Posted: 11/18/05

Posted: 11/18/05

2nd Opinion:
Things I learned as a BGCT officer

By Stacy Conner

It has been an honor to be the second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The year has been challenging–full of early mornings, eye-opening experiences and blessings.

The BGCT is doing very good work. This has been evident in the convention's responses in this year of natural disasters. From the tsunami in southern Asia to the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, the churches, Texas Baptist Men and staff of the BGCT have answered the call with resources and the love of Christ. These efforts went above and beyond the extraordinary tasks of ministry that are accomplished everyday. On a daily basis, Texas Baptists care for children, minister at hospital bedsides, educate students for numerous professions, prepare ministers, start churches and take on countless other tasks. All these are carried out in the name of Christ.

However, I have seen a few trends that concern me.

The BGCT's greatest threat is not a rival convention, the accusations of mistreatment by a seminary president or misinformation spread against the convention. Most informed Baptists can see through those things.

The greatest threat to the BGCT is apathy. If a church sends its mission gifts to the BGCT but does not involve itself in the life of the convention, apathy will follow. Dissatisfaction grows out of ignorance. We need to continue the statewide campaign of educating and informing Baptists of the good work of the BGCT. Installation of regional consultants, regional dinners with BGCT staff, creative communication, promotional DVDs, etc., are great steps toward helping churches know how their resources are being utilized by the BGCT. A major part of that effort is the goal of placing the Baptist Standard as an educational tool in the life of every church. If your church contributes to the BGCT, you owe it to yourself and your church to find out what is going on and involve yourself in the ministries of our convention.

Churches should be wary of the temptation to go it alone. Some mistakenly believe that efforts by single churches are more productive than unified efforts. I will not deny the blessings of a mission trip for the life of a church. We have experienced those same blessings at First Baptist Church in Muleshoe. We have sent two groups to help with hurricane relief, and our youth are looking forward to Kid's Heart in the Rio Grande Valley next summer. However, the temptation for church leadership is to earmark funds formerly sent for BGCT ministries to local mission trips. These local trips last only a few days. The work of the BGCT goes on day-in and day-out all over Texas. Funding for local mission trips should come from offerings above and beyond those given to the Cooperative Program.

Also, the suggestion floating around that the convention should help or enable churches to send their own missionaries sends the alarm bells flashing. Remember, we have always said, “We can do more together than we can do apart.”

Some days, in the BGCT, celebrating our diversity sounds more like special-interest squabbling. As an outside observer, I have come to see that serving as executive director of the BGCT is an impossible job. Charles Wade has days when it seems everyone is tugging at him. I witnessed these tensions at the Baptist World Alliance and numerous other regional events. I have seen him, when speaking impromptu, list a dozen ministries and fail to mention just one, only to be accused of not caring about the one. The executive director feels the tension between traditional Baptists, who want decisions made one way, and newcomers, who have different visions. He works with those who believe we all ought “to just get along” and those who see a “fundamentalist” or a “liberal” under every bush. He stands between those who feel entitled to make decisions on behalf of the convention and those who feel they have no power. He navigates the impossible with grace. But if we are not careful, we become cozy in our niche and forget that Christ is the Savior of all people. As the followers of Christ, our goal should be ministry for the greater good, not just what is good for me and mine. Let us celebrate our diversity in Christ by working well together.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is a great convention of 5,700 churches. Let us work to keep ourselves involved, educated, committed and serving the world and one another in the love of Christ.

Thanks again for the blessing of serving as a vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Stacy Conner is pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe and recently served as the BGCT's second vice president.

Posted: 11/18/05

Court declines to hear 'In God We Trust' case

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has declined an attempt to have the words “In God We Trust” removed from the front of a North Carolina county government building.

The justices declined, without comment, to hear a case about the Davidson County Government Center in Lexington, N.C. Two local attorneys who regularly do business at the building had sued the county, saying the inscription of the national motto was a violation of the First Amendment ban on government establishment of religion.

County commissioners voted to add the inscription to the building's facade in 2002. According to court papers, it was paid for by donations from individuals and local churches, and those who spoke in favor of it at the meeting where it was considered cited religious reasons for supporting it as well as the secular rationale that it is the national motto. It is written in 18-inch-high letters–larger than the name of the building–the plaintiffs maintained.

