EDITOR’S NOTE: We don’t always get it right. When we err, we strive to correct our error. In this case, Sid Roberts’ letter to the editor has been edited to remove ad hominems—attacks against persons or name-calling—and to adhere more closely to our policy of 250 words.

Our core commitments are historic Baptist principles, responsible journalism—by which we mean free of factual errors, fair and balanced—and the redeeming and reconciling work of Jesus Christ. Roberts’ letter and its publication violated our commitment to fairness by including personal attacks, and for that we apologize.

The events of June 1, 2020, where the president of the United States tear gassed peaceful protesters so he could have a photo-op—Bible in hand—in front of the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., proved once and for all Christianity is nothing more than a prop to Trump. Frankly, if that is all Christianity is, I want none of it.

But if the tenets of Christianity are true—which I do believe—then Christians must condemn the hypocrisy of a president who continues to attack anyone he doesn’t agree with on one hand—viciously, hatefully—while holding a Bible in the other.

Granted, Trump is not alone when it comes to caustic rhetoric. Hateful speech can be heard on all sides. But the president of the United States bears the highest responsibility to set the tone, to lead by example, to rise above the fray, especially in times of crisis.

I fervently pray that my grown daughters and their generation will understand the faith they were raised with—the faith I cling to—is strong enough to handle these dark and difficult times, the complex issues, the hypocrisy, the hatred, the racism, the injustice in this world, and that they will keep that faith as their own. Of course, faith without works is dead; we have much work to do, many mouths to feed, many wounds to heal.

Christianity—much less democracy—is not validated by tear gassing people protesting injustice so you can get your picture taken holding a Bible in front of a church. True faith would have been displayed by opening the doors of the church and walking inside, arm in arm with protesters in peace and love.

Sid Roberts, M.D.
Lufkin, Texas

Kyle Mize is the assistant vice president for communications at Howard Payne University, having served HPU for nearly 24 years. He is a member of Salt Creek Baptist Church in Early. From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on Christian higher education. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here.

Background

Where else have you served, and what were your positions there?

Before joining the staff at Howard Payne, I worked for a few years as an art director at advertising agencies in Fort Worth.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Victoria and moved to Brownwood with my family when I was in high school.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

I accepted Christ when I was a child. I’m thankful for the influence of my parents and older brothers, as well as a warm, supportive church family, who encouraged my awareness of God and need for Christ when I was young.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

I attended Howard Payne University for two years before transferring to Texas Christian University for a major that wasn’t offered at Howard Payne. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in communication graphics from TCU and later earned a Master of Professional Writing degree through an online program at Chatham University.

About education

Why do you feel called into education?

Christian higher education is a great cause to support. Students are equipped to develop their giftedness and grow in their understanding of God’s calling on their lives. That happens every day at Howard Payne, and the world needs more of the kind of graduates Howard Payne produces. I’m thankful for the opportunity to use the gifts God has given me to support and promote what’s happening at this university.

How does being a Christian influence your work in education?

Serving on this campus, I enjoy seeing students each day who are full of promise, eager to live for Christ and excited about how he’s working in their lives. After they graduate, these students will go on from here to do great things for God’s kingdom in countless ways only God can see at this point.

Those of us who serve at Howard Payne are privileged to be entrusted with these students. We have a great responsibility to God—as well as to the students, their families and everyone else who loves this university—to be good stewards of this institution, following his leading and doing our best with the work he gives us each day.

What is your favorite aspect of education? Why?

My wife, Julie, is a teacher who also loves gardening. I think that’s an interesting combination because both activities, in their own ways, involve cultivating and encouraging growth.

I enjoy working in an educational environment because of the growth that takes place here. Of course, students learn and develop their abilities, but I’ve also grown so much through my work experiences through the years.

What one aspect of education gives you the greatest joy?

The facet of my career I most enjoy is getting to do meaningful work with great people.

Our office is responsible for a wide range of projects to promote the university and support the work other offices are doing, and I like being on a team with energetic, creative people who love God and feel a real calling to the work we do together.

I also enjoy the spirit of teamwork that exists between our office and others here. Howard Payne has a positive, family-like atmosphere that makes it a fun, collaborative place to work.

How has your place in education or your perspective on education changed?

I certainly have a much greater awareness of all that goes into higher education than I had when I was on the student side of the equation. Seeing everything that happens behind the scenes to attract students and create a high-quality experience for them has given me a deep appreciation for the people who serve in the various capacities across the spectrum of university life.

What do you wish more people knew about education?

I’d like more people to know the importance and value of the Texas Baptist universities. These institutions have rich histories and have produced distinguished graduates in a wide range of fields. Of course, specifically, I’d like for more people to know about Howard Payne University.

What is the impact of education on your family?

Education always has been very important in my family. For instance, I remember how my parents always exhibited a love of reading they also cultivated in me as a child. They encouraged my brothers and me to do our best in school, emphasizing how important education would be for our lifelong trajectories.

Now, as an adult, I enjoy working at Howard Payne University, and my wife teaches middle school and also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Howard Payne. Education plays an important, ongoing role in our lives.

About Kyle

Why are you Baptist?

I remember hearing someone joke that he had been a Baptist even longer than he had been a Christian, and I think I know what he meant. Having grown up in a Christian home, some of my earliest memories are of church experiences.

While Baptists as a denomination haven’t always seen eye to eye, for the most part there’s a spirit of cooperation characteristic of Baptists at our best, whether it’s through pulling together to support missions projects, helping with disaster relief or just the seemingly routine but eternally significant activity of gathering for Bible study and worship. I’ve always been happy to be a Baptist and to be a part of Baptist life.

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

The greatest human influences I’ve had in my life have been my parents. I’ll always be thankful for the countless ways they have encouraged, guided and supported my brothers and me through the years, as well as for how they welcomed our wives when they each joined the family.

I’m also thankful for countless people who have invested in me through experiences in church life since my earliest days, such as ministerial staff, nursery workers, Sunday school teachers, Royal Ambassadors counselors, Vacation Bible School volunteers, youth workers, college ministry leaders and so many more. I can’t imagine how different my life would have been without the benefit of having known so many big-hearted people through the years.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

In our work at Howard Payne, one of the passages that frequently comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, in which Paul writes about how, as Christians, together we form one body with many parts.

One of the things I love about serving at Howard Payne is people with various backgrounds and gifts work together as a team with a shared purpose, fostering a Christ-centered, close-knit academic community that invests in students.

Who is your favorite person in the Bible, other than Jesus? Why?

My middle name is Andrew, so from childhood, any references to Andrew in the Bible quickly got my attention. He wasn’t always prominent, but something memorable about Andrew is he brought people to Jesus, such as his brother Simon Peter or the little boy with the loaves and fish.

