Posted: 8/22/03

ANOTHER VIEW:
Some talk of God's glory can make God too small

By Roger Olson

In the 1970s, a popular Christian book asked, “Is Your God Too Small?” Author Paul Little gently ridiculed the all-too-tiny gods of many American Christians, including the bell-hop god who jumps to answer every whim of praying people.

The main thrust of Little's book was that too many North American Christians have forgotten the sovereignty and majesty of the God of the Bible. That was a needed corrective to popular folk religion in an age when many people were calling God our “good buddy in the sky” (borrowing on citizens' band radio lingo) and falling for all kinds of theologies that trivialized God.

Today, we might ask, “Is your God too big?” Some evangelical writers and speakers are over-reacting to the trivialized and tiny deities of folk religion by inflating God's majesty and sovereignty at the expense of his loving kindness and mercy.

Of course, no biblically serious Christian really believes it is possible to conceive of God as “too big.” That includes this writer. It's a tongue-in-cheek question meant to get attention. But that doesn't take anything away from the seriousness of the issue behind the question.

While it may not be possible to conceive of God as too big (as we all know he's “big enough to rule the mighty universe”) it is possible to deny the other side of God's nature (“yet small enough to live within my heart”).

Thousands of Texas Baptists and other young people flock to massive Christian youth events to hear Minnesota pastor and writer John Piper, who encourages them to focus on God's glory and proclaim God's renown to all people. In his books, sermons and occasional papers published at his website (Desiring God Ministries) the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis promotes the theology of Jonathan Edwards. He seldom mentions Edwards by name, but anyone familiar with the 18th century Puritan preacher of New England readily recognizes his influence on Piper's theology.

Why does God do anything at all–including create us and redeem some of us (the elect) from sin and condemnation? For his own good pleasure and glory, according to Edwards and Piper.

Why does God foreordain even sin and evil? For his own good pleasure and glory.

Does God ever merely allow bad things to happen? Certainly not. For his own good pleasure and glory and out of purposes hidden to us, God sovereignly controls even the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Many Calvinists speak of the mystery of God's sovereignty; Piper makes no mystery of his own view that God controls everything that happens and never merely allows any event or decision, however evil it is. Even the fact that untold millions of God's human creatures–created in his likeness and image–are predestined by God to spend eternity suffering in the flames of hell is for his own glory.

God's sole ultimate and final purpose in everything he does is to glorify himself by displaying the full range of his attributes. At least in some of his writings, Piper fails to mention love as one of them. When he does mention love, it is God's love for his own glory that takes center stage; God's love for us is only for the sake of glorifying himself in showing mercy to the elect.

All that is debatable; evangelical Christians including Baptists have debated the details of God's majesty and sovereignty for centuries. For the most part, we've learned to live with our different perspectives.

Now, however, according to constant reports from youthful listeners, Piper is telling our young people they've been sold a bill of goods by the generation before them. That bill of goods is that Christ came to Earth to die on the cross for them. Instead, the Minnesota preacher passionately assures his young listeners, Christ died for God.

According to this line of reasoning, it is arrogant of us to think that the sovereign, glorious God would focus his purposes on us. We are not the center of God's plan and purpose in creation and redemption. Instead, everything God does is for his own glory and good pleasure.

Oh, of course, some of us (the elect) benefit from Christ's death on the cross. But that shouldn't be the focus of our attention or reason for our praise of God. Christ died for God before he died for us. That is, according to Piper, the purpose of God in Christ's death was not primarily loving kindness and compassion toward us but vindication of God's righteousness.

Piper certainly is right to point his listeners and readers to God and away from self-absorption. Too much popular folk Christianity has focused on what God can do for us. The gospel of health and wealth proclaimed on religious television is a travesty in that it makes God a great cosmic slot machine into which we feed our “seed faith offerings” in order to reap worldly rewards. Too many choruses and devotional talks focus on what being a Christian does for believers and not enough on the greatness of God.

But the pendulum is swinging–perhaps too far. Scripture assures us repeatedly that God loves us (John 3:16) and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us (Romans 5:8). The assertion that Christ died for God is true and needs to be heard and taken seriously. The implication–heard by many of Piper's youthful listeners–that Christ did not die equally for us is false and needs to be corrected.

This is a case of false “either/or” thinking. Surely the New Testament tells us that Christ died both for God (his glory and honor) and for us (because God loves us and wants to rescue us from condemnation and the ravages of sin).

Romans 5 could not be clearer. It is possible to dishonor God by denying his own loving purposes; it dishonors God when we imply that he loves and cares above all about his own glory and not equally about our well-being for our sakes. That makes God out to be the ultimate egoist–a cosmic self-centered dictator who demands homage not for his goodness but only for his greatness.

But the fact is, according to Scripture, God is love. Love is concerned for others and shows that concern in acts of loving kindness. Yes, the perfect love is between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but it intentionally overflows in love for humanity.