In 2004, a federal district court said the inscription's opponents had not proven that the inscription was created with an insufficiently secular purpose or that it unconstitutionally endorsed or caused entanglement with religion. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld their decision earlier this year.

“In this situation, the reasonable observer must be deemed aware of the patriotic uses, both historical and present, of the phrase 'In God We Trust,'” said Judge Robert King.

He noted the phrase has appeared on American coins since the mid-1800s, and was made the official national motto by Congress in 1956. It also is inscribed above the speaker's rostrum in the House of Representatives and above the main door to the Senate floor, King pointed out.

“We are obliged to assess the (county) board's use of the national motto on the façade of the Government Center in its full context–as a statement with religious content, and as one with legitimate secular associations born of its consistent use on coins and currency, and as the national motto,” King wrote.

The court was divided over displays of the Ten Command-ments on government property in two rulings earlier this year.

In one, the court found a monument to the commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds in Austin acceptable but ruled the opposite way on much newer displays in two Kentucky courthouses.

Nonetheless, the justices did not record any dissent in turning away the North Carolina case. It is Lambeth v. Board of Commis-sioners of Davidson County, No. 05-203.

Posted: 11/18/05

DOWN HOME:
Do you give thanks for music's aroma?

Maybe we'll enjoy fall weather at Thanksgiving, after all.

For awhile there, I had my doubts. Don't know about you, but I got sick of hearing the weatherpeople say: “Tomorrow's high just might break a record. Temperatures will be about 15 degrees above normal for this time of year.”

Don't get me wrong: I enjoy warm weather. When it's warm outside, you don't have to worry about the dog or the plants. You don't freeze when you start the car in the morning. You don't have to think so much about what to wear. Getting out of bed is easier. You can enjoy going for a walk or sitting in the backyard.

But all good things must come to an end. By November, the air's supposed to be chilly, and most people in Texas are supposed to feel comfortable wearing sweaters. And more importantly, bugs are supposed to start dying, grass is supposed to stop growing and the air conditioner is supposed to be turned to “off.”

Thanks to our extra-long warm spell this year, I'm particularly thankful for the change of seasons as Thanksgiving approaches. Seasons remind us of the passage of time, but also of timing and pace, and the value of change, even when it's from one good thing to another. By the time I change out my seasonal clothes again, I'll be tired of long sleeves, corduroys, sweatshirts and wool coats. But for now, they're prominent on my list of Thanksgiving blessings. Here are some others, in no particular order:

Music. Almost any kind–OK, not rap or polkas, but everything else–infuses energy and joy and creativity into the world.

Sweet potato chips from Blue Mesa.

Friends. Friends are the family you choose. The other day, I started naming as many friends as I could remember who touched my life at its intersections, and I ran out of time long before I ran out of names. They all blessed me immeasurably.

Family. Fortunately, they're friends, too. My wife is my best friend. Our family is about to grow when Lindsay, our oldest daughter, marries Aaron in–oh, man, I can't believe it's this close–less than a month.

Lost. This TV show is like a weekly vacation; a terrific distraction.

Medicine. I can't imagine how many friends and family no longer would be with us if medical care weren't so excellent.

Books. So many great books, so little time … .

Romans 8. I love the whole Bible, but this is the passage I come back to the most.

The iPod I got for Father's Day. (See “music.”)

Aroma. The way Joanna, my wife, smells when she comes into the kitchen in the morning. The way our girls, Lindsay and Molly, smell when they come home from school. How chicken smells when it's frying, reminding me of my youth.

Air conditioning and heat. Hey, we live in Texas, where the weather's perfect about three days a year. But it's fine inside.

There, I feel thankful already. Now, it's your turn. Tell God what you're thankful for.

–Marv Knox

Posted: 11/18/05

EDITORIAL:
Texas & the 21st-century Pentecost

Pentecost echoed through the ages and reverberated across Austin during the Baptist General Convention of Texas' annual meeting Nov. 14-15.

At Pentecost, God's Spirit settled on a small band of new Christians, filling them with power and boldness, as well as the ability to present the gospel so that people of many races and languages could understand it and commit themselves to Jesus. At Pentecost, God transformed the fledgling church into a mighty force that changed the world.

