Posted: 10/17/03

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 2

Christ is God's image before all creation

Colossians 1:15-23

By John Duncan

Lakeside Baptist Church, Granbury

“The permanence of the universe rests … in Christ more than on gravity,” says A.T. Robertson. Colossians 1:15 communicates the truth that Christ is the image of God before all creatures. God is over all things (v. 16), before all things (v. 17) and by him all things hold together (v. 17). The universe rests on Christ's creative work and sustaining power.

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins says, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” God's grandeur fills the world. God's grandeur also reflects his glory in the church. Christ created the church and rules over the church by his power and love.

Christ: The head of the church

Christ dwells as the head of the body, the church (Col. 1:18). The head controls the nerve centers, the functions, the mind and the vision of the body. Christ controls the church. The Lord of creation also becomes Lord of the church. A.T. Robertson says, “Christ is first in time and power.” Is there any greater power deserving of your time? Is there any power more powerful than God's?

As the head, Christ is the beginning, the resurrected Christ, the one who desires first place in all things. Christ's place in the church is the one who sets the church in motion, the one who keeps the work of the church alive, as the one who leads the church, and as the one who holds first place in the hearts of his people (v. 18).

Christ: Reconciles by his grace

For the church to minister effectively, Christ must remain the church's head. When Christ is the head, two key things follow in life and in the life of the church: (1) reconciliation, the act of making enemies friends, thus supplying shared hospitality; (2) peace, an inner calm that rests in today and joyfully places certain confidence in the future because of Christ (v. 20). Reconciliation brings peace. Reconciliation “renounces God's wrath and is gracious again” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament). God's grace reconciles. Reconciliation graces. Reconciliation supplies grace for an inner peace and for peace between individuals. Reconciliation and peace anchor themselves in the cross of Jesus (vv. 19-20).

Paul knows reconciliation flows from Christ's fullness (v. 19) and because of the cross. The cross draws people to Christ and brings people together. Christ reconciles people to himself, changing the Christian's status. What was that status in the past? Before Christ, the Colossians were strangers to Christ and enemies who hated the Gospel (v. 21). In such a state the mind worked overtime to purpose evil works (v. 21).

Christ: The one who draws people to himself

Christ transformed the Colossian Christians' hearts. Christ draws people to himself (salvation) and draws people together (church and community). Christ presents the Christian before God as holy (set apart), blameless (pure) and without fault before God (free from accusation or legal charges) (v. 22). Simply, Christ's death and shed blood offer purity to those who trust and believe in him. Christ washes sin as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Christ: Builder of foundations

Paul knows Christians will remain or dwell in the faith of Christ. Two activities occur for a life and in the church when Christians remain faithful to Christ: (1) God establishes an unshakeable foundation; (2) the Christian does not move away or become dislodged from the inspirational hope of the gospel (v. 23). The foundation anchors life in the temporal and in storms. The hope inspires a certainty for living today and a certain anticipation of God's future work, including the hope of heaven.

Hope is heard. Hope is preached. Hope comes from heaven and from Christ and showers on the earth. Hope finds a home in the hearts that remain or “tabernacle” in the faith of Jesus. Christ's hope radiates in the life of the believer in Jesus.

Christ: The suffering servant

Paul preaches the cross of Jesus (v. 23). He also ministers, or voluntarily serves Christ, in the shadow of the cross. Paul, therefore, understands the physical pain/suffering in the cross and the daily pressures of living according to the cross of Jesus. Life produces pain and suffering. Christ endured pain and suffering. Paul encountered pain and suffering. All in all, rejoicing is the proper Christian response for Paul and the church. “Joy in suffering is a familiar Pauline idea,” says A.T. Robertson. Joy comes to Christ's servant and Christ's church when through suffering, they understand the meaning of Jesus on the cross. Christ is both a friend and a giver of strength in suffering. Joy in the heart is the result.

Was Paul an optimist? Was Paul a positive mental thinker? Was Paul's hope rooted in something deeper than optimism or wishful thinking? Paul's hope found meaning in Jesus, his suffering, his shed blood and his promise for a certain future. Paul considered it a privilege to serve Christ. He voluntarily surrendered to Christ as a minister (v. 23). The joy of Christ renewed him in service and sustained him in suffering. Paul rejoiced in Christ (v. 24).

Question for discussion

What is the secret to finding joy in suffering?

