Posted: 12/05/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Dec. 14

Finding delight in giving that honors God

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

The Apostle Paul was a firebrand for God in spearheading the message of Christ's gospel into the darkest corners of paganism and unbelief. He was willing to put his life on the line for the sake of God's truth. He was bold and unrelenting in his stand against any effort to compromise the gospel or take away from its universal appeal to all people everywhere.

He was equally compelled to help those who suffered physically. This study, coupled with the preceding one, gives us a remarkable insight regarding Paul's concern that believers follow Christ's example in the grace of giving.

The background against which Paul wrote this section of his second letter to the Corinthians contains an example of the “human touch” that was a part of his ministry among the churches he established. The Corinthians had been among the first to respond to Paul's appeal to collect an offering for the suffering believers in Jerusalem. He had related their enthusiasm to the Macedonian Christians, who had responded quickly and given sacrificially.

In the meantime, the Corinthians had encountered difficulties in the church, and their zeal for collecting this offering had cooled. With the help of Titus, the Corinthians overcame their problems, and their fellowship was once more on a firm footing. So Paul encouraged the Corinthians to be generous in their giving, citing the example of the Macedonians. Paul always commended the churches for their areas of strength before exhorting them to recognize and overcome their shortcomings.

A gentle exhortation

At this point, Paul did not consider it necessary to go into detail about the offering for the saints in Jerusalem. He had fully rehearsed that need with the Corinthians a year or so earlier. Paul had a double purpose for promoting this offering–the Jerusalem believers were indeed suffering because of the famine and needed financial help, but there also was the opportunity to cement the relationship between the Gentile congregations and the Jewish believers in Jerusalem through this benevolent gesture.

Paul never criticized the shortcomings of one church to another. Instead, he was quick to share the good things happening among them. Paul also knew the difference between genuine commendation and flattery. Instead of issuing a harsh rebuke to the Corinthians for their failure to complete the offering, he reminded them of their eagerness in the beginning to help their fellow believers in Jerusalem and how he had used the example of their enthusiasm to encourage the Macedonians to give. Paul despaired of having his Macedonian brothers traveling with him discover the Corinthians' zeal for the offering had waned, and the offering not gathered.

Often it is good for us to revisit past experiences during which we were inspired to serve God in unusual ways. This is not living “in” the past, but “out of” the past. Many things can happen to dampen enthusiasm in regard to some project initially and obviously blessed by God. Satan is a master at injecting the seeds of discouragement. Remembering the fires of excitement and zeal we experienced in the beginning can reignite our determination to carry through to completion what God has begun in and through us.

Description of a willing giver

Paul moved from discussing the offering for the Jerusalem believers to specific principles that should govern a Christian's general attitude toward giving.

He compared giving to sowing seed. Paul used an illustration from agriculture, stating both the positive and the negative possibilities. When we habitually give only a little, we can expect very little blessing in return. On the other hand, when we give generously from that with which God has blessed us, we can expect personal rewards.

Nothing is wrong with recognizing that God rewards those who obey him in the matter of stewardship. One of the great features of the New Testament is that its writers are never afraid of the reward motive. It never promotes the idea that goodness will be ignored. On the contrary, it emphasizes that those who serve God by giving of themselves generously will be blessed commensurately. At the same time, we are not promised wealth of things, but of the heart and of the spirit.

The picture of the “cheerful giver” in verse 7 is a refreshing portrait of the giver with a truly Christian attitude. We get our word “hilarious” from the Greek word translated “cheerful.” The idea is that God delights in the joyful, happy giver who is excited about every opportunity to give. Such a giver is filled with the love of God, which provides the only true and genuine motive for giving.

Paul concludes this section of his letter by reminding readers that giving has spiritual results. First, God is glorified–there are “many thanksgivings to God.” Second, giving proves one's love for God. Then, as a result of this offering, the Christian Jews in Jerusalem began to pray for the Gentile believers. The heritage and cultural differences between them began to break down, and their fellowship in Christ was strengthened.

Question for discussion

Do we pattern ourselves after the Macedonians–giving ourselves and then our substance to God?

