Posted: 11/10/06

TOGETHER:
Work together to share God’s grace

“Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Those are the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 6:2. He reveals the truth that God has smiled on the world, that there is a new hope come to humanity.

When Jesus was baptized, “heaven was opened” (Matthew 3:16). I heard Denton Lotz, leader of the Baptist World Alliance, say it was common before Jesus for people to believe that the heavens were closed except for a few. But God, in Christ, throws open the heavens. Now, all of us—Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female—are candidates for God’s grace.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

Or as Dallas Willard puts it in The Divine Conspiracy, “The really good news for humanity is that Jesus is now taking students in the master class of life.” Jesus invites us to enroll in this class and to learn from him. It is a class where we learn to become like our teacher. And there is no sign in the registration line that says, “Class closed.” There is a seat for everyone who wishes to enter.

Salvation is really about living. It is about leaving behind a shadow life that is centered on self and leads to death. It is about entering true life through acceptance of God’s gracious gift of forgiveness and empowerment of his Spirit to live a life of faith, hope and love.

This great gift of salvation is what Texas Baptists are all about. We have received this gift ourselves, and we are not content to enjoy it only among ourselves. We want others to experience what God gives to all who believe. Working together, we put feet to our faith, substance to our hope and zeal to our love.

Our annual meeting each fall is a time to gather, to celebrate our God-given mission and to plan for our efforts together. In Dallas this year, our purpose is no different.

Those who attend will participate in this purpose, and I trust they will feel a deeper sense of commitment to the work of their broader faith family. Throughout redemptive history, God has wanted his people to gather for times of worship, reflection and encouragement. We do this today regularly in our churches, and we do it once each year at our annual meeting.

There are, however, those of you who are unable to attend the annual meeting. You can still feel a connection to this magnificent family of faith. Just as first century readers rejoiced in hearing about the work of God’s people in other places as Paul and others wrote letters and reports, we can today be connected by reading and listening to reports of God’s work. The Baptist Standard and the BGCT website can help do this today.

As we focus right now on our annual meeting, we keep Paul’s words quoted above in mind. And note the phrase from the preceding verse, “As God’s fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.”

As we work together in Texas, we will not take God’s grace for granted, nor will we fail to share it. Together, we become a life-giving blessing in more ways and places than we could alone.

The promise of his saving favor is the good news that sends us across Texas and around the world.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

Degree of Difference Day draws Wayland workers

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—About 300 Wayland Baptist University students, faculty and staff donated a recent Saturday to community projects throughout the Plainview area as part of the school’s Degree of Difference Day.

Each volunteer worked at least five hours. Teams worked in construction on a Habitat for Humanity house; painted and made minor repairs for the College Hill Day Care Center, Wee Care Child Center, Whiteaker Youth Center, Plainview Christian Academy and Compassionate Care Preg-nancy Center; and did office work and organizational projects at the Hale County Crisis Center and Vista Care Hospice.

Wayland volunteers also picked up trash and weeds at the Plainview Cemetery and marked the graves of Civil War veterans; visited and entertained in three nursing homes; created pottery bowls for the Empty Bowls project for hunger relief; cheered on Special Olympics athletes; led a college day on campus for city Girl Scouts, including a basketball camp led by the Flying Queens; and built shelves and organized an office for the Hale County Historical Society.

Khrystyne Eckerd of Ruidoso, N.M., paints around the sink in a restroom at the Whiteaker Youth Center during the Wayland Baptist University day of service. Others in her team stripped and waxed floors in three large rooms in the center.

About 30 volunteers worked a marching band contest at Plainview’s Bulldog stadium, an event that lasted into the evening.

A small team spent their morning making sandwich sack lunches for the working crews and delivering them to each work site, and members of Pi Sigma Sigma math and science fraternity tutored junior high and high school students in the afternoon.

Students expressed excitement at being able to make an impact in Plainview, even if it meant doing a job they were not likely to take on normally.

“Working with mentally handicapped people is way out of my comfort zone,” said Melissa Knight, a freshman from Prosper. “I was a little apprehensive at first, but once I got there, I just did what I could do to help, and it became more comfortable.”

Other students found encouragement as they worked alongside students whom they didn’t know and saw the scope of projects the day entailed.

“Sometimes serving in my home church or here at Wayland, I get discouraged thinking I’m not doing a lot or being effective,” said Tamara Haney, a senior from Shallowater. “But today, God reminded me that I’m not alone. His work is always going on, and it encouraged me to continue to work and serve.”

By joining as one unit, students learned valuable lessons about the impact that service can make even in tasks that seem minuscule. Joanne Jacob, a freshman from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, had an encounter with a lonely resident at Care Inn that drove this lesson home.

“She was just extremely grateful that we went to see her. It’s amazing how much it means to someone when you spend a few hours visiting with them,” she said. “It touches your heart to see them so happy by your small sacrifice of a little time.”

Christi Shields, a freshman from Smyer, had a similar reflection.

“It helped me realize that the littlest of things mean so much to those receiving,” she said. “It means so much more when you do something for others for no money than when you do it to just get paid.”

Staff members working alongside Wayland students learned not only more about the population they serve in the workplace, but also more about the community. The students and their attitudes made an impression in particular on Mike Melcher, director of corporate development.

“This made me feel even better about the quality of students we have,” he said. “They were all eager to help and didn’t gripe and moan. Many times I was asked what else they could do. I’m proud of our kids.”

A residual goal of the service day, according to Hope English, co-organizer of the event, was that students would get “bit by the service bug” and want to continue serving. In that respect, the successes were many.

