James A. Smith Sr. 2005
Editorial Archive
January
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Predatory politicians want slots in South Florida
Editorial
JAMES A SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published January 27, 2005
It’s a sickening sight. February
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Predatory businesses want slots in South Florida
Editorial
JAMES A SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published February 3, 2005
Last week in this space, I decried politicians in our state
who are pushing the something-for-nothing deception of gambling
in order to get in on the financial windfall they believe slot
machines in South Florida will bring. But it’s not just the
politicians who are preying on Floridians with the March 8 ballot
referendums in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. -
Christian discipleship and the Super Bowl
Editorial
JAMES A SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published February 10, 2005
I could hear the anguish in his voice. -
Florida Baptists, you asked for a marriage amendment; now what will you do?
Editorial
JAMES A SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published February 17, 2005
Last November at the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist
State Convention, Florida Baptists enthusiastically endorsed a
call for a state constitutional amendment to protect marriage. March
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Melting the ‘snowball effect’ of slots in South Florida
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published March 3, 2005
Voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties have already started
to cast their ballots in the March 8th referendums whether to
permit pari-mutuel facilities in the two South Florida counties
to install Las Vegas-style slot machines. And, the rest of the
Sunshine State may be living with the repercussions of their
decisions for decades. -
Please pray for a friend
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published March 3, 2005
On Thursday, Feb. 24, our business manager’s
husband, Paul Bugbee, went home to be with the Lord after
succumbing to lung cancer. Most readers will not recognize Ginny
Bugbee’s name since her role with Florida Baptist
Witness is in the background. Nevertheless, Ginny is an
immensely integral part of our work — something about which
our newsletter churches would quickly and heartily testify. -
Testing the sincerity of the ‘Mainstream Democrats’
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published March 10, 2005
There’s nothing like losing to focus the attention of a
major political party. -
George Felos’ worldview in the Schiavo debate
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published March 17, 2005
[EDITOR'S NOTE: As public attention turns again
the predicament of Terri Schiavo – the 41-year-old brain-damaged
woman whose husband is seeking her starvation death – I
thought it was time to remind our readers of the dangerous
worldview which is driving the attempt to euthanize Terri. Below
is a reprint of most of my Nov. 13, 2003, editorial published at
a time when Terri’s life was in danger, as it is again. -
Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable in the Terri Schiavo case
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH, SR.
Executive Editor
Published March 24, 2005
“The Republican Nine first came together over fried
chicken and salad.” April
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Terri Schiavo has passed; our work remains
Editorial (print edition version)
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published April 7, 2005
Terri Schiavo is dead; even just typing these words is
difficult. I cannot express my profound sadness for her family
– and for our state and nation. -
Terri Schiavo has passed; our work remains
Editorial (expanded Web exclusive version)
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published April 4, 2005
Terri Schiavo is dead; even just typing these words is
difficult. I cannot express my profound sadness for her family
– and for our state and nation. -
‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism’ and our teens
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published April 28, 2005
Can the youth in your church – or your home – tell
you more about the rules of Ultimate Frisbee than they can the
core truths of the Christian faith? If the youth in your life are
like most, the troubling answer is likely to be a resounding
“yes.” May
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Holy huddles and cursing the darkness are not Christian options
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published May 5, 2005
It seems like every day brings a new headline about the
neglect and abuse of the most vulnerable in our society –
our children. The nation’s news cameras are focused
regularly on our own state as another child has gone missing from
the Department of Children and Families or one has been abducted,
assaulted and murdered by predators who have failed to be
adequately punished and removed from the public. -
‘Holy huddles,’ ‘cursing darkness’ not options in Tallahassee, either
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published May 12, 2005
Last week, while seeking support of the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes Mother’s Day Offering (to which you may still contribute), I argued against “holy huddles” and “cursing the darkness” when Christians consider their options in responding to our society’s treatment of children. While we may want to ignore the problems and it may feel good – temporarily – to criticize the way things are, I noted that these are not proper Christian responses to societal evils. -
Obi-Wan, George Will and the courts: Why worldview matters
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published May 26, 2005
Worldview matters; it is inescapable and inevitable. Worldview
– a comprehensive understanding of reality – determines
how we order our lives, governs our decisions and shapes our
actions.
June
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Hurricanes and cooperation: Looking back and looking ahead
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published June 2, 2005
I hate to bring it up – but have you noticed that we’ve now begun Hurricane Season, 2005? -
Abortion politics and double-standards
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published June 9, 2005
This is a story of sins of the Religious Right and the Religious Left. A story about how abortion politics caused a pastor to lose his job and those same politics caused a liberal professor to trumpet bogus stats hoping to put George W. Bush in the unemployment lines. -
Rather than just a resolution, an education movement
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published June 16, 2005
Like last year, much secular news media attention in the weeks leading up to this year’s annual meeting in Nashville has centered on proposed resolutions criticizing public education and urging Southern Baptists to remove their children from those schools. This year, the effort has gained the support of a nationally recognized Christian apologist, Voddie Baucham, and has been more narrowly tailored to focus particular attention on the promotion of homosexuality in the schools. -
‘Everyone Can–and I’m it!’