Posted: 12/05/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Dec. 21

God's unexpected arrival on the world scene

Luke 2:1-40

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

Life is filled with many celebrations. We have birthdays and weddings and new babies and graduation from high school and college. We celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day and the Fourth of July, and we observe Thanksgiving. But the grandest celebration of all time revolved around God's condescension to enter human flesh, be born as a baby, live among us and then offer his life as a ransom for our sins. Hints of this celebration appear throughout the Bible. Many believe the most thrilling record was written by a Gentile physician, Luke, which is the text of this lesson.

The occasion of this celebration

The political atmosphere in Palestine when Jesus was born was tense and volatile. Palestine was a part of the Roman Empire, and Roman soldiers were quartered throughout the land.

In the first chapter of his Gospel, Luke mentioned “Herod, the king of Judea” (1:5). In the first verse of chapter 2, he named “Caesar Augustus,” the emperor of Rome. Only two things did these men have in common–both were pagan (they did not believe in Jehovah, the true God, but worshipped false gods instead) and they were men of superior ability. This is where the similarity ended.

Herod was evil to the core, and Caesar Augustus, the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, was a wise ruler and generally a benevolent person. He was a great builder, and during his reign the world enjoyed its longest period of peace. Herod was paranoid, demonic and sadistic, demonstrated by his determination to kill the baby Jesus by destroying all of the male babies in Bethlehem.

Caesar's decree requiring all to be enrolled for taxation meant Joseph must register in Bethlehem–the town where his most noble ancestor, King David, was born. We see here the divine hand of God in the timing of the census and the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy concerning the location of Jesus' birth (Micah 5:2).

The congregation assembled for this event

It was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (61:1) that the first announcement of Jesus' birth was made to poor and despised shepherds. These shepherds were encamped in the open, keeping watch by turn over their flocks. Suddenly, while most of the shepherds were sleeping, “an angel of the Lord” stood by them. Fresh from God's presence, this angelic creature radiated a heavenly brightness. The angel delivered his message concerning the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, telling the shepherds exactly where they would find him. The angel emphasized his birth would constitute “good tidings of great joy to all people.” Thus in the first announcement of Jesus' birth, his universal salvation was proclaimed.

As soon as the angel finished speaking, he was joined by a multitude of his fellow angels, lifting their voices in a mighty concert of praise. When the angels had all vanished from sight, the shepherds were moved to follow the angel's orders immediately. They rushed to Bethlehem, found the inn and worshipped the baby Jesus.

What a motley congregation God had assembled to celebrate the birth of his Son–lowly shepherds, majestic angels and lowing cattle, no doubt stunned and amazed by it all. The shepherds suddenly became evangelists, glorifying and praising God for what they had seen and heard.

The dedication of Jesus in the temple

According to Jewish law, a woman became ceremonially unclean when her child was born. When the child was eight days old, he was circumcised. The mother remained unclean an additional 33 days. After this period, the mother offered a sacrifice, either a lamb or, if she were poor, two young pigeons or turtle doves (Leviticus 12:6-8). That Mary offered turtle doves confirms she and Joseph were poor and also shows Jesus identified with the poor of the land.

Luke introduced two individuals who played a significant role on this day of Jesus' presentation in the temple. The first was a godly man, Simeon, to whom the Lord had revealed the Messiah would come before he died. With incredible divine timing, the Spirit brought Simeon to the exact spot where he would encounter Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. In a touching scene, Luke revealed the baby Jesus in Simeon's arms and recorded the beautiful psalm that came spontaneously from Simeon (vv. 29-32). His conversation with Mary and Joseph ended on a somber note concerning the suffering of Mary and the rejection of Jesus.

The second person Luke included in this amazing drama was Anna, a prophetess (v. 36) who was “very old.” After the death of her husband, she remained a widow and lived in the temple precincts. She devoted her life to prayer and fasting. Once more we see evidence of divine timing as Anna came to Mary and Joseph and gave thanks to God because it was revealed to her that this child would be the fulfillment of the messianic hope many Jews cherished concerning the deliverance and redemption of Jerusalem.

In what diverse and remarkable ways did God introduce his Son to this world!

For discussion

Considering the accounts of Jesus' birth by Matthew and Luke, list the unexpected and surprising ways God brought his Son into the world.

Posted: 12/05/03

Students don't know much of First Amendment

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The nation's undergraduates are mostly ignorant about the First Amendment's proclamation about freedom of religion.

A new survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education found 30 percent of students overall named freedom of religion when they were asked to name any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

But when asked to specify which freedom is addressed first in the amendment, only 10 percent of public college students and 5 percent of private college students correctly said freedom of religion.