I’m certainly not in Andrew’s league, but I hope the work I do at Howard Payne is used by God to draw people here so they either can come to know him for the first time or gain a deeper understanding of his calling on their lives.

In our office, we like to pray together for our work, and that’s a big part of what we frequently ask, that God will help us do our best and use our efforts to achieve things only he can.

If you could get one “do over” in education, what would it be, and why?

I enjoyed being a student through the years, and if I could go back in time, I’d express more gratitude to the teachers and other personnel who served at the various schools I attended. I hope they knew of my appreciation, but I’m sure I could have been more intentional about it. The older I get, the greater I understand and value the time and energy they devoted to my education. They made a huge impact on my life, and I’ll always be grateful.

In John 17, we see Jesus pray for his disciples. In that prayer, Jesus prayed, not only for the few who are listening to him in that moment, but for “those who believe in me through their word” (John 17:20).

Jesus prayed for us, for the church throughout the generations and around the globe. He prayed for us to be unified, for us to be “one” as the Son and the Father are one. Jesus asked for the church to find this unity in the midst of the chaos of the brokenness all around us, and I think this should be our prayer for this cultural moment.

We must fight for unity. The world around us is looking for hope, joy and peace, and they need a unified church to point them to Jesus.

How do we fight for this unity? How do we see the prayer of Jesus answered in our day? We listen to Paul in Philippians 2:1-11.

Unity found in humility

Paul called the church in Philippi to unity, to be “of the same mind, having the same love” (Philippians 2:2). He then showed us how we find this unity in the verses that follow.

We find unity only when we are committed to walking in humility.

To walk in humility is to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

Unity is found when our power, interests and personal freedom are not the center of our actions and concern. Unity is found when we place others and their interests and their good above our own.

Unity is found in humility.

Humility found in following Jesus

Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).

Paul called the church to have this same mind, to follow the example of Jesus and to empty ourselves for the sake of others.

Paul said unity is found in following the humble example of Jesus.

Unity found in confessing, “Jesus is Lord”

Unity is found around the confession of Jesus as Lord. Jesus humbled himself and was exalted. In turn, we must humble ourselves and exalt him.

Unity is found when we bow our knee to Jesus and confess him as Lord. Unity is found when we all submit to Jesus and live out his example of humility.

An opportunity

This is the time to unify. This is a time when we should put the good of others and their interests above our own. This is a time for the church to be marked by humility and by sacrifice for the sake of those in our church and our community.

So much of the debate around re-opening churches, masks in public and whatever else is riling up social media today is fueled by our own personal interests and power. Let’s listen to Paul and follow the example of Jesus.

We have an opportunity to point the world to the hope of the gospel through our humility and concern for those around us. This is a moment we can show we live for an eternal kingdom and not just our own freedom.

I pray we are up to the task. I pray we can live with humility, sacrifice and love. I pray we live as if Jesus, and not our own power, is Lord of our lives. I pray, like Jesus, that God would unify us.

Zac Harrel is the network missionary for the Heart of Texas Baptist Network. The views expressed here are solely those of the author.

Family dynamics change dramatically with the birth of each child. Such change takes on a whole new meaning when the new baby has special needs.

At the beginning of the child’s life, the parents often travel through a period of grief similar to that of losing a loved one. This grief is different, though, because there is no closure. Closure is replaced with an acceptance of how different life will be.

Including special needs children in education

When a child with a disability is old enough to go to school, questions arise concerning how and where the child will be educated.

Federal special education law provides guidelines requiring, to the maximum extent possible, the student is to be educated with his or her peers using supplemental aids and services as necessary.

This is called “inclusion,” which means keep the student in the general education classroom whenever possible. Inclusion requires teachers to think outside the box to provide an education in which the child with special needs is a member of the class, not merely a visitor in the classroom.

As a former special education teacher, I was tasked several times to make inclusion work. I remember an incident with the child who started my career in special education. This child had autism and liked to recite the scripts of movies over and over, much to the distraction of his teachers and fellow students.

He was capable of learning content in the general education classroom; so, we developed a strategy to allow him to stay in the general education classroom, while not distracting himself or others from learning.

We bought a vibrating timer and clipped it to his shirt. We also gave him a chart with the question, “Am I making noise?” written across the top. After several days of training he learned to set the timer for two minutes, and when the timer buzzed, he marked “Yes” or “No” on his data collection page, then reset the timer for another two minutes.

This strategy was used across three different classes for 30 minutes each time. The results were phenomenal. The vocal scripting reduced so significantly that he was able to remain in the classroom. He learned new material, and his classmates were able to learn as well. This was a major win for all involved and continues to be a story I tell my students today.

Let creativity have a chance before removing a child from a classroom. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best solution.

Including special needs families in the church

There are laws that govern how and where to educate children with special needs, but those laws don’t apply to the church. Instead, we draw on Scripture to guide us in how to teach all children about Jesus, including those who learn differently.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all describe an account in which Jesus rebuked the disciples and asked for children to be brought to him. At a time and place in which it may have been perceived inappropriate for children to be taking precious time away from teaching, Jesus showed his love for them.

This is the model for inclusion of children with disabilities in the church. Use all the time we have available to teach them about Jesus using whatever means necessary.

Many churches have found ways to include children and adults with special needs creatively in worship.

Molly Kate

Molly Kate, age 7, is a child with significant physical challenges that to some may seem insurmountable but to Molly Kate and her family are just part of who God made her to be. She is nonverbal but has learned to use a communication device to memorize Scripture. This is very helpful in Junior Disciples, where she works with a buddy to recite her memory verses.

Molly Kate has the option to attend a Sunday school class specifically for students with disabilities, but her church provides a way for her to attend Sunday school with children her own age using a buddy system.

Molly Kate also serves beside her family as a greeter and has been on several youth mission trips in which her parents were chaperones. Prior to a youth mission trip, the leaders scouted the location to be sure it was accessible to Molly Kate in her wheelchair. “Physical accessibility in churches equals welcome,” her mom said.

Logan

Logan is 25 years old and has autism. Often, people with autism thrive on structure and routine. When the routine is disrupted, the person with autism may lack the skills to manage the change. This was the case with Logan.

His family typically sat in the same row at church, and from time to time, someone else would sit in their row. This was hard for Logan and sometimes resulted in the family having to leave church due to Logan’s increased anxiety, which could result in aggressive behaviors.

The pastor became aware of the issue and solved the problem creatively by reserving the row for the family. This is a simple way to include a family who otherwise might miss worship.

Logan has had tremendous difficulties understanding worship during the coronavirus pandemic. He remembers times when his family had to leave church and does not understand why he cannot go. He thinks he has “made bad choices” and is grieving this time away.

In an attempt to show Logan that not being at church is not due to his behavior, his mom asked the church body to send pictures of their families worshiping at home. The church body from all parts of the country responded with pictures, videos and words to help him understand we all are worshiping at home.