Wayland students Tim Barnes (left) and Joey Mowery (right) pull large stones from the driveway at Compassionate Care Pregnancy Center with help from Bobby Hall, provost at Wayland Baptist University, during the Degree of Difference Day of service.

“One student told me he’d be willing to go back (to College Hill Day Care) and do whatever was needed anytime. That’s what this was all about,” English said. “You hear about service a lot, but when you get in there and do it, you really get a feel for it. Serving others has brought me such joy, and we said that if we turned one kid on to service, it was worth it.”

Another group of students spent part of their day brainstorming how their group, the Kappa Delta Pi education honor society, could continue to serve the Hale County Crisis Center, calling their assignment a perfect fit.

“It is not what you do that matters but the reason you do it and what your heart is willing to give to that service,” said Rachel Stanfield, a freshman from Plainview. “I thought this day was really good. I’m glad I got out of bed for this.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

Singles seek soul mates on the Web

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—For spiritual singles seeking a soul mate in cyberspace, one pool of potential matches is about to get a lot bigger.

Beliefnet, whose spirituality website—Beliefnet.com—attracts 3.1 million users per month, announced it will connect its dating service users with those of Yahoo Personals, an online dating service based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! Personals will host Beliefnet’s Soulmatch dating venue.

The new arrangement gives users of Soulmatch access to as many as 5 million singles who troll for new connections each month on the Yahoo Personals site.

“For so many people, finding a soul match means connecting on a deep level—seeing what’s on the inside as well as on the outside,” said Steven Waldman, CEO and co-founder of Beliefnet.

“We want to help people who believe that spiritual connection is an important part of building a great relationship.”

Currently, women—who make up 60 percent of Beliefnet users—outnumber men on the Soulmatch website, Waldman said. But he expects “the partnership with Yahoo will even that out.”

Beliefnet’s agreement with Yahoo Personals comes at a time when social networking sites, such as MySpace, are demonstrating critical ability to attract large numbers of loyal visitors.

Beliefnet originally launched Soulmatch, Waldman said, after noticing “the tremendous popularity of advertising for spiritually oriented online dating on our site.”

Among those advertisers was eHarmony, an online dating service that attributes millions of matches to a process that explores such factors as core values, spiritual beliefs, passions and character. However, the Beliefnet-Yahoo site takes a somewhat different ap-proach from eHarmony, Waldman said. While eHarmony uses a mathematical formula to generate a list of potential matches, the Beliefnet-Yahoo site gives users the tools to make their own short lists.

This year, eHarmony expanded its service to include interactive tools for helping married couples nurture their relationship.

Beliefnet and Yahoo Personals are taking a similar step by offering “expert relationship and dating advice” on their site to help users “build strong relationships.”

“We believe a great spiritual dating site would offer a large community of daters, excellent search and matching tools, and superlative content about spiritual relationships,” said Anna Zornosa, vice president and general manager for Yahoo Personals.

“Our partnership with Beliefnet will give us the opportunity to provide all three elements to customers seeking spiritual chemistry.” News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

Youth ministers urged to
understand middle-school culture

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

ARLINGTON—Chaos, confusion and abandonment characterize youth culture today, a national youth ministry expert asserted. But he challenged Baptist youth ministers to help teens turn the chaos into the comfort Christ brings.

Christian author and youth ministry specialist Chap Clark, associate professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, urges youth ministers to spend time in the real world.

“Youth ministers cannot ignore the real picture of youth culture today—the pain, the unheard of conversations about sexual encounters and the fears of abandonment—if they want to reach teens for Christ,” Clark recently told participants at the Youth Ministry Conclave, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

To illustrate is point, Clark played a video clip from a Family Channel documentary called Middle School Confessions that showcased a growing trend in adolescent sexual activity.

Chap Clark

“Middle School Confessions is the best documentary on today’s adolescent and teen culture,” said Clark. “Watching even part of it—and movies such as Crash—can help youth ministers and parents understand what they face and how to better address youth.”

Crash is not just a movie about racial issues in Los Angeles, Clark noted, but a microcosm of today’s youth culture.

The documentary Middle School Confessions illustrates troubling issues, including disturbing pre-teen conversations about sex and fears of abandonment at earlier ages than ever before, Clark said.

“If we don’t know their culture, we can’t understand them and reach out to them in the name of Christ,” he said.

“We must understand the challenges they are facing.”

Having worked in youth ministry more than 30 years and written 20 books, Clark described how he has taken time to develop honest relationships with young people. He encourages youth ministers and parents to do the same.

In one of his most recent books, Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers, Clark details the results from a year-long study of a wide demographic of high school youth across the country. He found his conversations with high school students were a wake-up call.

“The results were riveting,” Clark said. “Some of our focus groups revealed that the words ‘faith’ and ‘God’ never came up in conversations with students, even those known to be Christians.”

Clark’s research also revealed the under layers of teen culture and illuminated the depths of angst, pressure and loneliness they feel because parents are either too busy or have encouraged a too stressful and busy life for their children.

“We’re raising kids in a MySpace world,” he said. “What you hear from today’s 6th and 7th graders is mesmerizing in what it tells us about today’s adolescents and teenagers. Things have changed drastically.”

Youth today walk a tightrope of adolescence from child to adult, but they spend an extended time in mid-adolescence—a phenomenon never seen before in history, he noted.

Clark believes youth have no reason to celebrate life as they struggle through the often painful, lonely battles of growing up.