“If the American experiment in liberty is to survive, citizens must both keep alive and cherish the free exchange of ideas, values and convictions,” said Alan Charles Kores, president of the foundation. “These survey results are disheartening, but they unfortunately are not surprising.”

Far more students overall–73 percent–mentioned freedom of speech when asked to name any specific right guaranteed by the First Amendment. Twenty percent cited right of assembly and association, and 6 percent mentioned right to petition.

The survey was conducted between Feb. 6 and April 7 by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.

It was funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. A total of 1,037 students were surveyed at 339 colleges and universities.

Posted: 12/05/03

Association removes Florida church

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (ABP)–Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., has been removed from membership in Halifax Baptist Association because of the congregation's female co-pastor.

Sonja Phillips and her husband, Dave, were hired as co-pastors of the 750-member church in July.

During the association's annual meeting this fall, a motion was approved to expel the congregation.

“We need to take a stand on this issue” of female pastors, said Chris Lybarger, pastor at Rima Ridge Baptist Church in Ormond Beach, who made the motion, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The ouster was confirmed by the unanimous vote of the association's executive committee Nov. 18 after some confusion arose about the association's earlier action.

Dennis Belz, director of missions for Halifax Association, said calling a woman pastor contradicts the Bible.

Female pastors, while common in some denominations, are rare in Southern Baptist life. Three years ago, the Southern Baptist Convention revised its Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement to limit the role of pastor to men. While the statement is not binding on congregations, it often is used as a tool of acceptable doctrine by local associations.

This is the first time a church has been expelled from the 46-year-old Halifax Baptist Association for any reason, reported the Florida Baptist Witness.

Central was a charter member of the 33-church association but has been less active in recent years. It also is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which welcomes female pastors.

Sonja Phillips, 40, said her decision to become a pastor was “not about me being a woman.”

“It's about me being a child of God,” the former social worker told the News-Journal. “I'm just trying to serve God the best way I know how.”

Sonja and Dave Phillips take turns preaching for the Daytona Beach church.

Posted: 12/05/03

Waist-deep floodwaters made it difficult for residents of Gracewood, a Baptist General Convention of Texas ministry in Houston, to leave the property as more water surged in. TBM volunteers (right) responded to help repair water damage.

Houston flooding sweeps ministry's
residents into sudden evacuation

HOUSTON–November flood waters threatened the single mothers and their children taking refuge at the Gracewood ministry of Texas Baptist Children's Home & Family Services.

But Texas Baptist Men came to the rescue the next day, as workers began surveying the extensive damage.

With little warning, rising floodwater blanketed the Gracewood campus in Houston.

“The water came up so quickly that we barely had time to react,” said Executive Director Mike Hammack. “We immediately shut off the electricity and gas and began evacuating the families.”

The trip was harrowing. Two vehicles stalled in the swirling water before a third was able to transport the children to safety. Soon, the road became impassable, leaving the remaining staff and mothers to wade through a mile of murky, waist-deep water before reaching high ground.

Although the flood was short-lived, the devastation will take months to repair.

Staff began pulling carpet and other waterlogged items the next day. Reinforcement soon arrived in the form of a Texas Baptist Men disaster relief unit.

Roy Childs led the unit, which included six men from LaGrange and three from Austin. Forty other volunteers from Lakewood Church in Houston joined them.

Fifty volunteers tackled a mountain of soggy labor that day.

The Texas Baptist Men volunteers were not deterred by water. They have seen water damage before.

“We go in and pull sheetrock, vacuum water out, pressure wash and sanitize what's left,” Childs explained. “Each person brings their own set of skills. We've worked together long enough to know each other's strengths.

“It's a ministry, a calling. If you've ever come in after a flood and seen the devastated homes, smelled the stench of stagnant water and mold … our ability to face this can only come from God.”

While repairs are made, Gracewood residents are staying at a local hotel.

For more information about flood relief at Gracewood, contact (713) 988-9757 or info@gracewood.org.

Posted: 12/05/03

Friendly families sought to host
international students at holidays

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS–Dallas-area families looking for a cultural exchange this holiday season will find just that through the Friendship International House program at Dallas Baptist University.

For more than 20 years, international students at DBU have shared the Christmas holidays with American host families. The students spend their evenings and weekends with their host families and take part as a group in planned weekday activities. Host families provide a place to sleep, some meals and transportation to activities.

