Posted: 5/30/03

GEORGE FOREMAN:
Heaven-bound heavyweight

George Foreman, two-time former heavyweight boxing champion and globally renowned corporate spokesman, is also an ordained minister and founder of the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston.

Q:

In your book, you talk about your childhood–how you were raised in extreme poverty and had to learn everything the hard way. What was it like for you growing up?

I was raised in a one-parent home, and my mother had to work two jobs. When you're in a single-parent home, they try to give you a good foundation, but by the time you're 4 or 5 years old, from that point on you're pretty much on your own. You get your hand burned, and you learn not to put your hand on the fire. So everything I learned I had to learn the hard way. There are seven of us total, I'm number five of seven kids, four boys and three girls. Most of my childhood I was raised in the city of Houston, where I am now. But I started my boxing career in California.

Q:

How did you get started in boxing? What motivated you?

After I dropped out of junior high school, I heard a commercial–a great football player by the name of Jim Brown said if you're looking for a second chance, join the Job Corps. And I was looking for a second chance–I was in big trouble anyway–and I joined. That's where I started a basic education and vocational program. I studied electronic assemblies in the Job Corps.

One day there was a fight being broadcast between Muhammad (Ali)–he was Cassius Clay then–and he was fighting Floyd Patterson. All the kids said, “George, you're a bully; why don't you be a boxer?” And I just took the challenge. I said, “OK, I'll show you.” Just to prove it for myself, I went out for boxing.

I didn't like it; I really didn't like it. But the boxing coach, Doc Broadus, liked me. He said, “Look, if you stop fighting in the streets and the alleys, you could be an Olympic champion.” I had no idea what an Olympic champion was. He stayed on my back, and I went back to California to work for the Job Corps center, and I learned how to box. In 1968, I became a gold medalist in Mexico City.

That was the highlight of my whole athletic career. I was a 19-year-old boy who had never had a dream come true before, and there I am standing on the platform with the medal around my neck, and I hear the national anthem in the background–there's never been anything like that in my life since.

Q:

You've been through a lot of ups and downs in your boxing career. What effect did losing have on you? Was it as important as winning?

In 1973, I became heavyweight champion of the world with 38 victories, no defeats as a professional. You get to a point where you think you cannot lose. I felt like I had the greatest power with my fists, I was the strongest man in the world. I kept winning fights, but then I lost to Ali in Zaire, Africa.

It devastated me. It really did have a great effect on me. I told everybody I was going to be heavyweight champion of the world forever, and I was the strongest man alive. And I lost in Zaire. In 10 seconds, my whole life was changed. One day people walking by you were afraid to even ask you a question, and the next day they're patting you on the back with pity. That was devastating. It changed my life.

Q:

But you regained the heavyweight championship.

Twenty years after I lost. I was 45–the oldest ever to do so.

Nobody believed it. They said, “George Foreman is gonna get himself hurt; he's too old.” I heard it all. But one thing I always had going for me, I knew how to box, I always knew how to box. I gave it up to become a preacher, but not because I couldn't do it anymore. Just that the higher calling penetrated my life.

Q:

You're talking about the religious awakening you had in 1977?

I didn't believe in religion, but I knew there was a God somewhere.

Everybody I knew who was in (religion) always seemed like they were running from something. So I wasn't going to take it up. But that night in Puerto Rico, I had my last boxing match in 1977 with Jimmy Young. I lost a decision, a split decision, went back to my dressing room to cool off, and that's when it all started happening.

I started thinking, I could go home and retire, I got money, I could retire right now to my ranch and die. And before I knew it, that had taken over my whole conversation–you're gonna die. I realized I was going to die in that dressing room from a boxing match.

I thought silently, because I thought if I revealed to anyone in the room what I was thinking that they was gonna figure I was depressed because I lost the decision. So I kept it in. And right within my thoughts I heard a voice within me that said: “You believe in God. Why are you scared to die?” And I was scared; … I didn't want to die. I mean, I didn't think that could happen to me so I started jumping up and down, saying: “I'm not gonna die; I got everything to live for.”

I tried to make a deal with the voice–I'm champion of the world, I'm George Foreman, I can still give money to charity and cancer. I heard an answer right in my thoughts: “I don't want your money. I want you.” And that's when I knew I was about to die.