Seeing God’s work

In John 9, when Jesus healed the blind man, the disciples asked who had sinned, thus causing the blindness.

Jesus answered that no one had sinned, but, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me” (John 9:3-4).

Molly Kate and Logan are but two examples of those who display the work of God. It still is daylight. We must continue to do the work of God in all people, including those with special needs.

Kris Ward is an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

I have never felt less qualified to write a Daily Article than I do this morning.

I am a white person who has never faced a single moment of racial discrimination in my 61 years of life. As a result, I cannot pretend to understand what it is like to be unfairly treated because of the color of my skin.

I grew up in a middle-class community. As a result, I cannot understand what it is like to despair of a better financial future.

I have never been treated unfairly by the criminal justice system. As a result, I cannot understand what it is like to fear the police and the courts.

I do not own or work at a business affected by the violence of recent days. As a result, I cannot understand what it is like to see my dreams and future destroyed in response to a tragic death in Minneapolis for which I am not at fault.

Fortunately, I do not write the Daily Article to offer my personal opinions. My mission is to help us interpret the news of the day in cultural and biblical context. This morning, I will draw on expert guides to help us do both.

Three explanations

As I wrote last week, the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day was a horrible tragedy. Our Father hates racism and demands that we value each other as he loves us (Genesis 1:28; Galatians 3:28).

Last night, cities across America saw a sixth evening of mass demonstrations following Floyd’s death. The National Guard in Washington, D.C., was called in to respond to protests outside the White House and elsewhere in the nation’s capital. A tanker truck drove through thousands of people were marching on a Minneapolis highway, though none of the protesters was injured. At least 40 cities have imposed curfews.

Writing for Bloomberg Opinion, John Authers examines the way Americans are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I believe his insights apply just as perceptively to the crisis unfolding across our country after George Floyd’s tragic death. Authers utilizes the work of British political philosopher Steven Lukes to describe three schools of thought at work in our society. Each of them helps explain the unrest embroiling our cities.

Utilitarians seek the greatest good for the greatest number. This is the impulse behind majority-rule democracy. However, this approach can put minority populations at risk, a fact experienced by many racial minorities across our nation’s history.

Communitarians want us to do what advances the “common good” within our community. But when your community’s common good conflicts with mine, what do we do? Some are justifying the violence of recent days as necessary to effect change, even if minority-owned and operated businesses are among the victims of such violence. In this view, previous calls for change have gone unheeded, requiring an escalating response that causes majority populations to feel the pain of minority victims.

Libertarians insist that individual freedom is paramount. But as Authers notes, when citizens are left alone, “many are left to sleep on the street, city centers are full of sleaze, and a few rich people benefit from gambling.”

Each of these viewpoints is foundational to American society. Can they be reconciled? According to Isaiah Berlin, the 20th-century British philosopher and essayist, the answer is no.

Responses to George Floyd’s death are making his point. Some minorities feel they must demonstrate in large numbers to bring about change with the utilitarian majority. Some are willing to march (and some even to perpetuate violence) in other communities to make themselves heard. Many are protesting the libertarian lack of resources and compassion for people in need.

Jesus’ solution

I began today’s Daily Article by admitting I do not know what it is like to experience racial discrimination, face systemic poverty, encounter injustice, or suffer as an innocent victim of violence.

But Jesus does.

He lived his life as a Jew under Roman occupation. He was so impoverished that he had “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). After his arrest, he was subjected to what has been called “the most unjust trial in human history.” He suffered and died in innocence (Isaiah 53:9; Hebrews 4:15), atoning for sins he did not commit to purchase our salvation (Romans 5:8).

As a result, Jesus has the moral authority to speak to this crisis in a way I do not. For the next few days, we’ll discuss his example and teachings as we seek his guidance together.

For today, let’s consider the single sentence that is often considered his foundational ethical principle: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). This one maxim provides a way forward through the scourge of racism and violence in our day. And it reconciles the utilitarian, communitarian and libertarian conflicts so endemic to our culture.

Consider: If every person did to others what they would want to be done to them, would racial prejudice exist? Or police brutality? Or violent responses?

Would a single person have ever been enslaved in this land or any other? Would even one of the 40.3 million people enslaved in the world today be victims?

Would the majority oppress the minority? Would members of one community oppress members of another? Would a single individual be left to face our fallen world alone?

My commitment

I cannot force another person to choose Jesus’ rule for living, but I can choose it for myself. I can seek the most strategic, significant ways to use my influence in its service. I can pray for divine help as I love every person I meet as I want them to love me, modeling Jesus’ transformational love for us all.

This is my commitment today. Will you join me?

National Guard responds in Washington, DC: Three explanations for the crisis and Jesus’ solutions that changes everything was first published in The Daily Article by the Denison Forum. Daily Articles are republished in the Baptist Standard under agreement with Denison Forum and are not intended to represent the Standard’s views.

George Floyd was born in North Carolina and moved to Houston as a baby. He grew into a talented athlete who played football and basketball, receiving a basketball scholarship to Florida State University.

According to the mother of his six-year-old daughter, he didn’t finish school, eventually returning to Houston, where he became involved in music. He left the city for Minneapolis around 2018.

‘Being black in America should not be a death sentence’

On Monday, police officers responded to a “forgery in progress.” A police statement says they were “advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.” Two officers arrived and located the suspect, an African American male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step out of his car.

“After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance.”

However, the police statement left out a scene recorded by a bystander that has shocked the nation. A Minneapolis police officer keeps his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes, during which the unarmed man repeatedly cried out, “I can’t breathe!”

“Please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man, please,” Floyd said to the officer. “I can’t move. Everything hurts. Give me some water or something, please. I can’t breathe, officer.” As the officer continued to crush his neck with his knee, Floyd added, “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me, man.”

An ambulance then took Floyd to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

By Tuesday afternoon, the four officers involved had been fired. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Floyd’s death “simply awful” and “wrong at every level.” He stated: “This man’s life matters, he matters. He was someone’s son, someone’s family member, someone’s friend. He was a human being and his life mattered.”

The mayor added: “Being black in America should not be a death sentence.”

‘A punch in the gut for a lot of people’

Christian Cooper is a Harvard graduate who serves on the board of the New York City Audubon Society and has long been a prominent bird watcher in New York City.

Around 8:10 a.m. Monday, in a section of Central Park where dogs are required to be leashed at all times, Cooper came upon a woman whose dog was unleashed. He asked her to leash the dog, but she refused. He then moved to offer the dog a treat, thinking this would encourage her to put the pet on its leash.

Instead, she called 911 to report that an “African American” was threatening her and her dog. He recorded a video of their exchange and her call as she asked the authorities to “please send the cops immediately!” The police arrived and determined “two individuals had engaged in a verbal dispute.” No summons were issued or arrests made.