Posted: 10/17/03

Posted: 10/17/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Oct. 26

The Holy Spirit is the source of true wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

The church at Corinth existed in the midst of a culture focused on wealth and pleasure. It was a cosmopolitan city made up of people from a variety of backgrounds. Many of the Greek gods were worshipped. Immorality was rife, and the new believers in the Corinthian church struggled with the pagan influences of their past. Consequently, a variety of problems began to surface in the church after Paul left.

While Paul was in Ephesus, he received disturbing news concerning these upheavals in the church. His first letter to them dealt with problems in the church as a whole as well as among individuals. In a church fellowship fractured by divisions, Paul saw a need for spiritual wisdom that comes only as one yields to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Paul's assessment of his ministry

Paul came to Corinth from Athens, where he had one of the most distressing experiences of his ministry. There he had encountered the worship of Greek gods and the seemingly endless presence of temples and shrines dedicated to them. He had met with the philosophers on Mars Hill and saw how they prided themselves on their knowledge and oratorical skills. Paul reminded the Corinthians that when he came to them he did not resort to human eloquence and wisdom but determined to preach the simple message of the cross. He emphasized that he came not only in simplicity, but also in fear. The kind of fear Paul had was that trembling anxiety to serve his master with unquestioning devotion and faithfulness, the same way in which a slave is to serve and obey his master (Ephesians 6:5).

Paul also reminded his readers that his ministry among them was with results and not with mere words. When Paul preached, things happened. The word Paul used for “demonstration” meant the kind of proof against which no one could argue effectively. That proof was the changed lives of those who received Christ as a result of Paul's preaching. All of this happened because of the power of God and not because of man's wisdom.

Paul's description of true wisdom

Paul also wanted his Corinthian readers to understand that his presentation of God's eternal plan of salvation came only through the Holy Spirit, who revealed to Paul and others a wisdom only God's people can understand. When Paul stated his wisdom was for the “mature,” he did not refer only to older saints who were advanced in their spiritual growth, but those who had been born again, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the unsaved.

Paul had said earlier it was the unsaved who considered the gospel foolish and could not receive divine truth (1:21-23). God's wisdom does not come from those in this age of time and space, nor from the exalted rulers of this world who crucified the Lord of glory (v. 8). Paul said plainly that such enemies of God “would come to nothing” (v. 6).

The “hidden” wisdom that Paul mentioned (v. 7) actually was the wisdom of God referred to in the Old Testament. God had plans he had promised and laid up for his people, for “those who love him.” The very thought of what God has prepared for his people could not be contained in the minds of those who are not a part of his family.

Paul acknowledges the source of true wisdom

All of these things so clouded in mystery to the unbeliever are revealed to God's people by the Holy Spirit. The word Paul used for “revealed” is a word normally used in the New Testament to suggest the divine revelation of certain supernatural secrets (Matthew 16:17; Luke 10:22). It also was used to indicate certain events yet to come to pass. Paul was saying only the Holy Spirit helps God's people understand and interpret Scripture. The “deep things of God” certainly would include the essence, the attributes, the purposes and the plans of God he would choose to reveal to his people by the Holy Spirit.

It was important to Paul that the Corinthians understand his preaching was not the result of human wisdom but through the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Because of that, those outside God's family could not understand the truth of the gospel because it is revealed only through the Holy Spirit.

Paul reiterated his contention, as in 1:21, that the unbeliever conceives the things of God “foolish” for the simple reason they can only be “spiritually discerned” (v. 14). The word “discerned” Paul used is the same word translated “judgments” in v. 15, which means to make intelligent spiritual decisions. Then, to confirm his statement, Paul quoted Isaiah 40:13 (v. 16). Paul makes the reference even stronger when he suggested that, as New Testament believers, “we have the mind of Christ.” The enemies of the gospel cannot judge Paul's message because without the Spirit of God, they cannot comprehend spiritual truths.

Question for discussion

How am I assured of my maturity as a member of the family of God?

Posted: 10/17/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Nov. 2

Along with the relationship comes responsibility

Acts 3:1-26

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

Until we are born from above, we have no relationship with God at all. His first concern is that we acknowledge our lostness and receive his Son as Savior and Lord.

Beyond that established relationship, however, God also cares about our physical, emotional and social needs. While Jesus was on earth, he proved this divine concern in the way he ministered to the total person. The incident Luke recorded in the lesson text for this study session demonstrates how God's power flowing through Peter and John not only met a physical need but led to an even greater miracle involving a spiritual transformation.