I said, “God, I believe in you, but not enough.” When I said that, there was a deep dark nothing over my head, under me, all around me was just a dump yard of every sad thought I ever had in my life, multiplied like nothing. And I was dead, and I could smell death, and it was just the most horrible thing. It was like someone dropped me off in the deep sea–no help–there was no way I could get out of this.

And I said, as a tough man, I've always been tough, I said, “I don't care if this is death, I still believe there's a God.” When I said that, a gigantic hand snatched me out of this “nothing,” and I was lying in the dressing room bleeding, blood flowing through my veins. And evidently they had picked me up off the floor in the dressing room and laid me on the table, because that's where I was and everybody was standing around me crying, and I said to my doctor: “Move your hands. The thorns on his head are making him bleed.”

I saw blood coming down my forehead, and I hadn't been hit in the boxing match. And I told my masseur, Mr. Fuller, “You move your hand because he's bleeding and they crucified him.” And I started screaming words I never screamed before–that Jesus Christ was coming alive in me. And I jumped in the shower, started screaming, “Hallelujah, I'm clean, I'm born again, I'm going out to save the world!” and they said, “You better put on some clothes first.”

I tried to explain it away as much as I could–you got hit too hard, you're hot, I didn't believe in religion, Jesus, I never even thought it existed.

Q:

You were running away from it?

Religion was for depressed people, just an excuse if you didn't have anything else. So here I was embarrassed because my friends, we made fun of religion.

After that experience, I was still a top contender, but I just couldn't go back into the gym. I didn't know what to do with my life. And I started telling this story … and people started calling me “brother” and I was ordained at the Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Houston at the end of 1978 as an evangelist. I started traveling to hospitals and prisons and telling this story. Eventually, I started preaching weddings and funerals. That's been the story of my life. I never intended to be a preacher, never!

I started a youth center, my brother-in-law and I, in Houston, for the kids to hang out. Finally I was broke, I would have to close the youth center if I didn't quickly move. The only way I knew how to make money and not to beg people for it was to be a boxer again. It hurt me to take my shirt off again and be a boxer but it was the only profession I had. And that's why I went back.

Q:

Was it hard for you, believing in Christianity, which emphasizes peace, to take up boxing, with all the violence that's involved?

That was a hard thing for me. When I started the youth center, some parents wanted me to get their kid interested in boxing. I said: “Look, I'm a preacher. I'm not going to be helping boxers; that's nothing but ignorance and violence.” And then one day I inquired about the kid, and (learned) he robbed a store in my neighborhood. The storekeeper shot his friend, and he shot the storekeeper. All these lives were devastated because I didn't want to look like a backslider. I said, “I can't help this kid, but I'll never let another get away from me.”

Q:

What do you pray for?

You know this peace I found in 1977? More than anything, I pray to keep it. When I was about to die in that dressing room, all I could think of was I didn't say goodbye to my mother, I hadn't gotten a chance to embrace my kids, there were friends I forgot to say I'm sorry to. I had a second chance to live, and I'm constantly embracing my loved ones. My friends know that they're my friends–even my enemies know that they're my friends. All I pray is to be consistently like this all the days of my life.

I never pray for things–just to consistently be the same way I am. I never get upset about what I read in the newspaper. I realize that every human being can make a difference in this world. Just make certain that I'm consistently making a difference.

Q:

What's your relationship like with Ali?

We've become great friends. Muhammad Ali and I–I love him like a little brother. I'm always talking the Bible to him and he's saying, “Uh-oh, here he comes!”

Q:

Does Ali ever come back and quote the Koran to you?

Never, never. It's always like, “George, if God wants me to know about it, he'll tell me; don't do it, George, don't!” That kind of thing.

Q:

Is there any minister that you admire as a role model?

There are so many guys who do so many good things. I hate to say just ministers. There are so many people out there who do so many good things. Dr. Robert Schuller, I told him what happened to me … I said, “I know you may think I'm crazy but I'm telling you I was dead.” He said, “George–I'm a reverend and I'm a psychologist, and I believe you.” I've never forgotten that.

That was all I needed. From then I started running. I thanked him in my book for being a good corner man–to push you off the stool when you don't want to go on. In the ring sometimes when a guy is whipping you bad, you sit on your stool and you say to your corner man, “I think I had enough.” And it takes a strong trainer to pick you up and say, “Get back out there; don't you quit!”