The woman later publicly apologized to Cooper. By Tuesday afternoon, she had been fired by her employer. Cooper said in an interview he had been overwhelmed by the response to his video. However, public retribution against the woman had taken him aback: “If our goal is to change the underlying factors, I am not sure that this young woman having her life completely torn apart serves that goal.”

A professor who studies race relations noted the confrontation “was particularly a punch in the gut for a lot of people. It ties into and taps into a long history of white women, in particular, falsely accusing black men of crimes that leads to great harm.”

How racism wins

After the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery, I published a research paper on racism on our website. I also recorded a podcast conversation with my dear friend, Tyrone Johnson, in which I asked him to describe what it is like to be an African American living in our North Dallas community.

Neither of us knew then we would have to revisit this horrible subject again this week. As we talked Tuesday about George Floyd’s death and the Central Park confrontation, Tyrone made a profound point in light of Monday’s Memorial Day observance: Just like white soldiers, black soldiers died to protect our nation’s freedoms, but their descendants and families are still fighting for what they died for.

In a Gallup poll, six in 10 Americans said racism against blacks is widespread in the United States. But note the racial split: 82 percent of blacks agreed, compared to just 56 percent of whites. Another poll found that 66 percent of nonwhites consider prejudice a “very serious” problem, while only 39 percent of whites agree.

I am writing to make this point: God hates racism. He hates prejudice. He hates it when we discriminate against each other. His word demands we see each other as he sees us: Children of the same Father (Genesis 1:28), members of the same human race (Genesis 3:20; Acts 17:26), each of us equally valuable in the eyes of our Lord (Galatians 3:28).

Please don’t ever tolerate what God forbids. Don’t shrug your emotional shoulders when another black person suffers prejudice or worse in our society. Don’t resign yourself to this as the “way things are.” Don’t stop loving as God loves and calling every person you know to do the same.

Otherwise, racism wins.

Pray for the miracle of Pentecost

Pentecost is this Sunday. On the first Christian Pentecost, the Holy Spirit moved in the hearts of 15 different language groups, molding them into the single body of Christ (Acts 2:9–11, 41).

In light of that miracle, Henri Nouwen noted: “The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to his followers, is the great gift of God. Without the Spirit of Jesus we can do nothing, but in and through his Spirit we can live free, joyful, and courageous lives. … We cannot create peace and joy, but the Spirit of Christ can fill us with a peace and joy that is not of this world.

“We cannot break through the many barriers that divide races, sexes, and nations, but the Spirit of Christ unites all people in the all-embracing love of God. The Spirit of Christ burns away our many fears and anxieties and sets us free to move wherever we are sent. That is the great liberation of Pentecost.”

Please join me in asking the Spirit to liberate our hearts and our nation today.

Jim Denison is the co-founder and chief vision officer of Denison Forum. He pastored churches in Texas and Georgia and now speaks and writes to empower believers to navigate cultural issues from a biblical perspective.

The death of George Floyd and confrontation in Central Park: Praying for a Pentecost miracle today was first published in The Daily Article by the Denison Forum. Daily Articles are republished in the Baptist Standard under agreement with Denison Forum and are not intended to represent the Standard’s views.

Contempt says, “I value you to the extent you do what I value,” which is to say, “What I value is the limit of your value.”

We need not look far to see such contempt at work. Three high-profile examples happened just in the last few days: Vice President Joe Biden’s cringeworthy “you ain’t black” comment, President Trump’s ongoing belittling others, and George Floyd dying in police custody.

While two of these examples are different quantitatively than the third, inasmuch as they legitimate contempt, they are a seed leading to the third. Therefore, all three are the same qualitatively.

In Biden’s case, contempt came through clearly in his telling a black audience they owe him their vote. In Trump’s case, contempt was conveyed in continuing to call Biden, “Sleepy Joe,” and in retweeting disparaging tweets from one of his supporters. In Floyd’s case, contempt was seen in a police officer’s knee on his neck until Floyd lost consciousness.

Biden shouldn’t have said what he did, Trump shouldn’t have tweeted what he did, and Floyd shouldn’t be dead.

The seed of contempt produces death

Biden and Trump share in common their desire to be elected, and to reach their goal, they share the common political tactic of manipulating voting blocks. Even referring to people as “voting blocks” shows a certain contempt for people, reducing them to their lowest common denominator. Both candidates, in trying to “win the black vote,” are demonstrating a degree of contempt for people, in general, and African Americans, in particular.

We ought to push back against such contempt in Biden and Trump—and in all politicians who demonstrate the same. As a representative democracy, we can and must hold our representatives accountable when they hold us in contempt.

More worrisome is that contempt doesn’t limit itself to one person or group of people. When someone shows contempt for another person—whether in word or deed—it is a reflects that person’s estimation of all other people relative to him- or herself. Even if that reflection is no bigger than a seed, it has the ability to grow out of control.

Contempt isn’t Christian

Contempt is one of our oldest sins. Adam and Eve showed contempt for God’s command. Cain showed contempt for God’s favor of Abel. In both cases, contempt lead to death, and it still does.

Commonly understood, having contempt for someone is to consider that person worthless. In particular, it is to consider other people of less value than oneself. Christianly speaking, it is to insinuate Jesus was a fool for suffering death on the cross for that person’s sin—whoever that person or those people may be.

Seen this way, it ought to be obvious why we must push back such contempt wherever and however it appears.

Biblically speaking, contempt is a problem of the heart. Jesus, in his sermon about the heart, said: “Anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22). ‘Raca,’ according to the textual note in my Bible, is “an Aramaic term of contempt.”

Contempt is a defect of the heart that does not remain contained or limited to one person or group of people. The disease of contempt spreads to all people—infecting those outside of oneself if turned outward or consuming the self if turned inward.

Contempt is a killer no matter which way it turns. Turned outward, contempt will lead us to dehumanize others to the point of brutalizing or killing them with little or no remorse. Turned inward, self-contempt will lead us to abuse ourselves, sometimes beyond repair.

All too often, contempt rises up in me.

Responding to contempt

John Newton wrote: “Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrine, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit.”

This is the same John Newton who wrote “Amazing Grace.” He goes on to call such contempt “leaven” and to characterize it as a problem of the heart.

In his famous hymn, Newton’s words about grace point us to the antidote against contempt.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found
was blind, but now I see.

The problem with contempt is the kernel of truth that we all have the ugliness of sin in us. The lie of contempt is in forgetting God’s grace is extended to all of us.

To push back against contempt, we must remember two things.

1. Each one of us is created in the image of God. That alone places each of us above contempt.

2. Though we allowed contempt to take hold in us, Jesus Christ died for us in the midst of it, thereby redeeming us from contempt through the riches of God’s grace—and not one of us any more or less than another.

Coming to terms with God’s estimation of each one of us gives us the creativity, compassion and courage to push back against contempt wherever it appears.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com or on Twitter at @EricBlackBSP. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

“And he said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’” (Mark 16:15).