In Austin, God's Spirit settled on Texas Baptists as they embraced decades of good intentions and well-spoken words, filling them with power and eagerness to transform their convention into a gathering of Christians who look and sound like Texas. They took steps to ensure the gospel is tangible and compelling for people whose skin tones reflect the palette of the earth and whose tongues speak a symphony of languages. In Austin, the BGCT charted a course of inclusiveness and empowerment for the 21st century.

Albert Reyes, the BGCT's first Hispanic president, presided, and Texas Baptists elected their first African-American president, Michael Bell. They also approved a new constitution and bylaws, which mandate that at least 30 percent of the BGCT Executive Board be non-Anglo. And John Nguyen, the first Vietnamese to deliver a convention sermon, closed the gathering by challenging Texas Baptists to encourage and partner with each other and to overcome differences so people across the state and around the world will accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Reyes, Bell and Nguyen are Texas Baptist pioneers–the first of their racial/ethnic groups to walk where they have walked. Like previous pioneers, they have blazed trails for others to follow, and follow they will. Their descendants will include other Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans. (One hopes and prays the descendants will include women and laity as well.) Reyes, Bell and Nguyen are more than mere symbols. They are tangible expressions of Texas Baptists' beliefs that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, all people are made in God's image and all Christians are equal. Their leadership eclipses Texas Baptists' belief in these principles; it demonstrates they are true.

Reyes' presiding, Bell's election and Nguyen's sermon were complemented by the hugely important ratification of the convention's new constitution and bylaws. By stipulating that at least 30 percent of the Executive Board's membership must be non-Anglo, they lift racial and ethnic inclusion far beyond tokenism. When African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics constitute a third or more of the BGCT's most powerful and influential body, their voices will be amplified, and the lenses of their perspectives will focus the convention's vision on all the issues–spiritual, physical and emotional–that impact our convention, our state, the world and God's kingdom.

Don't think this will be easy. When well-meaning people implement inclusion, they tend to think about what the group photo will look like–how they will feel to see people of many races and ethnic groups on the same board or committee. What they need to imagine is what the meetings will sound like–how they will feel when they hear ideas and proposals they never would have conceived on their own. The Executive Board is likely to talk about race and ethnicity far more than ever before. More importantly, as the board discusses issues that have no apparent connection to race or ethnicity, those discussions will be shaped by the perspectives of faithful and committed Christians who have lived their lives in particular skins.

So, although the non-Anglos may be newest to the Executive Board table, they're the ones least likely to be surprised by what is said there. They know issues of power, justice and economy from a framework that Anglos–still Texas' privileged class–can hardly comprehend. But Texas is changing; people groups are flowing. And if Texas Baptists are going to be a convention that ministers to all of Texas and leads all people to faith in Christ in the coming decades, then we must understand their issues. We must respond to their needs and articulate the gospel in ways each one of them understands.

Texas Baptists will look on our Austin Pentecost as a blessing. By choosing leaders from the spectrum of our people and inviting them to sit in the seats of decision-making and power, we will accept the challenge of reaching our state (and beyond) with the gospel.

Yogi Berra, the great shade-tree philosopher, once said: “The future ain't what it used to be.” Thanks be to God.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 11/18/05

Health Foundation names Elston president

Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio trustees have named named Frank Elston as the foundation's first president and chief executive officer.

Baptist Health Foundation, created from the proceeds of the sale of Baptist Health System to Vanguard Health Systems of Nashville, Tenn., was established to fund not-for-profit healthcare services and healthcare scholarships in the greater San Antonio area.

Elston returned to San Antonio this spring after retiring from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where he was head of its foundation from 1997 to 2005.

A fund-raising professional for 35 years, Elston also was vice president of university relations at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio from 1989 to 1997.

“This is such a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting difference in the health and spiritual well-being of people in our area. We intend to be a leader for change and growth in Bexar County and the seven contiguous counties,” Elston said.

“Our trustees are committed to improving the health of our community by fostering and funding clinical, educational, spiritual and scientific initiatives while honoring God and our Baptist heritage.”

During its first months–in conjunction with the former Baptist Health Services Foundation–the new entity granted more than $3.1 million to local not-for-profit agencies as part of its first funding cycle.