The picture of “adolescence” is much more complex than it used to be. Clark pointed out that many scholarly studies indicate adolescence now starts before age 12 and lasts for a 15-year period compared to a 1980s timeline indicating a starting age of 13, which lasted about 10 years.

Clark suggested youth ministers may need to change many assumptions because the level of trust between teenagers and many youth ministers has hit a wall of callousness.

He recommends youth ministers implement a middle-school ministry sensitive to the wounds of this difficult time. Seek out the strongest young people and recruit their parents.

In a world where parents and teens idolize the best-looking, the cute cheerleader, the best football player, it is time for a wakeup call, he insisted.

Clark contends some adults have isolated teens because of a focus on adult interests by rewarding teens for adult-pleasing achievements such as being the best 9-year-old football player. The focus must be on the individual needs of youth.

Sharing a poem by a 13-year-old, Clark showed how teens are expressing their frustrations with life and their parents: “I don’t think you understand. … Scratch that—I know you don’t understand.”

“Adults, even the best of them, don’t get it,” Clark stressed. “This story is one of thousands of teenagers who are having universal experiences.”

When sexy images of teen actors and singers affect millions of young girls and boys, it’s time for youth ministers to get parents on board, Clark said.

“Get the sharpest parent in the church on board,” he urged.

Consider holding a community seminar to invite all parents to get involved.

“We’re missing. Kids are more confused than ever before, and they need the love and support of Christ,” Clark emphasized. “They are in a 15-year process where they don’t know who they are and are totally alone. God is healing in the midst of cultural chaos. We must do the same.”

Pinpointing a few tips for growing youth ministry, Clark suggested:

• Stress that Jesus Christ—not the church, not ministry—is Lord and do so with gentleness and kindness.

• Ask yourself, “Do you respect kids enough to be gentle with them?”

• Go out and bring Jesus Christ to their campus.

• Love in clusters. Create friendships and a family.

• Give young people a reason to celebrate.

• The youth meeting starts when the first kid shows up and ends when the last kid is in bed—when you’ve sent or received that last text message before a kid goes to sleep.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Thanksgiving list

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, pondering life as I know it on this rainy day. Another Sunday has folded its page on the calendar, and Thanksgiving soon arrives. I love the Lord, Sundays, the church and have so much for which to give thanks.

Actually, I was thinking about that first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has its roots in the harvest home celebrations that took place in England before the Pilgrims ever arrived on the sand and shores of America. Thirty-eight English settlers docked the shores of the James River at the Berkley plantation in what is today known as Charles City, Va. The settlers declared, a “Day of thanksgiving to God” after their torturous ride across the Atlantic. Later, another group of Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock on Dec. 11, 1620, and then further south at Cape Cod, Mass. I can only imagine that first, harsh winter in New England. The snow, the questions, the death as they lost about half their settlers, the grief, the misery, the agony, the anger, the longing for home, the joy, and even the adventure of the new land.

In the spring of 1621, the Indians, led by Samorset, of the Wampanoag tribe, and Squanto, of the Patuxtet tribe, taught the pilgrims to plant corn or “maize,” to harvest alewives of the herring family, and to fertilize for crops like peas, wheat, barley and pumpkins. The following autumn, Gov. William Bradford and the Pilgrims organized a harvest festival in appreciation for the help of the Indians. About 90 or so Pilgrims and Indians gathered and celebrated a time of thanksgiving amid a feast of vegetables and wild fowl like geese in the spirit of thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated with no afternoon Dallas Cowboys football, no pecan pie, no family squabbles and probably not even a turkey. Another thanksgiving celebration did not take place in New England for 55 years, “the silent years,” as I call them.

Later, the governing council of Charleston, Mass., announced a thanksgiving proclamation on June 20, 1676, declaring a day of thanksgiving on June 29, 1676. The U.S. Continental Congress declared Thanksgiving Day on the 28th of November, a Thursday, in 1782 and celebrated with gratitude for the mercies of Almighty God. George Washington declared the day of thanks on the 26th of November, Thursday, in 1789, invoking “the great Lord and Ruler of the nations,” along with appreciation for “the great degree of tranquility, union and plenty which we have enjoyed.”

Finally, Abraham Lincoln’s infamous words in 1863 highlight the “blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies,” along with gratitude for mines and population growth and with the “Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and restore it,” and with the “gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in our anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” Lincoln invited all people in America and the world to share in a Day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November with “praise to our beneficent father.” Who talks like that? Who writes like that? I wish more people wrote like that. And who better to invoke thanksgiving than our 16th president? After all, America had weathered many a storm from that first blustery New England winter, to politics, civil war, and the struggle of survival and the hope of economic growth.

One nice thing about American thanksgiving long forgotten is the staple and stable force of the church—churches that still today dot the New England landscape like pictures from a Norman Rockwell painting as reminder of the blessing of God and the anchor of hope that to this very moment steeples point to (God) as they rise toward the heavens.

I’m sitting here thinking with romantic flair, say, of the renaissance, even idealistically, about that first Thanksgiving—gentle snowflakes tumbling mid air like cotton balls from the sky and pilgrims and Indians smiling at each other while they eat amazing maize and wild geese and talking about the weather because it was the only real thing to talk about and dreaming of new homes and peace on earth, goodwill toward men. I see children laughing and playing in the snow and hear a prayer of thanksgiving to Almighty God. As I dream of days past, reality hits, and I think about the joy along with the sadness of so many who died before that first Thanksgiving, the tension of new people in a new land or an old land depending on which side of the fence you’re on, and the enormous task ahead to gain consensus, build structure and make a nation, people united in the land so fresh. I think of suffering and gratitude to God as the twin pillars that provided a foundation for America as we know it.

