Gracias from Galveston
Thanks, much obliged, gracias, or as many words as are appropriate to say how very much we in Galveston Baptist Association appreciate all of the response we have had as a result of the ravages of Hurricane Ike. The people of Texas have overwhelmed us with concern and assistance. Money and volunteers have come in tremendous amounts to help us in this time of need. This has come from associations, churches and individuals. Blessings on everyone.
We still have a good ways to go, but we are making progress, and for this we give thanks to God. Be assured that Baptists in Texas will be gratefully remembered for years to come.
Please remember: Our gratitude knows no bounds.
Grayson Glass, interim executive director
Galveston Baptist Association
Galveston
Mental illness & sin
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My family was dismayed to read Joyce Brumley’s letter concerning the church and mental illness (April 6).
She asks, “What is the church’s responsibility?” I would answer that the church’s responsibility is to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15) and “Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Families suffer profound grief over the great pain their loved ones with mental illness must endure. This biological illness is cruelly aggravated by undeserved guilt and shame.
How many precious saints who lived their lives serving their Lord Jesus Christ spend their last years on Earth with their minds clouded by mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s? Must we go to their bedsides and blame them for their illness? Mental illness is a biological disease as are diabetes, cancer, heart problems, etc.
Sadly, those who suffer from mental illness must battle not only the disease but the stigma surrounding it.
Carole Harrell
Dallas
My heart broke when I read Joyce Brumley’s letter to the editor. I recalled 1953 and again felt the sadness of my sweet, precious mother as she plunged into a major depression. Her attempted suicide left us devastated.
It is now 50-plus years later, and I see again the same attitude: If you stay in God’s word, you won’t have mental illness. Would you tell a person with cancer and diabetes they have their diseases because they did not stay in God’s word?
I do agree with Brumley’s statement that fears play a bigger role in mental illness than we may realize. Only it is the fear of the mentally ill and their families toward those who would rather shout, “Repent!” than educate themselves about mental illness.
What is the responsibility of the church? Perhaps it could be to judge not (Matthew 7) and love thy neighbor (Mark 12).
Lola Vines Cruz
Amarillo
Mental illness does not discriminate among Christians or non-Christians, rich or poor, race or culture.
As a mental health employee, I observe and treat many deeply religious folks who also have severe mental illness. Perhaps it would be wise for anyone who believes otherwise to learn about brain chemistry and how it works.
Jeanette Parker
Hartsburg, Mo.
In “Church & mental illness,” I have difficulty with the statement, “The idea that mental illness is based on sin is debatable when one believes the Scriptures.” The statements could be made, “Cancer is based on sin,” or, “Heart attacks are based on sin.”
God, who is the object of my faith, and the Scriptures, that are a lamp unto my feet, give me a different answer as to what is sin.
I have experience with mental illness that afflicted two individuals who were my companions. I have difficulty with the statement that their illness is based on sin. To me it is not debatable.
I know “fear.” I also know about praying. I know about “peace.” But to say they are healing factors is unreal to me. I have found peace, and it came by faith in God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit and not by logic, human understanding, or by the length of prayer.
Dale Geis
Norman, Okla.
Care for poor
During natural disasters and economic hard times, the world’s poor always suffer more than their due for the unfortunate happenings they did not cause.
Is there a single country in the world that is so pro-life it puts the needs of the living poor first? What might happen if the richest nations on earth decided to reverse the prevailing trickle-down economic model and invest the wealth in meeting the basic needs of the world’s poor majority?
Might not God, the Creator of all humankind, then answer nations’ prayers pleading for God’s blessings? Could it be the world economic crisis is really the result of a core moral and spiritual problem—greed?
Paul L. Whiteley
Louisville, Ky.
Church of Acts
Justin Martyr’s second-century description of a meeting where all gather, the Scripture is read and the president verbally instructs sounds familiar. The Apostle Paul’s description of a meeting featuring a song, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation or an interpretation sounds foreign.
The former describes a culturally influenced and dictated practice dividing clergy and laity, thus making a mockery of the priesthood of the believers. When meeting participation is limited to paid staff or directed worship teams and ordination is required to conduct baptisms or serve the Lord’s Supper, there is no priesthood of the believer.
Justin’s is an organization of hierarchy ruled by the elite, and Paul’s is an organism governed by Christ as its head.
Asking the pastor, “What do we believe?” is not the answer. God’s will for the church already has been revealed in the New Testament. Recognizing and rejecting the cultural influences and changes in the practice of faith is the start to experiencing church life as God intends. George Barna and Frank Viola’s book, Pagan Christianity, extensively documents these changes.
Many hunger for the vitality and love of the church as portrayed in Acts. It will not come by unbiblical reforms of unbiblical practices.
Baptists are the grayest religious group, so maybe with their passing a new generation will reject the failing status quo and embrace a paradigm shift where God’s will is pre-eminent and supersedes centuries of man-made traditions.
Ray Alger
Dallas
Next up: wasps
The pain and suffering intentionally perpetrated upon animals during rattlesnake roundups is unimaginable. Rattlesnakes only bite to defend themselves and actively avoid contact with humans. These fascinating reptiles are a critical part of a healthy ecosystem.
During roundups, dens and burrows are sprayed with gasoline, and snakes are ripped from their hollows with fishhook-tipped poles. The animals are jammed into sacks and garbage cans and left without food or water. When the killing begins, the snakes are bludgeoned, whipped against the floor or wall, or skinned alive. Others have their mouths sewn shut so they can be manhandled by the public and used as photo props.
These barbaric events are unconscionable and should be outlawed.
Jennifer O’Connor
Norfolk, Va.
Good Thursday
As you say, Good Friday is “the most awkwardly and confusingly named day of the year” (April 6). But it is not correct that Good Friday was “the day Jesus suffered and died on the cross.”
His own words are proof he died on Thursday! We need to read Jesus very carefully, for it was Jesus himself who said he would be three days and three nights in the tomb. He added the sign of Jonah to emphasize his words.
It is elementary arithmetic that Good Friday’s two days and two nights do not concur with Jesus’ three days and three nights. His very specific utterance can be matched only one way—Thursday!
Don’t our Bible scholars understand Jews always have observed the first day of Passover as a “Special Sabbath,” (John 19:31), and whenever that day falls on a Friday, it always was and still is customary for Jews to observe a double Sabbath, beginning sunset Thursday and ending sunset Saturday?
Every Orthodox Jew has known that and knows it today. Jesus was a Jewish rabbi. Why do our scholars ignore that, not accept it as fact?
Jesus is risen from the dead, as he said. Jesus died for us on Thursday, as he said.
Val Borum
Fort Worth
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