Lois is a secretary. She recently was laid off. She worked for a business that shut down because the government said it was “nonessential.” Because she lost her job, she barely can make ends meet. Her husband left her. She has a son in rebellion. Her life is spinning out of control. She cries out for help. We don’t hear.

Stan works in a local factory. Even though he has a job and is surrounded by people, he feels alone. The mask his employer requires him to wear makes him feel even more isolated. He longs for a friend. We are deaf to his cries.

Ed owns a gas station in town. His wife died last month. Because of COVID-19, the family couldn’t have a funeral. Ed has struggled with depression since his wife passed away. His eyes echo his loneliness, but we don’t see. He misses her listening ear. If only there were someone who would talk to him, but our ears are closed.

Hattie lives in a local assisted care facility. She has lived through so much in her 85 years, but she never has seen anything like what is happening in the world today. For the past two months, she has felt like a prisoner.

Hattie has been locked away in her room. Even her meals are brought to her. The only people she sees are the nurses and orderlies who come by two or three times a day. At first, a few family members and some friends from church called to check on her, but those calls have stopped. Secretly, Hattie longs for death, but we don’t care.

Seeing while not doing

We saw our neighbor, Lois, sitting on her porch across the street, but we didn’t say, “Hello.”

We saw Stan at work, but because of “social distancing,” we didn’t even speak.

We filled up the car at Ed’s gas station, but we were in too much of a hurry to chat.

Hattie is our grandmother, but who has time to call?

We had to hurry home to have the perfect ending to our self-centered day. So, we kick back in our chair with a bag of chips and binge-watch a streaming hit show as we pat ourselves on the back for “staying home and staying safe.”

Jesus told us to, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to everyone.”

However, we are in such a hurry to “go” that we miss the very ones God brings into our path. All around us are hurting people longing for a “cup of cold water” in Jesus’ name.

The problem we all have

This world has a problem much worse than the coronavirus. This world has a sickness called sin. Sin has a 100 percent mortality rate. Each of us has this disease, and it is killing us. However, there is a cure.

God was “socially isolated” in heaven where there was no sickness, but he came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus entered a pandemic—a sin-sick world. He was crucified and died on an old rugged cross. His dead body was buried, but three days and nights later, Jesus rose from the dead.

The cure for sin-sickness is the gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are to “go” and share the gospel, but you don’t have to be a missionary overseas.

Open your eyes to the people God has put in your path. Speak to your neighbor. Be a friend to that guy at work. Pay attention to the man behind the counter. Call your grandma.

You could be the person God uses to change a life forever.

James Collins is the pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. This article was published first in the print edition of The Fort Scott Tribune and on Collins’ blog, The Point Is … . The views expressed are those solely of the author.

Jon Steingard is a pastor’s son and a musician, singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer for the Christian band Hawk Nelson since March 2012.

Now he has made an Instagram announcement generating headlines: “After growing up in a Christian home, being a pastor’s kid, playing and singing in a Christian band, and having the word ‘Christian’ in front of most of the things in my life—I am now finding that I no longer believe in God.”

He explained: “The process of getting to that sentence has been several years in the making. It’s more like pulling on the threads of a sweater, and one day discovering that there was no more sweater left.”

I am glad to report several Christian musicians responded, not with criticism or condemnation, but with unconditional grace.

Tenth Avenue North singer Mike Donehey wrote: “Man, I love that you shared this. You know I’m always around to talk about our belief in God or lack thereof. Love you and always will.”

Another added: “To echo so many others here, I have nothing but love in my heart for [you], old friend.”

A foundational problem for the church in our culture

I don’t know any more about Jon Steingard’s faith story than I have read today. I don’t know what issues caused him to come to this decision, whether they are personal, rational, cultural or relational. My purpose is not to criticize him in any way.

Instead, I’d like to think with you about his statement, “I no longer believe in God,” since it’s a sentiment many share today.

One of C.S. Lewis’ most profound essays was titled “God in the Dock.” In the British court system, the accused stands in the “dock.” We might change the title to “God on Trial.”

According to Lewis: “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge; God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”

The declaration, “I no longer believe in God,” or its opposite, “I believe in God,” identifies God as the object to my subject. I have the right and capacity to choose whether or not I believe in him, just as I can decide whether or not I believe in the internet or marriage.

This kind of relationship describes many people who would disagree with Jon Steingard’s statement but agree with its subject-object assumptions.

This is a foundational problem for the church in our culture.

Why I believe in the internet

I believe in the internet, not because I can prove its existence on logical or scientific grounds—I don’t know enough about it to do so—but because I am experiencing it as I write this article on my Wi-Fi-connected computer. I believe in marriage, not on logical grounds, but because I have experienced it for nearly 40 years.

God does not seek to be an object in whom we choose to believe. He seeks to be a Father with whom we have a daily, transforming personal relationship.

Unfortunately, in our consumeristic, capitalistic culture, we have commodified this intimate relationship into a religion we can “buy” or “sell” as we wish. Inheriting Greco-Roman transactional religion, we have separated our souls from our bodies and Sunday from Monday.

As a result, too many of us see Jesus as our Savior but not as our friend (John 15:15). He wants to lead us, empower us and use us every moment of every day. But we must choose to be led, empowered and used.

Your six-word mantra for today

If you are experiencing Jesus as a living, daily presence in your life, you know what I’m talking about. You don’t need to tell us you “believe in God” any more than you would say you believe in your spouse, child, parent or best friend. If you’re experiencing someone personally, of course you believe they exist.

If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior but you’re not experiencing him in this way, know he is more available to you than even your spouse, child, parent or best friend. That’s because his Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Jesus knows your past (cf. John 4:17–18), present (cf. John 1:48–50) and future (cf. Acts 9:6). He knows your thoughts (cf. Matthew 9:4) and secrets (cf. Luke 12:2). He will speak intuitively to your spirit by his Spirit (cf. Romans 8:16; Acts 16:6–10), practically through your circumstances (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:9) and rationally through his word and your reason (cf. Luke 24:27).

However, as with any relationship, we need time with Jesus to experience him more personally and powerfully.

Let me encourage you to make some time for him today. Enter his presence in praise (Psalm 100:4), confess your sins and claim his forgiving grace (1 John 1:9), then ask him to speak to you through his word and your world. Tell him about your problems and fears, and ask him for his guidance and help.

Now take note of the thoughts that enter your mind and the circumstances that change in your day. Envision Jesus walking beside you as your shepherd, leading and providing for you (John 10:27). Ask him to make himself more real to you than you ever have known him to be.

Make these six words your mantra today: “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10 NIV).

Why not right now?

Jim Denison is the co-founder and chief vision officer of Denison Forum. He pastored churches in Texas and Georgia and now speaks and writes to empower believers to navigate cultural issues from a biblical perspective.