I guess we’ve come a long way from the first thanksgiving to now. This Thanksgiving, people will eat turkey, not wild geese, and watch football and stay in out of the snow or the rain or the sunshine and be in need of a little tranquility, and union, and give thanks for the plenty we have enjoyed.

I guess really not much has changed, has it? America is still the place where we weather many a storm, where politics divide, where wars rage, and where people daily struggle for survival and economic growth. The weather channel keeps us informed of the latest change in the temperature, barometric pressure, and dew points. Politics leap over red and blue in the red, white and blue, with negative political ads, scandal and dreams of a better tomorrow. Care packages are sent to soldiers on war duty in Iraq, while suicide bombers drive cars into buildings in Baghdad. Wars rage among nations, communities, in homes and hearts, even silent wars as gruesome as Iraq or Baghdad. All in all, people struggle to makes ends meet or pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Are you happy? And, all in all, America is a land where economic survival for many is the challenge of finding daily bread for $2 a loaf and for trying to dig out of the hole of financial debt. It is a way of life in America for most.

Still, the steeple points to the heavens, to Almighty God and the ruler of nations and the Most High God. We all have much for which to be thankful, corn and pumpkins and cable TV and heating in the winter and iPods and X-Box and cars and Starbucks and Home Depot and Blue Bell ice cream from Brenham and family and churches with steeples and laughter and friendships and comfort in grief and light in the darkness and God’s blessing abundant. Make your own list and truly give thanks.

It is, sometimes, a crazy world. In our town, we have the weekly actual accounts of a police log printed in the local newspaper. It goes like this: A woman stepped outside of her house and heard two shots fired; five horses are out and getting into his neighbor’s house; neighbors took a dead dog to the end of the street and dropped it off; a man called 911 and complained he was kicked out of a bar and wants to get back in; a Comanche Cove man reported his chain saw and weed eater stolen but found it in the pawn shop. Or consider an anonymous poem once written about thanksgiving: “Tell me, Mr. Turkey, Don’t you feel afraid When you hear us talking ‘Bout the plans we’ve made?” America, sometimes, it is a crazy and wild and bizarre place.

Several years ago, a man handed me a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a pastor, old and used up, tired, but wise. He handed me the book and told me to pay special attention to certain pages. I copied the section, cut it out, and taped it in front of my Bible. What was Bonhoeffer’s message to me through the man? “How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from him little things? … A pastor should never complain about this congregation, certainly not to other people, but also not to God. Let him do what he is committed to do and thank God. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day.”

Lamentations puts it best, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). “Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1).

So here I am under this old tree and thankful for it. I’m hoping for snow, waiting for Thanksgiving, remembering our nation, praising God for his mercy, and giving thanks. Please pass the turkey. And know that my list of all that I am thankful for never ends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.org.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

Texas Baptist Forum

Not all brothers

Why do people assume Christians, Jews and Muslims are all heirs of Abraham?

Abraham was not Noah; certainly not Adam or God. He wasn’t in a vacuum, and humanity didn’t begin with him. There were plenty of people alive already when God told him (Genesis 12:1) to get away from them, including his kinfolks. And what about those living in the land God sent him to, not to mention enemies along the way? Who are their descendants today?

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“Dear friends, until Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain saying we’ve changed the rules, let’s keep it like it is.” Mike Huckabee Arkansas governor and former Baptist pastor, speaking about same-sex marriage (RNS) “Those of us on the right have been losing ground since the 1970s and ’80s. Can we ultimately win? I think you would need a reconversion of the country to a traditionalist, Christian point of view—and I don’t see that coming.” Pat Buchanan Conservative author of the new book State of Emergency, discussing his belief that conservatives will lose the culture wars (Time magazine/RNS) “Abu Ghraib: I believe that really hurt us. It hurt us internationally. It kind of eased us off the moral high ground; we weren’t a country that was capable of, on the one hand, promoting democracy and then treating people decently.” President Bush Responding to a reporter’s question at a White House news conference about torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (RNS)

I have to believe those who truly claim Abraham as their ancestral or spiritual patriarch cannot be enemies among themselves, and those of murderous intent surely descended from the “mixed multitudes” that were a threat then, as now. The fact is, none of us knows who we truly are genetically, only who we choose to be and how we choose to behave.

Just as some of the world’s pagan practices over time morphed into and compromised Christianity in some places, could not just-as-pagan practices have blended into and corrupted Islam, for some?

I’m tired of hearing, “We’re all brothers.” We’re not.

Harriet Kelley

Dallas

Move ahead for Christ

Like you, I grieve over the perpetrators and events that led to the misuse of church planting funds. With an organization the size of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, it is inevitable that people who oversee the whole organization cannot be aware of everything that happens in every level of every department. They can be expected to attempt to know everything, but in reality, the effective day-to-day oversight in such a huge organization requires vigilance and monitoring by those closest to the details in the field.

As you move ahead for Christ, and move ahead you must, I encourage you to learn from the past, improve the present and plan for the future. You have a bright future before you!

Do not allow finger-pointing or scapegoating to derail your work for Christ. If you do, the highjacking of the cause of Christ will be a bigger tragedy than the highjacking of those funds. Don’t generalize and thereby lump the innocent in with the guilty. Apparently, a few smooth operators did the cause of Christ great wrong. But, thank God, not all people are like that!