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published June 30, 2005
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From moments after the initial gavel was brought down by President Bobby Welch Tuesday Morning, June 21, officially opening the 148th session of the Southern Baptist Convention, to the very end of the annual meeting on the next evening, messengers in the Gaylord Entertainment Center were regularly exhorted by our president with the now familiar question-answer challenge which he has made the rally cry of a renewed evangelistic emphasis for the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination.
July
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In praise of Ronda Storms
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published July 14, 2005
The homosexual political lobby suffered a significant setback in Hillsborough County last month after leaders voted overwhelmingly to prohibit the county from sanctioning and promoting “gay pride” events. In the wake of this sensible public policy decision, Commissioner Ronda Storms (District 4), the sponsor of the measure before the Board of County Commissioners, has been the subject of extraordinarily mean-spirited and hateful attacks by the homosexual lobby, both daily newspapers, an alternative publication and several radio stations. -
A request for your assistance
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published July 28, 2005
Florida Baptist Witness gives generous coverage throughout the year to the various missions causes of Southern Baptists in our state, across the nation and around the world. We are privileged to have the opportunity to tell the story of God’s work among us and in doing so we hope that our readers are better informed and motivated to make a difference for Christ. August
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'Save the hymnals'
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published August 4, 2005
Let me state clearly from the outset of what is likely to be for some readers a controversial editorial – I don’t believe all praise choruses are vacuous, mindlessly repetitive celebrations of human-focused, pseudo worship of God and not all hymns are rich, theologically rigorous, God-centered worship. I’ve sung my share of deeply moving and meaningful praise choruses and I’ve winced my way through plenty of less-than-profound hymns. -
Sen. King’s Dallas ‘tribute dinner,’ Tallahassee ‘meal ticket’
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published August 18, 2005
A Miami Herald article last week vividly illustrates part of what’s wrong with Tallahassee – and highlights the daunting challenge of defeating gambling expansion in the Sunshine State. Not surprisingly, state Sen. Jim King (R-Jacksonville) is at the center of both problems. September
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‘BODIES’: Ghoulish ‘entertainment’ in Tampa
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published September 1, 2005
A Tampa museum’s exhibition of human dead bodies – to “educate and entertain” – is a morbid and chilling reminder of the assault on the sanctity of human life in our society. That such a show has been allowed to go on demonstrates state and local officials do not have the legal standing – or, perhaps the will – to put a stop to it. -
Mark your calendars now; don’t miss the blessing
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published September 29, 2005
Florida Baptists have the unique opportunity to host and participate in two missionary appointment services of the International Mission Board in the span of six months. Having had the privilege of attending the Sept. 13 appointment service at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola, I can state quite enthusiastically that those who fail to take advantage of the opportunity of attending the appointment service next March in Tampa will miss a huge blessing. October
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Love and honor your pastor
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published October 13, 2005
Why would anyone want to be a pastor? It has got to be one of the most thankless jobs around. Pastors are always on the firing line, always “on call,” subject sometimes to unruly church members who are certain they know how to do the job better. They are generally poorly compensated and live in a fish bowl under constant scrutiny. And those are just Mondays! -
Marriage amendment needs your support - now!
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published October 20, 2005
The next three months may very well determine whether or not Floridians will have the opportunity to vote to protect marriage in the state constitution during next year’s election. My question to Florida Baptists is simple: what are you prepared to do to make sure we can vote on this critical issue in 2006? November
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Who will adopt the Keys?
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published November 3, 2005
In the wake of the devastating hurricanes of Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast, about 1,500 Southern Baptist churches across the United States have pledged to adopt about 500 congregations whose facilities were either totally destroyed or significantly damaged by these storms. Organized through the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board’s “Adopt A Church” program, many Florida Baptist congregations are participating in this or similar efforts to assist struggling churches in great need. -
Do you pray for the persecuted church?
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published November 10, 2005
Southern Baptists know a little something about persecution.
No, I don’t mean that the increasingly prevailing conventional “wisdom” in our society is contradictory to our theological and moral convictions, resulting in harassment from our fellow citizens (although that is certainly true in some cases). -
Clean up Tallahassee – repeal the slots amendment
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published November 17, 2005
The gambling industry’s corrosive, putrid influence on ethics in Tallahassee was vividly illustrated recently when it was revealed that four lawmakers accepted an extravagant, two-day junket to Canada costing nearly $50,000 from a company which owns a pari-mutuel facility in Broward County and plans to purchase another in Ocala. -
Marriage amendment needs more than symbolism
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published November 24, 2005
The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment signing ceremony during the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Ocala was important symbolically. But symbols alone will not get the job done. December
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What one woman (or man) can do
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published December 1, 2005
During this time of year when our thoughts are often fixated on finalizing our Christmas shopping list – and the gifts we hope to get – it’s good for all of us to be reminded that the best Christmas gift ever given was that of God sending His Son so that we can be made right with Him. And, the best present any of us who have been blessed to receive God’s gift can give to others is the Good News of the Gospel that they, too, can be recipients of God’s grace. -
What did Adrian Rogers tell Jimmy Carter?
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published December 8, 2005
As far as Jimmy Carter is concerned, Adrian Rogers and Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini are like-minded fanatics and, although each claims a different brand of the dreaded fundamentalism that is sweeping our world, both are equally as dangerous. This is the inescapable of conclusion of any reasonable person who has read Carter’s new book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis. -
See ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’
Editorial
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published December 15, 2005
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is not a Christian movie.
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