During such a remarkable and often deeply concerning time in the history of our nation and our world, it was refreshing to get away from the turmoil for a few days. Though that’s not what I thought I was going to do.

The Ascent gathering last week in Alexandria, Va.—just outside Washington, D.C.—was a reprieve not only from the troubles of worldly politics. It was also a break from troubling religious politics.

I wasn’t expecting that. I was there to work, to learn more about a developing cooperative mission effort. I was there to observe, not to be ministered to. I kept waiting for the business that attends every religious gathering like this. Business wasn’t avoided entirely, but it took a back seat to ministry.

The Ascent gathering brought together pastors and ministry leaders from several Protestant denominations for the purpose of connecting with, encouraging, learning from and ministering to one another. It was celebrative and refreshing. It felt like revival.

You and your church need to know there are vibrant efforts like this taking shape around evangelism and missions. And there’s welcome at the table.

Rupture

Chris Backert, senior director of Ascent, described the movement’s origin and future in three words—rupture, realignment and revival.

Protestant Christianity, known for its lifelong divisions, has undergone a new season of rupture reminiscent of its beginnings 500 years ago. The Southern Baptist Convention and its affiliated state conventions offer a prime example.

The Southern Baptist Convention was birthed in 1845 through division from Northern Baptists over the issue of slavery. Almost 150 years later, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship split from the SBC in 1991 over a different set of issues.

Within a few years, Baptist state conventions in Virginia and Texas also ruptured. The more conservative Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia split from the more moderate Baptist General Association of Virginia in 1996. The more conservative Southern Baptists of Texas Convention split from the more moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1998. You may notice a pattern there.

Baptist groups aren’t the only ones fracturing. Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist and other denominations have undergone their own ruptures over the last few decades.

Realignment

Many, including myself, saw these ruptures as causes and/or results of denominational decline. Indeed, interest in and knowledge about denominations has all but evaporated among the average churchgoer in recent decades. For many, a denominational label is a liability.

More recently, what I and others have observed is what I started calling “a realignment” across denominations. For example, we noticed polity and particular doctrine becoming less important for cooperation than stances on social issues or missions.

In the case of Baptists, some pastors and churches increasingly are finding more in common with some Methodists, Assemblies of God and other Protestant traditions than they do with fellow Baptists. And, no, this does not mean those Baptists have given up being Baptist.

Some Baptist churches, having been voted out of their historic national “home,” find themselves looking for a new one. They are finding options outside historic Baptist connections.

Ascent is one place where the denominationally disenchanted or disaffiliated can find a national “home”—a place to partner with other like-minded Christians, particularly those interested in evangelism and missions.

Revival

One thing drawing different churches to Ascent is its focus on re-evangelizing North America. While denominational bodies feud over women in ministry, sexuality, money, power and bureaucracy, Ascent is singularly focused on what needs to be done to reintroduce North America to following Jesus.

Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal and other churches can work together through Ascent to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, and without giving up their respective denominational distinctives.

This doesn’t mean Ascent is a better collective than <insert-name> denomination, and less still that Ascent is perfect. It does mean people and churches from very different Christian traditions and polities are already supporting and celebrating one another’s efforts to carry out the Great Commission in North America.

Their shared hope is, just as revival followed previous eras of rupture and realignment, revival will follow the rupture and realignment happening now. Rather than wallow in mourning diminished prominence, churches can celebrate and lend their hand to what God is doing now. This is the posture of Ascent I observed last week.

Like others in the room, I found this joyful and refreshing. And if that’s not revival, I don’t know what is.

Finding our place

Realignment is happening not only among churches. It also is happening politically, culturally, socially, economically, globally. It’s a disconcerting and destabilizing time. We know what the old connections are and what the expectations used to be. But everything seems up for grabs now. It’s no wonder anxiety is up and that it’s infected the church.

Follower of Jesus, we are to remember we are citizens of another kingdom. The stuff of this world comes and goes while our one allegiance remains the same. Our one allegiance is to Jesus Christ. Our unchanging obedience is to his commands. Our duty, then, is to find our place in his mission.

More and more I find, the people and places who keep Jesus’ mission front and center are the people I want to know and the places I want to be. Because there is life there. And enlivening purpose. I suspect you desire the same.

*******

Ascent is still forming. There are still questions that need to be answered. Those who feel more comfortable within a formalized structure may want to wait to partner with Ascent, while keeping the collective in consideration.

Those looking for distinctly Baptist connections as alternatives to historic connections on a national and global scale can consider GC2 and Baptist World Alliance, respectively.

*******

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

You are a witness. What is your testimony?

I am a witness. What is my testimony?

…

Does the question give you cold sweats?

Depending on the day, the time, the situation, it at least gives me pause.

Maybe it’s that we’re unsure of what our witness should be or is or will be. Or we don’t want to hear how others perceive our witness. Actually, that’s what I’m really worried about—but only for one reason. See, my hope is people see Jesus in me and that the Jesus they see is true to who Jesus is and draws people to him.

I know how far off the mark I am, and that’s why the question gives me pause.

This has been imprinted on my mind since my visit yesterday to a memorial museum just off the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

As I descended the stairs to the lower level of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I couldn’t help but see a seemingly simple statement on the expansive wall in front of me.

Just four words.

“You are my witnesses.”

And the reference—Isaiah 43:10.

To witness is to remember

Given the context, it is clear these words are intended to describe those who survived the Holocaust. But stated as such, these four words also make a claim on all who see them … in that place. And, indeed, the word “Remember” is repeated everywhere.

The hope is, all who see—witness—the museum will in turn give witness to the reality of the Holocaust.

So it doesn’t happen again. To anybody.

I support that hope.

I wanted to read the broader context of those four words. So, when I had the opportunity, I looked up Isaiah 43 on a Bible app. While I know you can look it up, too, I include it here, because it’s just that important.

Take the time to read—really read—the following words from Isaiah 43.

The witness of Isaiah 43:1-13

But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.”

Remember where I was when I saw those four words and their reference—a Holocaust memorial museum. Let the reader hold that in stillness and reverence.

“For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; …
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.
Yes, and from ancient of days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?”

…

Sit with these words for a moment.

Remember where I saw four of them, standing out starkly on a museum wall—a Holocaust museum wall.

Reading ‘witness’ in context

I’m not an Old Testament scholar and certainly not on expert on Isaiah. There’s much I don’t know and much I can’t say about Isaiah 43. For that reason and others, I left out a portion of verse 3 and all of verse 4, because they introduce a problem I’m not equipped or have the space to deal with here.

But I am a student of, a reader of Scripture. I believe portions of Scripture should be read in their original context, that the original—and full—context of Scripture deeply informs the meaning of short portions.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is a powerful question because of the context in which we most often encounter it. What we may not know is Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 and most assuredly knew he was. If you haven’t put Jesus’ question in the context of the full psalm, you should do that … after you read the rest of this editorial.

Returning to the four-word quote from Isaiah 43:10: “You are my witnesses” is a powerful statement in the context of a Holocaust museum, but read in the broader context of Isaiah 43:1-13, it challenges even further.

Why we are witnesses

The broader context of those four words from Isaiah 43:10 tell us we are not merely witnesses. Nor are we merely witnesses of horror and tragedy. Nor are we witnesses only so such things never happen again.

Isaiah, quoting the LORD our God, tells us we are witnesses of God. We are witnesses that there is no other god before, beside or behind God. We are witnesses that God delivers and nothing and no one else does.