A point of beginning

Apparently Luke singled out this miracle from among many others being performed through the apostles (Acts 2:43) because it involved not only a miraculous healing, but also a spiritual transformation and an opportunity for Peter to preach the gospel to those who stood in awe of what had happened. Peter and John's encounter with the lame man was not a planned event. They were on their way to the temple to participate in one of the three daily periods of prayer observed by the Jews. The "beautiful gate" at which this crippled beggar sat is believed to have been the Gate of Nicanor, which was made of fine Corinthian brass. Josephus described it as being 50 cubits high, its doors 40 cubits wide, covered with gold and silver plates. Perhaps this is what prompted Peter to say to the man he had neither silver nor gold to give him.

God had opened a window of opportunity for the lame man. Note also that Peter and John were willing instruments through whom God worked. Their response to the Holy Spirit's moving and the beggar's willingness to cooperate with them triggered the miracle. For the crippled man to obey Peter's command was a physical impossibility, but the Holy Spirit worked through the authority in Peter's voice and his extended hand, and divine healing surged through the beggar's twisted, deformed body. The undeniable proof of the healing lay in the man's walking, jumping and praising God.

A spiritual transformation

The new birth not only brings about an inner change, it also bears an external witness to the power of God in one's life. The people knew this lame man. He had not kept this miracle a secret, for his overflowing joy expressed itself in physical demonstration. We are not told what he said when he praised God, but we can imagine he gave God the glory for what had happened to him. Showing his gratitude to Peter and John for being the channels through which God's power had changed him, he remained near to them. The people gathered to see the healed man at close range. This gave opportunity for Peter to preach a powerful sermon.

This second recorded sermon Peter preached reminds us of the sermon he preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:22-40). Both sermons followed a divine miracle–the gift of languages and the healing of a cripple. Peter was careful to disclaim any power on his part and to give all the glory to God. He took advantage of the opportunity to place before the people their guilt in the rejection, condemnation and execution of God's Son. He followed this charge by declaring God's vindication through Christ's resurrection. He emphasized the miracle they had just witnessed came through faith in the name of this one whom they had crucified.

A fervent exhortation

Almost every element of first-century preaching was included in Peter's sermon. He began by combining both mercy and warning. Because of their spiritual ignorance, they had rejected and crucified God's Son, refusing to receive him as their messiah. Such ignorance could no longer be used as an excuse, for they had seen evidence of divine power manifested in the name of Jesus. This knowledge, in turn, faced them with the obligation to repent and turn from their sin, for those who know to do good and do not do it it is sin (James 4:17). To receive the full light of God's salvation is the greatest privilege, but to reject it is the most terrible tragedy.

The repentance of which Peter spoke would “wipe out” sin. Ancient writing was on papyrus using ink that contained no acid. Thus the ink did not cause the writing to bite into the papyrus as modern ink does. To erase the writing, one only had to take a wet sponge and wipe it away. That is how God wipes away our sin without leaving any hint that it was ever there before. This forgiveness will bring times of “refreshing” or a joyful sense of renewal.

Peter then proclaimed Christ would come at God's appointed time. He reminded the people that what he was telling them was nothing new. From Samuel to that day, God's prophets had foretold these things. He closed his sermon by declaring that with the special privilege God gave the descendants of Abraham to be his chosen people went an awesome responsibility to declare God's plan of the ages.

Questions for discussion

What was the purpose of the miracles performed by Jesus and the apostles?

How does God show his concern for the total person?

Posted: 10/17/03

Gallup Poll finds Americans
evenly divided on question of gay marriage

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Americans are almost evenly divided on whether they think legal marriage of same-sex partners is acceptable, according to a USA Today/CNN/ Gallup Poll.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said they think permitting gay unions “will change our society for the worse,” while 40 percent said gay marriage would have no effect and 10 percent said it would make society better.

The survey also found churchgoers are more often among the percentage of Americans who think society would be worsened by legal marriage of same-sex couples, USA Today reported.

Sixty-seven percent of those who attend religious services weekly feel this way, along with 51 percent of those who attend at least monthly.

Sentiments are different among those who attend worship services less frequently or never.

Forty-seven percent of those who seldom attend services say permitting marriage of gays and lesbians would have “no effect” on society, while 14 percent say it would improve society. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of those who never attend church said there would be no detrimental effects.

The survey also found younger respondents were more likely to think gay unions either would have no harmful effect on society or improve it. Sixty-seven percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 53 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds felt this way.