Baptist Health Foundation gave $126,000 to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, San Antonio Baptist Association and Baptist Health System chaplains to assist victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Baptist Health Foundation trustees also awarded more than $350,000 in scholarships to students enrolled in the Baptist Health System School of Health Professions.

The foundation will provide grants annually to help meet the health care ministry needs in its service area.

Posted: 11/18/05

Florida signs for marriage

OCALA, Fla. (ABP)–Seeking to galvanize 1,550 messengers to action, leaders of the Florida Baptist State Convention publicly signed the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment during its annual meeting Nov. 14-15 in Ocala.

Among signers was Hayes Wicker, president of the Florida convention, who was elected unanimously without opposition to a second one-year term during this meeting.

Others to sign the petition that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman included John Sullivan, state executive director-treasurer; Michael Landry of Sarasota, state convention first vice president; and Ben Bryant of Starke, president of the State Board of Missions, the Florida Baptist Convention's governing body.

The symbolic signing “helped to underscore the importance of the petition,” said Bryant. A total of 611,009 petition signatures are needed by Feb. 1, 2006, to place the measure on the November 2006 Florida ballot. Prior to the convention meeting, only 108,669 signed petitions had been certified by the Florida Division of Elections.

Florida Baptists have been engaged in the petition drive since the 2004 convention meeting, when messengers unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the amendment. A coalition of Christian organizations embraced the cause, writing the amendment's language and campaigning for its passage.

Bryant challenged messengers to become “Defenders of Marriage” by recruiting 10 people to sign petitions and make a commitment to enlist another 10.

Posted: 11/18/05

Gender testing raises ethical questions

By Peggy O'Crowley

Religion News Service

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS)–With her husband serving in Afghanistan, Erin Rivera thought it would be fun to let him know the gender of their third child within weeks of her positive pregnancy test. So she purchased a Baby Gender Mentor test kit, which claims to be 99.9 percent accurate in detecting gender through fetal DNA in maternal blood samples.

Three weeks after results indicated she was carrying a boy, Rivera got a call from C.N. Wang, scientific director of Acu-Gen Labs –the Lowell, Mass., company that performs the test. Wang said she should have genetic testing because he detected an elevated level of fetal protein in her blood, which sometimes indicates chromosomal abnormalities.

“I was crying and crying. I never paid him to find that out,” said Rivera, of Tampa, Fla.

As reproductive technology advances, new, unanticipated ethical questions are arising even as critics challenge the very accuracy of tests like the one Rivera took. Taken together, these challenges could derail the emerging niche industry.

“It's important for patients to understand what tests they're having, what potential information might be revealed, and how this information might and might not be used,” said Jeff Ecker, chairman of the committee on ethics for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a high-risk obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Finding inadvertent information “happens all the time in genetic testing,” said Arthur Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “You can find out about paternity or disease. People don't know what they're getting into.”

Wang said his findings required him to contact Rivera, even though he acknowledged the informed consent that accompanies the test does not demand it.

“I struggled with it myself, saying I could just ignore it and walk away,” said the molecular biologist. “But that would haunt me the rest of my life.”

Meanwhile, a small but growing number of women are claiming the gender tests are not as reliable as ultrasound and amniocentesis. Because embryonic DNA is present in maternal blood, the sample is tested for the presence of the Y chromosome, which indicates a male. If there is no Y chromosome, the embryo is female.

It is difficult for experts to assess Acu-Gen's accuracy claims because the company has not published its research data, citing pending patent registration.

Mark Evans, a lead investigator of a National Institutes of Health trial on fetal cells in maternal blood, questioned the test.

“There's no published data as to how well this works. The techniques we used are nowhere near as encouraging as people are being led to believe,” said Evans, a professor at Mount Sinai Medical School who also runs a private prenatal testing clinic in Manhattan. “It is fraught with potential complications.”

There are two reasons the test could be flawed, experts said.

First, it might involve a “vanishing twin,” in which the test picks up the DNA of a twin embryo that does not survive after the test is administered. Or it might detect DNA from an earlier fetus that miscarried.

The Illinois attorney general's office is investigating the gender test following a National Public Radio segment on women complaining about inaccuracies. Pregnancystore.com, which exclusively sells the kits, is based in Illinois. Another gender test maker, Paragon Genetics, is in Canada.

Wang and Sherry Bonelli, the owner of the online outlet, vigorously defend their claims.