Jim and Margaret Gayle pose with two international students who celebrated the Christmas season with them last year through Friendship House International.

Students visit the Sixth Floor Museum, Tuba Christmas Concert at Thanksgiving Square, City Hall, Fair Park, Six Flags and go horseback riding at Camp El Har.

They spend Christmas Day with their host families and attend church services with them.

The DBU program sprang from a nationwide program of the Southern Baptist Convention. That program folded in 2000, but leaders of the DBU program, along with a handful of others across the nation, kept their programs going.

“The students are just incredible,” said Cookie Stokes, one of the DBU leaders. “Most of them have never been in an American home before, and the holidays are about the only opportunity for that to happen.”

Last year, several students from Dallas went to Murray, Ky., to participate in the program there. “Our hope is that we will have enough host families this year for some of their students to come to Dallas so that we can reciprocate,” Stokes said.

Families desiring to participate are asked to sign up as soon as possible, but a Dec. 12 deadline has been established. Call Stokes at (972) 771-3363, ext. 23, or Delores Kube at (214) 391-5511.

“We've had families with children and families without children participate, and it works either way,” Stokes said. “These students are in a Christian environment at DBU, but they really enjoy being a part of what they call an American Christmas.”

Dallas Baptist Association and various churches fund the program.

Posted: 12/05/03

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Alcohol & stumbling

At the recent Lubbock convention, the Baptist General Convention of Texas adopted a resolution calling for Texas Baptists and others to “take positive steps toward the reduction of alcohol use and abuse in our communities … .”

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

At best, a Christian's public drinking is a stumbling block to other believers and waters down the witness of the individual, as well as the church and denomination represented. Normally, alcohol contributes to the denigration of families and, many times, to the deaths of persons through vehicle accidents, violent crime and disease.

Not all Texas or Southern Baptists agree alcohol is a spiritual and societal evil to be avoided, though it's incorporated into the church covenant embraced and displayed by many of our churches. But one would expect that our visible Baptist leaders should and would lead the way in setting the public abstinence example.

This year, however, I have seen two visible Texas Baptists drinking alcohol in public.

If you preach God's word or accept a leadership position in God's kingdom work, I urge you to “not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God”–or yourself.

Chuck Pace

Lake Jackson

Iraq & moral credibility

As a Baptist, I wonder: Have our Baptist leaders lost their moral compass?

Unlike other Christian leaders, ours remain silent on the greatest evil of our time–our government's illegal, unprovoked war against the people of Iraq. That war, built on lies and deception, has killed over 10,000 innocent human beings–many of them children. In a republic, Christians bear some responsibility for what their government does.

Some Baptist leaders are focusing attention on homosexual behavior. To even mention homosexual behavior against the backdrop of silence on the war is to “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” The war, after all, is not just about sin–it's about evil. In the words of Matthew 23:23, these leaders have “omitted the weightier matters of the law.”

By their silence on this evil, Baptist leaders and the church generally have lost their moral credibility to criticize sexual behavior or anything else.

Where are the Dietrich Bonhoeffers and Martin Luther Kings to awaken us from moral slumber?

Many Baptist leaders seem to have more faith in one politician than they have in the teachings of Jesus.

A recent Time magazine poll shows the greatest support for our government's actions comes from those who attend church the most. Is it time for good people to get out of the church?

If standing against evil will divide the church, then the church needs to be divided.

Charles Reed

Waco

Carroll & women deacons

I just finished reading through B.H. Carroll's commentary on the pastoral epistles in his “Interpretation of the English Bible.” I paid careful attention to his comments regarding 1 Timothy 3 and women deacons.

One of the letters in the Nov. 17 Texas Baptist Forum was correct to state that women served as deacons at First Baptist Church in Waco while Carroll was pastor. It failed, however, to note that Carroll insisted the church never ordain women, that women could not pray or speak in public and that women deacons limit their ministry to women.

Personally, I disagree with Carroll on all these points; I do not believe women should serve as deacons (1 Timothy 3:8-13), and I do believe they can talk to God or men in public and can minister to men.

Nonetheless, the comments from one of the Standard's readers about Carroll and women deacons misrepresented Carroll's position. This underscores the urgent need for Baptists to exercise caution when using historical resources from the Baptist heritage.

David Mills

Auburn, Ga.