Overall, pollsters found Americans were split on whether gay and lesbian couples should be permitted to have all the same legal rights as married couples in every state. The study found 32 percent thought that should be allowed, 35 percent thought it shouldn't and 32 percent said it didn't matter to them.

The poll of 1,003 adults was conducted Sept. 19-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Posted: 10/17/03

North Carolina convention removes
church for baptizing homosexuals

By Steve DeVane

N.C. Biblical Recorder

CONCORD, N.C. (ABP)–A church that was removed from its association in April has been quietly taken off the rolls of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina as well.

McGill Baptist Church was voted out of Cabarrus Baptist Association for baptizing two homosexuals. Jim Royston, executive director-treasurer of the state convention, said he and convention officers decided after hearing about the association's move that McGill should be removed from the convention's membership as well. Convention policy makes the church ineligible, he said.

In 1992, the convention's General Board changed its financial policy to exclude “any church which knowingly takes, or has taken, any official action which manifests public approval, promotion or blessing of homosexuality.” Such churches, the General Board said, are not “cooperating churches”–the terminology for membership.

“Technically, it wasn't because they were removed from the association,” Royston said. “It was the issue that brought it about. The issue, as far as I could tell, that impacted us was the public action of a church being removed from an association related to the homosexual issue.”

Steve Ayers, pastor of McGill Baptist, said the church has not made homosexuality an issue.

“We're just talking about accepting members,” he said. “I hope this doesn't mean that all gay members of churches would be purged from churches affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.”

Ayers said he thinks the convention is “treading on very shaky ground” if it's going to decide who can be members of cooperating churches. “If someone thinks there (are) not gay people in churches, somebody needs to look around,” he said.

Ayers said the church has not asked the men if they are gay, but he doesn't doubt that they are. The men first came to the church because they were invited, he said. Ayers said he wonders if churches now must have a list of questions to ask people before the church agrees to baptize them.

“When someone says they've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life, do you believe them or not?” he said. “That's what it comes down to.”

The convention's anti-gay policy was first used in 1992 to remove Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh and Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. Pullen voted to bless the union of two homosexual males. Binkley voted to license a gay man to the ministry.

In 1999, the policy was used to remove Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. The church held a same-sex union for two lesbian members in September 2000.

Posted: 10/17/03

Fight against gay marriage makes odd partners

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

DETROIT (RNS)–Michigan legislator Triette Reeves has few evangelical Christians living in her Detroit district. As a black Democrat, she has never associated with religious conservatives.

But there she was at a recent news conference, standing with white evangelical Republicans in support of a state constitutional amendment to define marriage as an institution involving a man and a woman–blocking legalization of same-sex marriage.

Speaking at a Washington news conference with leaders of 23 other religious groups opposed to gay marriage, Willie Wooten, pastor of Gideon Christian Fellowship in New Orleans, promotes Oct. 12-18 as "Marriage Protection Week." (Tyrone Turner/RNS Photo)

Across the country, unusual alliances are forming to protect the traditional definition of marriage from anticipated court rulings. While the movement draws from a variety of demographic groups, it relies heavily on two–white evangelicals and religious blacks–that have historically been at odds over issues ranging from affirmative action to welfare reform.

On gay marriage, they seem to be reading from the same Bible.

“I know people are trying to make this into a sexy thing, like, 'Ooh, it's a conspiracy, they're getting together,'” Reeves said. “I have no interest in being a Republican. I'm a Democrat. But I believe there should be some diversity in our party, and the diversity I'm talking about is the freedom to be consistent with our moral beliefs.

“From the African-American perspective, which is the only perspective I can give, our focus is, 'God said it, we believe it and we should promote it.' I know that sounds elementary, but it's really that simple.”

For years, gay marriage seemed an unlikely possibility. But that was before an eventful summer.

In June, the Supreme Court struck down Texas' anti-sodomy law, which, according to Justice Antonin Scalia's blistering dissent, clears the legal path for gay marriage. Some legal scholars say the breakthrough ruling could come in pending court decisions on gay marriage in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Polls show the shift in thinking.

In May, a Gallup survey reported 49 percent of the public would support a law allowing gay men and lesbians to form civil unions providing some of the rights and legal protections of marriage. When a Washington Post poll asked the same question in August, support had dropped to 37 percent.

Gay rights groups are hoping that's just a blip on a longer trend line showing increasing acceptance of gay marriage. They argue the definition of marriage needs to be broadened to secure equal rights and benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits.

