FBC Wilmington Church-Wide Genesis Study

This Sunday---we began our church-wide study on Genesis after finishing up our study on Acts. Interestingly enough we began with the second Creation account as the verses that contain the first account were part of the daily devotionals section of our study. You can temporarily be viewed: Here. Anyways, in the back of our study booklet, there are some lyrics that I wrote 3 years ago:

FAITH OF ABRAHAM
(Currin)

You tore the veil, across my heart, opened the door, for You had the key
You made a man out of the boy still within me
And I’ll remember You, all of my days
For I’m thankful, Lord, I’ll forever sing Your praise
And wherever I go, oh, I know that You’ll be next to me
From Babylon to the Sea of Galilee…for all Eternity

You’ve always been here, for You are the Ancient of Days
And though, we can’t always comprehend Your mysterious ways
Nothing gets past You, for You know it all
And I can’t understand how it is You made me fall
For out here, in the dark woods, it can get so lonely, you see
But that’s the way it’s been, in every page of history

But I am glad, You took me by the hand
And gave me the faith of Abraham
Sometimes, in a life, Love calls you by name
It’s the little things, in life that get you, through the shame
Live for the moment, live for the day
Live everyday like Eternity has passed away
Live every moment by God’s command
Live like you have the faith of Abraham

It’s a hard mountain that you must climb to heal your spiritual hurt
But on the other side, Lord, You turn that mountain back into dirt
El Shaddai, God of the Mountains, God of the Seas
God of Our Fathers, God of Eternity
You will not forsake us though we forsake You
You will never leave us though we may leave You like we do

In the Garden, just You and I and no one else
The dark of night has a way, about exposing the True self
And in the moonlight, see the tears stream, across my face
The Cup is Yours, You took my place
Then You filled the empty space inside my heart
You’re always around, when I need to fall apart

Oh, and I’m so glad, You took me by the hand
And gave me the faith of Abraham
Sometimes, in a life, Love calls you by name
It’s the little things, in life that get you, through the shame
Live for the moment, live for the day
Live everyday like Eternity has passed away
Live every moment by God’s command
Live like you have the faith of Abraham

Yeah, I’m so glad, You took me by the hand
And gave me the faith of Abraham
Sometimes, in a life, Love calls you by name
It’s the little things, in life that get you, through the shame
Live for the moment, live for the day
Live everyday like Eternity has passed away
Live every moment by God’s command
Live like you have the faith of Abraham


©2006 T/H Songs, INC. & GB Lyrics, CO

Also the three points of Dr. Queen's sermon today about the second Creation account were:

1. You can't always get what you want.



2. Sexuality shouldn't shame us as it is a gift from God.

3. Everyone needs a blessing---people need people to help them along the way.

In my next post, I'll list some good resources on Genesis for our study.

Why Biblical Criticism Is Important For The Church

Here are some quotes from James F. McGrath's recent post: Exploring Our Matrix: Review of Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted:

In his latest book, Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them), Bart Ehrman seeks to introduce a wider audience to important aspects of the New Testament. The contradictions, tensions and diversity of viewpoints in the Bible which Ehrman highlights, and the historical-critical approach he outlines, are common knowledge to Biblical scholars, as well as to anyone who had studied in a mainline seminary in the past half century or so. Yet more often than not, such information seems to fail to filter through to the wider populace. The information Ehrman presents is not at odds with Christian faith, although it is at odds with the claims that some Christians make about the Bible. Yet ironically, those Christians who affirm the Bible’s importance seem to put no greater effort into familiarizing themselves with the details of the Bible’s contents, much less scholarship that might aid in understanding it.

Ehrman recounts in the book how he entered seminary as a conservative Christian, ready to resist the attacks liberal scholars would wage against the Bible. Instead, he discovered that this scholarly way of viewing the Bible in fact made better sense and did more justice to what one actually finds in the Bible (p.6). And so Ehrman, like many other students of the Bible from conservative backgrounds (including myself), found his view of the Bible being challenged by the evidence itself (p.xi).

Because of his experience of conservative Evangelicalism, Ehrman is able to address not only the New Testament and other ancient writings from the same period, but also the strategies some Christians have developed for avoiding the natural implications of the Biblical evidence – for instance, “harmonizing”, which usually involves creating one’s own Gospel out of the four found in the New Testament, combining them so that one ends up with a version that isn’t what any of the canonical Gospels say (pp.7, 69-70).

Through the chapters of his book, Ehrman shows how the view of Jesus evolved with time in early Christianity (pp.73-82, 245-247, 260), showing in the process what is wrong with C. S. Lewis’ famous “trilemma” that Jesus must be either “liar, lunatic or Lord”: it assumes that Jesus made the claim to be divine attributed to him in the Gospel of John and only there among the canonical Gospels. A historian cannot have this confidence, and thus must add a fourth option, namely that this claim attributed to Jesus is a “legend” (pp.141-142). The nature of historical study, and its inability to affirm miracles as probable since they are by definition improbable, is also explained (pp.175-177).

In relation to this here is a post by Tony Cartledge: Baptists Today Blogs: Biblical criticism, when the new becomes old. My friend Justin's comment is of particular interest here:

Joshua Brown said...
Dr. Cartledge,

I'm looking forward to class today to hear how you handle the issue of biblical criticism. Those of us fortunate enough to study Religion, specifically Christianity, are well aware of the true nature of biblical criticism. However, as you stated, today's negative connotation of "criticism" makes it difficult to bring such scholarship into the church. Perhaps today's church often feels that scholars desire to tear down their faith instead of enlightening it. Whatever the reason, it's clear that the "older" (and newer)critical methods are lost on the largest population of Christianity: the congregation members. In a time where we give the people in the pews such power by telling them they can read and interpret the Bible for themselves, many ministers have made our congregations fear the very tools meant to help them in their task. Shame, shame, shame.
January 12, 2009 12:02 PM

Justin said...
Joshua said:
"it's clear that the "older" (and newer)critical methods are lost on the largest population of Christianity: the congregation members."