Lessons & Christian beauty

Fifteen years ago, we joined a senior adult Sunday School class, taught by a man who simply read to us the lesson from the Baptist Standard. About six years later, I became the teacher, and he brought the Baptist Standard lesson to class every Sunday to read it to the class if I did not quote from it–frustrating for a new teacher!

For the last three months, I have realized that John Duncan's lessons in the Baptist Standard are bright lights in a dismal world.

The teacher's quarterly described our freedom from laws and demanded perfection of the readers by way of discovering our guilt. Duncan's lessons have taught the very beautiful life of being a Christian. He makes it easy to teach love for God and man.

Thanks to John Duncan, and thanks to the Baptist Standard for these gentle and loving lessons.

Shirley Wright

Detroit

BWA blessing

I have been privileged to attend eight world congresses of the Baptist World Alliance since 1950. My first assignment for the BWA was in 1965. I have attended BWA meetings on six continents.

The BWA has welcomed into its membership any convention or union that evidences adherence to the core beliefs shared by Baptists. The BWA General Council is a representative body with membership allocated according to church membership. The Southern Baptist Convention has the largest number of members, 17. Each of the 211 unions or conventions has at least one member.

Baptist leaders outside North America have tended to have a basic gratitude to the SBC for its expansive missionary work. Many conventions and unions originated from the work of Southern Baptist missionaries, while others derived from the missionary work of British, American (formerly Northern), Canadian, Swedish, Australian or New Zealand Baptists.

But also during recent years, these same overseas leaders have come to fear and resist what they perceive as neo-colonialist tendencies from the SBC, according to which they feel they have become less-than-equal brothers and sisters in the worldwide Baptist brotherhood at the very time when the BWA has become more global than ever.

Mistaken attitudes and policies can be disastrous for Baptist unity and evangelization, whereas truly Christian and biblical attitudes and actions can be a decisive blessing, opening new doors in the unfolding 21st century.

James Leo Garrett

Fort Worth

Pen-pal ministry

I am writing this letter on behalf of Chinese students who are taking English in their country and who want American pen-pals.

The National Fellowship of Baptist Educators is seeking Christian young people who will answer at least one letter from Chinese students who have written letters “to an American friend.” After the first exchange of letters, correspondence might be continued by e-mail or regular mail.

We will provide guidelines on ways students may share their faith and be a Christian influence in a country where missionary work is restricted.

This makes a great project for a Sunday School class, Acteens or Challenger group, or any Christian youth organization. Individual students also may participate.

To request letters or further information, contact John Carter, Executive Director, National Fellowship of Baptist Educators, Samford University Box 292305, Birmingham, Ala. 35229; phone (205) 822-4106; e-mail j-fcarter@juno.com.

Give the name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of the group leader to whom we may send the letters. Indicate the number of letters needed from grades 7-9 and the number from grades 10-12.

Provide the name of the group that is participating. If an American teacher would like to correspond with a Chinese teacher, let us know.

Requests must be received by Jan. 15. Letters will be sent during the two weeks following.

We'll look forward to hearing from any person or group.

John Carter

Birmingham, Ala.

What do you think? Submit letters for Texas Baptist Forum to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters must be no longer than 250 words.

Posted: 12/05/03

Marriage amendment proposed in U.S. Congress

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The United States Senate has become the latest battlefield in the ongoing culture war over gay marriage. A quintet of conservative Republican senators introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment Nov. 25, shortly before senators adjourned for their holiday break.

The measure would amend the U.S. Constitution to ban marriage and “the legal incidents thereof” to same-sex couples. The move came only one week after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the state's legislature to legalize gay marriage.

The proposal's initial co-sponsors are Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Jim Bunning, R-Ky., James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

The proposal's text reads: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, nor State or Federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”

Supporters argue the amendment's language is tailored narrowly enough to protect state laws that define marriage as solely a heterosexual institution without infringing on other rights. But some opponents warn its language is broad enough to deny marriage-like rights–such as hospital visitation, inheritance and child custody–to gay and lesbian couples that have long enjoyed such rights in certain states.

The Alliance for Marriage, an organization advocating the Federal Marriage Amendment, said in a Nov. 25 news release that the proposal's language “ensures that state legislatures–not the courts–will continue to decide all issues related to the allocation of marital benefits” and that the amendment would have “no impact at all on the benefits offered by private businesses and corporations to their employees.”