Interview by Wendy Schuman of Beliefnet. Distributed by Religion News Service.

Posted: 5/30/03

House prayer led by gay pastor

WASHINGTON (RNS)–For the first time, a pastor affiliated with the nation's largest primarily gay denomination has offered the opening prayer in the House of Representatives.

Steven Torrance, a police chaplain in Key West, Fla., and a pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church, offered the prayer May 1, which also was designated the National Day of Prayer.

“Help us to secure justice and equality for every human being; help us bring an end to division, and continue to build our country on peace and love,” Torrance prayed in the House chambers.

Posted: 5/30/03

Gay-right protestors target SBC again

By Bob Allen

EthicsDaily.com

For the fourth consecutive year, homosexual-rights activists are organizing a presence at the Southern Baptist Convention to protest anti-homosexuality rhetoric by the convention.

This year's demonstration will contrast with a strong push promoting traditional families at the SBC annual meeting, scheduled June 17-18 in Phoenix. A Kingdom Family Rally on the eve of the convention will set the stage for introduction of a new SBC standard for Christian families, described as the “Seven Pillars of a Kingdom Family.”

Mel White, executive director of Soulforce, a religious organization that supports gay rights, wrote SBC President Jack Graham May 7 requesting a meeting.

Graham's predecessor as SBC president, James Merritt, rebuffed similar requests to meet with White the last two years, prompting Soulforce to escalate protests at last year's SBC annual meeting in St. Louis. A dozen Soulforce protestors were arrested inside the convention hall while attempting to disrupt the meeting. Another 38 were arrested for trespassing.

In his letter to Graham, White implied similar action this year.

Gay-rights protests have become a staple at the SBC annual meeting since Soulforce sponsored its first demonstration at the 2000 gathering in Orlando, Fla. Soulforce protestors claim Southern Baptist attitudes against homosexuality contribute to discrimination and violence against gays.

Soulforce's presence has prompted counter-demonstrations from Fred Phelps, an independent Baptist pastor from Topeka, Kan., known for his inflammatory message, “God Hates Fags,” displayed on placards and a website.

Posted: 5/19/03

San Angelo church builds a mission project in parking lot

By George Henson

Staff Writer

SAN ANGELO–Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo may be setting a record for the shortest distance ever traveled on a mission trip. This mission is taking shape on the church parking lot.

Church volunteers are building a three-bedroom Habitat for Humanity house. But instead of building it on-site, as most Habitat groups do, the San Angelo church is constructing its house on cinder blocks in the parking lot. The house will be moved after completion.

The project has been undertaken in conjunction with celebration of the church's 25th anniversary later this year.

“We wanted to do more than celebrate,” said Dwain Dodson, who is overseeing the construction. “We wanted to do something outside the walls of the church, and the idea of a Habitat house really caught on as a mission project.”

Pastor Bill Shiell concurred the congregation felt that more than a celebration was in order.

“People like to throw birthday parties for themselves, but we wanted to throw one for our community,” he said. “We can in no way repay what has been done for us over the last 25 years, but we wanted to show our appreciation.”

The Habitat house is scheduled to be only the first of 25 mission projects the church does to celebrate its anniversary.

Church leaders decided to erect the house on the parking lot to increase involvement, Dodson said. “Having it here at the church has really stirred up some enthusiasm.”

That enthusiasm hasn't been limited to the church's members alone. After the first day of construction, the local Habitat office said it received more calls than ever before from individuals curious about what was going on and from other groups in the community wanting to know how they could become involved. The church is located on heavily traveled Loop 306.

To raise the $30,000 needed to build the house, church members collected offerings large and small, mainly small.

For publicity, organizers broke down expenses to bite-size pieces, illustrating, for example, that a donation of 28 cents was important because it would pay for one of the 216 joist hangers.

“Building this house is the best thing that I have ever done with a church,” Shiell said. “It's is so hard to get people's hands on missions, but to have children give $2.50 for a 2 x 4 stud, and then to see that stud become a part of someone's house, that's when missions becomes real.”

Children and youth classes took those studs and then drew hearts and crosses and wrote Scripture verses and religious sayings such as “'Jesus loves you' on them.” Some of those were brought forward in an April dedication service in which the presenters and the choir wore yellow hard hats.

“It was quite compelling,” Shiell recalled. “It was really a joyful time.”