We are witnesses of who God is and what God has done.

The power of our witness

“You are my witnesses” is a powerful statement in a museum that gives praise to the human armies that liberated the Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Certainly, we should cheer that liberation and give thanks for the liberators, but we mustn’t do so to the neglect or the diminishment of God as our ultimate deliverer.

“You are my witnesses” also is a powerful statement in a city where men and women promise they are our salvation. I assure you, they are not.

“You are my witnesses” is simultaneously a powerful statement of fact and a powerful call to action.

As a statement of fact: Like it or not, you and I are witnesses. Our lives speak. They speak of who we take God to be. What are our lives speaking about God?

As a call to action: If you and I claim the name of Christ, we are and will be his witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8)—like it or not. We will witness in word and deed. What witness about Christ will our words and deeds give?

Yes, we are God’s witnesses in our politics, in our economics, in our business dealings, in our spending, in our giving, in our love life, in our friendships, in our family, in our driving, in our recreating, in our watching, in our listening. In all we do, we are communicating something about God.

In all we do, does our witness tell the world there is no god but God, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be? That’s a bold testimony at the present time.

In all we do, does our witness tell the world God is the only Savior, the only Deliverer? That’s a bold testimony at the present time.

I admit this is more sermon than editorial.

I was a pastor. So, sometimes I preach.

Now, I’m an editor. So, sometimes I write.

I am a Christian. So, I’m always a witness.

Fellow Christian, so are you.

What God are we proclaiming?

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

The last few weeks have been … interesting.

There’s been a major news story just about every day, and each one has stirred up strong reactions and responses. I know. I’ve had some of my own.

Strong reactions and responses have been warranted, but not barbed responses, particularly not from Christians—no matter how strong our convictions or opinions.

Barbs do more to turn us against and away from each other than they do to win anyone over. Barbs focus us on our disagreements and distract us from who we are called to be. Left unchecked, barbs will grow into daggers, and we will wield the blades to harm one another and to sever our ties to each other.

The world doesn’t need us—the body of Christ—divided right now. We must dull the blades, remove the barbs and disagree civilly. Because there’s important work to be done, work we were commanded and commissioned to do.

Where we disagree

Our disagreements run the gamut. Here are just a few.

The Feb. 28 Oval Office incident, as I’ll call it here, drew swift and charged reactions. And those reactions elicited more reactions, which spurred still more. One we published March 8 sparked a fire among some by making an analogy between Esther’s advocacy for her people and Ukrainian President Zelensky’s advocacy for his.

Every analogy breaks down, and the author knows that. His aim was to bring Esther forward in time, to cause us to consider what we would do if put in her position. Yet, simply making the comparison was a bridge too far for some.

Mid-February, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board approved an agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board related to church planting funds. This also generated responses, and responses to the responses, a few of which we published.

Knowing the terms of the agreement now enables individual Texas Baptist churches to make a more clearly informed decision about whether to send funds to NAMB or allocate those funds elsewhere. No barbs needed.

This week and last, Texas Baptist pastors and ministry leaders visited the Texas Capitol to advocate for their positions on various bills under consideration during the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

One of those bills—HB 3—would establish an education savings account program. Hundreds from the general public registered to testify against the bill during a March 11-12 hearing on it.

Rural Republican and reporter Suzanne Bellsnyder commented on X (formerly Twitter): “More than 12,500 public comments over 2,995 pages submitted on HB3. The Comments are Overwhelmingly opposed. A Capitol Insider tells me ‘I have never seen anything like it.’”

Texas Baptists are not all of one mind on this issue. In fact, some of us hold completely opposing views to each other. I’m always glad when we don’t let our disagreement get in the way of working together.

How we disagree

I should clarify that I don’t mean the Oval Office incident was a mere disagreement, or that the tension between the BGCT and NAMB is just a petty little squabble—although some see it that way—or that how public and private schools should be funded in Texas is only a matter of not seeing eye to eye. No, each issue entails serious and substantive matters of difference.

Nor do I mean to equate the seriousness of all three of these issues. They aren’t equivalent. For example, the Oval Office incident is a matter of life and death for millions of people. That’s a very different thing than whether a BGCT church can get money from NAMB to plant a church or whether Texas sets aside public funds for private education.

Rather, I am calling to account how we communicate our opinions and convictions about these things, and how we communicate to and about those whose opinions and convictions are different than our own.

Christians have been at least as harsh as the world. The world has enough examples of people verbally tearing each other apart, without Christians modeling more of the same. What the world doesn’t have enough of are people disagreeing civilly. Christians ought to be the prime examples of how to do that—especially if we say we take Scripture seriously.

Disagreeing civilly

We live in a time of significant and pervasive disagreement. More and more, we seem less and less able to disagree civilly.

As our society polarizes—we hope not to the point of fracture—too many Christians are going right along for the ride. Some are even leading the way. I’ve been accused of that.

Our disagreements are political, economic, social and religious—and that’s just among Christians. Too often, our disagreements as Christians have led and are leading us to division.

Christians, of all people, need to pull back from our divisions. Or at least from the heat and vitriol of our dividing.

Rather than follow Paul’s example and part ways with our co-laborers in Christ (Acts 15:36-39), we need to follow Paul’s instruction to “live at peace with everyone”—if possible and as much as it depends on us (Romans 12:18).

We need to give up the kind of sharp disagreement that resulted in Paul and Barnabas’ separation, and we need to model civil disagreement.

This is a call to all Christians. More specifically, this is a call to Baptists—and more specifically still, Baptists of a Southern extraction—as we continue our own particular disagreements.

The world doesn’t need our infighting. The world needs the good news we are commanded to communicate in word and deed. This doesn’t mean we quit disagreeing—although that would be nice—but that when we disagree, we disagree civilly.

If only it were that easy.

But that’s why we must model civil disagreement, because it can be so hard.

This is not just my call. This is my aspiration. Because the truth is, I have strong opinions about certain things and can air them just as sharply as anyone. Lord, help me.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

I was transported this morning. Not by aliens. By classical music.

Specifically, by a high school orchestra playing “Winton Suite for String Orchestra: Prelude” by Adam Carse and “30,000 and Forever” by Brian Balmages.

I’ve listened to recordings of these two songs this afternoon, but, well, you just had to be there, and I’m glad I was.

Like so many others, I’ve carried—and still carry—the weight of the times. There’s a lot of ugliness in the world today. And work. My, there’s a lot of work. And stress. Lord, the stress.

I walked into the performance hall with my wife, and we sat down moments before the orchestra started. Carse’s “Prelude,” helped by the venue and the dimmed lights, pulled me away from the weight, the work and the stress with its energy and cheerfulness.

“30,000 and Forever,” on the other hand, was beauty of another kind, opening my mind to the tension of our time, during which we hold ugliness in one hand and beauty in the other.

Mourning and rejoicing

As I listened, the sound of the strings washing over me like rippling waves on a peaceful shore, I felt at once the beauty of the music and the sorrow of those who don’t have an hour free from the ugliness of our world—war, hunger, terror, enslavement and the like—for a musical reprieve.

I sat, taking in the full force of Balmages’ adagio, reveling and mourning at the same time—reveling in the skill of high school students to produce such a wonder, mourning that Ukrainian high school students study in basements, if they can even go to school at all.