The purpose of the cross was not only God's glory; it also was just as much God's passionate love for his fallen and dying creatures who he loves dearly. The Psalmist often praised God for his acts of mercy and kindness and not only for himself.

We need to be careful not to pit God's glory against God's passionate love and care for humanity. The two are inseparable. One should not be elevated above the other.

Piper and his promoters are to be commended for raising our young peoples' consciousness of the greatness of God. They are to be lauded for turning the attention of youth away from spiritual and material self-absorption to the holy God of the universe.

But even a wonderful message can take a pernicious twist. Piper and those who promote his message need to be gently corrected and urged to find the balance between the extremes of humanistic, self-centered spirituality on the one hand and exclusive focus on God's glory to the detriment of his personal, loving nature on the other hand.

Did Christ die for God? Absolutely. Did he die also for us? Most definitely. It's both/and and not either/or.

The God proclaimed by John Piper is sometimes “too big” in the sense that he doesn't seem personal enough to come near and dwell with us for our sakes. He's aloof and self-absorbed. That's not the loving, self-emptying, often vulnerable, caring and suffering God of the Bible. We need to hold both sides of God in Scripture in proper balance–his unspeakable greatness and his unbelievable goodness toward us.

Roger Olson is professor of theology at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary in Waco

Posted: 8/22/03

Conroe church looks to Bible
to plan how its garden grows

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CONROE–Sunday School classes at First Baptist Church in Conroe now can learn sitting at the feet of Jesus.

The church recently created a prayer garden with a sculpture by Texas artist Max Greiner as its focal point. The life-size bronze statue “Fisher of Men” was donated by Alan and Jeanie Boehm in honor of her parents, Dick and Ella Jean Schaefer, longtime members of the church.

A perpetual stream issues from the bottom of the statue and is recycled.

The prayer garden was fashioned totally from biblical plants with the help of landscape architect Diana Wilson. Wilson, who has worked on projects all over the world, including the office headquarters of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, worked to incorporate Bible plants that would thrive in Conroe's climate.

“Creating beautiful pattern gardens in Saudi Arabia and Yemen early in my career definitely influenced my work on the First Baptist Church prayer garden,” she said. “These projects involved an incredible amount of research into the spirituality and symbolism associated with various plants and patterns. That experience prompted me to look to the Bible to find inspiration for the prayer garden design.”

Plants included are the blue lily of the Nile, pomegranate tree, fig vine, Italian cypress tree, ornamental papyrus grass, Easter lily, pygmy date palm, rose of Sharon, sweet olive tree, yellow flag iris and cyclamens.

“These are plants that Jesus could have sat next to when he prayed,” Business Administrator Judy Wilson pointed out. “Every plant and tree has a biblical meaning, which makes the garden that much more special.”

A diagram of the garden identifying each plant provides a biblical reference for visitors.

The full length of the garden faces a glass-walled passageway. Pastor Rusty Walton said it is not unusual to find people standing in the hallway admiring the garden.

The garden was meant to be used, however, not just admired. The statue and rock-bed stream are enclosed by a short cap-stoned wall that can be used as seats by those seeking a time of contemplation or by a Sunday School class in search of an outdoor setting. A bench under a trellis offers another possibility.

“We want this to be a place where people can come and pray any time they want,” Walton said. “They can even come at night if they let us know so that we can make it accessible.”

Gary Heavin, a landscape contractor and a member of the Conroe congregation, planted the garden.

Doing the work for his church and especially for something of such a spiritual nature was different than his normal work, he said. “My prayer every day was that I wasn't doing it for me, but for the Lord. It was really me trying to use whatever talents I have to display his handiwork.”

The project took 10 months to complete.

In addition to Bible studies and prayer, the garden will be used for weddings.

Walton said he looks forward to seeing the garden mature.

“It might look a little like it did when Jesus prayed,” he said.

Posted: 8/22/03

DOWN HOME:
Off to school … for the 2nd time

Some chores are easier the second time you have to do them.

Like taking your kiddo back to school: Joanna and I recently redeposited our oldest daughter, Lindsay, on the welcoming campus of our alma mater, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.

Last year, when we loaded her Papa's truck and moved her into the freshman girls' dorm, we cried a river of tears. This year, it was more like a bathtub of tears. OK, maybe a small swimming pool.

Crying is one of the things I've always appreciated about being the father of daughters. Several parents of boys I know have this thing about crying on or in front of their guys. Something about embarrassing them. Even the mothers seem to think they have to be stoic.

But with girls, you get to cry. In fact, I think they kind of like it, because they can actually see you really care. They hurt, and they take comfort in knowing you hurt with them.

If only they understood the half of it.

Sometimes, I think being the parent is harder than being the child because you've got a better idea what's coming. You know the changes that are taking place in your child's life. And, from experience, you know they may be incremental, but they're permanent.

Now, I have to admit my own sadness about the growth and maturation of my children is purely selfish. I love to feel needed. When Lindsay and her sister, Molly, were tiny, they depended on Jo and me for just about everything. With each passing year, they've needed us a little less. And the part of me that feeds off the nurture of their need finds that a little sad.