You have captured perfectly why I have feel called to the Church and to education (in the broadest sense of the word). There needs to be more and more people helping bridge the gap in responsible Bible Study!!! You've hit the nail on the head. Its not that they CAN'T do it, its that no one has (will) teach them how!

good comment!
j
January 12, 2009 1:43 PM

Anyways, while I agree with my pastor that from a pastoral level---historical criticism isn't helpful when dealing with congregational needs---however, I do believe that on an instructional level that pastors that are aware of biblical critical methods should at least make clear how these critical methods are of no danger to the congregations' faith and how biblical criticism can inform our faith. Also, I believe this is necessary to prevent the kinds of bibliolatry and abuses of the bible that is rampant in all types of churches, nowadays. This is also one of the reasons that I like Justin "have feel called to the Church and to education (in the broadest sense of the word)" and another reason why I started blogging. Also like Joshua, I have experienced first hand how "today's negative connotation of "criticism" makes it difficult to bring such scholarship into the church" when I tried to inform a small group I participated in about biblical critical methods. Most wouldn't hear of it as they believe the bible is clear and literally says what it means in a literal/face value sense. Most in the laity are also unaware of all the complexities and subtle nuances of the transmission/collation/translation/interpretation processes within an academic/scholarly hermeneutical framework of the bible. I think this all goes back to something Justin once said that there seems to be a disconnect between academic theology and the church. I agree and that's why we need more people like William Barclay and Bart D. Ehrman to make academic theology accessible to the church.

New Baptist Century Convocation: Celebrating 400 Years Of Baptist History

Here are some highlights from the speeches at the New Baptist Century Convocation on Monday, February 9, 2009 at First Baptist Church, Greensboro (Sponsored by CBFNC):

The New Baptist Century in Historical Context: Conscience and Dissent
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship North Carolina
February 9, 2009
Bill J. Leonard

On the eve of the American Revolution, Anglican Parson Charles Woodmason, a
good Englishman, described the carryings on among the people called Baptists in the
"Carolina backcountry". He wrote:

They don't all agree in one Tune. For one sings this Doctrine, and the next
something different---So that people’s brains are turn'd and bewildered. And then
again to see them Divide and Sub divide, split into parties---Rail at and
excommunicate one another---Turn (members) out of one meeting and receive
(them back) into another. And a Gang of them getting together and gabbling one
after the other (and sometimes disputing against each other) on abstruse
Theological Questions. . .such as the greatest Metaph[ys]icians and Learned
Scholars never yet could define, or agree on--To hear Ignorant Wretches, who
cannot write . . .discussing such Knotty Points for the Edification of their
Auditors. . .must give High offence to all Intelligent and rational Minds.

1
Woodmason was as correct as he was condescending. Indeed, many 21st century observers
would concur that contemporary Baptists still give “high offense” in the church and the public
square. In the United States, when a Virginia congressman calls Americans to tighten immigration
laws in order to keep out Muslims who MIGHT be elected to high office and MIGHT take the oath
of office on the Koran, didn’t he just have to be a Baptist?2 When members of a stem family church
in Kansas show up at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, and shout that such deaths are the result
of God’s judgment on the nation, don’t they just have to be Baptists?3 And then there are all those
2
internecine “Baptist battles” fought incessantly in the pew and the press. Take Southern Baptists, at
14 million the largest sub denomination of the 30 million Baptists in the U. S. For almost three
decades Baptists in the nation and especially the South have debated issues related to the Bible,
ordaining women, control of Baptist related schools, public schools, private school vouchers, trips
to Disneyworld, glossolalia, praise choruses, baptizing homosexuals, rebaptizing Presbyterians,
salvation for Jews and Muslims, the “rapture,” drinking wine at communion or at dinner, and the
gospel benefits of something called “Christian heavy metal” music.4 When 21st century Baptists in
the U. S. “divide and sub divide, split into parties, rail at and excommunicate each other,” not just in
the “Carolina back-country,” but on CNN, wouldn’t any self respecting believers want to distance
themselves from their Baptist origins as quickly as possible?

.....

Given these transitions in (dare we say it) postmodern theology and ecclesiology, and on the
400th anniversary of Baptist beginnings (Amsterdam, 1609), how might Baptist history inform
identity in the present and, more importantly, the future? As a historian who happens to be a Baptist,
I would suggest that aspects of the Baptist past are worth considering whether we use the infamous
“B” word in our public statements or not. Rather than excise or exorcise all remnants of Baptistness
from our past, however, are there segments of that heritage worth acknowledging that continue
inform the future? To own the best contributions does not require claiming the entirety of Baptist
history, nor does it mean scrambling to find something worth retaining in order to be historically
correct. Rather, we could be intentional about revisiting the Baptist past with appropriate research
before we jettison the movement uncritically. What in the Baptist vision offers insight toward the
future whether we reference these embarrassing forebears or not?
My own reading of Baptist history compels me to encourage a reexamination of what seems
to me the heart of Baptist identity in the modern/postmodern world: the importance of uncoerced
faith grounded in the power of conscience and the inevitability of dissent.10

.....

As a historian, I am impressed by the early Baptist courage and dissent in behalf of
uncoerced faith, freedom of conscience, and religio-political dissent, and I hope that Baptist
churches, societies and denominational groups will find ways to own their Baptist roots, even if
they bear witness to only a tiny spark of progressivism. We owe it to ourselves to reference the
identity of those 16th and 17th century dissenters obsessed with conscience and voice for heretic
and atheist alike. They spoke out because they could not remain silent, whether anyone paid
much attention to them or not. Indeed, as a religious community, Baptists have never done well
with privilege, whatever form it takes. Parson Woodmason was right then and now, we don’t all
“agree in one tune,” you see, it's a matter of conscience. (Read More: Here).

