Letters
Published May 20, 2004
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EDUCATION RESOLUTION
Ignores ‘root problems’
The resolution on public education [that
has been submitted to the Southern Baptist
Convention’s resolutions committee in advance of
this year’s annual meeting that is being widely
circulated in the media] is well-motivated but
ill-conceived. Despite several good observations it
makes, as a homeschooling parent of more than fifteen
years who is convinced that the public education system
in our nation is hopelessly broken, I am opposed to it.
The resolution strikes at branches while ignoring the
root problems of our degenerate churches and homes.
Public education is a convenient scapegoat. An honest
look in the mirror, however, would be more revealing of
the true source of our nation’s problems than a
thousand resolutions against godless, government schools.
Southern Baptists need to be ruthlessly honest in
examining our own house before we attack institutions in
the world. Such honesty and integrity seem increasingly
hard to come by in our day of triumphalistic
denominationalism. We boast more than 16 million members,
but less than half of them participate in church life at
all. Less than 35% even show up on a given Sunday morning
and fewer than 15% attend beyond that. We hide these
shameful figures by dividing our memberships into
unbiblical “resident” and
“non-resident” categories.
Consider how Annual Church Profiles are reported in the Witness
and other Baptist papers. The published statistics are
always based on the less embarrassing and less honest
“resident membership” figures. I encourage the
Witness to lead the way for other papers by making
statistical analyses based on the total membership of
Florida Baptist churches in all future reporting of the
ACP. This would be more honest and, therefore, God
honoring.
The problems this resolution observes are real, but the
analysis of them and proposed solutions to them are
inadequate. Don’t blame public schools for the 88
percent of our evangelical youth who apostatize as
adults. That tragedy has far more to do with our
superficial evangelism and the spiritual anemia of our
undisciplined churches that are filled with unregenerate
members.
We protest removing the Ten Commandments from classrooms
and courtrooms, but not one in two hundred church members
can even quote the Commandments, much less explain their
purpose and meaning.
The failure of public schools is simply one more symptom
of our real problem, which is the loss of God’s Law
and God’s Gospel from our churches. Without a
recovery of the Gospel and reformation of local churches
we will not stem the tide of moral degeneracy in our
nation no matter how many Christian families abandon the
governmental school system. |
Tom Ascol
Cape Coral |
PHYSICAL STRUGGLES
What is happiness?
The front-page story of the April 29 Florida
Baptist Witness, “Disabled
woman relies on God for happiness,” was quite
amazing. How encouraging to see how someone, through God,
is able to triumph over such challenging circumstances.
There are several lessons, of course, for all of us. What
do we base our happiness on? Do we base it on financial
prosperity, talent, loving relationships, the ideal job,
good health or circumstances that are in our favor? Or
maybe we do not understand what happiness is all about.
True joy is found in God’s presence (Ps. 16:11).
Happiness is realized by those who are poor in spirit,
the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
the merciful, the pure in heart, those who seek peace and
those persecuted for the cause of Christ.
We do not talk very much about struggles which deal with
physical problems, yet the Apostle Paul had a great deal
to say on the subject. Paul actually learned that somehow
afflictions can be thought of as assets, and that
strength can be found through weakness (2 Cor. 12:10).
Yet we often look upon affliction as a weakness. We seek
to avoid pain and discomfort at all costs.
What did the psalmist say? “Before I was afflicted I
went astray, but now I keep your word. It is good for me
that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your
statutes” (Ps. 119: 67,71). I am not saying we
should seek out pain and difficulties, but let us allow
God to use those struggles, which will inevitably come to
all of us, for His glory and our maturation. |
Paul Campbell
Tampa |
STAND AND BE COUNTED
Turn off the TV
Are we just going to sit in front of the
television and allow those gross comments, awful violence
and intimate sexual relations to continue to come into
our minds, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and
bedrooms?
Are we going to just sit and allow people to be forbidden
to worship freely in our United State and in the rest of
the world?
Are we just going to keep busy and ignore all of the
above until the world is destroyed? It was destroyed in
the days of Noah. For 120 years, he said, “Repent!
Because the Lord is going to destroy all the
wickedness.” Everyone said to Noah, “Get a
life,” and went on in their busy do-as-I-please
living. Then the rains came. Noah, regardless of how
ridiculous it looked, kept building that ark, got the
animals and his family in; then God, the Lord, shut the
door. All outside drowned in the flood. They may have
pounded on the door to get in, but it was too late.
Jesus Christ is our “ark” now. Believe (trust
in, cling to, rely on) Him and be saved for eternal life.
When you do, you will live in a manner worthy of being
His follower.
Let us who believe in the God, the Lord, Who directed
Noah, get busy, get off the couch, refuse to buy products
advertised on the gross programs, turn off the TV, get
into Bible study and worship God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We who believe can make a difference; we
believers must change and stand to be counted in order to
change the present “current” promoted through
the media. |
Marian Minyard
Floral City |
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