“Gay Americans are taxpaying, hard-working citizens who deserve these basic legal protections,” said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group.

Opposition to gay marriage is strongest among two groups, according to a survey released July 24 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. More than eight of 10 white evangelicals and six of 10 African-Americans oppose the idea.

Given that blacks and evangelicals are extremely loyal to their respective parties, the issue presents intriguing possibilities to political strategists.

A May 7 memo by Republican pollster Richard Wirthlin calls a federal marriage amendment “an ideal wedge issue.” It says supporting such an amendment “does not alienate the base” while potentially peeling a percentage of African-Americans away from the Democrats.

“In sum,” the memo concludes, “it is an issue that if handled properly can work very much to the advantage of Republican candidates, if it gains some visibility prior to the 2004 election.”

Democrats acknowledge that theoretically, they could lose black votes. But they say it's unlikely.

“There's a real phenomenon here,” said William Galston, professor of civic engagement at the University of Maryland and a former domestic policy official for the Clinton administration. “But what is also the case is African-Americans tend to be cross-pressured on a range of issues and are intensely suspicious of relationships that take them where they don't want to go.”

Consider Walter Fauntroy. In a long career of religious and political activism, he organized civil rights marches with Martin Luther King Jr., went to Congress as a District of Columbia delegate and helped found the Congressional Black Caucus.

Fauntroy supports the marriage amendment idea. He does so, he said, because the family unit in the African-American community is already under assault, and changing marriage only worsens the situation.

“I'm unalterably opposed to anything that redefines marriage as anything other than an institution for two purposes, the socialization of children and the perpetuation of the species,” he said.

While important, the issue is rarely discussed in black neighborhoods, Fauntroy said.

“When I step outside the door of this church, nobody is going to ask me, 'Rev, what do you think about gay marriage?' That may be a nice discussion in some places, but it isn't on the radar screen here. People here are saying, 'Lord, have mercy, I don't have health care; I need more income.' And, 'Reverend, get my boy out of jail; all he had was an ounce while the guys pushing it only got a misdemeanor.'”

In contrast, conservative activists say concern about gay marriage is electrifying the evangelical Christian community, rivaling abortion as an issue.

Gary Bauer, a 2000 presidential candidate who now directs the group American Values, said, “I have not seen in 30 years of battle an issue resonating like this one.”

Posted: 10/17/03

Jews for Allah takes a page from Christian mission efforts

By Alexandra Alter

Religion News Service

DANBURY, Conn. (RNS)–It began as sort of a joke.

Mohamed Ghounem, 32, a mild-mannered, laid-off telecom worker who lives with his wife and daughter in suburban Connecticut, says it was the headline “Christ Converts to Islam” in the satirical newspaper The Onion that gave him the idea for his website, JewsforAllah.com.

At first, he laughed. Then he thought, “Why not?”

Ghounem, whose religious pedigree includes a year of study at al-Azhar, the world's foremost institute of Sunni Islamic learning, said he felt frustrated by Muslims' lack of evangelical activity.

Although Muslims are the world's fastest-growing religious group with more than a billion adherents, they haven't been active enough in the battle for Jewish souls, Ghounem said.

“Muslims haven't been doing it,” he said. “The Muslim attitude, unfortunately, was 'Jews will never convert.”

But why target Jews, fellow monotheists whose faith is regarded by many as Islam's closest relative, and who the Koran describes as “People of the Book”?

According to Ghounem's reasoning, to help the Jews, who remain dangerously ignorant of Mohammed's prophecy, and, in the long run, to turn Israel into an Islamic state.

Ghounem's goals, while seen by many as laughably far-fetched, have outraged leaders of Jewish counter-missionary groups who already have been fighting off Christian evangelists for decades and are wary of new attempts to convert Jews by aggressive or deceptive means.

A fervent admirer of Moishe Rosen, founder of the messianic group Jews for Jesus, Ghounem has studied the group's tactics and adopted their rhetoric.

Like Jews for Jesus, an organization renowned for claiming a Jew who believes in Jesus is a “completed Jew,” Ghounem says converts can maintain their Jewish cultural identity and observe Jewish holidays. He stresses Judaism and Islam's shared lineage of prophets and their similar dietary laws. And, in language almost identical to his Christian mentors, he insists that a true Jew follows Mohammed.

“If you're a true Torah follower, you'll believe in Mohammed, because he's predicted in the Torah,” Ghounem said.

