Fifty Fabulous Things 
By Foy Valentine

"Whatsoever things are...lovely...think on these things" Philippians 4:8

Having dilly dallied, procrastinated, sublimated, postponed, and otherwise chomped at the bits as long as I could stand it, I proposed marriage to Marry Louise on our second date. (I've always had this problem with making up my mind. A character flaw, I suppose. Or maybe a defective gene.) After two years, she quickly accepted. On May 6, 1947 we were married. 

Late last year as we approached 1997, the year of our Fiftieth Anniversary, our darling daughters began to make dire and dreadful noises. They thought of celebrating this big event with a rip-roaring gala. We reacted violently. They offered us a splendid reception. We couldn't see it. They asked us to consider a big to-do at church. We demurred.
Continue

What Doth The Lord Require Of Thee?
by Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr.

As a Methodist by birth and a Presbyterian by marriage, reli­gion has played an important role in my life since childhood. As a rational and curious being, I have experienced agnosticism and doubt, only in maturity to resolve that doubt through faith. As a lawyer by profession and a Federal Judge by political good fortune, I have had a unique opportunity to apply that faith and that religious training to human affairs and, hopefully, to be an influence for some good in the implementation of God’s plan for the world.

How does my religion impact the performance of my job as a judge? My answer may be more the ideal than real, as is the case with most sinners.
Continue

Reflections of a Somewhat Disillusioned “Prophet”
by Charles Wellborn

This is a purely personal reflection. In the title, the word ”prophet” is in quotes. In no way would I claim to be an Amos or a Joel or seek to class myself among authentic modern Christian prophets such as Martin Luther King, Will Campbell, or Carlyle Marney. I am a minor player in the league.

My only claim to the title of prophet arises from the fact that from my first day as a Christian, I nourished a then inchoate assumption that an essential part of the Christian minister’s job description was the role of prophet—not as a foreseer of the future—but as a thoughtful Christian critic of the present. My initial understanding of the task of the prophet has remained with me through the years.

I became a Christian—”born-again”—at the age of 23 in the remarkable southern youth revivals of the 1940’s. Already scarred by the unmentionable horrors of war service, I found my personal answers in a traumatic and emotional conversion experience. After more than 50 years, I do not question that experience. But it was a conversion brought about by an encounter with the Christ event, not a conversion to any human institution, creed, or orga­nizational statement of faith. And that is important.
Continue

Our Freedom in Christ 
By William E. Hull

When all is said and done, the Baptist movement will flourish or falter on the strength of its central mission. If our ultimate reason-for-being speaks compellingly to an enduring need of the human heart, then we can be used as agents of that cosmic redemption which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But if our deepest identity is not shaped and sustained by some grand dimension of His gospel, then we will finally wither and wane no matter how frantically we struggle to survive. The distinctive principle which has made us what we are is well expressed in Galatians 5:1: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (NRSV).

• I. Our Heritage 
• II. Our Hope
• III. Our Heart

Continue

Can Science Be Ethical? 
By Freeman Dyson

One of my favorite monuments is a statue of Samuel Gompers not far from the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Under the statue is a quote from one of Gompers's speeches:

What does labor want?
We want more schoolhouses and less jails,
More books and less guns,
More learning and less vice,
More leisure and less greed,
More justice and less revenge,
We want more opportunities to cultivate our better nature.

Samuel Gompers was the founder and first president of the American Federation of Labor. He established in America the tradition of practical bargaining between labor and management which led to an era of growth and prosperity for labor unions. Now, seventy years after Gompers's death, the unions have dwindled, while his dreams, more books and fewer guns, more leisure and less greed, more schoolhouses and fewer jails, have been tacitly abandoned. In a society without social justice and with a freemarket ideology, guns, greed, and jails are bound to win.
Continue

Updated Monday, January 03, 2005

Abortion And Public Policy 
By John M. Swomley

My purpose in this article is to demonstrate that abortion per se is not morally wrong, but should be left to private decision and medical judgment. The alternative to private decision and medical judgment would be compulsory pregnancy if the government should adopt laws prohibiting or restricting abortion prior to the third trimester when there is evidence of viability. In stating the case for the right of a woman to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, it is essential first to define abortion and examine the claim that a human being exists at conception, responding to the question, "When does human life begin?" Thereafter, I shall examine the claims made on behalf of fetal life as over against the rights of existing persons, public policy with respect to women, the issue of covert violence against women inherent in compulsory pregnancy, questions of conscience, and finally, some specific legislative proposals.
Continue

Parenting after Divorce 
Don Posterski

• Parenting isn't legal 

• Sharing parenting agreements 

• Pastors need to be prepared

• The consequences of our conduct

• Acting in Christ's name

• Endnotes

The agony of divorce involves more than just wives and husbands. As men and women disentangle themselves as spouses they must also negotiate their parenting commitments. The question is not whether parents should continue parenting after divorce, but how they should do it. A pastor who is equipped to help parents work out an agreement on sharing their parenting responsibilities, will assist the entire family to move beyond the disaster of marriage breakdown. A shared parenting agreement can build the post-divorce relationships which parents need with their children, and which children need with both their parents.
Continue

A Review by Darold H. Morgan

What’s So Amazing About Grace?
Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey has come to the foreground of any list of authors I whose writings are essential for thinking Christians today. Here is a volume which moves boldly into the area of biblical ethics related to the grace of God. Yancey’s writings are well-known, and justifiably so, with titles like “Where Is God When It Hurt?” and “The Jesus I Never Knew.” Run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore for his latest offering with its catchy but not irreverent title, “What’s So Amazing About Grace.”
Continue

I'm Gon'na Do It! 
By Hal Haralson

The ringing of the phone in the real estate office was like an alarm clock awaking me out of my daydream.

"I'm Jay Nixon," the voice said. "I've got 200 head of certified Beefmaster cattle, 1100 acres of leased river-bottom land, 80 acres of irrigated coastal Bermuda pasture and the equipment to water the grass. I want $80,000 for the package and I've got to have it sold in two weeks. Someone in Uvalde said you could do it. Can you?"

The tone of voice indicated there were only two possible answers: Yes or no!

Being an eternal optimist, I chose the former.

"Good! Meet me at Barth's Café in Kenedy, Texas at six o'clock tomorrow morning to inventory the equipment and start rounding up cattle."

"O. K." I knew the day after tomorrow wouldn't do.
Continue

Nobility Finally Triumphs Over Meanness at Ole Miss 
By Ralph Lynn

Before historians welcomed the blessing-curse of science in support of their craft in the late 19th century, people thought of history as "philosophy teaching by example."

Following this old-fashioned approach, we could learn from the recent history of the University of Mississippi-"Ole Miss" at Oxford-not to cling too long to an unworthy past.

Nadine Cohodas' 1997 book, The Band Played Dixie, tells the depressing but also encouraging story of the struggle of Mississippians to come to terms with the modern world ushered in when James Meredith broke the color barrier at Ole Miss in 1962.
Continue

Imprecation for an Answering Machine 
By Foy Valentine

Breathes there a man
With soul so dead
Who never to himself
Hath said,

Curs't be that phone
On yonder end
Whose tape machine
My time doth spend.

With monotone
And silly choices,
"Press one; press two,"
The fool thing voices.
Continue