Posted: 3/02/07
Texas Baptist Forum
‘All will be well’
The Feb. 19 editorial notes valid concerns of the Baptist General Convention of Texas—missions funding, recent parliamentary rulings, etc. I believe reports from the Executive Board and the convention’s executive leadership will very much satisfy the concerns of all Texas Baptists who can be satisfied.
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 “The Holy Spirit works best when we’re weak. There’s pressure in the church to look like you’re strong; it’s a false sense of what it’s like to be in Christ.” Kenneth Fong Pastor of Evergreen Church in Los Angeles (Baptist World Alliance) “I’m running for a secular position. I subscribe to what Abraham Lincoln called America’s political religion. The Constitution and the rule of law are the highest promises I would make in taking the oath of office.” “If your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you can expect it, some of that. I think the majority of voters know that I’m a member of the United Church of Christ, and that I take my faith seriously.” “If God is on anyone’s side in this mess, he’s on everyone’s side.” |
The matters this editorial mentions have been and are being addressed in appropriate ways by appropriate leaders, and all will be well, and we should not doubt that that is so.
For every true or perceived problem in church life, 1,000 great things are happening. They certainly deserve Texas Baptists’ continued attention while problems are being corrected.
David Troublefield
Wichita Falls
Coal-fired power plants
Many of us are appalled with the recent inflammatory articles and questionable publicity generated on behalf of Texas Baptists regarding the proposed new coal-fired power-plant issue. I do hope our tithes and offerings are not supporting this type of activity!
We as Texas Baptists, as opposed to other forms of media, have no business in getting involved in presenting inaccurate and/or biased information, and overstated, over-simplified and emotionally charged “facts.”
For the record, TXU proposed to use the latest coal technology as required by the Environmental Protection Agency and is using the one energy resource of which we have in abundance—coal.
Natural gas, as an alternative, is a comparably expensive and finite resource, and it likewise produces carbon dioxide when combusted.
Other resources, such as bio-mass, wind, etc., while important, cannot supply the increasing demand for electricity, even with greater conservation and other measures.
As a former utility executive, a registered professional engineer and an energy consultant, and an environmentalist—in the true sense of the word—I, along with others, would appreciate unbiased accuracy in any position we as Christians and as Baptists legitimately take on any issue.
Let’s stay on mission and keep proclaiming the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
R.E. Ayers
Kerrville
Christians & homosexuality
May I question some aspects of the “Right or Wrong” article on homosexualism (Feb. 19).
It appears to presuppose “the big lie” promoted by homophile, lesbian and pedophile activists that they are created with a homoerotic nature. While original sin does affect each individual differently—some with a special tendency to murder, some to steal, some to lie, some to lust—all such tendencies are identified by Scripture as sin (Exodus 20:13-17; Matthew 5:22, 28, 33; Romans 1:26-32; Ephesians 4:28), that is, as products of the fall (Genesis 3:16-19) and not of creation (Genesis 1:26-27). As R.A.J. Gagnon’s The Bible and Homosexual Practice has shown, the Bible nowhere countenances homoerotic desire or conduct.
The article appears to confuse the commitment to agápe love that wills the good of the other (John 13:35) with the toleration of homoerotic love that sexually desires the other.
For Scripture, the only erotic love that is compatible with agápe love is the sexual desire and the ensuing permanent and exclusive sexual commitment and unity of one man and one woman in marriage. All other erotic desire and/or conduct the Bible regards as evil.
Of course, Christians are to love the sinner and hate the sin, and the church should accept homosexual sinners as she does all others. That is, with their “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) and with their desire and commitment to holiness to which Christ calls each of us (Matthew 5:48; Romans 6:19,22).
E. Earle Ellis
Fort Worth
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