He also argues Jews can liberate themselves from the stringent demands of their religion by embracing Islam.

“The holy Koran is a mercy to Jews,” Ghounem said. “A lot of the things in the Torah, they're not going to have to do anymore.”

The suggestion that Judaism's proximity to Islam justifies conversion remains odious to many, however, who see Ghounem's efforts as an affront to both religions.

“What this guy is doing is a disservice to both faith systems,” said Scott Hillman, executive director of Jews for Judaism, a group that seeks to educate and protect Jews from evangelical groups. “If he's going to say, 'Judaism is fulfilled by Islam,' he's saying Islam is incomplete.”

Others say Ghounem is simply acting on the centuries-old impetus for people of all faiths to seek converts.

Ghounem's objectives are in keeping with the principles of Islam, which encourages evangelism, said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council for American Islamic Relations. “Muslims are encouraged to present accurate and balanced information about their faith to people of all religions.”

Before he set out to convert Jews, Ghounem underwent a conversion of his own, from being an American college student who was mostly ignorant about his faith to a self-fashioned Muslim scholar combating the pervasive myths about Islam he encountered on the Internet.

Ghounem, who immigrated to the United States from Egypt at 6, said his knowledge of Islam was tenuous when he graduated from Western Connecticut University with a degree in engineering. After returning to Cairo for a year to study at al-Azhar, he began spending hours a night in chat-room debates with Messianic Jews and Christians.

Unlike Jews for Jesus, Ghounem has no sponsors and no missionaries; he relies solely on the Internet for outreach. His website, which has had more than 1 million visitors since it was launched three years ago, has attracted about 200 “converts” who use it as a support group. It also provides a forum for Ghounem to address what he calls misconceptions about Islam, like the idea that Islam was spread by the sword, that the Koran is anti-Semitic and that Jews and Muslims worship different gods.

Leaders of Jewish counter-missionary organizations claim they aren't overly concerned by Ghounem's efforts, saying the content of his website is so outrageous that most people don't pay attention.

“This is a freak show, a side show,” said Rabbi Tovia Singer, head of Outreach Judaism, a group that works to bring converts back into the fold.

Ghounem said he recognizes converts risk alienation from both faiths, but he hopes his website might lead to dialogue between Muslims and Jews.

Well, that and one other thing: “My goal is to surpass Jews for Jesus, which I consider 100 percent inevitable.”

Posted: 10/17/03

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Highest ambition

The church should offer the greatest example of forgiveness, patience, mercy, love and “watching what you say.” Unfortunately, conflict often occurs between pastor and congregation.

The church, where we preach that no one is perfect, should be a place where we do not expect perfection. But it seems rare that we hear about a loving congregation, whose members and pastor actually get along.

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

However, this is not necessarily the case.

Yes, some churches have problems, but others exhibit a great deal of love. If you and another member or even the pastor have difficulty getting along, try exercising a little kindness.

Remember Proverbs 15:1: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Or Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Much, if not most, of church conflict is due to lack of respect. The Bible teaches us to look out for the interests and concerns of another above self.

Jesus taught that service should be our highest ambition. As Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he taught humility and service.

We all want to be served, but not many want to serve.

First Peter 5 calls upon pastors/shepherds to lead by example, and 1 Timothy 5:17 teaches that leaders “who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

Work hard to make a difference in your church. It has to begin with someone!

Bill Adams

Port Arthur

God's purpose for people

Two Semitic language scholars corrected a translational error of Genesis 2:15 that now reads: “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to worship and to obey.”

God's purpose for every person and nation is to worship and obey him.

Because every person rebels against God to one degree or another, God sent Jesus to pay for our sin so that through Jesus we are enabled to obey God and have our worship of him accepted.

Through Jesus, we are able to be reconciled to God and to each other. This is the gospel message, the good news, for every person who will believe.

Worship and obey God, and share the good news of Jesus with others today.

E.V. May Jr.

Livingston

Time for forgiveness

As mentioned in your editorial on Baylor family values (Sept. 22), our Baylor family needs to practice Christian values (“be-attitudes”) such as you named–love, grace, compassion and forgiveness, and patience, now!

Baylor has a great future through Baylor 2012 under the leadership of President Robert Sloan, just as it has an equally exciting history starting way back in 1845.

Now is the time for all of us to pray for the sweet spirit we need to forgive and to move forward on behalf of the many students who will pass through the halls of learning on her beautiful campus.