Said Bonelli: “Historically, ultrasound has an 80 to 90 percent accuracy rate. So 10 to 20 percent are going to be incorrect (in determining the baby's gender). Acu-Gen is looking at DNA and you can't make up DNA.”

She said she has received 10 to 15 complaints about accuracy from women–a tiny percentage of the 4,000 who have ordered the test.

Like Rivera, Pamela Gold of New York said she decided to find out the gender of her first baby with a kit because it sounded like fun. The test, conducted in the seventh week of pregnancy, said she was having a boy.

But ultrasounds kept indicating a girl. She got a definitive answer when she had amniocentesis to rule out a potential problem with the baby. Gold said the baby is fine, and it is a girl.

Women, Gold said, should “think about the implications” before taking the test. “It's not just, 'Oh great, I found out it's a boy or girl.' It may raise questions.”

Gold sent Wang another blood sample to test. She wants the company to honor its double-your-money-back guarantee if the test proves inaccurate.

The kit costs $25, and the test fee is $250, according to Bonelli's website.

Rivera did not heed Wang's advice to have genetic testing because her obstetrician felt her ultrasounds do not indicate a problem.

Peggy O'Crowley covers family issues for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.

Posted: 11/18/05

At long last, Georgians vote to cast out Mercer

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

COLUMBUS, Ga. (ABP)–Georgia Baptists voted Nov. 15 to begin severing their last ties with Mercer University, one of the nation's oldest and largest Baptist institutions of higher learning.

The move comes in the immediate wake of a controversy over homosexuality at the school, whose main campus is in Macon.

But it also follows years of conflict between leaders of the conservative-dominated convention and the moderate-controlled school.

Georgia Baptist Convention messengers, meeting in Columbus, approved a recommendation from the group's executive committee that the convention begin the process of severing ties with the 7,000-student school. Mercer was founded in 1833 by three men who also played instrumental roles in founding the convention.

The move must be ap-proved a second time, by messengers to next year's annual meeting, before it takes effect. If given final approval, it would cut about $3.5 million in annual donations from the convention to the university. Mercer uses all of the funds–matching them two-for-one–to fund scholarships for students from Georgia Baptist churches.

The motion noted reports –appearing just before the convention meeting in the Macon Telegraph and the convention 's Christian Index newspaper–about the Mercer Triangle Symposium. The group billed itself as Mercer's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights student organization.

In conjunction with the Human Rights Campaign–the national gay-rights advocacy group–the symposium sponsored a National Coming Out Day event Oct. 11 on the Macon campus.

The group also bought an ad in the campus newspaper naming several famous gay and lesbian “individuals who have contributed to the arts, sciences, politics and sports throughout history,” such as poet Walt Whitman, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and tennis star Martina Navratil-ova.

“We, the undersigned, value equally the (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students, faculty, and staff members at Mercer who bring their gifts to our campus and add to the richness and diversity of our intellectual community,” the ad read. Several dozen students and faculty, including two professors of Christianity, signed their names to it.

According to the Index, the group was recognized by the student government but not officially endorsed by the school's administration.

Mercer President Kirby Godsey told the paper the administration distances itself from such student groups in order not to squelch the college's academic and intellectual freedom.

“Holding steadfastly to the rich and noble heritage of our Baptist forbearers and the Christian values that have shaped and sustained Mercer for generations, we affirm our historic values, while including within them an unwavering devotion to the open search for truth, to religious and intellectual freedom, and to respect for the diversity of beliefs among the members of the university community,” Godsey told the paper.

But Bob White, the convention's executive director, said inviting students to meetings where gay rights are openly advocated was a step too far for the convention.

“At the very least, on-campus meetings give the impression of approval by the administration,” White told the paper. “I understand that a part of the university experience, whether Baptist or otherwise, is being exposed to a broad variety of thought. At the same time, I believe that Georgia Baptist parents should be able to have the confidence that their young people who attend a Georgia Baptist institution will not receive errant signals.”

Whatever the case, Mercer spokesperson Judy Lunsford said that, as she understood it, the symposium had “held its last meeting” Nov. 14.

David Hudson, an Augusta attorney and longtime Mercer trustee, said the most recent problem cited by Georgia Baptists “has been remedied; the university has already taken steps to deny use of facilities for such a group of students.”