But besides raising children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord,” the most gratifying accomplishment I've known is watching my daughters grow in maturity and independence year by year. That's my job–first to help them know and love God, but then to be strong, wise, thoughtful Christian people.

So, as we drove home from West Texas in the dark, I thought and prayed about how Lindsay will take strides of growth this year. Surrounded by bright classmates, committed faculty and caring staff, she will develop and mature in ways that would not be possible if she remained at home, dependent on her mother and me to work out all the hassles and challenges of her young life.

I also thought about her dorm room, a tiny cinder-block cube she made uniquely her own in about five short hours. I'll always remember how she figured she could take extra curtain material and brighten up a side wall. And how she and I hung up “sno-cone” Christmas lights along the wall above her bed.

And I remembered how she felt in my arms as I hugged her goodbye. She's a strong young woman now. But, thank God, she'll always be my girl.

Posted: 8/22/03

EDITORIAL:
Budgets reflect low priority of cooperative missions

Budgets make the best barometers of priorities. Unfortunately, a study of Baptist budgets from the past 15 years reveals a decline that has produced a missions-and-ministry drought.

From 1987 to 2002, Southern Baptist missions expenditures grew by only half the rate of churches' total receipts. Meanwhile, the portion of undesignated receipts those churches contributed to the Cooperative Program unified budget dropped by 30 percent. (See the full story on these trends here) Now, Baptist conventions and institutions at state and national levels are struggling to freeze or reduce budgets to reflect economic realities.

Of course, some Baptists believe budget talk is impious. But in this world, ministry efforts depend upon dollars. Just behind faithful, willing believers empowered by the Spirit of God, money is crucial to fulfilling Christ's Great Commission.

That's what's so vexing about the current budget crises among Baptists. Without sufficient funds, the tasks God has placed before Baptists will not be accomplished. Such woes dot the entire theological/political landscape–from the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Global Missions program, to the Baptist General Convention of Texas' upcoming 2004 budget.

Several factors can account for churches' decisions to keep more money at home:

Increasing costs. Close observers of the trend cite the escalating pricetag of doing church. It encompasses everything from higher premiums for ministers' insurance, to larger utilities bills to more expensive materials. However, these costs aren't significant enough, at least in most churches, to cover the growing gap between receipts and missions expenditures.

Hands-on missions. More and more churches are involving their members in direct-missions projects. This is wonderful. Modern transportation and technology have enabled today's Christians to apply Christ's commission to “Go, therefore …” to themselves, so they go on mission in Jesus' name. Unfortunately, many churches have diverted money from cooperative missions to pay for personal or local-church missions efforts. Like an offering, these funds should come from over and above the churches' regular missions contributions. Life-changing missions involvement should impact pocketbooks and church budgets to yield greater gifts, not expenditures that solely benefit individuals or the church.

Denominational discord. Twenty-five years of fighting have taken their toll on churches and, consequently, Baptist denominational budgets. Fed up with feuding, many Baptists have turned their hearts toward home and distanced themselves from fellow Baptists. While this is understandable, it is incomprehensibly short-sighted. First, punitive funding doesn't thwart the political process so much as it chokes the lifeline for ministry. Second, no matter what your theological/political persuasion, folks like you still are doing missions and ministry. With just a little research, your church can support cooperative endeavors you can endorse completely. Admittedly, conventions need to do a better job of telling their stories and explaining their needs. But local-church gatekeepers also need to trust their people with a free flow of information so they can understand what their missions dollars support and what won't get funded if they divert their money.

Tight pockets. Let's face it; tithing is not “natural.” Empty tomb, a ministry that focuses on missions funding needs, reports the average U.S. Christian only gives 2.6 percent of his or her income to church. And if all those people would tithe, almost $80 billion in additional funding would be available for missions causes.

That fact reflects what speaker Tony Campolo said when he collected an offering this summer: The good news is we've got enough money to reach the goal. The bad news is it's still in the people's pockets. U.S. Christians–Baptists included–have the resources to conduct amazing ministries. But for those resources to be unloosed, pastors need to preach courageous sermons on tithing, churches need to tithe their incomes and leaders need to demonstrate why cooperative giving is a divine investment in a glorious eternity.

–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted 8/25/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
I dress for success

By John Duncan

I am sitting here under the old oak tree, watching the early morning sun rise, preparing for the day ahead and longing for Cambridge, England.

Just this morning, I biked on a golf course near the lake. The ducks waddled and paddled along. Birds chirped, fluttering effortlessly into the morning air. Workers mowed the grass, trimming and cutting the golf greens in preparation for a day of bogeys, sand traps and “fore!” I stopped on a wooden bridge near the golf course and watched an orange sun slowly rise to greet the day.

The old Apostle Paul told the Romans that creation groans like a woman in childbirth (Romans 8:22). Creation grunts, grinds and groans with the pain and excitement of the birth of a precious child. On this day, though, creation does not groan. It hums. It sings. It makes joyous melody that starts the day with freshness. The sun births a chorus of praise to the Almighty. God conducts the choir of creation.