Christian singer announces, ‘I no longer believe in God’: How you can experience Jesus more personally than ever before was first published in The Daily Article by the Denison Forum. Daily Articles are republished in the Baptist Standard under agreement with Denison Forum and are not intended to represent the Standard’s views.

In the past week, two articles connecting Christians to the promulgation of conspiracy theories have been widely read and discussed.

First was an article from The Atlantic, “The Prophecies of Q” by Adrienne La France, which details the rising influence of QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy group that believes in a “deep state” plan that seeks to undermine President Trump and his supporters.

QAnon has shared and promoted widely discredited conspiracy theories from politically motivated murders, to pedophilia rings, to imminent military actions and arrests of prominent politicians. As The Atlantic article describes, these falsehoods are “propelled by paranoia and populism, but also … by religious faith. The language of evangelical Christianity has come to define the Q movement.”

Relatedly, in an editorial published by The Dallas Morning News, Ed Stetzer and Andrew MacDonald lament the gullibility of evangelicals concerning conspiracy theories: “Too often our evangelical community has been too easily fooled, and too much is inappropriately shared. At their root, conspiracy theories are illogical and embarrassing.”

Stetzer and MacDonald also seek to remind the church of the following: “Christian faithfulness begins with an honest self-assessment of how well we are living out our mission among our neighbors. Yet when we become known more for the conspiracies we are promoting than for the Gospel we proclaim, we have let some other identity define us.”

From birtherism, to pizzagate, to the “deep state” and COVID-19-related conspiracies, Christians increasingly have engaged in the belief in and spreading of conspiracy theories. Obviously, as already mentioned, these hurt the witness of the church. Why, then, are these conspiracy theories so enticing for Christians to consume?

The allure of conspiracy theories

The connection of political power with each of these conspiracies should not be ignored. Over the past 40 years, as the religious right has grown in political influence, political power has become an alluring temptation.

During the Richard Nixon administration, Chuck Colson often was responsible for hosting religious leaders during their engagements with the president and his administration.

In Faith in the Halls of Power, D. Michael Lindsay quoted Colson as saying: “When I served under President Nixon, one of my jobs was to work with special-interest groups, including religious leaders. We would invite them to the White House, wine and dine them, take them on cruises aboard the presidential yacht … Ironically, few were more easily impressed than religious leaders. The very people who should have been immune to the worldly pomp seemed most vulnerable.”

Could the same thing be said today? Could the enticement of political influence lead some to embrace conspiracies that depict their enemies in the worst way?

Religion’s temptation

Certainly, in a democratic system, religious voices and influence are vital to provide reflection and feedback to legislation and governmental actions. Religious voices can and should play a role in our political process and legislative actions; however, too often, prominent religious voices have contributed to blatant partisanship and misinformation instead of the common good.

As Stephen L. Carter wrote in God’s Name in Vain: “The religious, like everybody else, are tempted by politics. Seduced by its efficiency. By its potential. By the good it can do … If history has taught us anything, it is that religions that fall too deeply in love with the art of politics lose their souls—very fast … When a religion decides to involve itself in the partisan side of politics, in supporting one candidate or party over another, it not only runs a high risk of error; it also, inevitably, winds up softening its message, compromising doctrine to make it more palatable to a public that might remain unpersuaded by the Word unadulterated … Too many religious groups, however, want to influence electoral politics—a danger not to politics or democracy but to faith.”

Michael Wear, in his book Reclaiming Hope, calls upon Christians to recognize the misapplied faith many have placed in the political sphere, writing: “Politics is causing great spiritual harm, and a big reason for that is people are going to politics to have their inner needs met. Politics does a poor job of meeting inner needs, but politicians will suggest they can do so if it will get them votes. The state of our politics is a reflection of the state of our souls.”

Conspiracy theories shortcut critical thinking

In some Christian circles, the support of a politician or tribe has led some to believe in false conspiracies that convince these circles that their political enemies really must be evil.

Populism and tribalism strangle critical thinking. This is tragic for the Christian faith.

In 1994, Mark Noll opened his book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, with these words: “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”

Noll’s book covered the anti-intellectualism prevalent in the white Evangelical church in America. Since its publication, many Christian institutions of higher learning renewed their mission to serve the body of Christ by calling us to strengthen our minds holistically, seeking to be excellent scholars and servant leaders. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of this mission once again.

Through humility, pursuit of high-quality education can help produce Christians who will be equipped with the critical thinking skills necessary to recognize, ignore and debunk conspiracies, pushing back against the falsehoods that tarnish the witness of the church.

Rejecting populism, tribalism and anti-intellectualism through embracing the development of the Christian mind can assist in leading the Christian community to a place where conspiracies are rejected and the truth proclaimed.

Instead of being known for promulgating conspiracies, perhaps we once again can be seen as sharing the good news through the love of Christ.

Jack Goodyear is the dean of the Cook School of Leadership and professor of political science at Dallas Baptist University. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview has been edited for length.

Phillip Marshall has been an assistant professor of biblical languages at Houston Baptist University since 2008. He is a member of Founders Baptist Church in Spring, where he serves part-time as the pastor of adult education and discipleship. From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on Christian higher education. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here.

Background

Where else have you served, and what were your positions there?

My only other full-time academic position was at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where I was an instructor of Old Testament interpretation, exclusively teaching biblical Hebrew courses in the 2007-08 academic year. I have also taught as an adjunct or visiting professor at the extension campuses of Reformed Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as some church-based seminaries and training programs—The Expositors Seminary, The Bible Seminary and the Midwestern Center for Theological Studies.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Mississippi in a small town called Long Beach. My father was a career Navy man from Tennessee who served 23 years in the Construction Battalion—a “fighting Seabee.”

My mother was from Vietnam. Around age 15, she sneaked away from her family’s village in the middle of the night to move to the big city of Saigon so she could earn some money making wooden crates.

The two of them met during the Vietnam War, married, had two sons in Vietnam and then had three more sons in Mississippi. I was number four. Incidentally, the first four of us were born in four consecutive years.

I lived in the same house all 17 years of my life before moving to Washington, D.C., to study at Georgetown University.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

Although my father grew up in Tennessee in a Southern Baptist context, he was turned off by the hypocrisy he saw and abandoned the church as soon as he graduated high school and joined the Navy.

My mom was and still is a Buddhist. She and her Vietnamese friends pooled their resources together to hire a monk to start a Buddhist temple in my hometown.

Amazingly, neither my father’s atheism nor my mother’s Buddhism were forced upon me.

My exposure to the Christian gospel message initially came from my grandma and aunts in Tennessee, who during summer vacations would take me to the Southern Baptist church Dad had left behind.

Even though I didn’t submit to the truth of the preaching, those experiences implanted two senses within me: a sense of fear that I might someday be accountable to God and a sense that this God had spoken through the Bible.