The homosexuality issue was merely a “pretext” for a parting of ways long desired by many conservative Georgia Baptist leaders, he asserted.

“Anybody that's intellectually honest, that is concerned about students being exposed to the gay agenda because Mercer has some students who speak for equal rights for gay people should immediately have their children stop using their computers and take them out of their homes–because there's no greater avenue for deviant sexual information than the computer,” he said. Hudson is a member of First Baptist Church in Augusta.

“Put it this way,” Hudson said. “I think it's more than coincidence that that (article about the symposium) surfaced in the Christian Index the week before the convention.”

The motion convention messengers approved mentions several older complaints conservatives have had against Mercer, including references to Godsey's 1996 book, When We Talk About God … Let's be Hon-est, which some Georgia Bap-tist conservatives considered heretical.

“The convention censured the president and condemned the fact that a president of one of its institutions would publish a book which deviated from biblical theology and doctrine,” the motion noted. “At the same time, the book was endorsed by Mercer's trustees.”

The convention's motion also made an allusion to the school's relationship with several moderate Baptist organizations that emerged out of the Southern Baptist Convention's hard rightward shift in the 1980s and '90s, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellow-ship.

“Other Georgia Baptists recognize a concern that Mercer has no commitment to the Southern Baptist Conven-tion, the affiliate of the Georgia Baptist Convention,” the motion read.

“Mercer, instead, has chosen to become connected with other, non-Southern Baptist organizations which do not support the (SBC) Cooperative Program, to the detriment of its historic ties to the Cooperative Program and the Southern Baptist Convention. This lack of commitment has led many Georgia Baptists to question continuing Coopera-tive Program funding for Mercer.”

Mercer trustee Jimmy Elder, pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbus, said the decision was worse for the convention than for the university. “They have an institution that faithfully and strongly has been teaching future leaders based on Baptist principles and on Baptist values, and they have basically turned their back on them and walked away–and that's sad.”

He said limiting scholarships for its own students will hurt the convention.

“It's sort of like, you get mad at the institution and you hurt the people who are least able to defend themselves,” Elder said.

Posted: 11/18/05

Tiny ceramic shard yields
gigantic archaeological find

By Michele Chabin

Religion News Service

JERUSALEM (RNS)–The inscription on a ceramic shard discovered during an archaeological dig may not refer to the biblical Goliath, but the artifact's age and inscriptions may be consistent with a period referred to in the Old Testament story.

Aren Maeir, chairman of the department of land of Israel studies and archaeology at Bar Ilan University, which carried out the excavations, said in a statement released by the university that the shard comes from a time period “which is depicted in the biblical text.”

The book of 1 Samuel relates that Goliath, a Philistine giant, fought the much younger and smaller David, but lost the battle when David hit Goliath's head with a stone propelled from a slingshot.

Maeir noted that the shard has been dated scientifically to a period just 50 to 100 years after David and Goliath would have lived, according to biblical historians.

For this reason, he added, “recent attempts” by some scholars “to claim that Goliath can only be understood in the context of the later phases of the Iron Age are unwarranted.”

Although the inscription is written in Proto-Canaanite (Semitic) letters, the names mentioned belong to the linguistic family of ancient Greek and related languages. This lends credence to the long-held belief that Philistines had roots in the Aegean region before migrating to the Holy Land.

Despite the inscription's uncanny similarity to the name Goliath, Maeir told the Jerusalem Post the odds are against directly relating to the Philistine giant.

A Purdue University libraries professor who invented a system to determine whether ancient inscriptions apply to people in the Bible has come to a similar conclusion.

Lawrence Mykytiuk, associate professor of library science at the school in West Lafayette, Ind., said the pottery shard found in Israel probably does not refer to the biblical Goliath but does lend credence to the story surrounding him.

“This is evidence that non-Semitic names that are remarkably similar to Goliath were used within the time frame of this Philistine warrior in his reputed hometown of Gath,” Mykytiuk said. “It provides well-grounded cultural background that supports the biblical narrative.”

Posted: 11/18/05

Texas Baptist Forum

Fertility & theology

“Fertility, not theology, cause of decline” (Oct. 31) introduces a foreign dichotomy. The question to be asked is why “conservative women had more children than mainline women did.” The answer is solidly theological.

