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In Memoriam
Doug Marlette 1950-2007
"Cartoonists are a window into the human condition."
Doug Marlette. 1988 Pulitzer Winner
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Table of Contents - Summer 2007
EthixBytes
Remembering Herb Reynolds’ Forgotten Vision
Herb Reynolds envisioned nine years ago a forerunner of the New Baptist Covenant, a 2008 gathering of Baptists in North America. The former Baylor University president called his vision the Baptist Convention of the Americas. Missing from the accolades in news stories about his death last May is
one of the most important matters that goodwill Baptists ought to remember
about Reynolds’ impressive career of preserving the best of the Baptist
tradition through existing institutions and the creation of new entities. By Joe E. Trull Dean McGough, distinguished faculty, family and friends, and most importantly Christian ministry students at Oklahoma Baptist University. I am both humbled and honored for the unique privilege of speaking to this special group. And, I really don’t deserve the award. I can think of scores of graduates who deserve this more than I. But, I also didn’t deserve to have prostate surgery and heart bypass surgery within the same week about a month ago, so I guess I will accept the honor with gratitude. I
Make Peace With Your Past By David D. Flowers Everyone must give full support to the governing authorities, for there is
no authority except that which God has established. The government that
exists has been established by the Almighty. 2 Consequently, he who
rebels against the government is rebelling against what God has divinely
instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.a
3 For rulers hold no threat to those who do what they deem as right, but
for those who do what they deem as wrong. Do you want to be free from fear
of the one in authority? Then pledge your full allegiance and do not ask
questions, then he will protect you. 4 For the government is God’s servant
to do only good. But if you do wrong, be very afraid, for the government
does not kill and blow people away for nothing. The government is God’s
servant, an agent of truth, justice, and the American way for all those
who need democracy. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to fully support the
government, not only because of the fear of being blown off the map, but
because everyone would despise you if you didn’t. By William L. Self Text: John 18:36; Matthew 22:21 When you attend church this or any other Sunday, you are validating a noble experiment that has made these United States the most religiously diverse nation in the world. You are neither compelled to attend a certain church, nor are you restricted from attending. The worship you engage in, the hymns you sing, the sermon you listen to are not regulated by the government. We are guaranteed by the First Amendment the freedom to worship as our conscience dictates. We have religious liberty. We have the separation of church and state. However, for the last two decades this freedom has been under attack.
On this weekend we underscore our birthright of religious freedom as we
celebrate the birth of our nation.1 Deacons and Deaconesses “What are the Greek words for deacon and deaconesses?” This question comes from a member of the laity who is just now becoming aware of the theological conflict in her denomination over the role of women in the church. She adds, “Just thought that knowledge might come in handy.”
Updated Tuesday, December 04, 2007 |
Camping Theology: Panentheistic
Meditations P anentheism is a theological perspective found, to varying degrees, in the Christian feminist writings of Sallie McFague and Marjorie Suchocki, other process theologians such as John B. Cobb, in the creation spirituality of Matthew Fox, and perhaps also the American Jewish theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel. It is an approach to thinking about God that comes in handy when theologizing on one’s annual family camping trip.The panentheistic blurring of sacred and secular
gives rise to theological writing options without end. If “all is in God,” a
construct given weight by the Apostle Paul’s Areopagus speech to Athenian
philosophers (Acts 17:16ff), one could write “a theology of …” almost anything.
Not enough of us have been so inclined, distracted as we are by all that humans
have created. A
Post-1 Timothy 2 Woman More people filled the pews than usual for a Sunday evening service at my little country church. A visiting preacher had started a series of revival sermons that morning, and had stirred enough interest to garner a good turn-out at 6 p.m. “We Baptists have gone soft on doctrine,” he asserted, promising to clarify some foundational doctrine for us. He selected 1
Timothy 2 as his text. Of the 40 minutes he spoke, he spent at least 20
explaining what doctrine was and why it was important not to deviate from it.
Then he got into the text. By Burton H. Patterson As I sit back and contemplate my life of
late, I find that I have a lot to confess. I really had not realized how
bad my sins were until I read of the recent revelation to the president of
what used to be the nation’s largest theological seminary.1 After much
soul searching it was revealed to him that a woman could not teach a
foreign language to a man in an educational institution devoted to the
higher learning of things ecclesiastical. I recognized immediately that I
had not sufficiently honed my vision of sin. Original Sin and Limbo Limbo On January 19 Pope Benedict XVI approved a report from an International Theological Commission of thirty Roman Catholic theologians which said that there is good reason to believe that babies who die without baptism go to heaven. Two weeks ago that report was published on the internet. This has alerted many people to the fact that the Catholic Church is in the process of dropping its long-standing teaching that unbaptized children go, not to heaven, but to a place (or condition) known as “limbo.”
Baptists and Original Sin Book Reviews Four Books By Three Atheists:
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