Missional Collaboration in a New Baptist Century
By Larry Hovis, Executive Coordinator
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina
New Baptist Century Convocation
First Baptist Church – Greensboro, North Carolina
February 9, 2009

Introduction

Many of you know that prior to taking on my present role with Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship of North Carolina, I had the privilege of serving as pastor of The Memorial Baptist
Church in Greenville. We were often teased about our name – “THE” Memorial. In common
conversation, we would simply call ourselves, “Memorial,” but the use of the definite article is
not accidental, for it commemorates a significant event very early in the church’s history. That
church provided the physical meeting place and supplied three of the fourteen leaders who
founded the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, an organization which has done
tremendous good, and which has made an enormously positive difference in the lives of
countless persons in our state and beyond – including most of us here this evening.
The Memorial Baptist Church appreciates its history. Its main concern, however, is not
what happened in the past, but ministering in the present and planning for the future. The
primary hallmark of healthy churches is faithfulness to the mission of God. Healthy churches
realize that faithfulness to God’s mission required particular actions and structures and
relationships in the past that may need to be changed or abandoned in order to be faithful to the
mission of God in the present and in the future. And so, as this particular group of North
Carolina Baptists gathers in Greensboro on a winter night in 2009, celebrating the first four
Baptist centuries, we need to ask ourselves, what will be required of us in order to be faithful to
the mission of God in the next Baptist century? Allow me to suggest three critical factors: Baptist
principles, missional renewal and missional collaboration.

Foundation – Historic Baptist principles

To begin with, the New Baptist Century will be built on the firm foundation of Baptist
principles. Baptists, at our best, have been a principle-centered movement. The Baptists in the
first Baptist century in Europe, and in the second Baptist century in America, did not suffer
persecution for nominating committee reports or giving plans. They lived, fought, suffered, and
sometimes died for bedrock principles. Though there is no single way to articulate Baptist
principles, for our purposes this evening, I would reduce them to six main ideas.
First, Baptists believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is a basic Christian belief.
Baptists share this belief with other Christians. We are not so arrogant to believe that we are the
only Christians, but before anything else, we are persons made in the image of God and sinners
saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. We are followers of Jesus, seeking to live our
lives in the way of Jesus. Christ is the center of our lives, individually and collectively.
Second, we believe the Scriptures are our final authority for faith and practice. We are
people of the Book. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are authoritative for
individuals, congregations, and in shared ministry beyond congregations. We may voluntarily
choose to confess a shared faith based on a common understanding of the Scriptures, but we
understand that any human words about the Scriptures are always subordinate to the Scriptures,
and therefore must never be used in a coercive manner. We understand that as we interpret the
Scriptures together, we humbly acknowledge that “we see through a glass darkly.” We always
remain open to the possibility that “God hath yet more light to shed forth from his word.”
Third, we believe that every believer in Jesus Christ is a priest before God. All believers
stand equally before God’s throne of grace. There is no multi-class system in the church.
Distinctions such as clergy and laity are practical but not theological. As believer priests, we
have both the privilege of relating directly to God through our great high priest, Jesus Christ; but
we also have the responsibility of ministering on behalf of God in the world. Priesthood is never
an excuse for individualism. We are priests to each other in the community of faith, and we
exercise our priesthood for the sake of a lost, dying world. The symbol for our priesthood is
baptism, upon profession of faith, in deep water where possible to show that we have been united
to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.
Fourth, we believe that congregations should be self-governing. No outside entity may
have authority over the local church. Neither association nor convention nor fellowship may
control or coerce congregations. Congregations are made up of believer-priests, who come
together in community, to read, study and interpret the Scriptures together. Based on Scripture as
they understand it, they are free and responsible to shape their own governance structure,
develop their own requirements for membership, call their own leadership, order their own
worship, and pursue their unique mission in the world, in concert with partners of their own
choosing. For Baptist congregations, one size does not fit all.
Fifth, we believe in religious liberty for all people. Baptists were birthed in the battle for
religious liberty, for ourselves and for others, including those whose beliefs are very different
from ours. Unless all are free, none are truly free. Some scholars say this is our greatest
contribution to civil society. We believe that the best way to cultivate religious liberty is through
the separation of the institutions of government and the institutions of religion. But we also
believe that our voices, and the voices of people of all faiths and no faith, should freely be
proclaimed in the public square.
Sixth, we believe in cooperating with others to engage in God’s mission in the world. We
realize that no individual Baptist, and no single congregation, can accomplish God’s mission
alone. We partner with other Christians and other churches to establish and support ministries
that will enable us to fulfill both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. (Read On: Here).

“Tribal People” 2/8/09
Mike Queen, CBFNC Convocation
Numbers 2:1-2, 34; John 21:15-22

We are a tribal people. We gather with like-minded others and identify ourselves as such.
Along ‘tobacco road’ you will find the Wolf Pack tribe and the Tar Heel tribe…the Blue
Devils and the Demon Deacons. To the east you will find a tribe of Pirates and to the
west a tribe of Mountaineers. Among the Baptists, you find Angels and Hawks…Camels
and Lions…and even a tribe of Runnin Bulldogs.
We gather in other tribes, too. There exists a tribe of people who revere Eastern NC
Barbeque and an apparently ‘lost tribe’ that worships Western NC Barbeque. Even in the
church of Jesus Christ we have divided ourselves into tribes of Methodists,
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Catholics and a host of others,
including the Baptists. And the Baptist family has its own set of tribes developed over
these last 400 years.
This is how it has always been in the Kingdom. Even when the children of Israel were in
the earliest years of their wanderings in the wilderness, God acknowledged their tribal
nature. God instructed Moses and Aaron to have them set up their camp by tribes…using
terms like regiment, clan and ancestral houses to describe how they organized
themselves. Each camp was to face toward a tent of meeting…or tabernacle…in the
center. But each tribe was to hang their ensign or tribal banner out in front of their site for
the purpose of identification.
Their oneness and unity was found in the geographical orientation toward the center…the
tent of meeting…the place of worship. But their differences …their uniqueness was
celebrated by banners that flew in the winds of the wilderness. They had both a corporate
identity as the children of Israel and a particular identity in their tribal divisions. It was as
though God knew they needed some separateness to accomplish their ultimate and unique
calling.