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has said he will oppose such an amendment.

President Bush and his spokesmen have so far declined to state publicly if the White House will support the constitutional amendment.

The bill, S.J. Res. 26, was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An identical proposal in the House, introduced by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., had gained 107 co-sponsors as of Dec. 1.

Congress has not successfully amended the Constitution since 1971, when 18-year-olds got the right to vote. Constitutional amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

Posted: 12/05/03

Missouri president bans newspaper from convention events

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)–In a move unprecedented in Southern Baptist circles, a state convention president will attempt to bar a Baptist publication in Missouri from attending or reporting on state Baptist meetings.

David Tolliver, recently elected president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, informed the editor of the Word & Way that the staff of the 107-year-old news journal no longer will be allowed to attend convention meetings, including Executive Board sessions and committee meetings. Tolliver also will attempt to bar Word & Way from the convention's annual meetings, events frequently attended by secular media.

In a Nov. 19 letter to Editor Bill Webb, Tolliver explained that his “directive” is a result of the action the Word & Way and four other convention agencies took to establish self-perpetuating trustee boards.

Word & Way, Missouri Baptist University, Windermere Baptist Conference Center and the Missouri Baptist Foundation changed their charters in 2001 to allow each entity to elect its own trustees rather than allow the convention to elect them. The Baptist Home trustees took the same action a year earlier.

The Missouri Baptist Convention filed suit in August 2002 to force the boards of the five entities to rescind their charter changes.

“It is simply a matter of prudence that litigants not have direct communication or personal interaction with one another,” Tolliver said in the letter. Tolliver said his directive will be withdrawn once the litigation is settled.

Tolliver, pastor of Pisgah Baptist Church in Excelsior Springs, is a member of the convention's legal task force charged with overseeing the legal effort to recover the five breakaway agencies.

The convention's action against Word & Way is probably unprecedented, according to longtime Baptist observers, who could not recall another incident in which a state convention excluded a Baptist publication from all its meetings.

In a telephone interview Nov. 24, Tolliver emphasized the lawsuit as his primary reason for expelling Word & Way from board proceedings. “This was not done in animosity but in prudence,” he said.

When asked why the convention waited more than a year to bar news journal staff, he responded: “In my opinion, it should have been done a year ago … but I wasn't in a position to do it. … I have said in several instances (in the last year) that it should have been done. … This is not anything personal. I think it's the right thing.”

Tolliver said the directive would not apply to other news organizations because they are not involved in legal action with the Missouri convention.

The convention president added that he plans to ask all executive board members to refrain from talking with Word & Way, although he acknowledged he cannot force them to comply.

In his letter, Tolliver also noted Word & Way would be barred from the convention's annual meeting. However, under the Missouri Baptist Convention constitution and bylaws, convention leaders must allow elected messengers from recognized churches to participate in the annual sessions. Current Word & Way staffers are members of Missouri Baptist Convention churches.

Word & Way board Chairman Bob Cox said he does not understand Tolliver's reasoning.

“I don't know how you can bar anybody from the convention. I don't understand how you can just bar somebody from a public meeting.”

Posted: 12/05/03

'Nones' aren't the loneliest
number when it comes to religion

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)–Their numbers have more than doubled in a decade, to nearly 30 million. Organized as a religious denomination, they would trail only Catholics and Baptists in members.

They are the “nones,” named for their response to a question in public opinion polls: “What is your religion, if any?”

Some nones are atheists, others agnostics, still others self-styled dabblers in a variety of faiths and philosophies. Despite their discomfort with organized religion, many consider themselves quite spiritual.

Matt Blevins, 30, of Portland, Ore., has experienced spiritual moments camping, biking and skiing in the Pacific Northwest, where "nones," those professing no religion, outnumber any single religious category. (Kraig Scattarella/RNS Photos)

Take, for example, Matt Blevins, 30, a Portland, Ore., environmentalist who, like many nones, is relatively young, liberal and religiously uncommitted. Sunday morning service? Blevins defines that as an attentive waiter at brunch.

“I think I was baptized Episcopalian, but I'm not quite sure,” Blevins said. “I try to put those things out of my mind. I just don't buy most of the stuff from organized religion. For the most part, it provides more problems than solutions.”

Blevins' cathedral is the great outdoors. While camping, biking and skiing, he has had experiences that can only be described as transcendent, he said.

