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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Are Southern Baptists ready for a world that despises Christians?

By  Ron F. Hale   Originally published July 9, 2022, on The Stream, stream.org. Reprinted with permission of author.   JACKSON, Tenn. (LBM)--Aaron Renn’s penetrating analysis of American evangelicalism in his First Things article triggered much thought. As a respected writer and thinker, Renn uses the framework of three worlds (positive, neutral, negative) with evangelicals swimming against a relentless secular rip current. Evangelicals are not only losing standing in the public arena while struggling against an increasingly hostile culture. Renn says, “Today there is a culture war within evangelicalism itself.” I’d like to apply Renn’s diagnosis to the Southern Baptist Convention. Renn points to three “worlds,” or moments in time, that formed Christians’ views and attitudes. LIVING IN THE POSITIVE WORLD (Pre-1994) Society at large retains a mostly positive view of Christianity. To be known as a good, churchgoing man remains part of being an upstanding citizen. Publicly being a Christian is a status-enhancer. Christian moral norms are the basic moral norms of society and violating them can bring negative consequences. Renn states that evangelicals created two main strategies in relating to the secular … [Read more...]

Horn ‘gives thanks’ for Supreme Court decision, still more work to do

By Steve Horn, Louisiana Baptists executive director Jesus reminds us that we should always pray and never give up (Luke 18:1). Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court serves as a good reminder of that truth. For almost 50 years, American Christians from various denominational backgrounds have been praying and working towards the day when Roe v Wade would be overturned. That day has arrived. While we celebrate and give thanks for today’s decision, we must remember that the decision of a court does not automatically change the heart of man. Children will continue to be conceived apart from a marriage relationship. We must continue to pray for hearts to change so behaviors will change – and only Jesus can change a heart. Abortion will not go away. It will still be legal in many states. No doubt underground abortion clinics will form. Therefore, we must continue our efforts to lovingly offer alternatives, Godly counsel and assistance. It’s not our judgement that will identify us as God’s children. It’s our love. So today, we give thanks to God and to all who have tirelessly worked to bring us to this point. But we also pray God will change hearts so eventually abortion will become unthinkable. Until such time, we continue … [Read more...]

Richard Land on Southern Baptists’ history of abortion advocacy and the future of the pro-life movement

By Jill Waggoner, ERLC WASHINGTON, D.C. (ERLC) - Richard Land served as the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission from 1988–2013. Prior to his time at the ERLC, he worked in a variety of church and political roles, many of which were involved closely with the modern pro-life movement in its earliest days. Below, he shares his experiences and brings perspective to the current cultural moment, the story of Southern Baptist involvement in the fight against abortion, and what comes next. Jill Waggoner: Historians have noted that before Roe v. Wade, evangelicals in general were fairly inactive on the issue of abortion. Is that true for Southern Baptists? If so, how did that change afterRoe? What did it take to change Southern Baptists’ mind on this issue?  Richard Land: I was pro-life from the time I was a junior in high school because of an experience I had with a high school biology project. One of my classmate’s fathers was an OB-GYN, and she, as part of a project, brought to class what I now know to be about a 12- to 14-week-old male embryo. It was clearly a human being. That sensitized me to the issue. Abortion wasn’t much of an issue for Southern Baptists until Roe v. Wade. Prior to 1970, the … [Read more...]

Teachers who shaped my life

By Chuck Kelley In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Day, I remember some of the teachers who shaped my life: Thank you, Mrs. Hill, for helping an energetic boy fall in love with reading. I read every day of my life without exception. Thank you, Mrs. Newton, for helping me fall in love with history. I read some history book every week to this day. Thank you, Mr. Reeves, for teaching me how to research a topic and how to write a paper. Numerous papers, articles, essays, and books later, I am still at it, and will be researching and writing all afternoon today. Thank you, Mrs. Holloway, for giving me my first failing grade ever in the first six weeks of typing class. After finding out no one in my family had ever received a failing grade in anything, you made teaching me to type your personal project for the rest of the year, earning me the award for Most Improved Student in a class on awards day that year. Since the purchase of my first computer in 1983, I have done some form of touch typing nearly every day of my life since. Thank you, Mr. Reid, for making your lectures on Western Civilization at Baylor so mesmerizing, I never missed a class. I took few notes. But I remembered everything. I studied for finals by … [Read more...]