And it’s not just Ukraine. It’s wherever the scourge of war touches our planet.

I lament that beauty is a luxury in our world.

But I also marvel that there is beauty at all.

This is the tension we hold.

I didn’t know until this afternoon when I searched the web for “30,000 and Forever” that what I felt as I listened to the music was the story behind it.

According to Balmages’ program notes on the score, “the original musical ideas for this piece [came to him] during a flight to Australia.” His son had been “in and out of the hospital” and was able to come home “just a few days before [Balmages] had to leave on a 2-week trip.”

I remember being a young dad and having to leave young children. I am thankful I didn’t have to leave one who was so sick.

Balmages wrote: “The thought of leaving them in that instant tore me apart. I will never forget what it felt like to hug them goodbye.”

His composition tells the story well. And with amazing beauty.

Being parted from those we love is one of the ugliest things I know, and it points to one of the most beautiful things I know—the hope of eternal reunion.

The curse and the hope

We live in the middle of the story, between the ugliness and the beauty, between the brokenness of our Fall and the promise of our being created anew.

Until we live in the end of the story, as long as we live in the middle, we must hold the ugliness in one hand and the beauty in the other.

We cannot look away from either one. Certainly, not yet, not until all ugliness in the world has been redeemed by God’s beauty. We also must not focus on one to the exclusion of the other. To do so is to deny the truth of the world in which we live, a world that, at present, contains ugliness and beauty at once.

And we must do more than hold the tension. We must take up the work given to us as followers of Jesus—the ministry of reconciliation:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).

Glimpses of beauty in the rough

Acknowledging the ugly consequences of our sin and brokenness also means we must pursue justice—God’s righteousness—in our world. And we do well to celebrate moves toward such justice.

Beauty at church

For example, churches place classified ads with us when seeking ministers and staff, and we pray with these churches throughout their search. Yesterday, one of those churches told me they will baptize a 10-year-old and her mother this coming Sunday.

This evening, they sent me an update that her dad will also be baptized. There is beauty in a family making this commitment together.

This church is experiencing numerical and spiritual growth even while seeking a full-time pastor. And they’re not the only church experiencing this. This is noteworthy and cause for celebration, because many churches feel like they can’t or won’t grow when they don’t have a pastor.

With or without a pastor, every church has God’s Spirit, the true growth agent.

Beauty in politics

Amid the often-ugly world of politics, there is a spot of beauty in a bipartisan effort to protect young women by combatting revenge porn. The bill, known as the “Take It Down Act” is sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Reps. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; and is championed by First Lady Melania Trump.

“The bill would make it a federal crime to knowingly publish or threaten to publish intimate imagery online without an individual’s consent, including realistic, computer-generated intimate images of people who can be identified,” the Associated Press reports.

“Social media platforms would have 48 hours to remove such images and take steps to delete duplicate content after a victim’s request,” the report continues.

The U.S. Senate passed the bill. Now, Speaker Mike Johnson needs to schedule the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the middle of the story, where we hold the ugly in one hand and the beautiful in the other, we must celebrate beauty wherever we find it—while continuing to pursue God’s justice and the work of reconciliation.

A treat for those who read to the end

Maybe you read this editorial with a hundred other things going on at the same time. Hopefully, one of them wasn’t driving. Maybe you know all too well the tension of holding weight, work and worry in one hand and beauty and joy in the other.

Whatever the case, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve found a treat.

Amy Gross, director of Plano West Senior High School’s nonvarsity orchestra shared with me the audio recordings of their UIL performance this morning.

If the only place you can find a little peace right now is in the bathroom, take a few minutes, close the door and soak in the sound of a superb high school string orchestra.

• “Winton Suite for String Orchestra: Prelude” by Adam Carse
• “30,000 and Forever” by Brian Balmages. His composition was commissioned by the V.R. Eaton High School Orchestra in Haslet (Holly Burton, conductor) to honor their first graduating class.
• “Perseus” by Soon Hee Newbold

Thank you to Amy and her students for adding beauty to a world that desperately needs it.

*******

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

We have a mission, a God-determined mission, and nothing that happens in the Texas Capitol or the U.S. capital determines or changes that mission. Federal and state laws and policies may affect how we pursue our mission, but they don’t change our mission.

Knowing one’s mission is always important. During periods of heightened political tension, chaos and concern, knowing one’s mission is even more important. Knowing one’s mission provides focus and clarity amid confusion and motivation amid discouragement.

Baptist Standard Publishing has a God-determined mission. You have a God-determined mission, too. Do you know what it is?

History of our mission

Our mission has guided us for almost 110 years—counting just our time as a nonprofit.

Baptist Standard Publishing’s mission is to connect God’s story and God’s people through news, opinion and resources to grow God’s kingdom.

This way of expressing our mission is rooted in what Baptist Standard Publishing was incorporated in 1915 to do. The wording of the original incorporation document is bland but important:

“The purpose for which this corporation is formed is the transaction of a printing or publishing business … the principal object of the Company to print and publish the BAPTIST STANDARD, a newspaper conducted by and for the benefit, and under the direction of the Baptist General Convention of Texas … for the advancement of the denominational work of the Baptist General Convention.”

The 1949 amendment to the articles of incorporation expresses the heart of our mission more clearly:

“Its sole purpose is to serve as a medium for the dissemination of information of a religious nature, and in such respects to furnish religious education to churches of the Baptist Denomination and their members … with reference to different agencies and institutions fostered by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, including schools, orphanages, churches, Sunday Schools, Baptist Training Union, Woman’s Missionary Union, Baptist Student Union, etc.”

The Standard’s board amended the purpose statement in 1963 to read: “The purpose for which this corporation is formed is … to aid and support the Baptist General Convention of Texas and to interpret events and movements that affect the welfare of the people of God.”

Responding to change

In recognition of the power of the internet and social media, the board amended the purpose statement again in 2010 to state our purpose “is the operation of a communications organization, using a variety of technologies to support, inform, and resource the Baptist General Convention of Texas, churches, and faith-based institutions that serve the broader Christian community, and individual people of faith.”

There is one obvious through line in each version of our purpose statement—the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Having been incorporated by the BGCT in 1915 as a separate nonprofit entity—the Baptist Standard was privately owned and published under that name from 1892 to 1914—Baptist Standard Publishing always has been related to the BGCT.

Another through line captured elsewhere in our incorporation documents adds to the purpose statement: “Furthermore, the Corporation is organized for the promotion, advancement and carrying out of the general purposes, and forwarding the interests, of the Baptist denomination, … and the furtherance of the missionary, educational and benevolent interests of said denomination.”

The excerpt above, taken from the 2019 amendment of the Standard’s incorporation document, differs only slightly from the 1915 wording—“The corporation” (1915) versus “Furthermore, the Corporation” (2019).

Two world wars, a flu pandemic, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, another war, a cultural revolution amid yet another war, an energy crisis, denominational upheaval, another war, a major terrorist attack, two more wars along with the Great Recession, the internet and social media, political tumult, scores of natural disasters, another pandemic, another recession, more political tumult—through it all, our mission has been the same.

In brief: To connect God’s story and God’s people through news, opinion and resources to grow God’s kingdom.

Whatever happens, that’s what we’ll do.

Mission-driven

Whatever the economy does, whatever technology does, whatever our government does—and there are people concerned about how all three of those will affect the Baptist Standard—whatever happens, we will seek to connect God’s story and God’s people to grow God’s kingdom—even if we can’t do it through publishing news, opinion and resources.