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

"There is only one 'true north' in the Christian life. Only one purpose which will direct your life with unerring accuracy, which will guide you home every single time. … You and I will need to remember and live by this purpose, this 'true north' every day for the rest of this year, and especially as we draw nearer to the hectic holidays ahead. Otherwise, we'll die the death of a thousand Chihuahuas, one tiny bite at a time." Jim Denison Pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas ("The Word Today" e-mail devotional) "If we present the gospel simply as a life-improvement program, well, boy–there's lots of things that work to improve your life. You could get into yoga, become a vegetarian." Kirk Cameron Actor known for his role in the 1980s situation comedy Growing Pains as well as a more recent role in the Left Behind movie series, commenting on findings of a Newsweek/Beliefnet poll. (Agape Press) "Now that we're prime-time, we don't want to start acting like American idols." Christianity Today An editorial in the monthly magazine, on the responsibility of evangelicals in the news media.

The biblical worldview sees children as a blessing. God opens the womb (Genesis 29:31) and blesses with the command, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Children are a “heritage of the Lord” and a “reward,” “arrows” filling one's quiver (Psalm 127), a reason for one to be “happy” as they gather “like olive plants around your table” (Psalm 128:2-3).

All one has to do is read the stories of Rachel, Hannah and Elizabeth, or the desperate acts of Tamar, to get a picture of how women raised in the light of God's instruction viewed children.

The 20th century saw a marked cultural drift from this perspective. It was the century of birth control and abortion, of cultural denigration of the role of full-time motherhood; a century where biology, guided by the individual, not God, determined fertility. Is it so strange that, in churches where the Bible was no longer the center of the worldview, births should decline and attendance should wane?

As a pastor and father of nine, I sometimes quip, “If we can't grow the church one way, we'll grow it another.” And, indeed, our church has seven more people than would have been the case if we'd just had the culturally accepted “two.” But my reasons are unashamedly theological.

Thomas Whitehouse

McAllen

Problem solving

So, let me get this straight: In reference to remarks by Gerald Bastin (Nov. 14), in order to solve our Texas Baptist problems, all Paige Patterson needs to do is apologize to Russell Dilday?

Surely our problems are not so petty. Say it isn't so!

Bob Stanford

Austin

Questions of praise

What do you think about when you hear the word “praise”?

When was the last time you can remember being praised or praising someone else? What is the purpose of praise? Is praise an art form that has been lost in this world of competitive self-sufficiency?

Have we become mesmerized by the pop culture into believing that praise is limited to something we do only when we sing hymns and other religious music? Can we praise the Lord in praising others? Do we not praise others because we sense that we are not worthy of praise, and therefore we are unable to offer something that we do not possess?

Do we believe that only after we depart to be with the Lord will he then, hopefully, say to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”? Is there no praise from the Lord to his servants in this life for their being good and faithful?

Are we so modernized and so secularized that we think life is all about externals–our works–and have lost the discernment between a successful life and a spiritual life?

According to Scripture, the authority that we possess as servants of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be used to exhort one another, to encourage one another, to edify one another. Praise received and given in the spirit of the gospel is a good fountain of living water that refreshes and regenerates his faithful servant.

Don Bebee

Liberty Hill

God and evil

In response to James Rudin’s article, “How can a benevolent God allow evil?” (Oct. 31): God’s purpose from eternity was that he be worshipped and obeyed.

In his appearance in the Garden of Eden, Satan showed that he was in rebellion against God from before creation.

The curse God put on Satan now spreads to earth. For the literal serpent to be “cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field (Genesis 3:14) communicates earth is now under the curse of God also.

If Adam had not sinned, he could have continued on earth in its Edenic state. Adam’s sin removed God’s protective and provisional cover, and now Adam suffers from the curse of the ground from which he had been protected.

Mankind victimizes itself in allowing Satan to control him through the three-fold fleshly appetite (Genesis 3:6). Mankind’s sin is cumulative on earth, adding to the consequences of God’s curse being on earth. Both earth and mankind bring on themselves God’s escalating judgment until Jesus’ appearing.

Satan’s war against God involves all of earth and mankind that produces evil on earth.

Ernest V. May Jr.

Livingston

Have 'like minds' replaced the Bible?

