Texas Baptist Forum

Dream Realized

What a historic occasion. Two hundred years after the birth of the signer of the Emancipation Proclamation and 80 years after the birth of the leader of the civil rights movement, America has its first African-American president. Even though Barack Obama wasn’t my candidate, I join with millions of Americans to celebrate this amazing episode in the life of America.

Only in America could a member of a minority group be elected leader of the nation. Sure, India’s prime minister is a Sikh in a nation overwhelmingly Hindu, but Manmohan Singh is still an Indian.

President Obama’s election, on the other hand, is different. His election is the fulfillment of the ideals of America and the hope of the Christian faith.

As an American, I rejoice in the realization of the founding fathers’ declaration that “all men are created equal.” But as a Christian, I am even more thankful that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for (we) are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Together as Christians, we should raise our voices in prayer for our new leader that God would give him wisdom to lead us through a very turbulent period in our nation’s history.

J.M. Givens Jr.

Altus, Okla.

A ‘General’ name

Ken Camp’s excellent summary of the origin of Baptists (Jan. 12) evokes a couple of observations:

First, the Landmark movement, which traced the origin of Baptists back to John the Baptist, is a case of misplaced name association. John’s baptism of repentance and Jesus’ baptism, which was a statement of his mission, were two different things. We are baptized to show forth Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, even as he was at the onset of his earthly ministry.

The Landmarkists also gave us the term “alien immersion,” referring to those baptized by non-Baptists, leading to the conclusion that Baptists are the only Christians who practice scriptural baptism, a position which I find reprehensible, though many Baptist churches cling to this position today.

Second, Camp also pointed out Calvinism came to Baptist life through the Particular Baptists, who believed that “Christ died only for the elect,” whereas the General Baptists “believed Christ died for all.”

Assuming the word “general” identifies us with those who believe “Christ died for all,” then why are we trying to omit it from our name? Some Southern Baptist leaders are hyper-Calvinists, leaving me to wonder who or what is really motivating this name change. Before dropping the word “General” from our name, shouldn’t we know why it was included in the first place?

If the word bears such doctrinal significance, then we should be interpreting it for the current generation, rather than deleting it because it doesn’t speak to them.

Paul Kenley

Lampasas

History debated

Baptists love dissent as much as they love tolerance. They just can’t abide dissenters or the intolerant (Jan. 12). Baptists do love to fight, but they no longer are an unrespectable group of society’s misfits. Enjoying prestige as a force of worldly power in our culture requires the casting out of dissenters in order to maintain conformity. …

The perpetuation of the myth of Roger Williams as the first Baptist in America is on par with the myth of George Washington and the cherry tree. Never let the truth interfere with a good story. Williams (was a) Baptist …, but only for a short time. I guess if he still was on their roll, he still was a Baptist.

Finally, as long as our Anabaptist heritage is debatable, Baptists can plead ignorance on the New Testament command to love one’s enemies. Baptists remind me of the congregation in Mark Twain’s War Prayer that failed to understand praying for “our” victory included an unspoken prayer for the death and destruction of “our” enemies. For all of the understanding and application of overcoming evil with good, the New Testament could have been left untranslated in the Greek.

Ray Alger

Dallas

What do you think? We value hearing from our readers. Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: [email protected]. Due to space, limit letters to 250 words, and only one letter per writer per quarter.