Joe Novak

Denton

A larger 'family'

As I read the three side-by-side articles on Baylor University's quest (Sept. 22), one particular passage by Chris Seay struck an emotional chord with me.

“Baylor exists for the sake of the church. She is 'Pro Ecclesia' and 'Pro Texana.' So, resolve these differences. Our success in Texas rests in Baylor's hands.”

I do not understand what he means by “success in Texas” or to whose success he is referring. However, when I first read this article, I felt like he was saying that without Baylor, Texas Baptists cannot survive.

I realize that Baylor has a long and rich tradition of training ministers and others for work in Texas. I agree with most of Seay's article on how the Baylor family needs to reconcile its differences.

But I do not understand how “success in Texas,” whatever that means, rests in Baylor's hands, or at least how it rests solely in Baylor's hands.

Just as there is a Baylor family, Baylor is part of a Texas Baptist family–no one member of which should be considered more important than the other.

David Tankersley

Abilene

Husbands & wives

I take exception to the statement regarding wives that says, “Listen to your wife. God made her to nag, whine and complain,” in the article titled “Christian men urged to beware of falling into sexual sins” about the LifeWay Christian Resources conference (Oct. 6).

Does that also mean that God made husbands to be sneaky, deceitful and weak? I don't think so.

Mae Knott

Kerrville

No. 1 problem

Paige Patterson believes “the war against boys and the establishment of laws to prevent men from hunting and owning guns” is the No. 1 problem in America (Oct. 6). Seriously?

While I could list homelessness, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, terrorism and numerous other social issues that are worse than a kid not killing something with his dad, how about domestic violence?

How about the fact animal shelters outnumber by three to one shelters for women and children who are in imminent danger from a husband or boyfriend? How about women who live in fear for their lives in their own homes because he's threatened to kill the family?

What about the Dallas Police Department, which answers 20,000 calls a year for domestic disturbance, and only 100 beds in Dallas County are available as an answer to those calls? What about boys who will grow up to abuse their girlfriends and wives because that's what Daddy did?

The statement Patterson made about turning little boys into little girls because boys don't go hunting anymore seems par for the course. However, I cannot recall one verse in the Bible pertaining to godly boys and men where it states, “He must have a gun, a big dog and kill a lot of stuff.”

If America's No 1 problem really were that more little boys don't go hunting, this would be an amazing country.

Mindy Ward-Logsdon

Dallas

Manly standards

I was disturbed to read that Paige Patterson said, “Every boy needs a dog, a gun and a dad” (Oct. 6).

I have never owned a gun or even been hunting, and I don't know of anyone in my family–male or female–who owns a gun. Does this make me any less of a man?

When I was growing up, we had a family dog. It was not a “big” dog; in fact, it probably qualified as a “yip” dog. It was the best pet I ever remember having. Does it make me any less of a man because I didn't have a “big” dog?

My father passed away when I was only 11 years old. My mother continued raising me and my sister as a single mom. Does not having a dad through late childhood and adolescence make me any less of a man?

Did the seminary president even consider that one of the things every boy should have is a Bible? He needs to re-think what it really takes to be a man.

Is he looking at the world's standards or God's?

Bob Hewett

Amarillo

Posted: 10/17/03

Louisiana College requires 2000 BF&M

PINEVILLE, La. (ABP)–Louisiana College trustees have adopted new policies that give trustees more direct involvement in faculty hiring and make affirmation of Southern Baptists' controversial doctrinal statement an official requirement.

Since 1997, prospective faculty members have been asked informally if they would teach “in harmony” with the Baptist Faith & Message statement, school officials said. The new policy makes affirmation of the more conservative 2000 version of the statement an official policy.

“This simply represents an enhancement of the process we already have,” said trustee Ed Tarpley, pastor of Alpine First Baptist Church in Pineville, La.

Trustee leaders said the action, adopted during a September executive session, does not affect current faculty members and does not reflect dissatisfaction with current policy. Rather, the change was made to ensure the “Christian” character of the Pineville school, which is owned and operated by the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

However, fellow trustee Wayne DuBose, pastor of First Baptist Church in Minden, La., said the changes “raise the bar a little bit” for prospective faculty.

Previously, trustees have had final approval on new faculty members recommended by President Rory Lee and other administrators. But the new policy gives the trustees' academic affairs committee the option of a face-to-face interview with the candidates first.

Prospective faculty also will receive a copy of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and a letter clearly defining the college as a Christian liberal arts school “owned and operated by cooperating Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana.”

