April 28, 2003
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Upside down
___There they go again! The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees are swinging their wrecking ball (April 21). And I am in deep mourning for my old alma mater.
___Each time I look at my diploma on the wall, I am saddened. I remember such wonderful days sitting at the feet of many great and godly men who graciously equipped me for ministry--Huber Drumwright, William Estep, J.W. MacGorman and many others.
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
___I am appalled by the cruelties that continue: Another president forced to resign, tenures denied to excellent professors, rumors of Paige Patterson stepping in, covert plots to rid the campus of everything that doesn't quack like a fundamentalist duck. Will it ever end?
___Sadly, I have taken my diploma from my office wall. I won't send it back, and I won't destroy it. It means far too much to me. I will simply rotate it and hang it back--upside down.
___I'm not asking anyone to join me in my protest. It's just my way of saying to those who notice: "My heart is broken. The foundations of Southwestern have been shaken, toppled and inverted."
___Jesus warned his disciples, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Surely, the continued hostility in our midst causes many to look at the church with contempt and scorn. Only the love of Christ will turn things rightside up again.
___ Tom Martin
___ Arkadelphia, Ark.
Conscientious scholars
___I know Karen Bullock and Steve Stookey well (April 14, 21). I had them as excellent students at Southwestern Seminary, and I taught with them for years. They are both good friends. I hold them in the highest personal regard.
___Their academic careers got off to a rocky start: They were supposed to be recommended to the trustees when Russell Dilday was fired as president. They are both conscientious and careful scholars, so it is no wonder they are in the fundamentalist cross hairs.
___ Dan Gentry Kent
___ Fort Worth
Cherished memories
___I was terribly upset to read about the trouble Karen Bullock is having at Southwestern Seminary.
___I am a Southwestern alumnus and cherish the memories of my two semesters with her. She is without question the best professor I had at Southwestern. I was very fortunate to sit under the teaching of some of the best men and women God ever called into the ministry of teaching. Karen Bullock is the jewel among jewels.
___I graduated in December 2000. I am sad to say that most of the professors I had are no longer at Southwestern. Some left, others were sent away. It appears now that another servant of God with both heart and mind is found wanting by the powers that be.
___I am not sure what the administration is trying to do, but it is not bringing glory to God. God Bless Karen Bullock. She has been a blessing to many, including me.
___ Keith Buice
___ Irving
State schools
___I was disappointed in the Standard's examination of Texas Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn's proposal to expand gambling to raise state revenue (April 7).
___You chose the easy route to tap into Baptist heartburn about gambling--after all, most Baptists are agin' it--and completely ignored the second part of Strayhorn's same press release proposing the closure of two state schools.
___Do you even know what state schools do and who lives in them? At the very least, easily 600 people, many of them Baptists, would be uprooted from their homes at state schools, and many will be moved further away from their natural families.
___If two state schools are closed, around 1,400 Texas employees, many of them Baptists, will lose their jobs.
___ Bobby Hendricks
___ San Antonio
Hope of Resurrection
___I read the article on a new revolution of thought regarding the Resurrection by Tom Wright (April 14), and for the life of me can't see what is new.
___I thought that is what the church has been preaching all through the ages, the hope of redemption of all the Earth is in the Resurrection--at the Feast of Firstfruits (instead of Easter, which is of Saxon origin, and the name of a Saxon goddess), which leads to the question again: What is new about that vision?
___Certainly it is a new concept at the mention of "Palestinian Jews"! Wasn't it Israel at the time of Christ...?
___ Lee Brown
___ Sulphur Springs
Formula worship
___Mindi Foti's letter (April 14) saddened me and increased my concern over what is happening to worship in our churches.
___Worship exists to bring us into the presence of the Lord. There is no formula or gimmick that can make this happen. It is a natural result of God's people on their knees in prayer, earnestly seeking him.
___In the interest of having one big happy church family, most churches end up with one or more "blended" services, in which everyone there is hopefully tossed at least one thing that is familiar, but no one is really satisfied. We've become much too reliant on a formula that was suspect in the beginning.
___We could learn much from cell-group churches. They put people together who form natural and comfortable bonds with one another. Why do we insist on making the same worship service work for people generations apart?
___Our church presently offers three different worship approaches--an "enthusiastic traditional" that includes Southern Gospel, a contemporary service and a Saturday night Gen-X meeting. I have dreams of starting a Latino-flavored service.
___Unless we are singing Gregorian chant, our worship music has and will adapt to the people. But without deep prayer and focus on the Lord, it will all be meaningless.