You have leaders of high-integrity in Charles Wade and Ron Gunter, as well as throughout your BGCT employees. Appreciate your leaders, affirm them and unite with them to deal with this issue. Then, move on together to the mission Christ has placed before you!

Ed Jordan

Pocatello, Idaho

Best we have

Charles Wade is not perfect; neither is the BGCT. However, they are the best we have. 

Let us be slow to criticize and quick to pray. May God bless him as he continues to lead Texas Baptists.

Marlin Felts

Estelline

What do you think? The Baptist Standard values letters to the editor, for they reflect Baptists’ affirmation of the priesthood of believers. Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Letters are limited to 250 words. News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/10/06

2nd Opinion:
Who will seek Middle East peace?

By Denton Lotz

Every day, the church is confronted with great ethical issues involving war and peace, corruption and justice, issues of both personal and social consequences. The waiting world, in the form of the secular media, wants answers from Christians: “Whose side are you on? Where do you stand?” Unfortunately, the church and world are so polarized that often we do not speak with one voice. This has always been the case with humanity, from Cain and Abel disagreeing until today.

During the days of the Vietnam War, there were great ethical controversies confronting the church. Paul Ramsey, professor of ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote a book titled Who Speaks for the Church? He questioned whether the liberal voice was truly speaking for the church.

Today, there are those who ask whether the conservative voice is really speaking for the church. The war between Israel and Hezbollah has again forced Christians to give an answer. And many different answers have been given.

There are those Christians who defend Israel and agree with the Israel Embassy director of public affairs in London, Dan Shaham, who states: “This conflict has been forced on us by Hezbollah and its supporters who seek to destroy the Jewish State. … Israel believes that without taking decisive action against this threat in the present, no significant change will occur, and we would reach a worse crisis in the future.”

On the other hand, there are those such as the evangelical Anglican, Michael Green, who wrote a significant editorial in which he expressed dismay at the inability of Western governments to distinguish between a proportionate response and an irresponsible destruction of the infrastructure of a democratic nation, 40 percent of whom are Christian.

Green said, “As Christians, we should not be ‘pro-Jew’ or ‘pro-Arab,’ but even-handed in expressing any judgments we make in this most difficult and complicated situation, where both sides are guilty of atrocities. Should we not ask ourselves not ‘What is my nation’s policy?’ but ‘What is God’s perspective on this?’”

But isn’t that the problem? What is God’s perspective? How does the church make ethical decisions? The dean of the Arab Baptist Seminary in Beirut, Martin Accad, wrote as a Baptist Christian of his anger toward the international community “that is keeping silent and not even budging with an official condemnation of this senseless instinct for extermination.” But his harshest critique is for those who think they know more than others what the Bible is telling us. “I think that some pseudo-biblically motivated Christians with decision power, who believe ‘apocalyptic destruction is a precursor to global salvation’ are presently working toward provoking a Middle Eastern conflict of significance in order finally to settle accounts with Hezbollah and Hamas.”

As Christians, we are called upon by the Prince of Peace, even our Lord Jesus Christ, to be peacemakers. We must condemn unjust attacks wherever they occur and by whomever they are committed. We must defend the rights of the impoverished and powerless. How do we do that? Certainly not by taking sides and identifying the Christian message of peace with only one side! Both Hezbollah and Israel are wrong when atrocities occur. Both share the sin of uncontrolled power.

Each society involved in the conflict must debate these issues. Indeed, within Israel, there is now a fierce debate between the military and security service leaders. Former Israel military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon wrote: “We won’t get to the bottom of the barrel by killing terrorists. We’ll get there through education. (The former internal security head) thinks we’ll kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. That’s it—we’ve won. I don’t accept that. You need strength to defend Israel, and on the other hand, to be a human.” Such critical thinking is necessary for ethical decisions. I have not read of Hamas or Hezbollah going through such critical thinking, but they too must, or this senseless killing will go on and on.

Christians need to be involved in bringing peace and justice to the world. Now is the time for compassion and mercy! Now is the time for an end to war! Jesus said, “You have heard it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’…. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for them who persecute you” (Matthew 5:38f). It is, of course, easier to read this than to do it. But the command of our Lord is indeed a call to prayer, humility and action in the face of death, arrogance and pride. Let us pray and work for peace in the Middle East.

“O Lord Jesus Christ, be thou our peace and give us the courage to be peacemakers.”

Denton Lotz is general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/09/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for November 19

Wisdom for every area of life

• Proverbs 22:17-25; 23:10-11, 19-28; 24:10-12, 15-20

By David Wilkinson

Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth

When preceded by the ear-splitting shrill of his omnipresent whistle, the first words out of the mouth of my basketball coach almost invariably were the two-word injunction to “Listen up!” It was a call to attention, punctuated by the clear message that the instructions to follow deserved not only to be heard but obeyed. An unspoken message also was clearly understood by the young men who huddled around the coach: These instructions, if followed, would lead to success.

A similar tone permeates the collection of sayings found in this week’s focal passages from Proverbs 22-24. The admonition, “Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching” (22:17), conveys the message, “Listen up!” And the implied message is also clear: These teachings, if implemented, will lead to success through lives lived according to God’s purpose.

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Introduction

The section that begins with 22:17 demonstrates the purpose, style and structure of the Book of Proverbs outlined briefly in the first lesson. It reflects the characteristics of a “collection of collections of wisdom materials” gathered over time and compiled and edited into the book we know as Proverbs. It also reflects the original purpose of Proverbs as a kind of “textbook for life” used for moral and intellectual training of young Hebrew men. In this section, these admonitions may have been intended particularly for preparation for leadership in the religious life of the community.