While the sun rises, I am perspiring and thinking about “next.” Next week has come. The next thing to do must be done. The next project lay ahead. Life is full of “next.” On this morning, I watch the sun, and my mind rolls toward “next.” I must get home, shower and dress for the day to come.

Paul held in his mind the importance of clothes and dressing for each new day. Paul knew all too well that the Roman garb of veils, head coverings, mantles, tunics, togas and togas with the identifiable purple stripes. The Romans, they never left home without the right clothing. After all, the purple stripers wanted everyone to know of their status and importance in the Roman world. Graceful, bald-headed Paul, he urged Christians to “put on Christ” each new day (Romans 13:12). Don’t leave home without him!

On a cold January day in 1996, men stood in line for five hours to purchase San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s old clothes. The mayor donated eight Italian suits, an Italian tuxedo, eight designer jackets, a slew of silk ties, 18 dress shirts, a vest and 12 pair of slacks, one of which was black leather. Guys waited in line to buy the mayor’s clothes. One man quipped, speaking of the mayor: “He’s a wonderful, self-made man. I’m proud to be a member of the Willie Brown clothes horse association.” One guy spent $379 on Brown’s old clothes. I guess that guy wished to dress for each new day like the dapper mayor.

I never hear the words “clothes horse” without thinking of Trudy Woods, who, in her nineties once told me as she lay in a nursing home bed: “I’m a clothes horse. I buy all my clothes at Goodwill.” Amazing how different we all are: One guy rises with the sun to put on an Italian suit and one woman rises with the sun to dress for success with clothes from the Goodwill rack. The sun still rises, but, remember, God looks at the heart.

I once heard a preacher ask, “Do clothes make the man, or does a man make the clothes?” I think he was trying to say that life is more than clothes and that God does look past clothes and straight into the heart.

We preachers, we say stuff that is not always what we mean. The day that preacher asked the question, I figured he forgot about all the women who listened. Should he not have asked, “Do clothes make the woman, or does a woman make the clothes?” All I could think of is that clothes are made in factories by people with sewing needles and machines with foot pedals. The preacher, though, he recovered and got me back into understanding when he used a cliché. He thundered after his question, “The clothes don’t make the man, the man makes the clothes!” Hallelujah! God looks right past Italian suits and Goodwill dresses and locks his eyes on hearts. I think that’s what the preacher was trying to say. So dress up your heart.

Tom Wolfe writes long books. An interviewer once asked him about his clothes. He replied: “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t even drink coffee. I don’t play tennis, I don’t even play golf. I found when I was working on the Herald Tribune making $135 a week, that as long as you don’t do those other things, I had enough money for fancy clothes.” I do not know Tom Wolfe, but he would make a good Baptist because Baptists like “don’ts” quite a lot. I would like to ask him about his “do” list, not to be confused about your “to do” list. Tom Wolfe, tell me what you do. Do you smile? Do you sing happy songs? Do you buy your clothes at Goodwill? Do you dress your heart with Jesus? Old Paul again suffices, “Put on the armor of Light.” I hope Tom Wolfe’s “do” list includes dressing for each new day with the Light.

So, here I am, sitting near the old oak tree, thinking “next.” The sun rises in a panorama of color. A fish swirls in the water below the bridge. A turtle pops its head from beneath the water’s surface. A blackbird perches near the bridge. And I must dress for the new day. What will I wear? How will it look? What color shall I choose? Will the colors match?

Old Paul keeps whispering, “Put on Christ.” Old Cambridge scholar C.S. Lewis understands my morning clothes dilemma. He whispers, “That is very much like the problem with all of us: to dress our souls not for the electric lights of the present world but for the daylight of the next.”

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines

Posted 8/25/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
Bigger, stronger, wiser…

By Donna Van Cleve

I admit it. After a steady diet of troubling news events of which I have little or no control, the urge to stick my head in the sand is very tempting. I can watch or listen or read about it only so much, and then I have to focus on something else, or the uneasiness will pull me under.

When things start to overwhelm me, I tend to cry at the drop of a hat. Not long ago, the trigger was the movie “Shenandoah” with Jimmy Stewart. I had seen it years ago, but with my feeble memory, it was like watching a brand-new movie all over again. It hooked me before I recalled it had some tragic scenes. When they came, the dam broke.

I cried for the death of his children. I cried again for the great loss our country experienced on Sept. 11, and especially the loss of security we’ve all felt. I cried for the precious lives lost in the recent war, and the continued danger and losses our soldiers and peacekeepers are facing daily. I cried for the turmoil in the Middle East, wondering again if this is the beginning of the end. I cried because my son’s job sends him to places in the world where people hate the United States and want to destroy it and anyone affiliated with it. He just returned from Saudi Arabia with newspapers full of anti-American propaganda. I cried for the missing girl on the poster at the Dairy Queen, who was from the same area my daughter and granddaughter recently moved to.