The only hard part, Dodson reported, is finding a good place to cut those inscribed boards.

The house will be dedicated and church members will prayerwalk around it and through it Aug. 16. It then will be moved about three miles to its permanent location at a cost estimated to be under $1,500.

Southland members plan to build a second Habitat house in the near future as well. When they do, they hope to partner with another church that doesn't have the funds necessary to build their own house so that the blessing can be shared and a relationship fostered.

Posted: 5/19/03

Hispanic School OKs 2008 plans

SAN ANTONIO–Trustees of Hispanic Baptist Theological School approved final preparations to purchase an 82-acre tract across I-35 from the school's current facilities.

Meeting May 6, the board also elected a vice president for advancement, approved the first graduating class with bachelor of arts degrees, approved a strategic plan for 2003-2008 and granted the first sabbatical leave in the school's history.

The property purchase previously was affirmed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Education Coordinating Board.

Arnie Adkison was named vice president for advancement.
Since 1996, he has been director of the Far West Texas Fellowship of Christian Athletes in El Paso, where he carried primary fund-raising responsibilities.

Adkison has served as pastor of Loma Terrace Baptist Church and Pueblo Nuevo Church in El Paso for 11 years and has served on the student ministry committee of El Paso Baptist Association.

The school's first-ever sabbatical leave was granted to Fermin Flores, who has taught at HBTS for 32 years.

The new strategic plan outlines six focus areas related to governance, institutional advancement, academics, student services, facilities and administration.

The plan builds on previously announced goals to enroll 500 full-time equivalent students by 2008 and build a new student center, learning resource center and other facilities.

Other goals of the strategic plan call for:

Increasing the annual fund to $1 million in contributions by 2006.

Raising $18 million in two capital campaigns by 2008.

Increasing endowment to fund 10 percent of the annual operating budget by 2008.

Hiring an alumni director.

Adding degrees in general studies, leadership, media arts and education.

Developing language programs in Spanish, French and Arabic.

Creating off-campus classrooms in other Texas cities.

Mobilizing all students on annual mission trips.

Establishing a campus child-care center, clinic and counseling center.

Posted: 5/19/03

Iraqi Christians fear for safety

By Mark Mueller

Religion News Service

BAGHDAD, Iraq (RNS)–Two weeks ago, Raad Karim Essa arrived home from work to find his furniture on the street. His Muslim landlord wasn't renting to Christians anymore.

“He told us not to argue and threatened us,” said Essa, 42, a father of four. “He said the government was no longer here to protect us. What could we do? We feared for our lives.”

"The Muslims want to destroy us," said Amira Nisan, 38, Essa's wife. "I think we were better off under Saddam."

Such a sentiment is voiced increasingly today among Iraq's 800,000 Christians.

Like most of their countrymen, Christians greeted the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with celebration and hope. But in little more than a month, their desire for greater religious freedom has been replaced by fear of the fundamentalism rippling through Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, which has moved quickly to exert its influence after decades of violent repression.

Christian women say they've been harassed by Shiite men for walking on the street without head scarves, and priests complain that Shiite clerics inflame religious hatred by calling for the expulsion from Iraq of “non-believers.”

The most overt acts have been directed at Iraq's liquor stores and manufacturers, almost universally run by Christians. The owners of those facilities say they've been threatened with death for selling alcohol, forbidden under a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

"I'm afraid for my people," said Bishop Ishlemon Warduni, the religious leader of Iraq's Chaldean community, which represents about 80 percent of the nation's Christians. The remaining 20

A woman attends mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Baghdad. Some Iraqi Christians fear persecution by Shiite Muslims, who have more freedom to practice their religion since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. (Noah Addis/RNS Photo)

percent is comprised mostly of Syrians, Assyrians and Armenians.

“During the war, we were not afraid like we are now,” said Warduni, 60. “All Christians are in danger.”

Warduni recently expressed his concerns in a letter to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. On May 13, the bishop was to make his case in a meeting with Jay Garner, the retired U.S. Army general who has been administering Iraq.

“We would like a guarantee of our rights, our freedom and our protection,” Warduni said. “We have a 2,000-year history in Iraq, and that is now threatened. The fanatics would see us gone.”