.........
While there are a few ‘loners’ in this world, the reality is that most of us are looking for
places to connect…to belong…to find a sense of identity that is true and authentic to who
we are. We see it all the time in the people who visit and worship in our churches. They
are looking for the same thing. When they find it, they join up with us…and fly the
banner of our local church tribes.
Perhaps this is why we come to gatherings such as this…to connect with others in our
tribe…to embrace a sense of belonging to others who are like us…and to craft and shape
and an identity where, like the children of Israel, we can fly our banner, too. CBF of NC
is my tribe in the Baptist nation.
This tribe is not a denomination to be won or lost. It is a fellowship to be celebrated and
built on trust.
This tribe does not function like a denomination. It is a movement re-engineered for the
21st century.
This tribe is not about buildings and control. It is all about mission and freedom.
It is exciting to be a part of something still new…something that is consistent with our
cherished Baptist heritage…and which is yet a new kind of Baptist community filled with
a hope we can scarcely imagine. That hope is found in Jesus Christ…and in Jesus alone.
But just as it is in all tribes, we must always and forever hold one another accountable.
We cannot afford to allow this movement to lose its way. The relationships in tribes are
far too precious to squander. We need to be vigilant in maintaining our focus on mission.
As I have counseled our Coordinator, Dr. Larry Hovis, maintaining focus is one of the
hardest parts of being a leader. He and we must be relentless in this pursuit.
At the end of John’s account of the gospel he told the story of a post-resurrection
encounter that took place on the beach between Jesus and Peter. Repeatedly Jesus asked
Peter if he loved him. Repeatedly Peter said that he did. Each time Jesus countered by
telling Peter to feed his sheep. Finally Jesus reminded Peter that following him could
ultimately cost him his life and result in a martyr’s death.
As that sobering possibility began to sink in to Peter’s consciousness and as he began to
nervously contemplate his own mortality, he looked up and saw John standing close by
on the beach. In that moment Peter pointed to John and blurted out to Jesus…in rather
childish fashion, ‘Lord, what about him?’
Jesus with all the infinite patience he could muster responded to Peter saying, ‘If it is my
will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’
In the span of a heartbeat Peter had lost his focus. Like so many of the youthful protests
and questions that came from the mouths of the disciples, Peter forgot his unqualified
avowal of love for Jesus and all the promises he made. Thus, fearing for his own life
questioned the fate of his friend…his brother…and perhaps…his rival… John. ‘Lord,
what about him?’
It does not take much to turn us away from the call and claim of Jesus on our lives, does
it? If we are not careful, we can end up pointing fingers at others while forgetting our
responsibilities in the Kingdom. Absent a clear focus, we will find ourselves chasing after
things that have nothing to do with the Kingdom or with Jesus’ plan for our lives…our
churches…or our tribes. I stand before you as one who has spent too much time on lesser
matters.
In a recent meeting with some of our church leaders questions were raised about the idea
that we might have to reduce our church budget in the face of the current economic
depression. After listening to some hand-wringing dialog, I reminded them that our
ability to follow Jesus has nothing to do with the size of the church budget.
More money…as important as it is…can only expand the breadth of our reach. We can
still follow Jesus without a nickel in our pockets. This is why a ‘clear mission focus’
trumps abundant resources every single time.
Management guru Seth Godin says, “When you fall in love with the system, you lose the
ability to grow.” Put another way, when you fall in love with an institution, you may just
lose the ability to follow Jesus.
We must never abandon the pursuit of a ‘clear mission focus’. The tribe can provide that
focus for the individual and the individual can I turn provide it for the tribe. My brothers
and sisters, to believe is the easy part of faith. But to follow…this is the hard part…of
faith. This is also why we need one another.
Someone has said that if you want to get some place quickly, by all means, go alone. But
if you are taking a journey, it is best to travel with others. CBF of NC you are my tribe.
You are the ones with whom I want to journey. And I will set up camp under your banner
all the rest of my days.
May we never lose the focus of our Jesus-given mission…
May we always hold one another accountable before our God... (Read The Full Sermon: Here).

CBFNC General Assembly Day 1

Today I helped my mom and our Assistant Pastor Brad Smith setup exhibits at Snyder Memorial. While I was there I checked out the Youth room and thought I saw a picture of a girl I went to FMA with. Anyways, I'll blog more thoroughly on the General Assembly when I get home as we are staying with my grandmother in Dunn and it's hard for me to use her computer.

In closing here is a snippet of a post by Tony Cartledge from another CBFNC event I went to:

In a closing message, Mike Queen, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wilmington, said Baptists are “tribal people.” Christians have divided themselves into many tribes, he said, and Baptists have developed tribes of their own, but “that’s how it’s always been in the Kingdom of God.

Queen noted how Moses instructed the Israelites to encamp by tribes surrounding the tabernacle, each flying its distinctive banner. Thus, “both unity and uniqueness were celebrated” in the peoples’ “corporate identity as children of Israel and particular identity as members of their tribes.”