This formulation of our mission recognizes we aren’t just a news outlet. We don’t just publish news or opinion, nor do we just publish religious—specifically, Baptist—news, opinion and resources. We publish for the purpose of connecting God’s story and God’s people to grow God’s kingdom.

I’m happy to report God has blessed and is blessing this mission.

This is the mission we keep in front of the staff and board of Baptist Standard Publishing, because we recognize we always must grow toward it; we haven’t arrived. This is the mission we thank every donor for being a part.

And when God tells us to do something different, we’ll do something different.

I used to think all the talk about mission and being mission-focused and mission-driven was just so much corporate hype, a good way to make a good living as a motivational speaker. But I’ve come to appreciate how important having, knowing and pursuing a mission is, and I encourage you to have, know and pursue your God-determined mission.

What is your God-determined mission, that thing God’s called you to do, no matter what? If you don’t know, this is the time to figure it out.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission presented a startling number during their report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board Tuesday morning, Feb. 18.

In 2021, Las Vegas Sands hired 19 lobbyists to advance pro-gambling legislation in Texas during the 87th Texas Legislative Session. This year? They’ve hired 103 such lobbyists … of a total of 350 “lobbyists hired to represent gambling interests” in the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

I don’t gamble. In fact, I oppose gambling. Despite my opposition, however, I don’t typically rail against gambling. But when an industry—and gambling is an industry—feels the need to hire 350 lobbyists to advance its interests in any legislature, well, something smells fishy.

The stakes

Lobbyists are paid for their work. ZipRecruiter shows, as of Feb. 12, the average annual salary of a lobbyist in Texas is $47,460, with $55,433 as a top salary.

For the sake of round numbers, let’s say each of the gambling industry’s lobbyists makes $50,000. That would amount to $17,500,000—a rounding error for people like the Adelsons and multinational corporations like Las Vegas Sands worth billions of dollars.

The actual compensation range for the 103 Las Vegas Sands lobbyists as reported by the Texas Ethics Commission is much greater than ZipRecruiter shows, with some receiving far less and some receiving far more.

Not many have the financial wherewithal to hire even 19 lobbyists. But 350? You can bet the gambling industry doesn’t plan to lose its shirt on that one.

And with the force of 350 lobbyists, the gambling industry is saying pretty clearly that billions of dollars just isn’t enough for them. It is enough, however, to make a person ask, “Just who is the gambling addict?”

The addiction

Speaking of gambling addiction, it’s telling that the University of Nevada in Reno, of all places, includes on its “Online Degrees Blog” a post about the dangers of gambling addiction and resources for help overcoming it.

The post cites the National Council on Problem Gambling, which claims “2.5 million U.S. adults are estimated to meet the criteria for a severe gambling problem in a given year. Another 5-8 million would be considered to have mild to moderate gambling problems.”

Does it bother anybody else that somewhere between 7 million and 10 million U.S. adults have gambling problems?

But maybe 4 percent of U.S. adults struggling with gambling isn’t a high enough percentage to convince us to deny the gambling industry its desires in Texas. Maybe that percentage needs to be more like 10 percent? Is that high enough?

The problem

For those who don’t gamble or who gamble a little bit once in a while—or who gamble a lot of money often but can take or leave gambling—here’s what a gambling problem looks like: Basically, like being an alcoholic.

You think about it all the time. You need more and more. You’re not very nice when you don’t get it. You feel unable to control the urge. You know it’s hurting you and those you love, but you do it anyway.

“In extreme cases, problem gambling can cause bankruptcy, legal problems, losing your job or your family, and thinking about suicide.”

Sure, let’s make that easier. Let’s give the gambling industry what it wants in Texas.

Hopefully, my sarcasm is obvious. In case it’s not: No, let’s not make that easier. Let’s continue to say ‘no’ to the gambling industry and deny their efforts to expand gambling in Texas.

The economics

Proponents of gambling tout the economic benefits to the states and communities in which casinos are located. They point to higher employment rates and tax revenue, while downplaying—if they even acknowledge—the costs to those same states and communities. They contend the economic benefits are worth it.

Education funding is one such benefit. So, let’s consider that. Rob Kohler, a consultant with Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission provided the following numbers based on the 88th Texas Legislature’s proposed gambling legislation.

In fiscal year 2024, the Texas lottery would generate $8.389 billion in sales. For every dollar of that, about one quarter would go to Texas public education, for a total of $1.98 billion.

Compare that with the proposal for casino-style and video lottery terminal revenue, with just under 2 cents of every dollar going to Texas public education. This means, to generate the same $1.98 billion in education funds via casino-style and VLT gambling, $101 billion would have to be wagered in Texas.

For a further comparison, the entire 2023 fiscal year expenditure on Texas public education was $85.33 billion, with revenue coming from federal, state and local sources.

For the sake of argument, let’s say all of that $101 billion was going to come from Texans: If Texans have $101 billion to fritter away at casinos, they definitely have $85.33 billion to fund their own education—and without any revenue from the federal government or even education savings accounts.

The game

The gambling industry is not looking out for us, our community or our state. It’s not spending billions of dollars—not only on lobbyists, but also funding politicians’ campaigns—to help us out. The gambling industry is after our money, and a lot of it. They simply can’t get enough.

Most gamblers don’t have a gambling problem. At least, they don’t exhibit what is defined by clinicians as problem gambling. Even so, very few of them are beating the house. Most of them lose more than they win—which is just how the casinos want it.

I would say, “Never bet against the house,” except it’s in the Texas House where gambling interests find their friendliest reception. We don’t have to look further than House Bill 2843 in the 88th Texas Legislative Session. It didn’t ultimately pass, but it advanced much farther than it should have.

The gambling industry knows it’s making a fortune off others’ misfortune. It’s designed to ensure it. Let’s not fall for it. Let’s send the gambling industry a clear message: No expansion in Texas.

*******

Visit the Who Represents Me? texas.gov website to find contact information for your Texas state senator and/or representative.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Pido inmigración legal, no ilegal.

Pido fronteras seguras, no fronteras abiertas o cerradas de golpe.

Pido una política de inmigración con sentido común, no politizada.

Esto suena a política… hasta que miramos las Escrituras.

Las Escrituras son el punto de encuentro entre la ley y la gracia. Y como bautista, considero que las Escrituras son la autoridad para la fe y la práctica.

Los inmigrantes en las Escrituras

La Escritura instruye en numerosos lugares al pueblo de Dios para que cuide de los extranjeros que viven entre ellos. ¿Acaso no somos pueblo de Dios los que nos identificamos con Cristo?

La Escritura, tanto en la ley mosaica como en boca del Mesías, nos ordena amar al prójimo como a nosotros mismos. Ah, pero ¿quién es nuestro prójimo? No hace falta preguntarlo. Jesús nos dijo quién es nuestro prójimo, usando como ejemplo a personas que difieren étnica y teológicamente.

Y, sí, las Escrituras también nos dicen que honremos a nuestras autoridades civiles.

Seguro que podemos idear una política de inmigración sensata que se ajuste a los límites del cuidado de los extranjeros que viven entre nosotros, amando a nuestro prójimo como nos amamos a nosotros mismos y honrando a nuestras autoridades civiles.

Creo que sí.

Al final de este editorial se incluye una lista de recursos útiles para ello.