I want someone bigger, stronger and wiser to take charge.

I want our government leaders to have integrity and the courage and wisdom to make the right decisions and do the right thing, no matter how difficult the pressure is to do otherwise. I want them to have the hearts of servants and to be role models in their lifestyles. I want those same things for our spiritual leaders and for their lives to model what they profess. The walk and talk should be no different from public life to private life for them or any one of us, for that matter. And yes, character does count in any life or job, our own included.

I want husbands and fathers to be strong and committed enough to hang around a lifetime for their wives and children, no matter how tough it is to stick with it. I want daddies to take an active role in raising their children, not just showing up for the game to coach from the sidelines. I want husbands and fathers to be the biblically mandated spiritual leaders of their families, churches and communities. Women are tired of carrying the bulk of that responsibility for too long now. If a husband expects the wife to take care of the house and bill-paying, raise the children, take them to church, maintain the car, and be a contributing breadwinner in this day and age of two-income-lifestyle households, what does she need a husband for? That’s not the way God intended for it to be, and it’s not the way most women necessarily want it. But a wife/mother will take up the slack in those areas when the husband/father relinquishes it, allows it or even expects it of them. Praise God for godly men who truly understand their responsibilities in these areas and live it.

I want someone bigger, stronger and wiser to take charge.

And then I remember, God is.

And again, I hand my Lord, my Abba, a burden called sorrows, and another precious load labeled my children, and another entitled husband/daddy, and a millstone imprinted guilt and regrets, and an encumbrance named poor health, and some shackles branded fears, and I can get up and face another day.

Donna Van Cleve is a writer and wife of one, mother of two, and grandmother of Audrie, and is a member of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin.

Posted 8/29/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
What it takes

By Berry D. Simpson

The fundamental question for guys is, “Do I have what it takes?”

Everything we do comes down to that question.

For me, it even affects the type of movies I like. I don’t watch many modern-day action movies, like the “Die Hard” movies, or “Terminator” movies, or martial-arts movies, etc. They all seem contrived and trivial to me, as if someone thought it would be fun to film some cool fight scenes and blow stuff up, so they wrapped a marginal plot around the punches and explosions and gunfire. They always make lots of money from the movies because not everyone is like me. Lots of people love those movies, and I say, “Good for them,” but I will pass. I’d rather read a book.

But if you are talking about a movie like “Braveheart,” or “The Patriot,” or “Black Hawk Down,” or “Saving Private Ryan,” or “Gettysburg,” I will watch every time. I will watch them over and over.

It is a family joke that I watch “Midway’ every time it comes on TV. It’s true. Of course, I know how the movie ends, and I know how the real Battle of Midway happened, and I have seen the movie so many times I know the dialogue and scenes, but I watch it all over again. I am the same way with “A Bridge too Far” or “The Longest Day” or “Guns of Navarone.” I want to see them again and again. It isn’t because I like violence. I am not a violent guy, I never served in the military, and I do not own a gun.

For the two nights recently, I was up past midnight watching “Gods and Generals.” I was up so late because the movie was on DVD, and our only DVD player is in the living room, and I knew Cyndi had no interest in joining me, so I waited until she went to bed. She doesn’t want to watch war movies because of the death and destruction. When she sees a scene showing Rebel troops and Yankee troops lined up across from each other 40 yards apart with rifles leveled firing volley after volley into each other, well, that is a little too much reality for her. She worries about all these men getting hurt or killed, and she would rather not watch. I cannot blame her.

I watch war movies and not action thrillers because there is nothing contrived or fake about the violence at Chancellorsville or Omaha Beach or Bannockburn or Guilford Courthouse. The scenes in the movie, while certainly adapted for cinema, are based on real events that happed to real men just like me. I don’t see violence and death straightaway. What I see first is courage and bravery and dedication to companions and scared men making life-or-death decisions on-the-fly without enough information or training. And in the back of my mind, I wonder if I would be so brave. John Eldridge wrote, “If there’s one thing a man does know he knows he is made (by God) to ‘come through,’ yet he wonders … can I? Will I?”

I recently ran my seventh marathon in Nashville; only at the starting line I was 20 pounds too heavy (actually 40 pounds too heavy) and terribly short on long training runs due to lingering injuries. Yet I did the race anyway, knowing I wouldn’t finish well and knowing it might be my slowest marathon ever and knowing I might get hurt. What I didn’t know was if I had what it takes to run anyway when the situation is not perfect and to accept less-than-perfect results. I did, and I did. I’m not proud of myself for my lack of conditioning before the race, and I don’t want to do that again, but I am proud that I followed through and finished.

I don’t mean to make more of this than I should, but understanding this question—“Do I have what it takes?”–has opened my life up to me. I understand myself better and my own motives and behavior. I have been reading, for the second time this year, “Wild At Heart,” by John Eldridge, and this question is a big part of the book. Eldridge says it is The Question that haunts every man. “This is every man’s deepest fear; to be exposed, to be found out, to be discovered as an imposter, and not really a man.”