As a former president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) General Board, Queen was a tireless advocate for unity within the BSCNC during the 1990s, an effort that ultimately ran aground in the rising conservative tide that now dominates the state convention. During the same period, CBFNC emerged as an alternative nexus of cooperation and fellowship for those who felt disenchanted with or disenfranchised by the BSCNC.

“I spent a long time chasing the wrong things in Baptist life the past 25 years,” Queen told the congregation. “CBF of North Carolina is my tribe in the Baptist nation,” he said, “but it is not a denomination to be won: it’s all about mission and freedom.”

“It’s exciting to be a part of something that is still new and filled with hope we can scarcely imagine,” Queen said. That hope can be found in Jesus alone and calls for vigilant focus, he said, for “When you fall in love with an institution, you may lose the ability to follow Jesus.”

“The easy part of our faith is to believe,” Queen concluded. “The following part gets hard: that’s where we need one another.”

In a key component of the convocation, representatives from 23 organizations recognized as CBFNC ministry partners joined CBFNC leaders and the congregation in a litany of common mission and mutual support.

Religion And Race

Sunday mornings still largely remain segregated

By Amanda Greene
Staff Writer


Published: Friday, November 7, 2008 at 5:48 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, November 7, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.
Editor's Note: On Nov. 10, 1898, a white mob terrorized Wilmington. They murdered blacks, overthrew the city’s government and burned the black newspaper. Thousands of black citizens fled the city and never returned. To mark the anniversary of this event, the Star-News is publishing a three-part series that digs into issues of race and religion in Wilmington, why 11 a.m. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in the United States and where reconciliation is happening today in the Port City.
Two nondenominational churches – New Beginning Christian Church and The Sanctuary of Wilmington. Each values tithing. Each congregation claps and sings in worship. And each congregation enthusiastically responds to the preaching.

But the main difference in these churches is the people sitting in the pews.
Most of the members of New Beginning Christian Church are black. Most of the members of The Sanctuary are white.

Rev. Robert Campbell preached one recent Sunday at New Beginning about anger and how to avoid letting it take over your life: “Anger is simply one letter away from danger. The devil is trying to tear up some stuff and his weapon of choice is your tongue.”

“Listen, listen,” and “Preach” were the calls from the congregation.

Last weekend, The Sanctuary’s Rev. Daniel Cook spoke about the life of King David: “God doesn’t look upon the outer appearance. He looks at the heart. Somebody say ‘Amen.’ ”

His congregation responded: “Amen” and “That’s right.”

Despite the fact that the United States just elected its first black president. Despite the fact that Martin Luther King, Jr. shamed his Christian brethren in 1963 with the words “we must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation.”

Most churches still self-segregate on Sunday mornings.

Choosing to be separate
Nationally, only 8 percent of churches are statistically multiracial, meaning that no one racial-ethnic group constitutes more than 80 percent of the membership, according to the Multiracial Congregations Project. The Rice University study was completed in 2000.

There are churches locally and across the nation that are making an effort to become multiracial. The Rock of Wilmington was founded as a multiracial church. Black and white greeters stand at the church doors to welcome its congregation each Sunday. Its worship team has both black and white musicians.

But the road to becoming a multiracial church isn’t easy, said The Rock’s senior pastor, Rev. Bryan McGee.

“We’ve had people even today who have been shunned by their family for doing so,” he said. Some of his parishioners have told him how their families asked: “Why are you going to that church with the white pastor?” or “You’re going to that church that loves blacks.”

“You really have to believe that this is a God thing,” McGee added, “because people have made sacrifices to come here.”

But their style of blended worship is a rarity in Wilmington.

So why do we still worship separately?

Obviously, there are practical reasons for separate worship such as music preference, preaching styles and worshipping in churches that are closer to our homes.

“It takes real pioneers to get out of their own comfort zone in worship,” Campbell said. “Because even as we’re trying to be a little bit more diverse in our music, most white churches don’t do gospel, and our music is closer to R&B. White churches tend to do the Maranatha-type of praise and worship music. We’re trying to make our music appealing to those we want to attract, but that’s difficult to do without losing our core membership.”

Cesar DeMatta, who is Hispanic, visited some black churches before choosing The Sanctuary because “in the black community, they tend to shout and dance more,” he said. “But I like the preaching here. He speaks with authority.”

Uncomfortable honesty
But the deeper reasons for segregated worship are difficult to talk about because they require an uncomfortable honesty, said Esther Acolatse, assistant professor for pastoral theology at Duke Divinity School. She believes blacks and whites interpret the gospels differently because of their different societal histories in this country. Acolatse, who is from Ghana, attends a majority white Presbyterian church in Durham.

But she believes segregation on Sunday means something different today than it did in the 1960s.

“Today, worshipping separately is both a bad and a good thing. Bad because it gives an impression of disunity. It says that we are first black and second Christian,” Acolatse added. “It’s good in the sense that we get to worship in freedom.”

At St. Luke A.M.E. Zion Church, the reasons for that church’s segregated worship extend back to desegregation in the schools. Many in the black community believe the 1968 closing of Williston Senior High School, New Hanover County’s only black high school, was detrimental to the community.

“A community that has given up so much doesn’t want to give up their institutions,” said Rev. William Johnson, pastor at St. Luke. “And the black church is, sadly, one of the last institutions for them.”

Sometimes, people just see what they’re used to as the norm, and that can prevent worshipping in more diverse environments, said Rev. Mike Queen, pastor at First Baptist Church downtown.

“The older the church, sometimes the harder it is to get them (the congregation) to change,” he said. First Baptist turned 200 years old this year. “When there are two First Baptist churches four blocks apart in this city, that should tell you something.”

The Rev. John Veasey, Jr. is the pastor of the majority-black First Baptist – First Baptist Missionary Church.