Inmigrantes y autoridades civiles

En la actualidad, nuestras autoridades civiles han expresado su intención de deportar a todos los inmigrantes que se encuentran ilegalmente en Estados Unidos, según la definición del Código 1325 de Estados Unidos, o asustarlos para que se marchen por su propia voluntad.

“Nadie está fuera de la mesa. Si estás en el país ilegalmente, no está bien. Si estás en el país ilegalmente, será mejor que mires por encima del hombro”, dijo Tom Homan, director Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas durante la primera administración del presidente Trump, a los asistentes al Heritage Policy Fest de The Heritage Foundation el 15 de julio de 2024.

Homan, que ahora es el “zar fronterizo” de la Administración Trump, dijo a Martha Raddatz, de ABC News, el 26 de enero, que espera que estos mismos inmigrantes simplemente “se vayan.”

Junto a estas contundentes declaraciones, Homan también admitió que el gobierno no dispone de los recursos necesarios para acorralar y deportar a todos los inmigrantes que se encuentran ilegalmente en Estados Unidos.

Es por esta razón y otras que el abogado de inmigración de Dallas Jered Dobbs aconseja precaución sin pánico. También aconseja a los inmigrantes y a las iglesias que quieran ayudarles que se informen bien.

Es prerrogativa del gobierno hacer cumplir sus leyes—Código 1325 de EE.UU., en este caso—y hacerlo mediante una “operación de deportación histórica”, tal como la describe Homan.

Y si el pueblo de Dios considera que tal aplicación es contraria a las Escrituras, es nuestra prerrogativa instar a nuestros representantes en el Congreso a que cambien la ley. Ojalá el pueblo de Dios tuviera la misma opinión sobre cuándo la aplicación de la ley es contraria a las Escrituras. Si lo estuviéramos, tal vez no estaríamos teniendo esta conversación.

La inmigración ante los tribunales

El Congreso no es la única forma de abordar la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración. Una coalición del pueblo de Dios ha acudido a los tribunales federales para oponerse a una nueva directiva sobre la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración.

La directiva “empodera” a los funcionarios del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas y del Servicio de Aduanas y Protección de Fronteras al rescindir “las directrices de la Administración Biden … que impiden la aplicación de la ley en o cerca de las llamadas zonas ‘sensibles’”—como “escuelas e iglesias—para “atrapar a extranjeros criminales … que han entrado ilegalmente en nuestro país”.

Basándose en declaraciones como las de Homan, los inmigrantes no creen que los agentes del ICE y del CBP vayan a limitar sus detenciones únicamente a los delincuentes violentos. Según los informes, muchos inmigrantes tienen miedo de enviar a sus hijos a la escuela, de ir a la iglesia e incluso de recoger medicamentos en la farmacia. Lugares tradicionalmente seguros parecen ahora menos seguros para muchos inmigrantes.

Sin dar a los inmigrantes indocumentados un “pase libre”—que muchos no quieren ni esperan—sin duda podemos desarrollar una mejor política de inmigración que reconozca la necesidad de normas sólidas que rijan la inmigración, que dichas normas deben cumplirse y que no incluya el alarmismo.

La coalición de grupos cristianos y judíos mencionada anteriormente espera que esto pueda lograrse en los tribunales, al menos a corto plazo.

Nuestros hermanos inmigrantes

Me refiero aquí a nuestra política de inmigración porque algunos de nuestros hermanos y hermanas en Cristo no se sienten seguros expresando ellos mismos estas cosas. Les preocupa que al hacerlo se conviertan en un blanco. Y no me refiero sólo a los inmigrantes indocumentados entre nuestros hermanos cristianos.

Algunos de los inmigrantes de nuestras iglesias que tienen miedo de hablar están en Estados Unidos legalmente. Necesitan saber que nosotros, sus hermanos en Cristo, nos preocupamos por lo que les ocurre a ellos y a sus comunidades, y que hablaremos en su nombre, al igual que abogamos por las personas que figuran en las listas de oración de nuestras iglesias y escuelas dominicales, algunas de las cuales ni siquiera conocemos.

Necesitan que aquellos de nosotros cuyas familias han sido ciudadanos estadounidenses durante generaciones o que no han pasado por el proceso de naturalización comprendamos que lleva tiempo convertirse en ciudadano estadounidense, incluso en las mejores circunstancias. Y no deberíamos dar por sentado que los inmigrantes no están haciendo el trabajo necesario para convertirse en ciudadanos estadounidenses. O que están aquí para quitarnos el trabajo o cambiar nuestro modo de vida.

En realidad, casi todos los inmigrantes quieren una vía legal hacia la ciudadanía estadounidense. Muchos, si no la mayoría, ya pagan impuestos y financian beneficios a las que no tienen derecho. Si no pueden hacerse ciudadanos, preferirían ser residentes legales a ser residentes ilegales. Sin duda, la ley y la gracia pueden unirse aquí.

Los inmigrantes vistos por Dios

La retórica de los debates políticos describe con demasiada frecuencia a los inmigrantes como un problema para nuestros barrios, nuestra seguridad o nuestra cultura. Esta retórica está tan extendida que los inmigrantes—cualquiera que sea su estatus oficial—se consideran más un problema que una persona.

Demasiados de nosotros llevamos ese marco con nosotros a la iglesia, a la forma en que leemos las Escrituras, a lo que pensamos de los hermanos y hermanas cristianos que también resultan ser inmigrantes. Esto es al revés.

Los debates políticos no deben enmarcar lo que pensamos sobre los inmigrantes. Para el pueblo de Dios, la palabra de Dios debe enmarcar la forma en que pensamos y tratamos a los inmigrantes.

Lo que los inmigrantes afrontan habitualmente no forma parte de mi experiencia diaria. Me permito el lujo de no pensar en ello. Pero forma parte de la experiencia diaria de muchos de mis hermanos y hermanas en Cristo que están preocupados por sí mismos, por su familia y por sus amigos.

La Escritura me dice que debo estar con mis hermanos. Las Escrituras te dicen lo mismo a ti. ¿Cómo vamos a hacerlo?

*******

Para una perspectiva cuidadosa y equilibrada sobre la inmigración, le animo a consultar los recursos de Evangelical Immigration Table.

Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform  es otra fuente de una perspectiva equilibrada sobre la inmigración.

La entrevista de Calli Keener con el abogado de inmigración de Dallas Jered Dobbs proporciona información útil para los inmigrantes y las iglesias que les sirven.

El Centro para el Compromiso Cultural de los Bautistas de Texas ofrece una breve guía para las iglesias que sirven a los inmigrantes.

Eric Black es el director ejecutivo, editor y redactor de Baptist Standard. Puede comunicarse con él en eric.black@baptiststandard.com. Las opiniones expresadas en este artículo de opinión son las del autor.

I call for legal immigration, not illegal immigration.

I call for secure borders, not borders wide open or slammed shut.

I call for common-sense immigration policy, not politicized policy.

This sounds like politics … until we look at Scripture.

Scripture is where law and grace meet. And as a Baptist, I hold Scripture as authoritative for faith and practice.

Immigrants in Scripture

Scripture in numerous places instructs God’s people to care for foreigners living among them. Are we not God’s people, we who identify ourselves with Christ?

Scripture in both the Mosaic law and the Messiah’s mouth commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Ah, but just who is our neighbor? No need to ask. Jesus told us who our neighbor is, using as his example people who differ ethnically and theologically.