This section is composed almost exclusively of instructions or admonitions, usually directed to “my son” or “sons,” one of the two distinctive forms of Hebrew poetry found throughout the book. This collection of “the words of the wise” (v. 17) is presented in the form of 30 proverbial sayings (v. 20). Most are in the form of synonymous parallelism, in which the same idea is expressed in both lines of the couplet, or formal or synthetic parallelism, in which the second line advances or completes the thought of the first. The focal texts include 11 of these 30 sayings.

Sound advice

The admonition to “incline your ear and hear my words” is a call to pay attention (echoed in 23:12, 19 and 26). Any teacher knows the posture or body language of the student who is truly intent on learning, who “hangs on every word” spoken by the instructor. Proverbs repeatedly emphasizes the wisdom of a holistic approach to learning that involves the mind and the heart.

The slogan, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” applies just as much to the rigorous thinking required of Christian faith as to an college scholarship campaign. Furthermore, if these teachings of the Hebrew sages are internalized—if they are kept “within you” and “ready on your lips” (v. 18)—then they will be put to good use in everyday life.

The purpose of such teaching is clear: “So that your trust may be in the Lord” (v. 18). This statement reiterates Proverbs’ theme, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7) and its admonition to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart … (and) in all your ways acknowledge him” (3:5-6). The sayings that follow spell out specific ways to trust in God and follow God’s way.

Call to justice

A life lived wisely, that points to all that “is right and true” (v. 21), is lived in sympathy with God’s compassion for the poor and God’s demand for justice for the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. God’s special concern for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45) is a theme found throughout Scripture. God is not a passive bystander but a stalwart advocate who actively “pleads the cause” of those whom society renders voiceless and powerless (represented by “the poor” in vv. 22-23 and the “orphans” in 23:10-11).

It is significant that concern for the poor is placed at the head of this list of 30 sayings. Concern for the poor is not an option for the one who seeks to serve God.

Furthermore, the reference to those who would “rob” the poor or “crush” them at the “gate” of the city where the community’s system of justice was administered (v. 22) is a reminder that the poor and powerless suffer from unjust systems and structures, not merely at the hands of individuals.

Good company

A life lived wisely watches carefully the company one keeps. Wisdom recognizes the attitudes of the friends we choose easily “rub off on us,” and before we know it, we “learn their ways” (v. 25). This warning applies to anyone who lives contrary to God’s purposes, whether “hotheads” who cannot manage their anger appropriately (v. 24), “drunkards” and “gluttons” who overindulge (23:20-21), or “prostitutes” and “adulterers” who set traps for their prey (vv. 27-28).

Good attitudes

A life lived wisely is marked by integrity and humility. As God’s people, we are called not only to avoid the wrong company and to resist their temptations, but also to refuse to rejoice when our enemies fail (24:17) or fret with envy when they succeed (24:20, 23:17-18, 24:1-2). Jesus, of course, takes this advice even further, commanding us to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

No excuses

Any frustrated parent can identify with my grandfather’s rhetorical question after his advice went unheeded: “Did you think I was talking just so I could hear the sound of my own voice?”

The wise teaching of Proverbs ultimately means little if it goes unheard and unheeded. Furthermore, as Proverbs 24:12 reminds us, ignorance is no excuse. God has given us instructions for life. God has shown us the way to live. In the words of the hymn, we are now called to “trust and obey.”

Discussion questions

• In the light of Proverbs’ teaching about justice for the poor, consider the words of Henri Nouwen: “The poor make the church faithful to its vocation. When the church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. … Those who are marginal in the world are central in the church, and that is how it is supposed to be. Thus we are called as members of the church to keep going to the margins of our society.” How do you respond to Nouwen’s assertions? In what ways are we called as God’s people to go “to the margins of our society”? Whom will we find there?

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/09/06

Bible Studies for Life Series for November 19

Live in reality, not delusion

• Isaiah 40:18-22; 41:5-7; 44:9,18-20; 45:20-22

By Kenneth Lyle

Logsdon School of Theology, Abilene

The lesson title bids us to “Live in Reality, Not Delusion;” a worthy goal in a world where post-modern thought suggests there are many competing realities, and where our own experience suggests at the very least there are people out there who disagree with our conclusions—sometimes violently.

What is real? What is true? What can we count on? These and many other questions hover near the surface of our thinking, and in times of crisis they may burst forth from our lips. We may begin to feel that we live in a world where nothing is sure and everything is relative.

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Again, the words of the prophet Isaiah remind us there really is nothing new under the sun. In all places and in all times, God’s people have faced the challenge of living in a world of competing realities. Isaiah reminds us that God’s people know reality through their experience of the living God.

Scholars recognize the significant change of style, tone, emphasis and theme that begins with Isaiah 40 and come to different conclusions regarding its date, place of origin and author. This section of Isaiah (40-66), represents the time of the exile, the Persian conquest of Babylon and the return from exile.

For this reason, some scholars suggest another prophet or prophets, perhaps disciples of Isaiah (Second Isaiah, Third Isaiah), recorded a further word from God for a subsequent generation. Others suggest that Isaiah looks ahead to a time beyond his lifetime and reflects upon the difficulties his people will face in the Babylonian exile.

Gary Smith suggests in his book The Prophets as Preachers: An Introduction to the Hebrew Prophets that in these chapters, “the setting of Isaiah’s audience is problematic because there are few historical details.” Smith points to the clear references to the Persian king Cyrus the Great in Isaiah 44-45 that would suggest a post-exilic date but cautions the absence of lamentation over the fall of Jerusalem argues against post-exilic date.