“People are concentrating more on who they are than on what they can be with others. ... We can contribute to a better society if we can all let go of the hatred of the past,” he said. “And I think this new generation that’s coming up is not breeding hatred and division and are more comfortable with diversity. My generation and older are not that comfortable with that.”

Barbara and Sherwood Miller prayed for a year before leaving their all-black Baptist church to worship at The Rock.

“The only way you can bring about reconciliation is to intermingle in the races,” Sherwood Miller said. “When Jesus comes back, he’s coming back for the church, not denominations. The body, not black or white.”

“As a preacher, I would certainly have to agree with this. I must admit that I have gone through those moments when I was greatly disappointed with the church and what it has done in this period of social change. We must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this. Now, I’m sure that if the church had taken a stronger stand all along, we wouldn’t have many of the problems that we have. The first way that the church can repent, the first way that it can move out into the arena of social reform is to remove the yoke of segregation from its own body. Now, I’m not saying that society must sit down and wait on a spiritual and moribund church as we’ve so often seen. I think it should have started in the church, but since it didn’t start in the church, our society needed to move on. The church, itself, will stand under the judgement of God. Now that the mistake of the past has been made, I think that the opportunity of the future is to really go out and to transform American society, and where else is there a better place than in the institution that should serve as the moral guardian of the community. The institution that should preach brotherhood and make it a reality within its own body."

-- The full quote about Sunday segregation from Martin Luther King, Jr., who was speaking at Western Michigan University in 1963

Amanda Greene: 343-2365

amanda.greene@starnewsonline.com

Blog Action Day 2008 : Increasing Poverty Awareness

See: A Noggin' Full Of Noodles: Below The Line, Blog Action Day 2008 Round-up and Blog Action Day: Poverty and Biblical Economics and rlp's blog for starters.


Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.---thanks, Justin for the link to this video---I found it on your Blog post.

-Appropriate Scripture Verses To Read Over:

Matthew 6:24-34-NRSV

24“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

And: Mark 14:7
7For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me

And: Luke 18:22
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

And here are some of my earlier posts on poverty:
TheoPoetic Musings: Relationships needed to break poverty cycle

TheoPoetic Musings: Justice of jubilee in Luke

TheoPoetic Musings: Thousands turn to online prayer during economic crisis

TheoPoetic Musings: Increase In Homeless Families

Here are some more of my offerings for Blog Action Day 2008:

Here is an article about the CBF's contribution to poverty relief.

Anyways, I like Dr. Queen and the New Baptist Covenant believe that relationships are needed to break the poverty cycle. Secondly, education is key as in:

Mentors, who build relationships with and help guide those seeking to improve their lives, are an essential part of the decade-old Christian Women's Job Corps and its counterpart, Christian Men's Job Corps, said Cara Lynn Vogel of Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina.

The job-training ministry sites are separate by gender and vary in emphasis by location, Vogel said of the WMU ministry efforts in which "women mentor women and men mentor men."

"The issue of poverty can be overwhelming," said Vogel. "But more importantly, we need to talk about solutions."

The solutions found in the Christian Jobs Corps efforts are built on mentors encouraging and enabling participants to develop through spiritual nurture, health and nutrition, education and job skills training. (See my post: Relationships needed to break poverty cycle---for full context).

Another thing that is needed is farming/gardening/technical agricultural skills need to be taught as a way of self-providing food. Affordable land for growing goes along with that.

Here are some thoughts from an interesting article:

THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY

With the saying in the Bible that the love of money is the root of all evil…and many strong words against the rich and powerful, it may seem strange to some that God would be concerned about economics.

But the evil is not in the money or wealth itself. As with many other things, it is the way that money is used that causes it to be productive or destructive. One writer said it this way:

When we choose the Lord as our sole master, He does not remove our money. In fact, He takes the money and transforms it into an ally. The same dollar that places a bet, pays a prostitute, or purchases "crack" cocaine also buys a Bible, digs a well, or supports a missionary. The same dollar the shrewd manager uses to pave his way into a golden future, a shrewd disciple uses to invest in eternal friendships. But the difference is the product of a choice of masters.

I have written in my e-mail list some about the extreme unfair trade policies among nations currently and issues that are similar. I said economic principles are an integral part of the Bible. This article shows in some detail some of the Biblical principals of economics and why they are critically relevant for us here and now today. They are NOT just ancient ideas that were a nice idea at one time. They are the ONLY way to solve many of the serious problems that our world has today!!

Unfortunately, many people and even some Christians and Christian leaders don’t think that these principles can work today. To answer this doubt, I have collected quotes and thoughts from philosophers and thinkers of many persuasions ranging from the Bible and Christians, to atheists to people like Confucius to show as clearly as possible why the Bible’s economic principles are part of the most basic human rights that each person on this planet deserves and why they will resolve the problems that we face. There are very few other concepts that have such wide acceptance among people of such differing philosophies. This makes it all the more critical to understand and implement these principles.

When God’s principles are ignored the serious problems that we have today such as terrorism, crime, starvation and others are inevitable. After you read these, you will no longer be ignorant about the main cause (but by no means the only cause) of some of the most serious problems in our world.

Today, poverty is at one of the worst points in history. There are a very few extremely rich people and millions of extremely poor. And some of us who are the privileged wrongly in a way live in a “matrix” of our own way of life and we cannot or do not wish to see the extreme suffering that is going on worldwide to the majority of the world’s people. This little thought is illuminating:

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep ... you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death ... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore ... you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

It is doubtful if the gap between the rich and poor in the world has ever been larger than it is now on a world wide scale. And this is not at all by accident. It is inevitable because of the rejection of God’s economic principles outlined in the Bible and practiced to some extant by many ancient cultures which did not have the destitute poverty like we see so commonly today.

