What do you think? Submit letters to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267.
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