“For me, those moments are just as moving as what people may experience when they go to revivals. I'm taken to a different place where I have a bigger perspective on life and the universe and everything. If that's a spiritual connection, I'll take it.”

Nones are especially prevalent in the Pacific Northwest. In Oregon and Washington, where 21 percent and 25 percent, respectively, claim no particular faith, nones outnumber any single religious category.

“If people are interested in hiking on Sunday morning rather than going to church, that's fine. The culture won't say that's unacceptable. In fact, the culture will say that's perfectly acceptable,” said Mark Shibley, a sociologist at Southern Oregon University who has studied and written about nones.

But the religionless might find some parts of the country less tolerant.

Lauren Windle of Indianapolis grew up as an atheist in New York City, where most of her friends were Catholic or Jewish. She was exposed to religious ideas when her mother would take her to the library to check out books on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

“I've been asked my whole life, 'What are you?'” said Windle, 48. “As a child, I would have to say, 'Nothing.' And who wants to say you are nothing? This answer was never, ever accepted.”

“If anyone in the Bible Belt learns you're a none,” said Betsy Lampe, 46, a none from Lakeland, Fla., “they immediately and mistakenly believe that you're either a Satan worshipper or a communist and treat you as such.

“To them, you must be labeled. This may be why the none category is growing. They're running off any potential new converts with their offensive labeling.”

Many nones believe in God, but not in organized religion.

Whatever the reason, nones grew from 8 percent of the U.S. population in 1990 to more than 14 percent in 2001.

That's the conclusion of religion experts who compared results of the National Survey of Religious Identification, conducted in 1990, and the American Religious Identification Survey, which in 2001 sought to update the earlier poll.

“That makes nones the fastest-growing religious group in the United States, if you think about them as a religious group,” said Patricia O'Connell Killen, a professor of religious history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. “We're just coming to grips with the reality that this group even exists.”

Nones could form a powerful constituency for marketing or political causes. But few see them that way, and even fewer try to communicate with them.

“Because of their indifference, they're not in one place,” said John Green, a professor specializing in religion and politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. “It's hard to put together a mailing list. It's difficult to get them on the phone. You can't call them together for a meeting.”

Yet thanks to the American Religious Identification Survey, much is now known about nones.

Young people are more likely to profess no religion. One in three nones is less than 30 years old, compared with one in five of all survey respondents. More are single (29 percent) than the adult population as a whole (20 percent). Fifty-nine percent are male. Their education level (23 percent college graduates) is virtually the same as the national average for adults. Seventeen percent are Republicans, 30 percent are Democrats, and 43 percent are independents.

Many nones believe in God. Nearly half “agreed strongly” that God exists. “It is more accurate to describe them as unaffiliated than as non-believers,” said Ariela Keysar, study director of the American Religious Identification Survey.

Catharine Lamm has used three terms to describe her religious skepticism: secular humanist, agnostic and atheist. “But the word 'atheist' isn't that great,” she said. “It's a negative word. It says I'm against something, and that doesn't quite capture me.”

She likes the potential of a new term–“bright”–coined to describe people with a naturalist as opposed to a supernaturalist world view. The word has gained popularity through a July op-ed piece in the New York Times arguing for its use.

“I would say I have a spirit within myself,” said Lamm, 34, of Hanover, N.H., “but it's composed of logic, emotions, love and all those things that make me human. There's no dependency on an outside power source. Whatever spirituality I have comes from within.”

Allyson Leonard, 24, of Bloomfield, N.J., decries what she terms “groupthink mentality” and half-jokingly tells people she attended Roman Catholic schools for 14 years to learn she has no faith at all in organized religion.

Her doubts began at age 10 when she was told people who didn't attend mass were barred from heaven. She immediately thought of “Pop,” her beloved grandfather.

“You're telling me that he's going to hell because he doesn't go to mass on Sundays?” she remembers asking.

Leonard, a publicist who works in New York City, came to see religion as “death insurance.” She's not willing to pay the premiums.

“I don't worry about it,” she said. “I look at it and say: 'OK, I know I'm living the best life I can here and now. If nothing happens after I die, fine.'

“I just don't see the point of planning for something I don't know exists.”

Posted: 12/05/03

On the Move

Scott Arant to First Church in Bloomington as pastor.

Roy Fish to First Church in Center as interim pastor.