Throughout my teenage years, I kept seeing signposts, reminders God was there—finding a gospel tract and reading through it, receiving a Gideon New Testament and reading the materials about how to become a Christian, stumbling across an evangelistic booth at the local fair and staying to listen while my teenage friends bailed out and finally, getting caught stealing something from my neighbor who, instead of calling my dad or the police, told me about the second chance he had received from Jesus.

When I was in ninth grade, one of my older brothers asked a gal to start dating him. She refused unless he’d start attending church with her; so, he leaned on me to go along with him. Interestingly, when that relationship ended soon thereafter, he quickly ended his church going.

For some reason I felt compelled to continue attending that little Baptist church. A few years later, right before my last year of high school, God finally opened my eyes to see my sins deserved the just condemnation of God, and no amount of playing church could remove that.

I needed grace, and the atoning work of Jesus was God’s answer for my sin. So, I put my faith and confidence in Jesus the Son of God, repented of my sinful lifestyle and submitted myself to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

• Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007
• Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in California, 2000
• Bachelor of Arts in biblical studies from The Master’s College, 1995
• Undergraduate studies in Russian language, linguistics and Soviet politics from Georgetown University, 1991

About education

Why do you feel called into education?

I really was a mediocre student growing up. For example, when I was in grade school, I remember our class having to take this really odd test. Then, a few weeks later, it was announced several of the students from our class would be going to another school one day a week in order to participate in a special program for accelerated and gifted students. I wasn’t one of them. So, I just performed to the level expected of me through junior high.

I was average. But when I got to high school, I got the language bug and started taking Spanish and French with two teachers who were sisters. They must have seen my yet untapped language ability through my eagerness to learn, and they began to invest in me and to inspire me. They made me believe I could learn and do great things with my education.

Even more important, they invested in me as a person. They welcomed me into their lives, let me spend time with them and their families outside of class, offered wise counsel and even taught me how to drive.

I learned from them that good education is more than the transfer of knowledge. A good teacher pours himself or herself into the student. Every good teacher or professor I’ve had since then has done the same, and I aspire to do likewise for my students.

How does being a Christian influence your work in education?

It really affects everything: the content of what I teach, the way I teach and the reason I teach.

Teaching biblical languages means teaching others to read biblical texts in the original languages, to discern what the authors said and how they said it and why that matters for the follower of Jesus and for the church.

These texts, however, are not merely artifacts of human experience. They also have a divine origin and authority, revealing God’s mind, character, intentions and plans. Through them we can know God—and ourselves—better.

The implication, then, is if the study of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek helps my students to know the biblical texts better, then I am helping them to know God better. That’s motivating.

Furthermore, Scripture says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Since teaching is a subset of “whatever you do,” then I purpose to do all my teaching as an act of worship to God. I attempt to teach my courses with excellence and rigor, with grace and love toward others, because this glorifies him.

What is your favorite aspect of education? Why?

I find great joy in seeing students realize they can do what I’m asking them to do, and then watching them actually do it.

I often tell students the purpose of these years in the university or seminary is not to learn everything there is to know. Rather, these are times to get training in the tools that will enable them to engage in a lifetime of learning. Each course represents adding another set of tools to their tool belt.

One day I will be gone, but I will live on in my students if they have learned how to study for themselves and feed themselves with what I trained them in.

What is your favorite class to teach? Why?

I love to teach the Elementary Hebrew class. One reason is between Greek and Hebrew, many people just assume Hebrew is the more difficult of the two. After all, most students are at least familiar with some of the letters of the Greek alphabet, and there are many words and roots in English that have come to us from Greek.

The consonants in Hebrew, on the other hand, are non-Roman in their form. The vowels are dots, dashes and strokes around the consonants, and the writing is read from right to left. What could be more difficult than that?

I take it as a personal challenge to convince students beginning Hebrew that this language is fun to learn and just as easy to acquire as any other language—and sometimes easier. I think I’ve been successful on this score.

Another reason I enjoy this class is it gives students access to the Old Testament texts in a way that deepens their appreciation for the message of the book or passage they might be reading.

For example, Hebrew authors frequently employ word repetition as a device to structure a passage or to emphasize a concept. It is impossible to notice this in our standard English translations since repetition is considered bad form in our language. Additionally, Hebrew poets frequently use sound correspondences and puns, but you can’t appreciate these things without reading the Hebrew text.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing education.

The introduction of online delivery methods is challenging because the community experience and the quality of instruction one finds in face-to-face education is harder to reproduce online. This growing method of teaching is not going to go away; so, schools will have to work especially hard to create the quality and value of online education.

Another challenge I see for Christian education is the cultural collision we are seeing between the sexual revolution being advanced by LGBTQ+ activists and Christian institutions—churches, private schools, benevolence organizations—holding traditional views of family and sexuality rooted in Scripture and millennia of tradition. Christian colleges and universities are increasingly being bullied to get on the “right side of history” and to support the sexual revolution, even if doing so contradicts the teaching of the Bible. If school administrators, trustee boards and faculty do not maintain the courage of their Christian convictions on these matters, the Christian character of the institutions will be unrecognizable within a few generations.

What do you wish more people knew about education?

I wish more people understood the value of the liberal arts for their university education. While I agree it’s important for students to gain marketable skills as they approach graduation, there is so much more to being human than being a worker.

I think it was John Piper I once heard say the true goal of an education is not to make a living, but to live. I believe it’s in the liberal arts where we really learn how to think critically, to learn to be self-aware, to ponder the deep and weighty matters of who we are and why we’re here.

And I believe the best kind of liberal arts is ultimately a Christian liberal arts education that starts with God and his revelation, for “the fear of the LORD in the beginning of wisdom.”

I wish every student seeking a degree would or could minor or take a second major in one of the humanities disciplines like languages, literature, philosophy, history, etc., especially with those topics being informed by biblically-grounded Christian convictions and reflection.

About Baptists

Why are you Baptist?

I am a Baptist by conviction. I studied for my Master of Divinity degree at Westminster Seminary, Calif., among Presbyterians. While grateful for that experience and the theological training I received there, I came away convinced biblically and theologically that baptism was for professing believers, rather than believers and their children, and that the local congregations were each accountable to Jesus as the head of the church, not to a higher-level hierarchy.

At the same time, I believe—along with Baptists historically—churches can and ought to cooperate together in things like missions, ministerial training, education and ministries of mercy. Being Baptist involves ecclesiastical independence without isolationism.

What are the key issues facing Baptists—denominationally and/or congregationally?

Baptists traditionally have been described as people “of the Book.” But I think that in our modern Baptist context, it is too frequently the case that our congregations, and even our pastors, are marked by a lamentable biblical illiteracy.