___ Steve Leftwich
___ Manchaca
Free church
___Daniel Vestal, a leader who has accepted big tasks for Baptists, said, "People are tired of fighting fundamentalists, and I don't see a future" in it (March 31).
___In the '80s, if more Texas Baptist pastors and leaders had pointed out again and again that the "fundamentalists" were writing, speaking and ignoring all honesty about Baptist churches, schools and seminaries, we would be a better denomination.
___It is very hard for pastors to declare Southern Baptist Convention leaders have lost their integrity and our trust. Texas Baptists Committed and the Mainstream movement have written and spoken the facts.
___As a reader of the Baptist Standard, I see many decisions made by the SBC and its followers that are wrong. We all wish for the times that we are known by our love, but I want a free, Jesus-loved church.
___ Camille Swart
___ Houston
Bible codes
___The column by Adam English about Bible codes and mysteries of faith (April 7) is corroborated by scientific evidence. The puzzle was solved by advanced statistical research.
___The phenomenon of codes can be found even in Tolstoy's "War and Peace." This case reaffirms, "If one tortures the data long enough, it will confess." Or if one goes on a fishing expedition, one can always catch some fish.
___For details about statistical debunking of the Bible codes, see McKay, Bar-Natan, Bar-Hillel and Kalai, "Solving the Bible Code Puzzle" in Statistical Science magazine, or the website http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/diligim.
___ T. Timothy Chen
___ Arlington
Allowing idols to dictate our worship
___Regarding "Dispute over ‘under God’…" (March 10), I wonder, is Michael Newdow, the atheist father, willing to surrender all of his money?
___"In God We Trust" is written on it. Is he willing to sacrifice anything of value to show us how deep his convictions really are? I doubt it.
___By catering to people like this, we, as Christians, are sacrificing our relationship with our heavenly Father. In order not to offend these people, we have forsaken God. We have continuously allowed others to bring their gods and idols into our country. We have allowed them to dictate who, what, when, where and how we can worship our god.
___This is what caused the Israelites to lose their land.
___For this we must repent, and ask forgiveness.
___Don J. Atkinson
___ Dilley
A sad day, but not surprising
___ It was a sad day, but not surprising, when Southern Baptists discontinued sponsorship of such long-supported ministries as the Jibla Baptist Hospital in Yemen (Jan. 13).
___ It was a sad day, but not surprising, when God called home some of those whose ministry had been discontinued. It was a sad day, but not surprising, when God used a hell-bent zealot to deliver the calling to come home after his own people had turned a deaf ear to the calling to continue ministering. It was a sad day, but not surprising, when it took the sacrificial death of
___And it was a sad day, but not surprising, when the president of the Executive Committee of the organization that abandoned this international ministry used the deaths of those missionaries who gave their lives for that ministry to encourage as many Texas Baptist churches as possible to abandon their own long-supported state ministries (Feb. 17).
___ But in spite of the many sad days of the past, let us praise God that the Christian hospital ministry in Yeman will continue, even without SBC sponsorship. And let us trust God also to supply the funds needed to continue his ordained ministries in Texas, even without the support of those churches that succumb to the temptations contained in Morris Chapman's letter.
___ Lionel D. Hewett
___Kingsville
Saddened by falsehoods
___I just had a call from a friend asking me about this new convention in Texas. Their preacher is telling them the Baptist General Convention of Texas is for abortion and homosexuality and doesn't believe all of the Bible.
___ He is promoting the new convention and trying to get them to vote to go to the other one. I gave him all of the information I could think of, and that this is just their way of getting more churches.
___I am very sad that politics has become the theme of some instead of Jesus Christ.
___When I was a little child back in the early 1930s in Northeast Texas, I was more afraid of the (hardshell) fundamental Baptists than I was of any spook. They condemned everyone but themselves.
___ Do these people of the other group think they are better Christians than we are?
___ Earl Rust
___ Magnolia
Bush portrait is art
___I was not offended by Frank Bear’s portrait of George W. Bush (Feb. 17). It is a compliment to President Bush.
___It is a piece of art, which is an illustration that helps to clarify or explain something. I would imagine that as Bear did his work, he could see Jesus in our president.
___ God forbid if we came to this place and this time in history with a president who didn’t have a personal relationship with God.
___Is the portrait blasphemy? I don’t think so. I see it as respectful and a picture of some wonderful characteristics. I don’t believe it was done in a spirit of disrespect.
___ Is it a horrible use of images of Jesus? I don’t think so. It was not done as an image to worship.
___ I admire President Bush for his boldness and rejoice that Bear can see Jesus in him and shared it with us in this piece of art.
___ Janie Cross
___ Fort Worth
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