Scholarly debates and conclusions aside, the later chapters of Isaiah clearly represent a further word from God to a people who are about to suffer or who have suffered a tremendous challenge to their understanding or reality.

Because of Judah’s lack of obedience to God, destruction results. What seemed true—Judah’s inviolability—becomes false—Judah falls at the hands of Babylon. All the evidence seems to suggest Judah’s God pales in comparison with Babylon’s gods. This new “reality” competes with the old reality and—worse yet—seems to be winning! Isaiah steps into the breech to set things right—the “new reality” does not compete with the true reality; in fact, it is not a reality at all.

Smith suggests, “Isaiah legitimated a new social understanding of reality by transforming the people’s perception of who God was and what his plan was for dealing with their problems.”

At the heart of the focal passages lies Isaiah’s concern that Judah be delivered from false gods. Idolatry stands as the “alternative reality” that tempts God’s people. In the ancient world, the worship of other gods was self-evident.

Modern church goers may imagine that idolatry presents no challenge to our reality. This is a dangerous and foolhardy assumption. Isaiah invites God’s people to reflect on what God is like and to compare realities (40:18-23). Isaiah suggests the rich person will select an idol of gold and the poor person an idol of wood, but both attempts to approximate God pale in comparison to God who “sits enthroned above the circle of the earth. … [And] stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in” v. 22). Idols attempt to define, limit and control God—attempts that Isaiah finds empty, futile and self-deceptive.

Isaiah understands the reason people reach out for the “sure reality” of an idol (41:5-7). Fear causes people to place their trust in things seen rather than things unseen. On the human scale, the gods of Babylon seemed to provide a more certain reality.

In times of crisis, God’s people still may be tempted to look at the world around them and place their trust in the “certainties” of material success, political power, social prominence, educational achievement, or even religious claims and personalities. However, when our devotion to anything—a person, an idea, a belief, a thing—becomes elevated above our devotion to the living God, we commit the sin of idolatry.

An episode from Mark 10 illustrates the danger of misplaced devotion. Because of their erroneous conclusion that Jesus has no time for children, Jesus’ disciples defend him from an onslaught of children and parents. Jesus’ all-knowing stare and indignation exposes their misplaced devotion to the “idea” of Jesus rather than to Jesus himself. The disciples were protecting Jesus from something he did not need protection from. They were holding back Jesus for themselves. They were making Jesus over into their image, rather than allowing Jesus to make them over into his image. They were in essence committing the sin of idolatry.

Twenty-first century Christians, no less than Jesus’ twelve disciples, must avoid the trap of creating idols that look just like us. There is perhaps no greater sin in the American church today, than when we take the biblical risen Christ and make him over into a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant politician, who holds our views about taxes, welfare, warfare and a host of other social issues. Isaiah calls us to reconsider God and the reality that God presents. God’s people should not put their trust in gods that cannot save. Rather, Isaiah reminds us that “there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and savior; there is none but me” (45:21).

Discussion questions

• Are there truly competing realities in the world? Where are they most evident? How do Christians engage in dialogue with these other realities?

• What kind of “idols” do Christians allow in their lives? How do we know when something becomes deserving of the title “idol”?

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/09/06

Explore the Bible Series for November 19

Persevere in the midst of adversity

• Hebrews 12:1-8, 12-16, 28-29

By Howard Anderson

Diversified Spiritual Associates, San Antonio

Direct access to God through Jesus Christ is the goal of religion. The “cloud of witnesses” enables Christians to persevere in the midst of difficulty. The race of life will require endurance, discipline, consistency, listening and gratitude.

Call for endurance (Hebrews 12:1-3)

The deceased saints of the Old Testament (Hebrews 11) give witness to the value and blessing of living by faith. The motivation for running “the race” is not in the possibility of receiving praise from observing heavenly saints, but we should be inspired by the godly examples those saints set during their lives.

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“Let us” is a reference to those Hebrews who had made a profession of Christ, but had not gone all the way to full faith. The race starts with salvation. We are invited to accept salvation in Jesus Christ and join the race. Endurance is the steady determination to keep going, regardless of the temptation to slow down or give up.

Our focus must be on the cross before us—Jesus the “author and finisher of our faith.” Keep our eyes on Jesus as the object of faith and salvation (Philippians 3:38). Jesus persevered so that he might receive the joy of accomplishment of the Father’s will and exaltation (Luke 10:21-24).

Jesus is the ultimate example of willingness to suffer in obedience to God. He faced “contradiction” and endured even the old rugged cross. We can expect to face the same opposition for following Christ (2 Timothy 3:12). The Christian’s fatigue, pressures and persecutions are nothing compared to Christ’s.

Call for discipline (Hebrews 12:4-11)

The struggle of Christianity calls for discipline and not a fatal struggle. We do not have to resist to the point of blood as the Maccabaean leaders called their troops to fight to their death. The writer of Hebrews is shaming his people to think of what the Old Testament saints of the past went through to make their faith possible. The challenge is to prevent a drift into indolence or shy away from conflict. The call for discipline is the challenge to show we are worthy of the sacrifice God made for us in Christ.

Christians should cheerfully bear affliction because the Old Testament saints of the past have borne it. Anything we may have to bear is a little thing compared with what Christ had to bear. We must bear hardship because it is sent as a discipline from God, and a Christian life cannot have any value apart from discipline. The Christian should accept discipline as coming from a loving Father, God.