This isn’t about living in fear of failure, but about living under the challenge of doing what God has called us to do. I think we have to understand our own heart before we can give it over to God. And we have to trust him for the outcome.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland.

Posted 8/29/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
If a tree falls

By Terry Cosby

She was just over the southern end of Mary’s house. Actually, where else would you expect to find her at this point in history? It was a clear, cool evening, and it would be my last chance to see her for 284 years. So I took a long look.

She looked good. At least I think she did. I’m not really sure how a planet, even our neighbor Mars, is suppose to look. But she was bright and seemed a little embarrassed to be so intimate with us. Maybe that’s why she seemed to blush a bit. Wow, only 35.6 million miles away! She seemed to me to be as close as Venus. I’m a bit more used to Venus, our morning “star.” Rumors have it women are from there. But this Mars lady had all my attention for a few minutes last night. Good neighbor Mary came out and we marveled a moment.

Why the fascination? I’m not sure exactly. Possibly, because I will not have this good of a look again in my life. She will outlast me.

There’s something sad and in a weird way comforting to me in that. Everyone appreciates fine craftsmanship and good, solid materials. There is something in all our hearts that needs to behold beauty and the mysterious. This is so because there beats in our hearts the equal truth that not all will last and not all is beautiful. So, in each of us is the longing for the lasting and the desire for the beauty.

But there is also hidden in there the darker truth that there is something broken, something lacking, something very much fragile and ephemeral about our lives. Looking up at Mars so close reminds me of both truths.

I’ve noticed another planet of late with conflicting emotions, assuring truths and melancholy moments. With this one I am much more intimate. With Mars it was a late summer fling, a one-night stand. I really don’t know her. She seems cold and lonely. Maybe that’s why she moved so close. But she will leave. We are just not in her circle.

With my own Earth there is more knowledge but also the carelessness of closeness that can take for granted or take advantage of her treasures. How would I view Earth should I live on Mars and she come so close for a moment? Would my warm, blue planet be viewed as tease and a passing fancy?

Who is to say, except possibly the Creator of Earth? He has some interesting views of this life-filled marble of his. Until I looked a little closer, I didn’t realize how expressive, even loud Earth is. It starts out dark and chaotic, but things change quickly. And it was very good. But things didn’t stay that way.

In Genesis 4, blood cries out from the ground. The Earth turns angry. Seas roar. Mountains quake. All of creation groans as though giving birth in Romans 8. But the Earth also can sing, the trees can clap, the hills are clothed with gladness, and the desert rejoices according to the Psalmist and the Prophet. The sounds are not unlike that of a symphony orchestra warming up. There is conflict and loudness; confusion and beauty; silence and anticipation. But when the Conductor arrives he brings it all into harmony. It will be glorious, and Mars will not be red but green with envy.

The Conductor actually came once. But he showed up as a simple piano tuner. Only a few recognized him and wisely tuned their hearts to his.

Mary remarked of probably not seeing Mars again like this. The odds are against us. Yet we will see it from another perspective one day. And we will view Earth with another perspective. The vistas are now marred by dark spots and cloudy forecasts of mortality. But there’s a new world coming and it closer than we can imagine. Odds are it won’t take 284 years to get here.

Terry Cosby is pastor of First Baptist Church of Hereford in the Texas Panhandle, where evening skies are bright and clear.

Posted: 9/2/03

Commentary:
Where do the Ten Commandments belong?

By J. Brent Walker

In the emotionally volatile debate over whether “Roy’s Rock” should stay in the Alabama State Judicial Building, one supporter of the display vowed, “they’ll never be able to remove it from our hearts.”

That is precisely the point.

The debate that led to the Ten Commandments being moved is not about whether the Commandments teach sound theology or wholesome ethics. That is a given, particularly for Jews and Christians. The question is not whether the Commandments embody the right teachings; they certainly do. Rather, the question is who is the right teacher — -the government or the families, churches and synagogues? I can think of few things more desirable than for people to read and obey the Ten Commandments. I can think of little worse than for government officials to tell citizens to do so.

Indeed, writing the Ten Commandments “on our hearts” is the way to ensure that they will never be loaded onto a proverbial hydraulic lift and moved to a less visible place.

The Ten Commandments display in Alabama clearly violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. But important theological and practical reasons should convince people of faith to object to government getting involved in displaying, and thereby endorsing, holy writ.

First, it puts government officials in the role of secular high priests deciding which rendition of Ten Commandments will be enshrined as orthodox. Which one, Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5? Which version, Jewish, Catholic or Protestant? Which translation, King James, New International, or New Revised Standard? Families, churches, and synagogues, not Caesar, should make these fundamentally religious decisions.

Second, making such decisions will engender rivalry among religious denominations, sects and traditions. As has been recently demonstrated, governmental displays of the Ten Commandments is a quick way to generate a religious struggle that would make losers of us all. In our religiously pluralistic nation, the worst thing government can do is to take sides in matters of religion. One of the reasons we have had precious little religious strife — despite our dizzying diversity — is that government has remained neutral in such matters. This neutrality ensures a future where Christians and Jews will not have to abide the display of other faiths' religious documents in government settings.