The worries are most pronounced in southern Iraq, a Shiite stronghold where clerics have issued the most strident calls for the creation of an Islamic republic. Underscoring the dangers, the Christian owners of two liquor stores were shot to death the first week of May in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, after rebuffing demands to shutter their shops.

But religious tensions are high and rising in Baghdad as well.

"Ten days ago was better than a week ago, and a week agowas better than today," Warduni said. "I have no doubt that tomorrow will be worse. We're losing what little protection we had."

Under Saddam, Christians were permitted to worship but not to publicly express their views or proselytize. It also was forbidden to give children Christian names.

While those strictures have been swept aside, Christians say they feel even less free in the face of growing Shiite pride and power. In the chaotic days after Baghdad's fall, Shiite clerics sent armed followers to patrol neighborhoods and to safeguard schools and hospitals from looting.

Still under Shiite control, some of those hospitals now bear signs ordering any woman seeking treatment to wear a head scarf.

The relationship between Muslims and Christians has grown more sensitive with the profusion of new mosques. In almost every Baghdad neighborhood, vacant buildings and former government offices have been converted into Shiite houses of worship

The relationship between Muslims and Christians has grown more sensitive with the profusion of new mosques. In almost every Baghdad neighborhood, vacant buildings and former government offices have been converted into Shiite houses of worship.

Posted: 5/19/03

He Said/ She Said:
The award

“Mrs. Wingfield, this is Denise May at Moss Haven.” That greeting on our home answering machine started my heart pumping. Mrs. May is our assistant principal in charge of discipline. “Oh, no, I thought, who's in trouble? What did one of my sons do?”

All that went through my mind in the split second before the message continued, ” … there's nothing wrong.”

Mrs. May must be used to my previous reactions. She continued, “Garrett wanted to share some good news with you, so if you get this message in the next half hour, please call me back.”

Hmm. She had left the message around 11:30 a.m. and it

was already 2:30 p.m., so I figured it was too late to call and find out what was going on. As I reviewed what was happening that day, I remembered Garrett was going to be in a contest as part of the school district's trip to hear two high school symphonic bands play. He had won the contest for fifth graders at our school, which was a listening game. The students had to guess which instrument they were hearing. Garrett guessed all but one right, so he got to represent our school at this concert.

So, I guessed that Garrett had probably done well in the contest. When I picked him up from school, I coyly asked him why he wanted to talk with me in the middle of the day.

“I won, Mom! Where were you?” he asked. I explained that I was sorry, but I hadn't been home when he called. I was naturally thrilled that he had wanted to share the good news with me. But that bubble quickly burst. I found out the real reason he had asked Mrs. May to call: As part of his reward, he got a free meal from McDonald's. He wanted me to pick it up for him right then.

I was thrilled when I found out he also had won tickets to the Dallas Symphony and a $50 savings bond. He was thrilled with McDonald's french fries. Ah, the simplicity of youth.

HE SAID:

Well, the final truth of the matter explains why when the school secretary called me at work looking for Alison, Garrett wasn't interested in talking to me. I, too, inferred from the conversation that Garrett must have done well in the competition. But I couldn't understand why if the school was calling, he wouldn't get on the line and tell me he had won.

I just thought the school secretary thought I was chopped liver.

Truth is, Garrett was more interested in the Fren

MARK WINGFIELD

ch Fries than anything else.

This is a child, however, who won't eat the hamburgers at McDonald's, won't eat the Chicken McNuggets, won't eat anything except the fries.

At least he knows what he wants–which almost always has been the case. He likes to wear specific colors (orange being his first choice) and do things in specific ways. He wants to eat specific foods and those foods only.

Trouble arises when his idea of what he likes conflicts with generally accepted concepts of good taste. We've had to restrain him at times from going to church decked out in three clashing shades of blue.

“Those colors don't go together,” I'll say.

“They look good to me,” he'll reply.

“But they clash,” I'll shoot back.

“It looks good to me, so that's what's important,” he'll retort.

Chalk one up for courage.

Let's just pray he's able to retain that sense of determination and independence when the peer pressures increase in the years ahead.

Posted: 5/21/03

Commission urges religious freedom in Iraq

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged President Bush to maintain his commitment to religious freedom for all Iraqis.

“Now that Saddam Hussein has been ousted, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom believes strongly it is essential to ensure that the Iraqi people can exercise their religious freedom in full accordance with international human rights standards,” commission members wrote Bush in a letter dated April 28. “The United States can help this become a reality.”