And, yes, Scripture also tells us to honor our civil authorities.

Surely, we can come up with sound immigration policy that fits within the bounds of caring for foreigners living among us, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves and honoring our civil authorities.

I believe we can.

A list of helpful resources toward that end are included at the bottom of this editorial.

Immigrants and civil authorities

At present, our civil authorities have expressed intent to deport all immigrants in the United States illegally as defined by U.S. Code 1325 or scare them into leaving of their own accord.

“No one’s off the table. If you’re in the country illegally, it’s not OK. If you’re in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder,” Tom Homan, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Trump’s first administration, told attendees at The Heritage Foundation’s Heritage Policy Fest on July 15, 2024.

Homan, who is now the Trump Administration’s “border czar,” told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Jan. 26, he hopes these same immigrants simply “should leave.”

Alongside these strong statements, Homan also admitted the government doesn’t have the resources to round up and deport every immigrant in the United States illegally.

It’s for this reason and others that Dallas immigration attorney Jered Dobbs counsels caution without panic. He also advises immigrants and churches who want to help them to get good information.

It is the government’s prerogative to enforce its laws—U.S. Code 1325, in this case—and to do so through a “historic deportation operation” as described by Homan.

And if God’s people find such enforcement contrary to Scripture, it is our prerogative to urge our congressional representatives to change the law. If only God’s people were of one mind about when enforcement is contrary to Scripture. If we were, we might not still be having this conversation.

Immigration in the courts

Congress isn’t the only way to address immigration enforcement. A coalition of God’s people have gone to federal court to push back against a new directive in immigration enforcement.

The directive “empowers” officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection by rescinding “the Biden Administration guidelines … that thwart law enforcement in or near so-called ‘sensitive’ areas”—such as “schools and churches”—to “catch criminal aliens … who have illegally come into our country.”

Based on statements like Homan’s, immigrants don’t believe ICE and CBP agents will limit their apprehensions to only violent criminals. Many immigrants are reported to be afraid to send their children to school, to go to church and even to pick up medications from the pharmacy. Traditionally safe places feel less safe for many immigrants right now.

Without giving undocumented immigrants a “free pass”—which many don’t want or expect—surely, we can develop better immigration policy that acknowledges the need for sound rules governing immigration, that such rules need to be honored, and that doesn’t include fear-mongering.

The coalition of Christian and Jewish groups mentioned above hopes this can be accomplished in the courts—at least in the short term.

Our immigrant siblings

I am addressing our immigration policy here because some of our brothers and sisters in Christ do not feel safe voicing these things themselves. They worry doing so will make them a target. And here, I’m not only referring to undocumented immigrants among our fellow Christians.

Some of the immigrants in our churches who are afraid to speak up are in the United States legally. They need to know we, their siblings in Christ, care about what is happening with them and their communities and that we will speak up on their behalf—just as we advocate for the people on our church and Sunday school prayer lists, some of whom we don’t even know.

They need those of us whose families have been U.S. citizens for generations or who haven’t gone through the naturalization process to understand it takes time to become a U.S. citizen, even under the best circumstances. And we shouldn’t assume immigrants aren’t doing the work to become U.S. citizens. Or that they’re here to take our jobs or change our way of life.

In truth, almost all immigrants want a legal pathway to U.S. citizenship. Many, if not most, already pay taxes, funding benefits they are not eligible to receive. If they can’t become citizens, they would prefer to be legal residents than to be illegal residents. Surely, law and grace can come together here.

Immigrants as seen by God

The rhetoric of policy discussions too often describes immigrants as a problem for our neighborhoods, our safety or our culture. Such talk is so pervasive that immigrants—whatever their official status—are framed as problems rather than people.

Too many of us carry that frame with us to church, to how we read Scripture, to what we think about Christian brothers and sisters who also happen to be immigrants. This is backwards.

Policy discussions should not frame what we think about immigrants. For God’s people, God’s word is to frame how we think about and treat immigrants.

What immigrants face on a regular basis is not part of my daily experience. I have the luxury of not thinking about it. But it is a daily part of the experience of plenty of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are worried for themselves, their family and their friends.

Scripture tells me I must stand with my siblings. Scripture says the same to you. How are we going to do it?

*******

For a careful and balanced perspective on immigration, I encourage you to look at resources from Evangelical Immigration Table.

Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform is another source for a balanced perspective on immigration.

Calli Keener’s interview with Dallas immigration attorney Jered Dobbs provides helpful information for immigrants and churches who serve them.

Texas Baptists’ Center for Cultural Engagement offers brief guidance for churches serving immigrants.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

A group of U.S. representatives wishes to condemn a sermon on the grounds it “promot[ed] political bias instead of advocating the full counsel of biblical teaching.”

As true as their assessment of the sermon may be, it’s not for the government to decide.

Any government that attempts to determine what constitutes “the full counsel of biblical teaching” oversteps its bounds. This is especially true in the United States, where the First Amendment to our Constitution guarantees both freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

A sermon falls squarely within the protections of both freedoms—and therefore is off limits to government censure.

The most recent example of overreach, noted above, occurred Jan. 23. An example of how we can respond to this overreach took place in 2014.

Condemning a sermon

On Jan. 23, members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced House Resolution 59 to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The resolution takes direct aim at Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who oversees the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In particular, the resolution seeks to condemn her sermon delivered during the National Prayer Service on Jan. 21.

“Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives,” the resolution calls Budde’s sermon a “display of political activism” and a “distorted message.”

However true that may be, the mere introduction of such a resolution by U.S. representatives ought to be concerning—if not outright condemned itself.

If we allow elected officials to determine what sermon constitutes a “display of political activism,” a “distorted message” or “the full counsel of biblical teaching,” then what’s to stop our government from deciding the legitimacy of any sermon?

Frankly, it’s ironic that the sermon would be deemed political when the entire National Prayer Service is a political event, and the National Cathedral itself is a temple of civil religion.

The sermon

Budde’s sermon was addressed to her audience—a room full of politicians. Her appeal to unity was an appeal in keeping with America’s civil religion. She would have elicited no more than a yawn from those in attendance if she had stopped at 12 minutes and 20 seconds.

After a deep breath and a pause, Budde continued, making a second plea—a plea for mercy. That two minutes—in which Budde addressed President Donald Trump directly and pleaded for mercy for gay, lesbian and transgender children, and for low-wage laborers, many of whom are immigrants, some of whom are undocumented—is what has drawn condemnation.

Whether her sermon is worthy of condemnation is not for government decree, however.

Defending sermons

Here, we must remember what happened in 2014 when five pastors were subpoenaed in Houston.

The subpoenas ordered the turning over of “all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO [Houston Equal Rights Ordinance], the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession.”

Reaction to the subpoenas was swift and strong from the likes of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and then-State Sen. Ken Paxton. Abbott’s letter to the Houston city attorney is particularly instructive here.

Quoting directly from Texas Tribune’s report: “No matter what public policy is at stake, government officials must exercise the utmost care when our work touches on religious matters,” Abbott wrote.

“If we err, it must be on the side of preserving the autonomy of religious institutions and the liberty of religious believers. Your aggressive and invasive subpoenas show no regard for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake.”

This is precisely the argument I am making with respect to the U.S. representatives’ resolution introduced Jan. 23. If it was a legitimate argument for the circumstances in 2014, then it’s a legitimate argument for the circumstances now—even with the differences in detail.