The ultimate punishment is when God does not get angry with us when we sin, and leaves us alone as unreachable. Remember, there is no discipline of God that does not take its source in love and is not aimed at good.

Call for consistency (Hebrews 12:12-17)

When experiencing trials in life, Christians must not allow circumstances to get the best of them. Instead, they must endure and get their second wind so as to be renewed to continue the race.

Pursue “holiness” and draw near to God with full faith, a cleansed conscience and a genuine acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and sacrifice for sin—bringing the unbeliever into fellowship with God. Non-Christians will not be drawn to accept Jesus Christ if Christians’ lives do not demonstrate the qualities God desires, including “peace and holiness” (1 Peter 1:16).

Christians are to watch their own lives so as to give a testimony of “peace and holiness,” as well as to look out for and help those in their midst who need salvation. In many churches, the intellectuals know the gospel and are enamored with Christ, but still stand on the edge of apostasy. Their lack of consistency will cause them to miss heaven by 18 inches—the distance from the head to the heart.

Call for listening (Hebrews 12:18-27)

Do we hear the heavenly voice? Listening is the most important part of communication. This passage is a contrast between the giving of the law on Mount Sinai and the new covenant that Jesus Christ is the mediator—a contrast of the old and the new.

The primary purpose of hearing the word of God in all ages is found in Deuteronomy: “And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire” (4:11-12).

Moses took on himself the responsibility of being the channel of communication between God and Israel. God approved the request of the people (Deuteronomy 5:28), because it showed their feeling of unworthiness to enter into direct communication with him. The whole nation was conscious of sinfulness and unworthiness to approach God.

The Christian has a new covenant and a new relation with God. The new Jerusalem is waiting for her or him. This world with all its impermanence, fears, mysteries and separations goes and life for the Christian is made new. The angels are waiting for us in joyful assembly. The joy of heaven is such that it makes even the angels break into rejoicing.

God’s elected people are waiting for Christians whom God has considered among his faithful citizens. God the Judge is waiting for us to stand in scrutiny. Waiting for us are the spirits of all good people who achieved their goal—those whose names are on God’s honor roll. It was Jesus—perfect Priest and perfect Sacrifice—who initiated this new covenant and made this new relationship with God possible.

Once humankind was under the terror of the law—the relationship between God and us was one of unbridgeable distance and shuddering fear. But after Jesus came and lived and died, the God who was far distant was brought near and the way opened to his presence.

Call for gratitude (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Christians must worship God with reverence and serve him with fear. Nothing must be allowed to disturb the relationship that will be our salvation when the world passes away.

We should show gratitude toward God. According to Moses, we must never break our agreement with God for he is a jealous God (Deuteromomy 4:24). We have a choice. Remain steadfastly true to God, and in the day when the universe is shaken into destruction, our relationship with him will stand safe and secure. Be false to him and that very God who would have been our salvation will be a consuming fire of destruction. The eternal truth is if an individual is true to God, they gain everything and, if they are untrue to God, they lose everything. Nothing really matters except loyalty to God.

Discussion questions

• What is it about life that requires such endurance? What are some of life’s common trials?

• How can peace in the midst of difficulty be attained? What impact might that peace have on others?

• How do we make time to listen to God? Is listening an essential part of prayer?

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Posted: 11/03/06

RIGHT or WRONG?
Take my child out of public school

I’m hearing a great deal of sentiment toward Christians taking their children out of public school and supporting different forms of private education. How should I respond to such a movement?

Because free public education has been a reality in the United States for more than 160 years, we sometimes forget it has not always been so. In the earliest days of this country, no state-sponsored public schools existed. The only schools were religious schools. Most of these soon gave way to private schools, which continued to dominate until the 1840s, when reformers began to demand that states offer free, nonsectarian, public education. The first state to implement a compulsory attendance law for children of elementary-school age was Massachusetts in 1852.

From that time forward, every state in the nation accepted its responsibility to provide free public education to its children. By the end of the 19th century, it was available for all American children. Many have called America’s public school system a foundation stone of our democracy. Establishing public schools is one of the first things we attempt to do in supporting new democracies. Our public schools are the envy of most nations, despite the fact some nations seem to have improved upon our system, according to recent student achievement rankings.

Christians were very active in establishing public schools in this country. In every city where I have lived, some of the most ardent supporters of the public schools were found in the Christian community.

However, there always have been Christians who did not support the public schools—many because they opposed racial integration. In more recent years, an anti-public-school ideological movement has developed within fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity. These public-school critics contend the public schools are anti-Christian and are corrupting our children. Some prominent Christians have encouraged Christian parents to take their children out of the public schools. Some Southern Baptists in this movement have submitted resolutions advocating such action at recent Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings.

How should Christian parents respond to those who encourage them to take their children out of the public schools? My wife and I attended public schools and sent our children to public schools. This does not mean we believe it is wrong for a parent to educate his/her child in a private school. Each parent must make that determination.

There are, however, some important issues that Christians should consider before making that choice. Would Jesus want us to isolate our children from children who come from different racial, social and religious backgrounds? Although that may not be the parents’ intent, it is one effect of educating one’s children in a private school. Related to this question is a concern about what happens to the public schools if Christian parents withdraw their children. Are we relegating these schools to mediocrity or worse? Also, if we remove our children from the public schools, are we limiting their ability to be witnesses for Christ in a place where they can make an important difference?

One of the best ways we can make a difference in our communities and in the lives of children is by supporting the local public schools. They are some of the best places in the world to put our faith into action.

Philip Wise, pastor

Second Baptist Church

Lubbock

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

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