Trust, the SBC, the MBC and the Cooperative Program

By Don Hinkle EDITOR’S NOTE: Read a news article related to this editorial at the following link: https://mbcpathway.com/2022/04/12/churches-now-able-to-withhold-funds-from-sbc-entities-in-mbcs-new-plan-b-giving-option/. “Trust is like a vase. Once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again.” – Walter Anderson JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - One of the greatest unified giving efforts in American Christianity has been the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Every Southern Baptist – whether in a small church or a large one – gives cooperatively to support the advancement of the gospel. Through the Cooperative Program generosity of Southern Baptists, one of the world’s largest missionary-sending efforts is being achieved at home and abroad. World-class theological education is a reality and lives are touched in innumerable ways through Southern Baptist Disaster Relief operations and other ministries. In 2021 Southern Baptists gave nearly $200 million to the Cooperative Program – all based on trust. Southern Baptists trust that their Cooperative Program dollars will be spent to support the ministries intended. Violate that trust and expect repercussions. When Missouri Southern … [Read more...]

Who should Clarence Thomas slap?

By Ron F. Hale When the Left smears you, they expect you to stay smeared. Vindicated by your tarnished reputation and political kneecapping — they relish injecting “smear boosters” into America’s collective memory to keep you in your place. Since 1991, Clarence Thomas has lived with a target on his back. Now, the radical secular left is aiming at Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of our Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Since establishing the January 6th Select Committee to investigate what took place at the United States Capitol, the Democrats and legacy media elites seem confident they have discovered a “29 text messages” story linking Ginni Thomas to a conspiracy. Writing for The Federalist, Mark Paoletta explains how the media got the story wrong from the start. Ginni Goes to Washington Virginia “Ginni” Lamp was born February 23, 1957, in Omaha, Nebraska. Her father was an engineer who created a successful firm. Her mother was a homemaker and both parents were Republicans. Ginni earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and business communications from Creighton University in 1979, followed by a law degree in 1983 from the same school. Pursing politics as a career, Ginni began working … [Read more...]

EASTER REFLECTIONS: Who killed Jesus?

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM)—Perhaps there is no more controversial question than “Who killed Jesus?” In the early 1960s there was a contentious debate among scholars about whether Jews or Gentiles had killed Jesus. There were charges of anti-Semitism on the one hand and counter claims of bias against Italians, with neither ethnic group wanting to bear the burden of having murdered Christ. The matter had reached such a boiling point that in 1965 the Catholic Church (Vatican II) attempted to negotiate a neutral position, publishing a treatise of sorts on the matter, “Noestra Aetate,” in which it declared that “Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ” but that such blame “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.” But despite the attempt to assuage Jewish umbrage, the document still asserted that “some” Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death. On the other hand, historian Mark Allan Powell wrote about the other prevailing view that Jesus was “a Jewish victim of Roman violence. “A Gentile Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, condemned Him to death and had Him tortured by … [Read more...]

Amid uncertainty in Ukraine, the Lord reigns

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - For me, today has the feeling similar to 9-11 or the beginning of the Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait. In fact, a handful of my high school friends participated in the Gulf War. The U.S. counter began on a Wednesday night, which was our worship night for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. As several friends and I left the dormitory for our meeting, we met a regular attender who was headed the opposite way. When we asked about his coming, I still recall his incredulous response, “Don’t y’all know there’s a war going on?” We did, but we felt the best place to be was gathered with other Christians doing what we usually did on Wednesday evenings. I feel the same way today. What can we do? We can all pray. I join countless others urging prayer and more prayer. Pastor, consider a special prayer time during your Sunday morning worship service to praying specifically about these current events. Second, we can be people of peace. The watching world needs to see Christians as people of peace and not panic. I am reminded of Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” Third, let me encourage you to stand on the promises of God. Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “I have told … [Read more...]