Students who come to HBU from Baptist churches often do not recognize major people, events, stories or doctrines that come from the Bible This situation reflects a lack of personal Bible reading and biblical teaching from pastors and other teachers.

I would like to see a recovery in Baptist life of training pastors who preach the word of God with a sense of its authority and sufficiency to convert the lost and to edify the saints so they grow in conformity to the Savior. In short, I long to see more pastors who, like Apollos, are “mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24).

What would you change about the Baptist denomination—state, nation or local?

Another historical characteristic of Baptist life has been the commitment to a regenerate church membership (this goes hand in hand with believer’s baptism). However, maintaining a regenerate church membership is impossible without the practice of church discipline.

I think our denominations would be stronger if our churches would learn to implement a biblical model of church discipline. Discipline is not punitive, but redemptive. Pursuing wayward members should be seen and done with a tender heart to restore them to the Lord and to the church.

Removing from membership always is the last resort, a step reserved only for those who remain in unrepentant sin and thereby bring disrepute upon the Lord and his church.

About Phillip

Tell us a little about your family.

My wife Cheryl and I have been married for 25 years. She has taught piano for almost that long and is active in mentoring and counseling women through the local church and beyond. She’s an excellent speaker and is energized by teaching the Bible to other women in small classes or in larger retreat and conference settings.

Our oldest son JP is a junior in accounting at Houston Baptist University and serves as a resident assistant and a leader in campus ministries.

We also have boy-girl twins, Andrew and Kathryn, who are in ninth grade with Classical Conversations of Katy, a one-day-a-week homeschool cooperative. They both are black belts in Tae-Kwon-Do and love doing musical theater.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

Here are a two. First is Ezra 7:10—“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra provides a great model here for anyone who would teach God’s word—study it, obey it and then teach it. Many want to teach God’s people but attempt to do so without conscientious labor in the study of God’s word or without a godly life of obedience that should adorn the teaching. May God raise up many more who will join the “scribal order of Ezra.”

Second is 2 Corinthians 5:9—“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” In the context, Paul is asserting that whether living on in the body or living in the presence of Jesus away from the body, his ambition is to please his Savior. Everything else serves this single purpose in Paul, who elsewhere urges us to “do everything to the glory of God.” I desire this single-minded ambition in my own life, for I know if I do pursue the glory of God as my chief end, he will take care of everything else.

Name something about you that would surprise people who know you.

I used to break dance.

We face a challenge in the church across the world that none of us has faced before in our lifetimes.

The threat of a global pandemic had been mere speculation, sensationalized in action movies in which a frantic search for “patient zero” led to the inevitable vaccine to be administered in the nick of time to the protagonist.

As it turns out, pandemics are a lot less flashy, vaccines aren’t developed overnight, and economics and social isolation play a much greater role than Hollywood anticipated.

Everything we’ve been told points to a difficult time ahead before a “new normal” is established.

As Christians, we want to honor God in this time. We want to hear his voice and conduct ourselves as children of light in a dark world. We want to confront the fear of uncertainty with the certainty supplied by faith in a faithful God.

In uncertain times, conspiracy theories thrive. In one version, Christians should view this as an attack on the church, as secular governments attempting to quash the gospel by preventing congregations from gathering together. After all, the Bible clearly warns us against “neglecting to meet together” (Hebrews 10:25).

Isn’t this exactly what the governing authorities are instructing us to do? Shouldn’t we defy the orders of secular governments when they countermand divine imperatives? Isn’t that what Peter and John did when instructed to keep silent about Jesus (Acts 4:19)?

Faithfully approaching Scripture

As a pastor, I think often and deeply about how I interpret the meaning of Scripture. I am convinced the Bible is the word of God, and it stands alone as our guide for faith and practice. But I also am aware even Satan quotes the Bible. It can be misused.

Through the years, I have given special attention to how Jesus himself interpreted Scripture. Surely, he did it right. What arises from a study of the Gospels is a clear confrontation between Jesus’ way of understanding Scripture and the various approaches of other religious leaders—most famously the Pharisees.

Where the Pharisees stuck tenaciously to the letter of the law, Jesus insisted we must dig deeper to arrive at the spirit of the law, the “why” of the law. Thus, a Pharisee would be content with refraining from murder, but Jesus would trace murder back to the first moment you despise another human being in your heart, the moment you call him an idiot (Matthew 5:21-22).

The spirit of instruction

How would Jesus interpret the meaning of Hebrews 10:24-25?

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (ESV).

If we focus on the letter of the instruction, the simplest reading would mean we have to gather together. We might add “physically” automatically—even though that is not spelled out—because we would assume “physically” from context.

But what is the spirit of this instruction? Grammatically, “not neglecting” is a participle that further fleshes out the main verb from verse 24: “let us consider.” We are being called to give thoughtful consideration to how to stir up one another to love and good works.

We must be intentional about using our minds to devise new ways to light a fire under one another, to stimulate in one another a greater love made tangible in concrete actions.

“Let us consider” is the main verb, and we “stir up one another to love and good works” by ensuring we are “not neglecting to meet together.” In this light, gathering together is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

The instruction about “not neglecting to meet together” is followed up by a contrast that clarifies the author of Hebrews’ intent: not neglecting … but encouraging one another.

The author’s fear is that Christians will be slothful in their connectedness to the family of faith, that they will allow distance to cool love, that they will fail in their task to be an encouragement to others as we eagerly await the Day of the Lord.

If we put it all together, these verses instruct us to challenge and encourage one another in love and good works, and to do this by remaining connected.

Applying this instruction now

How do we apply this to our current situation? Is it love to insist on gathering physically when we know we could be putting the lives of others at risk? Is this one of the “good works” the author of Hebrews had in mind? Is belligerent defiance of safety precautions the best way to convey the love of Christ to the world around us?

Perhaps we’ve focused on the wrong thing. The question we need to ask ourselves at this time is: Have we allowed ourselves to become disconnected from our family of faith?

Through the technologies we have available—texts, phone and video calls, video conferencing—we still are fully capable of keeping the instruction we’ve been given.

The apostle Paul used what crude technologies he had available—papyrus and quill—to remain connected to others and to stimulate them to love and good works, to encourage them.

We still can do discipleship, pray, open up the Bible and share and challenge one another if we avail ourselves of the opportunities.

A Pharisee might be content to sit in a group gathering, but Jesus expects more.

If we would honor Christ in this time, we must ask: Are we neglecting the opportunities we have to connect with others, to encourage them, to challenge them to love and good works?

People are isolated, frightened, grieving, struggling financially. What are we doing about it?

Get to work. Don’t watch TV. Get on your phone or computer, and join that church Zoom Bible study. Call up that person in need. Drop off groceries. Organize a drive-by expression of love. Use your ingenuity, and let us consider this together.

Randall Worley is the pastor of Prairie Creek Baptist Church in Plano. The views expressed are those solely of the author.