David Forshee to Blue Ridge Church in Marlin as pastor.

Tony Lamascus to Walnut Street Church in Nocona as pastor.

Micah Meurer to River Road Church in Amarillo as pastor.

Gary Miller to First Church in Runaway Bay as pastor.

Basilio Montez has resigned as pastor of Primera Iglesia in Cameron.

Bob Wimberly to First Church in New Baden as pastor.

Joseph Zillmen to First Church in Washburn as pastor.

Posted: 12/05/03

Theological society won't oust two 'open theists'

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

ATLANTA (RNS)–The Evangelical Theological Society voted last month to retain two members whose status had been challenged after they published controversial views supporting open theism–the belief that God may not always know the future.

The memberships of scholars John Sanders and Clark Pinnock were sustained when the society's members failed to vote by a two-thirds majority that either should be removed.

Both scholars said they were “relieved” by the votes, which had questioned whether they had violated the society's commitment to inerrancy, the belief that the Bible is without error.

Outgoing society President David Howard Jr. said the votes by more than 600 scholars attending the annual meeting in Atlanta did not focus on the merits of open theism. Rather, they addressed whether the two men agreed with the group's “doctrinal basis,” which consists of two sentences affirming inerrancy and the Trinity.

The society's executive committee had recommended 7-2 that Sanders be removed from membership. In a report issued prior to the meeting, it said his book “The God Who Risks” leaves one “with a Bible that one cannot affirm teaches anything about the future except for stating probabilities.”

In an interview, Sanders discussed an example he cited to the committee, the reference in 2 Kings 20 to King Hezekiah, who was expected to die but then did not after he prayed to God. The prophet Isaiah, who had previously said Hezekiah would die, then said he would recover from his illness.

“That's the 'open' of 'open theism,'” said Sanders, a philosophy and religion professor at Huntington College in Huntington, Ind. “God is open to what we do. What we do makes a difference to what God decides to do.”

The secret ballot about Sanders came close to the necessary two-thirds, with 62.7 percent favoring expulsion and 37.3 percent opposing expulsion. Some considered it a warning for scholars like Sanders to rethink some of their arguments.

The executive committee had recommended unanimously that Pinnock's membership be sustained after he made changes to a footnote of his book “Most Moved Mover.”

Pinnock said in an interview that he had not denied inerrancy in that footnote but was declaring that “prophecies can be pretty vague sometimes.” The reference was to Paul's statement in 1 Thessalonians about the return of Jesus.

“According to Paul, the Second Coming seemed to be just around the corner (1 Thessalonians 4:17), even though we today know that it has still not come even in our day,” he wrote in the revised note. “His word was, however, perfectly appropriate, given the fact that Paul thought that the coming could come at any time.”

Pinnock, professor emeritus of systematic theology at McMaster Divinity College in Ontario, Canada, also was retained, with 33 percent voting in favor of expelling him and 67 percent voting against expulsion.

“I think it was a vote of moderation,” Pinnock said in an interview after the vote. “In recent years, the tendency had been to turn always to the right, and this was saying: 'No, this is enough. Let's stop … hurting each other.'”

Both scholars say they are simultaneously inerrantists and open theists. Although the vote was technically on whether the men had violated the sentiment of the society about inerrancy, there is a debate within the group as to whether open theism and inerrancy can be compatible.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was disappointed with the outcome of the votes because he believes the two concepts are “absolutely incompatible.”

“If the Evangelical Theological Society does not muster the courage to define its own convictions and to determine its own membership on the basis of those convictions, then there will be, eventually, nothing evangelical about the Evangelical Theological Society,” he said.

The faculty and trustees of Mohler's seminary in Louisville, Ky., had adopted a resolution opposing open theism ahead of the meeting in hopes of influencing the vote.

Mohler said the society should develop a definition of inerrancy. Some charged during the debate that there was not a clear definition of inerrancy to use as a basis for charges against Sanders and Pinnock.

Howard, the outgoing president and an Old Testament professor at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., said some in the organization argue that it is not a church, but rather an academic society where hard issues–including open theism–can be debated.

After a yearlong process that included issuing reports and responses on the society's website, he was satisfied the group had proved it can handle such debates.

“A lot of people came … expecting to see a good fight,” he said. “There was vigorous debate, but it was all done in great dignity and decency and in order. Ultimately, I guess, we're all wanting to advance the cause of Christ.”