April 7, 2003
TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Wakeup call
___My mother, Martha McKee, was one of the seven who died in the accident on Interstate 35 Feb. 14. She was one of the five killed in the charter bus that was taking Memorial Baptist Church members to the Gaither concert.
___Many
___have asked what they can do for families involved in deaths and injuries. Here is what you can do to prevent future tragedies like this:
___ Hire only charter buses that have seat belts, and make sur
e they are used by passengers.
___ Retain a complete written passenger list at the church (for adults as well as children) with emergency contact names.
___ Insist that all passengers in all vehicles use seat belts.
___Parents should ensure their children and youth only ride charters or vans with seat belts in use. Summer camp season is upon us, and we will be loading our precious children on these buses. Will your child wear a seat belt? I shudder to think how many of our loved ones ride on dangerous highways without seat belts. Several people on the bus told me they know seat belts would have saved lives and injuries. This accident is a wake-up call for churches, for parents and for the citizens of Texas.
___
Martha Fenner
___
New Braunfels
Christian hero
___Jimmy Houston, the Baptist deacon who refused to wear a Busch patch and put the Busch decal on his boat to participate in a fishing event, is an example of a modern Christian hero.
___More Christians need to take this stand by refusing to wear beer or tobacco gear and refusing to attend and support activities sponsored by beer and tobacco companies.
___After all, who do you think "Joe Camel" and the "Budweiser frogs" have targeted with their ads?
___
Judy Terry
___
Houston
Good news
___Like many of our faculty at Wayland Baptist University, I begin each class with prayer and invite students to share their requests with the class.
___As you would expect, many of the requests for prayer recently have related to the war in Iraq.
___Last week, one of my students said, "I have a praise!" She told the class she saw her brother's picture on the cover of the Baptist Standard. He was being baptized by one of our Baptist chaplains on the border of Iraq and Kuwait.
___Of course, all of us rejoiced with her on the conversion and baptism of her brother. I then asked her if she had been told of this prior to seeing it in the Standard. She had not. The first time she got word of this wonderful event (as well of her brother's overall well-being) came from our Texas Baptist paper.
___We have heard of the tragedy of family members getting their initial message of bad news about a loved one's death or capture from the media; however, in this instance, the media hit a "home run" with my student and her family.
___Congratulations to the Standard for reporting the "good news" even in the context of war.
___
Fred Meeks
___
Plainview
Justice vs. mercy
___Mother believed in "applying the board of education to the seat of learning" as her 10 children were growing up. She always was blessed with plenty of hedge trees near our houses whereon grew many switches.
___A few years before she died, I asked her why I got so many spankings growing up. Sternly eyeing me, she replied, "Young man, you didn't get nearly as many as you deserved!" And she was right. We never got spankings for the many watermelon and sugar cane patches we snuck into, nor for the eggs we used to swipe from hen houses when we played hooky.
___I've gotten a good many spankings from the Lord along the way too. Unlike Mother, he saw even my secret sins. But like Mother, he hasn't given me nearly what I deserve.
___I deserve justice. But he gives me mercy.
___
Doug Fincher
___
San Augustine
Maturing faith
___The Bible tells us things happened in Scripture to edify us. In our debate whether missionaries should sign a doctrinal statement to continue service, are there biblical illustrations that help us today?
___For my part, I find an apparent absence of a "doctrinal commitment" test. Abraham? Jacob? Joseph? Moses? Joshua? Balaam? (Balaam spoke words of blessing given him by God--even prophesied of the Messiah.) Samuel? David? Solomon?
___What about prophets? Elijah? Elishah? Isaiah? ("Who shall go for us?" "Here am I! Send me!") Jeremiah? Amos? Daniel?
___New Testament illustrations are more emphatic. Jesus confirms to Peter a major role in founding the church, then speaks of his own crucifixion. Peter responds: "No, Lord! Nothing like that could happen to you!" Jesus replies: "Get behind me, Satan. You do not understand the things of God." Peter was chosen, absent even an understanding of substitutionary atonement.
___And Apollos: "When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they ... explained to him the way of God more adequately." He went out preaching first. His theology was "corrected" as he went.
___Doctrinal integrity is a fine and helpful thing. But all of us mature in our walk with Christ.
___I, at least, hold many spiritual convictions today I did not hold 20 years ago. Should I have waited until my doctrine was settled to begin working for God? Should our missionaries?
___
Thomas F. Harkins Jr.
___
Houston
Similar approaches
___Surely others have recognized the right-wing, "good vs. evil," anointed, "we'll just have to do it without the UN" mentality and rhetoric of George W. Bush and the Southern Baptist Convention's approach to the Baptist World Alliance.
___Birds of a feather.
___
A.T. Maker
___
Hope, N.M.
Solid truth
___The article on the resurgence of Calvinism (March 24) appeared to be a weak attempt at criticizing the doctrine because of those who have insubstantial foundations and fail to realize theology is a "spectrum."
___But I must ask: Where will there ever be a system or belief that does not have those associated with it who make a mockery of its essential purpose?
___At any given moment, it would not present any difficulty whatsoever to name or find a person who claims to be Baptist but ridicules both the confession and denomination by his knowledge and lifestyle. No line of thought is immune to those cheap imitators that cause others to condemn it. In fact, the greater the truth, the greater number of misrepresenting variants the devil will provide in an attempt to let it fall at the rejection of those of the same faith.
___In reality, Calvinism is not becoming more prominent in some kind of stylistic wave. The actuality is evident that the outpour of God's revealing grace is opening eyes once again to solid truth that has been a constant through the centuries among the great heroes of our faith, without which this country and denomination would most likely not exist.
___We have instead begun to emerge from an age of darkness--one of an all-consuming interest and obsession with self and the material. Perhaps we have forgotten that black is not a color in our prized spectrum of theology (1 John 1:5).
___
Andrew Case
___
Abilene
___What do you think? Submit letters to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters must be no longer than 250 words. Letters may be edited to accommodate space. Letters selected for publication reflect a cross-section of letters received.
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