Baptist heritage

For hundreds of years, Baptists have stood against government censure of religion, and we must continue to do so now. Not because we agree with every religious position or utterance, but because we know from our own history what happens when the government decides what religion is permissible.

While a resolution is not legislation—and therefore skirts the First Amendment ban on making a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion—the fact 23 U.S. representatives consider it appropriate to condemn a sermon should be concerning. Such an action is not simply to step up to the boundary. It is to challenge and push against it.

Some may take me to be condemning those who condemn advocacy for gay, lesbian and transgender people, and undocumented immigrants. That would be to read one’s own position into my editorial. What I am condemning is government declaring in any way what constitutes “the full counsel of biblical teaching.” That’s not for the government to decide.

Defending Budde’s sermon against government censure does not mean agreement with everything in the sermon. Such agreement is not necessary to defend the free exercise of religion—including what a person preaches to a room full of politicians in attendance by choice, not compulsion.

I encourage readers to contact the U.S. representatives who authored or cosponsored House Resolution 59 to let them know such an action is inappropriate. Those individuals are listed here.

The City of Houston dropped the subpoenas after the strong reaction to them. House Resolution 59 should be dropped after our strong reaction to it.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

This will not be easy to read. And it shouldn’t be.

*******

In a universe adjacent to ours, Baptists are a distinct ethnic group. This is strange to us, because anyone can be a Baptist in our world. But other universes have other rules.

The most distinctive thing about Baptists in this other universe is the way they clean up.

While everyone else takes a shower, Baptists take a bath. And they are despised for it.

Those who shower don’t know much about those who bathe except that they are very serious about their baths—religiously so.

One day, one who showers spied through a window a bather mother pushing her child all the way under the surface of the water. Without waiting to see what happened next and thinking it silly, the spy ran off to tell a friend about the “Dunkers.” And the name stuck, because Dunker they could understand, while Baptist was so … foreign.

The Dunkers were derided for drowning their children—which never happened—and for sitting around in their dirty bath water—which had some truth to it.

But the jokes turned cruel. “Dunker” sounds so much like “dung” if you’re talking fast or not listening carefully. It’s not a great leap from turning up one’s nose at “Dunkers” to being completely disgusted by “Dungers.”

In time, the anxiety about Baptists grew so high among those who shower, they became convinced Baptist bath water would pollute their pristine showers. But what to do?

You see, in that other universe, some differences don’t show up on a person’s face or in a person’s name or speech or public behavior. It is difficult to know who showers and who bathes. Often, it is more suspicion than fact.

But a group of those who shower discovered a way to out those who bathe—using the water meters. The water meter of one who showers steadily rolls throughout the shower. But a bather? Their meter spins quickly for several minutes and then suddenly stops.

The shower group called a secret meeting. It had to be secret. They couldn’t let the bathers know what was coming. They devised a plan and quietly set to work.

It started slow but gathered steam. Finally, all the Baptists were gathered up and marched out of town and down the hill to the water treatment plant, where they are forced to live among the fetid open ponds. It’s a temporary solution. A more permanent one is whispered about.

It sounds ridiculous, unless you know the history of our own world.

Not that long ago

Eighty years ago this week, the Soviet army liberated the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, an irony not lost on those who knew of Stalin’s atrocities.

My grandfather, who died in 2007 at age 83, served in World War II, first in North Africa, then Italy and then in the Pacific Theater, earning two Bronze Stars. He lost hearing in one ear when artillery went off next to him. The hearing aid he wore was a constant reminder to my family.

To know Auschwitz was liberated 80 years ago has a certain resonance to me. How much more resonance it must have to the liberated and their children and their grandchildren.

The closest I’ve come to any direct experience with the horror of the Holocaust was a visit to the concentration camp at Dachau on the outskirts of Munich, Germany. It was October 1989. I was a teenager then.

Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in 1933. It was the prototype.

The fence was still there in 1989. At least one of the prisoner barracks was still there, preserved as a reminder. And the crematorium.

I saw piles of shoes, clothes, personal items—the things taken from the prisoners, still saved as a reminder.

I saw photos and documentation of the scientific experiments conducted on prisoners in the camp. Inhumane, unconscionable things. The stuff of horror movies. The stuff of evil. As a teenager—and not a particularly innocent one, at that—I didn’t know people did those kinds of thing to other people … and while those other people were still alive.

The Holocaust is horrific, grotesque to the point of absurdity. Agreeing such a thing is evil beyond the pale, some deny it ever happened. If only it never had. But such is all too common in the history of this world.

Consider the Uyghurs in China, the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Armenians in Anatolia, the Darfuri in Sudan. Or the Holodomor in Ukraine. And let us not forget “Indian removal” in the United States.

This is just a representative list.

All too common

These horrors have happened, are happening now and will continue to happen because of our penchant to think less of those who are not like us, to dehumanize them, to demonize them, to label them a threat.

These horrors have happened, are happening now and will continue to happen because too few of us take seriously the biblical instructions to consider others as better than ourselves, to love our “enemies,” to care for “the least,” to take up our cross and deny ourselves.

Or because we want to get around these instructions by limiting what “others,” what “love,” what “denial” actually mean.

Or because we don’t see extreme cases happening in our neighborhood. And if we don’t see them happening here, can we really know they’re happening anywhere? Can we really be bothered by what is not our problem?

Or because we’re too afraid to stand against it, however minor or extreme it may be. We agree with the names, the labels, the suspicions, the jokes. Or we don’t want to be disagreeable among our friends, our family, our colleagues. We know, and we look the other way.

And that’s how the Holocaust happens.

But it doesn’t have to happen. It doesn’t have to get started at all.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Anyone who says, “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life,” has a particular interest in truth. And not just in what is true for me right now, but in what is true for all of us all the time.

In fact, to say, “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life,” is such an absolute and all-encompassing truth claim that it stands over and against all other truth claims.

But really, it seems everyone has “a particular interest” in truth these days. It’s a cynical time, in which we may think the most influential decide what’s true, and the rest of us are just along for the ride.

It would be a dystopian world, indeed, if truth were no more than a useful tool in the hands of the most influential, the most powerful, the most affluent. I don’t believe truth is such a small thing. And I suspect you don’t, either.

A recent executive order got me thinking about this.

Information and truth

The executive order signed Jan. 20 and titled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” accuses the previous administration of “trampl[ing] free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms … [u]nder the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation.’”

The quotation marks make clear the writer doesn’t believe certain things are rightly labeled “misinformation,” “disinformation” and “malinformation,” without disputing the basic definitions of those three terms.

Misinformation is mistaken or erroneous information communicated without awareness of its error and without malicious intent. It’s a feature of human limitation and fallibility. Here, a person unknowingly communicates wrong information.

Disinformation, according to Merriam-Webster, is “false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.” Here, a person knowingly and intentionally communicates wrong information.

Malinformation, as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency defines it, is information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

It’s interesting to me that we can agree more easily on basic definitions of these three terms than we can agree on what information should be labeled “misinformation,” “disinformation” or “malinformation.”

Labels can be manipulated and used to manipulate. But truth is not determined by labels. How, then, is truth determined?

Seeking truth

“What is truth?”—Pilate’s question to Jesus—may be my favorite question in the Bible. Like a song lyric to a catchy tune, it often resurfaces in my mind.