A young show-off would have drowned trying to swim too far, and his brother yelled, “Come back!” With every breath, his garbled cry got farther behind. When the swimmer’s pride turned to fear, he went back. My twin was a poor swimmer but followed me.

The fundamentalist pastor yells from the bank while the servant pastor swims. Jesus washing his disciples’ feet is our pattern.

Fundamentalists ignore 1 Peter 5:3: “Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example.”

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hasn’t stoned prophets, but its leaders’ practice of control and dominance has split churches and conventions and fired missionaries—all in the name of God.

Its president searched worldwide for “like minds” to replace the “fired” 30 million adherents in the Baptist World Alliance. “Like minds” has replaced the Bible as the doctrinal guideline with Southern Baptist Convention’s 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. If pride had weight, they would need wheelbarrows.

As long as no one takes a stand against pastors being rulers, the International Mission Board acting as Nebuchadnezzar, the SBC drifting toward Catholicism, control and dominance will reign and individual priesthood (born at Calvary) must bow to authority.

Hooray for the BGCT rejecting “like minds” having a booth at their convention.

Rex Ray

Bonham

Posted: 11/18/05

Louisiana veers from recent trends

By Lacy Thompson

Louisiana Baptist Message

WEST MONROE, La. (ABP) –Messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention surprised observers by rejecting candidates and causes endorsed by the state's conservative political group.

Messengers voted to amend a budget-cutting proposal that would have had a disproportionate impact on the Baptist Message, the convention's newspaper.

They also defeated a proposal to dissolve the paper's independent board of directors and move it under control of the convention's executive board.

And, for the first time, they defeated officer candidates who had been endorsed by a pro-Southern Baptist Convention group calling itself the Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship.

Messengers voted to restore a proposed $52,500 cut for the Baptist Message.

Leaders explained the conventionwide reduction was needed due to the expected impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In the original budget-cutting proposal, all line items but two shared equally in the reduction, maintaining the same allocation percentages as in the 2005 budget.

But the Baptist Message was slated to receive 2 percent of all state Cooperative Program funds in 2006, down from the 2.3 percent this year. In turn, the allocation for state convention programs was set to increase from 43.5 percent to 43.7 percent.

That drew opposition.

Michael Hawley of Ruston spoke against the proposal, offering a motion to move $52,500 from LBC programs to the Baptist Message so all budget line items would maintain their current allocation percentages. As the proposal stood, the paper stood to experience a larger cut to its budget than all other convention entities.

Messengers approved the motion to change the allocation percentage for the newspaper, 687-607.

The Baptist Message also will continue to operate under a separate board of trustees after messengers rejected a proposal to move the newspaper within the state convention structure.

A show-of-ballots vote appeared to be at least two-to-one against the plan. Approval of the move would have required a two-thirds vote.

The matter dates back to earlier this year, when new LBC Executive Director David Hankins proposed a change in the newspaper structure.

Since the 1960s, the Baptist Message has operated under its own board of trustees. However, Hankins proposed moving the newspaper within the convention as part of a new communications team.

The paper's trustees initially rejected the idea, but then revisited it a few months later and approved it as part of a package approach.

Under the plan, John Yeats, at the time edtitor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, would be elected director of the LBC communications team. In turn, Baptist Message trustees would propose making the paper part of the communications team, with Yeats as editor.

Yeats began work for the convention Nov. 1.

Hankins told messengers the convention must maximize resources, noting that only about one-fourth of churches subscribe to the paper, and that circulation has fallen in recent years from a peak of 78,000 to about 30,000.

“We must avail ourselves of the best strategy,” he emphasized. “We have no choice but to do a better job of communicating our vision and challenges to people in the pew.”

Messenger Gil Arthur of Leesville noted one day an issue will arise in which many Louisiana Baptists disagree with their elected leaders. “We may not have … a fair, adequate venue to vent our frustrations and our views,” Arthur said. “We must have a free, fair, balanced reporting system. I believe there is a better answer to the situation … . This is not the best approach.”

For convention president, Bill Robertson, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Winnsboro, beat Jerry Chad-dick, an evangelist from DeQuincy, 792-540.

The election marked the first time a presidential candidate endorsed by the Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship had not been elected. The group had endorsed presidential candidates since 1999, proving successful in electing a trio of pastors who served two one-year terms each.

Robert Marus contributed to this story.