The commission expressed its concern that U.S. leadership is needed to prevent ethnic and sectarian violence and other human rights violations against Iraq's diverse religious communities.

“The recent murders of Shiite clerics could be the harbinger of further violence within and between religious groups,” they wrote. “Now is the time to prevent such an outcome.”

In a speech Monday in Dearborn, Mich., the president included the issue of religious freedom in his comments about the future of Iraq.

“Whether you're Sunni or Shia or Kurd or Chaldean or Assyrian or Turkoman or Christian or Jew or Muslim–no matter what your faith–freedom is God's gift to every person in every nation,” he said.

Posted: 5/21/03

Charitiees find donors cool to Iraq aid

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Charities ramping up U.S. campaigns to benefit war-torn Iraq are finding the early fund-raising climate much cooler than the 100-degree temperatures troops faced in the desert.

The reason? Many potential donors haven't yet perceived a compelling need.

“Iraq has not resonated with the American public as an object of private philanthropy,” said Richard Walden, president of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based relief group. “If we could put the solution in a bottle, we would.”

Experts offer a variety of explanations for the sluggish start:

The war hasn't caused the full-blown humanitarian crisis many had expected. The United Nations, for example, had predicted up to 1.5 million Iraqi refugees would flee for neighboring countries. Dozens of charities have been at the borders, waiting with help, but only a handful of refugees have come.

Journalists fixated for weeks on battlefield news are just beginning to tell the heart-wrenching people stories that motivate donors.

Many charities, unable to enter the country during the war, are only now assessing Iraqi problems, much less prescribing specific solutions that some donors–especially large ones–require before giving generously.

Some Americans figure that whatever problems do emerge are the responsibility of their government, which has already committed billions of dollars for relief and reconstruction.

But the $2.5 billion approved by Congress “is just a drop in the bucket when you look at the needs of Iraq,” said Bathsheba Crocker, co-director of a project on postwar Iraq at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Charities play an indispensable role, helping people in ways government cannot, especially in this early stage of recovery when many Iraqis lack safe water and competent medical care, Crocker said.

Still, it's a tough sell.

Mercy Corps hopes to raise $2 million for Iraq in two months. In 21 days, it raised slightly more than $280,000–despite a radio and television advertising blitz, the latter on Al-Jazeera in an attempt to capture the attention of Arab and Muslim Americans.

The group's 1999 efforts for war-torn Kosovo, by comparison, garnered $1.6 million in the first 21 days.

A big difference between the two is the media, officials believe. In Kosovo, television showed thousands of refugees leaving their homes in fear. In Iraq, the main problem has been people staying in their homes without suitable water–a far less compelling story.

“Unfortunately, the images folks are seeing on the TV lately are of Iraqis looting their country, which is not likely to prompt people to dig deeply into their pockets,” said James Bishop, director of humanitarian response for InterAction, an alliance of 160 international relief and development groups based in the United States.

Some charities simply say the right time for major fundraising has not arrived.

Atlanta-based CARE already is working in Baghdad, restoring electricity, for example, to the 1,200-bed Al Yarmuk General Hospital, which was shelled during the war. But CARE has decided to create a detailed assessment of Iraqis' problems and the charity's solutions before making its pitch.

“We could go out and be very vague right now and say CARE will respond, just give to help Iraq,” said Brian Cowart, CARE's director of direct marketing. “But our donors expect us to be more specific.”

Posted: 5/21/03

Iraqi Christians appeal for religious freedom

VATICAN CITY (RNS)–Iraq's Christian patriarchs and bishops have appealed for full religious, social and political freedom for the Christian descendants of the prophet Abraham in Iraq's new regime.

The Vatican issued the text of a joint statement made in Baghdad by leaders of the Chaldean, Assyrian, Syrian, Armenian, Greek and Latin rite churches in Iraq, where Muslims make up 90 percent of the population of 23 million.

The leaders said they hoped that “all the Iraqi people, who have known a long history marked by conflicts and successes, may live without distinction of religion or race in liberty, justice and respect in inter-religious and multiethnic coexistence.”

Emphasizing Iraq's ancient culture, the leaders referred to the code that Hammurabi, king of Babylon, etched in stone, making law “the basis of the development of civilization,” and to Abraham of Ur, who became “the father of a multitude of peoples.”