What is true? And how do we know? These are basic questions of life and of our efforts to ferret out truth claims.

First, how do we know what we know? We get what we know from authority figures and through reason, intuition and our five senses. These are valid ways of gathering information, but none are wholly sufficient by themselves for telling us the value—or truth—of that information.

So, we need to test the veracity of what we know. Does the information we have and our thoughts about it correspond to generally accepted reality? Is the information consistent with what we already accept to be true; does it follow logically? Does what we know work in the real world?

These are valid tests of truth, but none of them are wholly sufficient by themselves to establish something as absolutely true. Each test tells us something important, but each test also has significant shortcomings that challenge certainty in ways we shouldn’t dismiss.

This is not cause for hopelessness, however. Nor does it mean we never can be sure. Rather, this is cause for humility and honest investigation of truth claims.

Humility, because all truth claims are open to testing. Remember, Jesus granted Thomas his empirical test of Jesus’ resurrection.

Honest, because we shouldn’t shortcut our way to truth. We should bring all our faculties to bear on seeking it, because ultimately, we will answer to it.

Discerning truth

As I stated in my last editorial, “We can’t know everything, much less everything about everything.” In light of that, we must bring all our faculties to bear and work together in the pursuit and passing on of truth.

We must access all ways of knowing and hold what we know up to the various tests of truth.

We must pay attention to what is labeled “true” or “untrue” and to who is applying the label. We should ask what is being achieved by the label. Likewise, who is rejecting the label, and why? What does the pushback achieve?

If the label “false” is applied to something we communicate, we ought to ask if there is truth in the labeling. And if there is, we should correct our error—and not just our factual error, but our behavioral error as well.

We should remember the admonition not to believe everything we see and hear. We should bring wisdom, patience and discernment to bear on what others want us to believe—including when we believe those others are on our side.

We should do all this realizing truth, ultimately, is not ours to control or shape. Truth is not subject to us, our desires or our whims. We are subject to truth.

Which leads me to another way of knowing.

Truth is greater than us

There’s one more source of knowledge I didn’t mention earlier. It’s the source held high by people who believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. That source is revelation.

We did not arrive at “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life” on our own. Rather, we believe Scripture and Jesus himself revealed this to us. This revelation is so significant, Christians for 2,000 years have passed it down through their words, their actions, their very lives.

What’s more, we who have experienced life with and without Jesus can attest to the difference Jesus makes and to the substance of our truth claims about him.

But none of this—the revelation and all that follows from it—is so convincing as to cause everyone to believe it. However much we who believe wish it was so convincing, it simply has not been and won’t be in this life.

Nevertheless, truth is not so small a thing as to require universal belief in order to be true. Nor does it need the blessing of any administration. A time will come when, whatever we call it, whatever we think about it, whatever uncertainty we have about it will fall away, and we will stand before truth and know it and answer to it.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

The 89th session of the Texas Legislature just started. So, let’s talk about politics.

No, not like that.

Let’s talk about praying for politicians.

No, not imprecatorily—calling down God’s judgment on them.

Let’s talk about asking God to surround the Texas state representatives and senators serving in the 89th Texas Legislature—all of them—with wise counsel and to give them clear thinking, discernment and a heart for what is good and right.

Actually, let’s not just talk about it. We talk enough about prayer without ever getting around to praying. Let’s pray.

And let’s not just pray, which all too often is detached from action. Let’s match our prayers with our own engagement with our elected officials.

If this is as far as you’re going to read, then you know my main point, and you know I’m calling you to action, a particular action. But I hope you’ll keep reading—at least a little farther.

Importance of connected prayer

What I suggest above sounds more like asking God to bless our politicians than to set them straight. I’m suggesting a far more expansive view than that.

When our politicians present bills with which we disagree, when they vote contrary to what we want or think is best, we often want our politicians set straight, not blessed.

But how often do we want them set straight enough to contact them by email, phone or in person ourselves? And how often, when we do contact them to set them straight, do they come away thinking we want what’s best more than we want their heads?

We need to connect our prayers to action, and we must connect our action to Christlikeness.

During the 88th Texas Legislature, I visited elected officials’ offices, most often engaging with their staffs since the various senators and representatives were in the thick of hearings. It might surprise you to know their reactions immediately were guarded upon hearing what we were there to talk to them about.

One staffer was immediately and visibly concerned when we told her the topic we were there to talk about with the representative she served. Ours was a hot topic, as in people were getting burned by it.

She seemed near tears when I told her we know their work is difficult and not everyone who communicates with them is friendly, and that we care about her and the representative she was serving. Which is true regardless of the politician and his or her position on issues.

When we pray and act, we must pray and act in the way Jesus taught. I don’t always remember that.

Connect prayer to the issues

Texas legislators need wisdom, discernment, clear and critical thinking, and a heart for what is right and good, because they will consider such things as education funding, elections, gambling and the content of higher education—among many other issues—during the current legislative session. They have much to weigh.

Texas House members already have submitted hundreds of bills.

Our lack of engagement with our elected officials sometimes is a result of our ignorance of the issues. And I don’t mean ignorance pejoratively. We can’t know everything, much less everything about everything. That’s just one reason we need as many of us as possible praying for and engaging with our legislators. Together, we can cover more ground.

Our legislators also can’t know everything about everything. That’s why they have aides and interest groups have lobbyists.

That’s why legislators need all the things I’m calling us to pray for as they wade through information and misinformation and so they are more able to resist the pressure to appease powerful interests. And there will be pressure. There already is and has been.

A legitimate pressure on legislators is the weight of how their votes will affect millions of people. Millions. Tens of millions. Possibly for years.

Under such circumstances, prayer for wisdom, discernment, clear thinking, and a heart for what is right and good isn’t too much to ask.

How to connect prayer

It’s easier than you might realize to connect your prayers with your engagement with your elected officials. You can engage with your elected officials by phone, email or by visiting the Texas Capitol or your legislators’ district offices.

If you’re not sure who your elected officials are, you can find that information in a few ways. The “Who Represents Me?” website is probably the easiest and is a capitol.texas.gov website. Texas Tribune also offers a simple and user-friendly directory.

When you determine your elected officials and go to their respective webpages, you will see their contact information and a link to email them directly through either the Texas House or Texas Senate websites. I’ve emailed my elected officials several times that way.

If you’re able to travel to Austin during the legislative session, you generally will find the legislative offices open, staffed and waiting for your visit. You will be asked to record your visit in a handwritten register, which speaks to the value legislators place on in-person visits.

Preparing yourself

While you pray and/or before you go to Austin, I highly recommend reading Texas Tribune’s article “Texas Legislature 101: How bills become laws—and how you can participate in the process.”

If you do plan to go to Austin, and if you’d like to visit the Texas Capitol with others, you can put Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission’s Advocacy Day and/or Pastors for Texas Children’s Advocacy Day on your calendar. Both will be in Austin.

On March 3, CLC Advocacy Day attendees will learn about policies under consideration by the 89th Texas Legislature. On March 4, participants will learn how to conduct an in-person visit at the Capitol and have the opportunity to make such visits. Schedule and registration information is available here.

Pastors for Texas Children’s advocacy training and Capitol visit will be held March 4, beginning at 9 a.m. Registration is free, but tickets are limited. Register here.

At a bare minimum, ask the Lord to surround our elected officials with wise counsel and to give them clear thinking, discernment and a heart for what is good and right. And not just when the legislature is in session.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.