Here are some songs which speak to the issue of poverty:

---This Land Is Your Land-Bruce Springsteen

---Only A Pawn In Their Game-Bob Dylan

---The Boxer-Simon And Garfunkel

---Badlands-Bruce Springsteen

---The Ghost Of Tom Joad-Bruce Springsteen

---I Wish We'd All Been Ready-Larry Norman

---Camel Through A Needle's Eye-Larry Norman

---Letter to the Church-Larry Norman

---The Great American Novel-Larry Norman

---Where The Street Have No Name-U2

Continued in next post: TheoPoetic Musings: Together We Can Make A Difference: Song Lyrics About Poverty#links#links.

Mike Queen, Jimmy Carter And Lust

Here is a text version of the broken link in this section:

Ben Currin wrote
at 3:57am on July 19th, 2008
http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:kHnz-7b95jgJ:www.ethicsdaily.com/doclib/upload/Queen-Jimmy_Carter_Was_Not_Alone.doc+Pastor+Mike+Queen,+First+Baptist+Church+Wilmington,+North+Carolina&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=30&gl=us

> of my last post. I'm not sure how it connects with the topic of Bruce Ware.

Michael G. Queen
First Baptist Church
Wilmington, NC
“Jimmy Carter Was Not Alone” #800
Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-32


During the 1976 election campaign, Baptist Sunday School teacher and presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter, confessed in an interview that he had lusted in his heart after women who were not his wife. The media plastered his words on every magazine and newspaper in America. But Jimmy Carter was not alone. For all of his faults and failings, Jimmy Carter remained an honest man. He told the truth. And everyone knew it.


Because the truth is this: Everyone has lusted over another person somewhere along the way. And the Bible has several things to say about it. The Bible makes clear that our sexuality is a part of God’s intentional creation. God made us to be masculine and feminine. It is almost the first thing that defines us when we are born. Is it a boy or a girl, we are asked.


For centuries the problem of lust was pretty much reduced to the avoidance of adultery. And adultery got defined in terms of a man having sex with a married woman. In other words, sex with an unmarried woman was deemed OK. But many leaders in the Old Testament had multiple wives and consorted with prostitutes regularly. Adultery was seen as a violation of property rights. A woman belonged to her husband. She was merely another piece of his property.


But do you remember when the woman caught in adultery who was brought before Jesus? There was no man brought before him. The double standard held firm in the first century. But Jesus changed all that. He told those who had brought the woman before him that indeed she should be stoned, according to the law. Then he noted that the one among them who was without sin should cast the first stone. And they all left. When he was alone with the woman, Jesus offered no condemnation at all. He did encourage her to ‘go, and sin no more.’


Jesus knew that the law of his day hung around the necks of the people and that they had been manipulated to benefit those in power, namely, in this case, the men. So Jesus turned everything upside down when he said ‘even if you look at a woman lustfully, you have committed adultery!’ Jesus’ words are directed towards men since it was the men who were abusing the law. But let us be clear on one thing. No one escapes the lure of lustful thoughts.


The two most interesting conversations I have ever had on this subject have been with a fourteen year old boy and with an eighty year old woman. It is pervasive in all strata of our society. And it happens when we take this gift of our sexuality, and the sexuality of others, and use it wrongly.


My friend, Tom Kirkman, a retired pastor in Florida, once told of a tee-shirt he was given, which asked the question: “How much can I get away with and still get into heaven?” Sadly, I fear that is the rule of life for an awfully lot of folk. They know the difference between right and wrong, but they also understand forgiveness. Thus, sin becomes a game, and some are worse than others. In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer placed lust just above theft and just below manslaughter on a list of sins. How do we define lust?


Jesus did not define it, but indicated that it takes place in the heart. Jesus was not talking about the casual glance at an attractive person. Nor was Jesus condemning the fleeting thought or image that finds its was into every human mind. No, Jesus was talking about that which dwells in our hearts …that which we focus upon and invest our time and energy…that about which we become obsessed. We know when lust takes over, don’t we?


Most of you have read the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament. It made its way into the canon presumably because it celebrates our human sexuality and all that is good and right about it. Sexuality was seen as the handiwork of God. The language of that book is sensual and erotic, but it is couched in terms of fidelity and the reciprocity…the give and take of love. Like all of God’s work, sensuality was seen as a good thing.


But after Jesus spoke his words on lust people began to interpret them quite strictly. The early monastics began to take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as they ran from the triple threat of money, sex and power. Such withdrawal misses the point of Jesus’ words. We are not to run from our sexuality. We are to enjoy and celebrate it in proper relationships.


The church struggled with sexuality for centuries. An early church father, Augustine, wrote about his own battles with lust and sexuality. The church bought into much of his concern. Nathaniel Hawthorne exposed the harsh condemnation of the church in The Scarlet Letter. More recently, adultery was actually celebrated in The Bridges of Madison County. What happened in society that launched this change in attitudes and practices from the condemnation of adultery and lust into acceptance of the same?

Sociologists say that America, coming out of World War II, began a sexual revolution that continues even to this day. The limits of what is acceptable behavior gets expanded each day. We are bombarded by sexual images in the checkout line at the supermarket, and on the parade of soap operas, quasi-news shows, and cable offerings on TV. The music and the attendant videos of the 21st century celebrate sex without shame. And now the advent of the internet has opened up a medium that offers the opportunity to watch live sex 24 hours a day with every perversion imaginable available for a price. And perhaps the image of a person bent over a computer living vicariously through the actions of unknown people on a screen best illustrates lust in its purest form. Obsession….


People watch and assume they are watching reality. They think it will satisfy their hearts, but it does the opposite. Says Frederick Beuchner, “Lust is the craving of salt by a person dying of thirst.” In the end, a person gripped by lust is left lonely and alone. Loneliness is the mark of lust. Disappointed in a marriage or relationship, they look elsewhere for intimacy. Trapped by the media’s picture of how life ought to be, they seek more. Unsure of their own self-esteem, they try to bolster their image. All of that produces nothing but bad fruit and the ruin of lives, families and careers.