Third, one cannot properly interpret a text, including the Ten Commandments, without considering the context. The First Commandment states that, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, you shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3). Thus, the Commandments are part of a specific covenant between God and the Israelite people. The text is betrayed when we try to replace Moses and the Israelites with Chief Justice Roy Moore and the citizens of Alabama. The Commandments have fared quite well for several millennia without the help of American politicians.

Fourth, supporters seek to justify the displaying of the Ten Commandments by exhibiting them along with secular documents, such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. While this in some cases may shore up constitutionality, it's terrible theology. Jews understand the Ten Commandments as a central tenet of their faith and their relationship to God. Christians highly respect the place of the Commandments in the Exodus story and the life of the church. To place the Commandments along side of and on equal footing with these secular documents depreciates the high regard placed in them by those in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Finally, it is quite proper for Americans – even American politicians – to “acknowledge God.” As Justice William O. Douglas wrote, Americans “are a religious people.” Our civil discourse is replete with religious talk. But, it is entirely something else for a government official (who must render justice to all citizens) to endorse a specific passage of Holy Scripture as orthodox and normative for all.

For those who take the Ten Commandments seriously, let us write them on our hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah instructed, instead of displaying them in government courthouses. Then we'll be able to incarnate the love of God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ, and make a real difference in our world.

J. Brent Walker, an ordained Baptist minister and an attorney, is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, D.C.

Posted: 9/5/03

Navy chaplains' suit expanded to include 2,000

By Ward Sanderson

Stars & Stripes

WASHINGTON (BP)–A federal judge recently expanded the scope of a religious discrimination lawsuit against the Navy, further whipping the tempest that threatens to force the sea service into reviewing the promotions of every evangelical in its Chaplain Corps since 1977.

The decision effectively doubles the number of former and present chaplains represented in the case to about 2,000 by widening the span of time under scrutiny. A group of evangelicals filed the suit against the Navy three years ago in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and it has since become a class action.

The chaplains claim the service unfairly promotes Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants ahead of evangelicals, thereby forcing the latter out, and that the resulting mix fails to represent the religious preferences of sailors.

The suit seeks an overhaul of the system, a review of past promotions and the repair of any injustices occurring over the years, which could theoretically result in retroactive promotions and back pay, although the chaplains say they aren't after money.

Navy policy prevents it from discussing pending suits, but the service denies it operates under any bias.

“The Chaplain Corps is comprised of a dynamic group of officers and enlisted personnel whose purpose is to facilitate the faith needs of everyone in the sea services,” said Lt. Jon Spiers, a spokesman for the chief of naval personnel. “The Navy sees what the Chaplain Corps does as a fundamental element of mission readiness. What they do is tremendously important each and every day.”

Whoever is right, an attorney representing the evangelicals hails the decision as a victory.

“It makes my job much easier,” attorney Arthur Schulcz said from Washington, D.C. “And it really addresses the full scope of the predicament.”

The chaplains also are backed by the Rutherford Institute, the legal foundation that represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against former President Clinton.

The Justice Department is handling the Navy's defense. Charles Miller, department spokesman, said he cannot comment on the case.

Initially, the evangelicals maintained the Navy's alleged discrimination began in the late 1980s, with the introduction of what they call “the thirds policy”–a purposeful organizing of the Christian element of the Chaplain Corps into one-third Catholic, one-third Mainline or “liturgical” Protestant and one-third evangelical, or “non-liturgical.”

The chaplains claim such a system fails to reflect the numbers of evangelicals in the Navy. The Navy denies any such policy.

According to the complaint, two-thirds of the Navy's chaplains are Catholic or mainline. The Defense Manpower Data Center, however, records that only a third of sailors actually belong to those churches.

Evangelicals complain that sermons have been censored or watered down in the name of pluralism or cooperation among religions.

Spiers, the Navy personnel spokesman, said pluralism is important. “It's your job to help out everybody, regardless of their faith preference.”

Those in the lawsuit say that they'll help everyone but won't modify their message in the process.

According to court documents, the suing chaplains filed a motion to move the date of review back to 1977 after discovering that the then-Chief of Chaplains John O'Connor ordered a “stacking policy” requiring at least two Catholic priests to sit on every chaplain selection board. Schulcz said the practice was stopped in 1986 due to a lawsuit, but he believes the precedent bolsters his position.

“Rear Admiral O'Connor's placing of two Catholics on the board is typical of the arrogance with which the Chaplain Corps and Navy deals with promotions,” Schulcz said. O'Connor died in May 2000 at age 80. After leaving the Navy, O'Connor went on to become the celebrated archbishop of New York, a cardinal and arguably the Vatican's strongest voice in the United States.

According to the ruling issued by Judge Ricardo Urbina in July, the Navy argued against moving the date of review back in part because O'Connor's death deprived them of a chief witness.