It was in Iraq, they said, that Christianity and Islam met in “a respectful reciprocal coexistence.”

“By virtue of our origins as part of the most ancient people of this Earth, we demand for us and for all those who today inhabit it–constituting a majority or minority, united by a long history of coexistence–to live as full members in a state of law in peace, liberty, justice and equality according to the Charter of the Rights of Man,” the leaders said.

Iraq's new constitution must recognize Christians' “religious, cultural, social and political rights,” allow all citizens to take part in government, give Christians full citizenship and guarantee them full religious rights, the statement said.

The leaders said they wanted specific guarantees of “the right to profess our faith according to our ancient traditions and our religious norms, the right to educate our children according to Christian principles, and the right to organize freely, to build places of worship and, when necessary, other spaces for cultural and social activities.”

Posted: 5/19/03
LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for June 1

The gospel never should be compromised

Galatians 1:1-12

By Jim Perkins

Madison Hills Baptist Church, San Antonio

We live in an era when our actions and responses are directed quite often by a type of political correctness and cultural sensitivity that results in a canvas painted with a colorless gospel. Not so with the Apostle Paul–his is an uncompromising stance concerning the gospel message that leaves no doubt as to his confidence in salvation through faith in Christ.

Understand the basics

The foundation for the letter to the Galatians is firmly planted on the bedrock of two vital truths. First, the apostleship of Paul arose through a direct commission and assignment from God. His was a calling that came not from man, but literally “by Jesus Christ and God the Father” (1:1). This conviction expressed in verse 1 allowed Paul both to affirm the essential unity between the Father and the Son and to point back to the source of authority for stating his position that salvation is through Christ alone.

Second, Paul left no doubt as to the purpose and effect of Christ's coming. In 1:4, Paul stated Jesus Christ "gave himself for our sins" in order to "rescue us from the present evil age." Our salvation, t

hen, is dependent on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ–the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross that brought forgiveness for sins. That we are dependent on Christ and not our own abilities becomes evident in Paul's choice of the word "rescue." One who must be rescued has no innate ability and harbors no hope that he or she might be able to save themselves.

Reject perversions

Most would say the letter to the Galatians is a type of “pastoral letter” sent from a concerned spiritual mentor (the Apostle Paul) to churches in that region facing crises or needs–and especially here the danger of a compromised gospel. In addition, it becomes obvious that this letter and other Pauline writings also served the wider purpose to ground and instruct the churches in appropriate doctrine and Christian ethics.

The immediate crisis facing the Galatians was the “confusion” produced by those who sought to “pervert the gospel of Christ” by introducing a different gospel that was “no gospel at all” (1:7). Paul considered this insidious perversion of the gospel to be capable of causing the Galatian believers to desert “the one who called you by the grace of Christ” (1:6).

The source of this false and perverted gospel was a specific group, the “some people” of verse 7. Most interpreters posit these people were Judaizers, or people who believed and taught that Gentiles had to have faith in Christ and obey certain tenets of the Jewish law–especially circumcision–to be saved. One might call this perversion of the gospel a “Jesus plus” mentality: Faith in Jesus is good, but there is still more needed to complete or perfect your salvation.

Paul, on the other hand, knew this change in the gospel was not just a compromise capable of promoting inclusiveness. No, this was a perversion of the gospel message that substituted a “different gospel.” Here the word Paul used for “different” in verse 6 probably meant much more than “different so as to be only a subtle variation”; instead, it signified “different so as to be of a whole different kind or category.” Without any reservations, then, Paul insisted this non-gospel must be rejected because it is simply not genuine.

Affirm the source

Paul was extremely careful to explain the source of his preaching concerning the good news of Jesus Christ. This “gospel I preached” was most definitely not a gospel of man's invention, nor was it even the result of the teaching of another apostle (1:11-12). No, what Paul taught was nothing less than the truth revealed to him by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This begs the question, however, as to exactly when Jesus Christ revealed this gospel message to Paul. Most interpreters agree in pointing back to the Damascus road experience as the life-changing, formative occasion in Paul's Christian experience (read Acts 9). It was during Paul's trip to that city–a trip undertaken to expand the persecution of Christians–that Jesus revealed himself and the basic content of the gospel message.