“Not every person who teaches at LC is required to be a Southern Baptist,” the letter states, “but every teacher must reflect a certain faithfulness to teach within the doctrinal tenets of our convention.”

To assure that faithfulness, prospective faculty are asked to return a signed affirmation that they have read the full text of the Baptist Faith & Message, will agree to teach in harmony with and not contrary to the faith statement, and will agree to meet with the trustee's academic affairs committee for a question-and-answer session if requested.

The policy change calls for a written yes or no response to the doctrinal statement and asks candidates to put in writing their personal understanding of a “Christian worldview,” specifically detailing their view on the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage and family and creation.

The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message was significantly changed from the 1963 version.

Posted: 10/17/03

Bush proclaims Marriage Protection Week

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–In a sign that he might support an effort to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriages, President Bush heeded the call of a coalition of Religious Right groups and proclaimed Oct. 12-18 Marriage Protection Week.

Ironically, the week began one day after National Coming Out Day, when gay-rights organizations encouraged gays, lesbians and transgendered people to “come out of the closet” and reveal their sexual orientation to family, friends and colleagues.

Bush's Oct. 3 proclamation came one day after the leaders of a group calling itself the Coalition to Protect Marriage announced in a Washington press conference they were dedicating the week to defining marriage as a heterosexual-only institution.

Spearheaded by the conservative Family Research Council, the coalition's membership list reads like a who's who of influential Religious Right groups. It includes the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, and World magazine.

The week's intent is to build support for the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment in Congress. Sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., the amendment not only would alter the Constitution to define marriage in exclusively heterosexual terms but also would override state and local laws conferring many of the benefits of marriage on same-sex couples.

The White House has not yet announced whether it would support the amendment. While most religious conservatives do, some–such as former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga.–have said they oppose the bill on grounds that it would intrude on the states' traditional prerogative to define marriage.

But the leaders who organized the news conference believe the measure is necessary.

“We are calling on churches across the nation to act before the definition of marriage becomes deconstructed, redefined and irrelevant in our society,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

The topic of gay marriage has come up repeatedly since the Supreme Court's Lawrence and Garner vs. Texas decision, which on privacy grounds struck down all state laws that ban gay sex.

Many experts believe the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is poised to use that ruling to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. That move almost certainly would lead to gay couples legally married in Massachusetts filing lawsuits in other states to get their marriages recognized.

Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called on Southern Baptist pastors to preach on the sanctity of marriage.

Land said America stands at “an absolutely critical moment” because of the gay-marriage issue. He said gay marriage is “the poster child issue … for the titanic struggle that is going on in our society between those who believe in a Judeo-Christian basis for our culture and those who believe in a neo-pagan, relativist base for our culture.”

But the spokeswoman for a Christian gay-rights group labeled both Bush's proclamation and the conservative leaders' statement “anti-family” and “anti-American.”

“Bush's proclamation and the Marriage Protection Week are based on misguided religious teachings which cross the boundaries of church-state separation and the principles of religious liberty,” asserted Laura Montgomery Rutt of Soulforce.

Posted: 10/17/03

Fund helps two missionary families return to field

DALLAS–Texas Baptists are helping support two missionary families through a newly established conduit that funnels money from churches and individuals to former Southern Baptist Convention missionaries.

Four other missionary families are in the process of applying for funding.

Through the funding channel, any church or individual can send money to missionaries who resigned, retired or were terminated due to the International Mission Board's requirement that missionaries affirm the Southern Baptist Convention's 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

At least 77 missionaries have left the IMB due to the board's stance regarding the controversial faith statement.

“Our goal is to assist our churches as they assist missionaries to fulfill their calling from God,” said E.B. Brooks, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Missions and Evangelism Section.

Funds must be designated for specific missionaries who want to return to their field of service. If a church does not know a specific missionary needing assistance, Texas Partnerships staff will provide information on those who are eligible to receive support through the conduit.

Missionaries must have an anchor church that essentially serves as the sending agency and holds the missionary accountable. Applicants for funds also must be invited to return to the field by a national Baptist entity, preferably one that is offering some support.

Don Sewell, director of the BGCT Texas Partnerships Resource Center, reiterated that the convention is not serving as a missionary-sending agency. “We are nothing more than funneling money to specific missionaries,” he said.

The conduit was created in response to a motion at last year's BGCT annual session.

For more information or to donate money to a missionary, contact Sewell at (214) 828-5183 or sewell@bgct.org.