Urbina disagreed.

“Although former Chief O'Connor–a witness potentially as important to the plaintiffs as to the defendants–passed away three years ago, his death occurred just two months after the plaintiffs filed their complaints, making it unlikely that he could have been deposed before his death,” the judge wrote.

“As a result, the court concludes that the defendants have not shown that the proposed amendment is unduly delayed or would cause them undue prejudice.”

This article originally appeared in the European Stars and Stripes on July 27, 2003, and is reprinted with permission from Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication

Posted: 9/5/03

This chaplain keeps ministry on tap

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BEAUMONT–What is a ninth-generation Baptist doing in a beer distribution center?

Ministry, according to Brenda Warren, a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate serving as a part-time chaplain at the Del Papa Distributing Co.

She spends about three hours a week getting to know the workers and trying to meet needs where she can. In some cases, she makes hospital visits and performs weddings and funerals.

Employees have shared personal and family issues with her, and she has shared the gospel when possible.

“It's very purposeful to visit with people of different denominations and those who don't go to church,” Warren said. “I really love meeting the people. I love listening to their life stories.”

The chaplain makes it clear she is on call around the clock all year long and employees should not hesitate to contact her when needed. If she can be there for them, Warren said, she hopes they may want to embrace Christianity.

Chaplains who serve through Marketplace Ministries, a non-denominational venture that supplies chaplains to a variety of businesses, have impacted the company positively, said Michelle Christopher, a human resources specialist at Del Papa.

Their ministry prevented employees from leaving the company when personal issues arose and the only option seemed to be a change of location, Christopher said.

The chaplains also represent a consistent reminder that the company cares for its employees in a more personal manner than a hotline, she added. Chaplains visit with workers when they see them around the city, and workers have responded.

Warren believes her work puts her faith into practice.

Christians should act the same whether they are in church or a business, she emphasized. “If we walk into a grocery store, walk into any business, we need to be the presence of Christ.”

Above all, never put anything out of the realm of possibility when dealing God, Warren said, noting God can lead obedient believers to minister anywhere.

“It always surprises me how the Lord works,” she said with a laugh. “I never thought a ninth generation Baptist would end up in a beer distribution center.”

Posted: 9/5/03

Alabama monument removed; judge under scrutiny

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Despite promises of civil disobedience from hundreds of protesters, authorities removed a stone Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of an Alabama courthouse Aug. 27 without incident.

At the beginning of the business day, with the crowds that had been gathering to protest outside the building relatively light, workers moved the 5,280-pound granite monument to a non-public part of the state judicial headquarters building.

The action brought to an end a dramatic two-week standoff with Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. On Aug. 14, he announced he would not comply with a federal judge's order to remove the depiction of the Protestant King James translation of the commandments from the public areas of the building by midnight Aug. 20. But Moore's colleagues on the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously overruled him Aug. 21, saying they were duty-bound to comply with federal court orders.

Moore, a Southern Baptist layman, placed the monument in the center of the building's rotunda during the summer of 2001–without the associate justices' consent or knowledge. He then was sued by a coalition of civil-rights groups, acting on behalf of three Montgomery attorneys.

In November, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson declared the display a violation of the Constitution's ban on government endorsement of a particular religion. After being upheld unanimously by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thompson ordered the monument removed by Aug. 20, threatening to levy stiff fines against the state if Moore did not comply with his injunction.

Moore said he would refuse because complying with the order would violate the state constitution, which he claims requires the state to “acknowledge God” as the source of law.

But the eight associate justices–seven of them, like Moore, Republicans–invoked a little-used Alabama law that allows them to overrule an administrative decision of the chief justice. The building manager placed partitions to block the monument from public view Aug. 21.

As a result of his actions, Moore was suspended, with pay, from his duties as head of the Alabama Supreme Court Aug. 22. The state's Judicial Inquiry Commission filed a six-count charge against him for violating judicial ethics. The suspension was to last at least 10 days. Moore will be prosecuted in the Alabama Court of the Judiciary–a group convened for the purpose of adjudicating cases against judges.

That court could decide to relieve Moore of his duties permanently.

“This controversy has never been about the Ten Commandments,” said Ayesha Khan, legal director for the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “It's about maintaining a court system that treats all Americans fairly, regardless of their religious beliefs. Judges have no right to impose their personal religious beliefs on others through official action.”

But Moore lamented the development. “It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our laws and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge,” he said.

In their order overruling Moore, his peers issued the chief justice a stern rebuke. “The justices of this court are bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it,” they said. Moore's continued failure to comply with a higher court's order “would impair the authority and ability of all the courts of this state to enforce their judgments,” they added.

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, himself a Republican, a Catholic and a previous defender of Moore's action, endorsed the associate justices' decision after it was announced. “The taxpayers of this state should not be punished for the refusal of the chief justice to follow a federal court order,” he said.

Pryor's office will prosecute Moore in the Court of the Judiciary.