This is not to say that Paul abstained totally from any conversation with the other apostles, or believers such as Ananias or Barnabas. It does mean, though, that the interpretation or significance of the facts related to the gospel came from Jesus Christ alone.

Questions for discussion

Do you believe the temptation or pressure to compromise the gospel message still exists today? In what form is pressure most likely to be experienced?

Draw up a “general guiding principle” you could apply to your experiences of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Look to Galatians 1:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:15 for guidance.

Posted: 5/19/03
LifeWay Family Bible Series for June 1

An urgent summons for evangelistic field hands

Matthew 9:35-38; Romans 10:14-15; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

By Tim Owens

First Baptist Church, Bryan

When Jesus looked upon the multitudes in Matthew 9:35-38, his heart was moved with love and compassion. He pictured the crowds of people as a flock of sheep–hopeless, helpless and exhausted. He also pictured an abundant harvest–a huge, overripe field of grain that needed to be gathered in.

What is Jesus' diagnosis as he looks out at the cities, towns and neighborhoods of Texas? He still observes a multitude of helpless sheep and a field of overripe grain. And perhaps, most importantly, he still challenges his people to pray for laborers to harvest the overripe field.

Jesus says in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Why does this situation persist year after year? Church attenders are many. Seminars and conferences are many. Programs are many. Evangelistic laborers are few. Why is there a shortage of evangelistic field hands?

First, the devil attacks God's people at the point of laboring f

or Christ. Try to imagine the impact of a church if every member was a dedicated laborer for Christ. Try to imagine the impact of a church if every member, upon leaving the sanctuary each Sunday, went out into the world with the consuming desire to make Christ known to others. The impact of such a labor force would be immeasurable.

The devil knows this, and thus, this is where he concentrates his efforts. He leads Christians to bicker among themselves over internal issues, so they will lose their focus on the external issue of people living and dying without Christ. He leads Christians to spend their time on many good activities, while they leave the very best activity undone.

The most effective source of power to counter-attack the devil is prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 9:38: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” The battle in which Christians are engaged is a spiritual battle, and a spiritual battle must be fought with the spiritual weapon of prayer. God's people can pray Satan's efforts to retard the growth of evangelistic laborers will be overcome. Jesus implies that if his people will pray this prayer, he will answer their prayer by raising up more laborers.

A second reason there is a shortage of evangelistic field hands is that there is something inherently unpleasant about the idea of being a common laborer. People by nature want to be supervisors, managers, directors or executives, but not common laborers.

The word “workers” in Matthew 9:37 is the word for “field hand.” It refers to an agricultural worker. In the physical realm, the world does not get fed unless the field hands do their work. In the spiritual realm, the world does not hear about Christ unless the spiritual field hands do their work.

Romans 10:14-15 says plainly, “How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'”

The spiritual grain is ripe. It must be brought in. Somebody must harvest the crop. Christians must decide there is nothing humiliating about being the one who brings others to faith in Christ.

A third reason there is a shortage of evangelistic field hands is that Christians fail to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. If Christians doubt prayerlessness is a major reason for the shortage of spiritual laborers, let them ask themselves: “What place does the prayer for spiritual workers occupy in our lives? Do we pray for evangelistic laborers?”

It is interesting to observe how Christians tend to treat the basic Christian disciplines. Instead of reading the Bible, they read books about the Bible. Instead of praying, they worry. Instead of laboring for Christ out in the world, they soothe their consciences by thinking or even saying, “That's why we pay the preacher.” Instead of praying for evangelistic laborers and participating in evangelistic harvesting, they occupy themselves with ecclesiastical busywork. Jesus' solution seems too simplistic–pray!

Two things will happen when Christians pray for evangelistic laborers. First, God will respond by raising up laborers. He will answer their prayers, because he desires far more than anybody to bring in the harvest. Christians must remember the harvest is comprised of people for whom Christ died. It is truly God's harvest.

Second, as Christians pray for laborers, their own hearts will become stirred to be some of those laborers. The love of Christ will compel them to go and share him with others (2 Corinthians 5:14). They will regard every human being from a spiritual point of view–that if anyone comes to faith in Christ, they will receive God's forgiveness and become brand new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:16,17). They will joyfully assume the role of ambassador for Christ–boldly speaking the message of reconciliation that “God made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Question for discussion

Do you agree with these reasons for more Christians not being more involved in the harvest, or do you have other suggestions?