In Forrest Carter’s The Education of Little Tree, Little Tree’s Granma tries to teach him how to value people and things properly. Listen to her words:

“Little Tree, everybody has two minds. One of the minds has to do with necessaries for body-living. You use it to figure how to get shelter and eating and such for the body…But you also have another mind that has noting’ atall to do with such as that. It’s the spirit mind…If you use only the body-living mind to think greedy or mean…, then you’ll shrink up your spirit mind to a size no bigger’n hickor’nut. And when you die, the body-mind dies with you..only the spirit mind goes on livin’, and if you only think with your body mind all your life, there you’ll be, stuck with a hickor’nut spirit!

You see, Little Tree, that’s how you become dead people, really. You don’t just have to be dead in your body to be dead people; all you have to do is let your spirit mind shrink up to the size of a hickor’nut!

Dead people! They’re easy to spot,” she said. “When people look at a woman and see only dirty; when they look at other people and see nothin’ but bad; when they look at a tree and see nothin’ but lumber and profit, they’re just dead people walkin’ around.” (SW-188, pp. 132-33)


What then are we to do? Jesus says (read vss. 29-30). It was his way of saying STOP! God will help you if only you seek God’s help. Be intentional. Take responsibility. And celebrate your sexuality in a right relationship with God. Remember. It was God who gave the gift of your sexuality in the first place. And that is the awesomely good news for this day. Let us not forget it…OK? In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Southern Baptist Scholar Links Spouse Abuse to Wives' Refusal to Submit to Their Husbands

Bruce Ware, Professor of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

This news is old, but since I'm late on the Blogging scene, I thought I'd repost this article by way of my friend, Christina Whitehouse-Sugg's Facebook note even if it has been Blogged about several times I wish to offer my response:

You've got to be KIDDING me!!!Share
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 10:34am
I heard about this last week but simply couldn't believe it...I should've known better. For those of you who haven't kept up to date on Southern Baptist theology lately, here's one of their most prominent theologians arguing that husbands beat their wives because the women aren't submissive as the Bible says they should be.

I feel sick to my stomach.

The text is copied below, but here's the link:
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10675
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Southern Baptist Scholar Links Spouse Abuse to Wives' Refusal to Submit to Their Husbands

Bob Allen
06-27-08

One reason that men abuse their wives is because women rebel against their husband's God-given authority, a Southern Baptist scholar said Sunday in a Texas church.

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said women desire to have their own way instead of submitting to their husbands because of sin.

"And husbands on their parts, because they're sinners, now respond to that threat to their authority either by being abusive, which is of course one of the ways men can respond when their authority is challenged--or, more commonly, to become passive, acquiescent, and simply not asserting the leadership they ought to as men in their homes and in churches," Ware said from the pulpit of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas.

In North Texas for a series of sermons at the church on "Biblical Manhood & Womanhood," Ware described his "complementarian" view as what "Southern Seminary as a whole represents."

Commenting on selected passages from the first three chapters of Genesis, Ware said Eve's curse in the Garden of Eden meant "her desire will be to have her way" instead of her obeying her husband, "because she's a sinner."

What that means to the man, Ware said, is: "He will have to rule, and because he's a sinner, this can happen in one of two ways. It can happen either through ruling that is abusive and oppressive--and of course we all know the horrors of that and the ugliness of that--but here's the other way in which he can respond when his authority is threatened. He can acquiesce. He can become passive. He can give up any responsibility that he thought he had to the leader in the relationship and just say 'OK dear,' 'Whatever you say dear,' 'Fine dear' and become a passive husband, because of sin."

Ware said God created men and women equally in God's image but for different roles.

"He has primary responsibility for the work and the labor and the toil that will provide for the family, that will sustain their family," he said. "He's the one in charge of leadership in the family, and that will become difficult, because of sin."

Ware also touched on a verse from First Timothy saying that women "shall be saved in childbearing," by noting that the word translated as "saved" always refers to eternal salvation.

"It means that a woman will demonstrate that she is in fact a Christian, that she has submitted to God's ways by affirming and embracing her God-designed identity as--for the most part, generally this is true--as wife and mother, rather than chafing against it, rather than bucking against it, rather than wanting to be a man, wanting to be in a man's position, wanting to teach and exercise authority over men," Ware said. "Rather than wanting that, she accepts and embraces who she is as woman, because she knows God and she knows his ways are right and good, so she is marked as a Christian by her submission to God and in that her acceptance of God's design for her as a woman."

Ware cited gender roles as one example of churches compromising and reforming doctrines to accommodate to culture.

"It really has been happening for about the past 30 years, ever since the force of the feminist movement was felt in our churches," Ware said.

He said one place the "egalitarian" view--the notion that males and females were created equal not only in essence but also in function--crops up is in churches that allow women to be ordained and become pastors.

Ware said gender is not theologically the most important issue facing the church, but it is one where Christians are most likely to compromise, because of pressure from the culture.

"The calling to be biblically faithful will mean upholding some truths in our culture that they despise," he said. "How are we going to respond to that? We are faced with a huge question at that point. Will we fear men and compromise our faith to be men-pleasers, or will we fear God and be faithful to his word--whatever other people think or do?"

Ware offered 10 reasons "for affirming male headship in the created order." They include that man was created first and that woman was created "out of" Adam in order to be his "helper." Even though the woman sinned first, Ware said, God came to Adam and held him primarily responsible for failure to exercise his God-given authority.

Ware also said male/female relationships are modeled in the Trinity, where in the Godhead the Son "eternally submits" to the Father.

"If it's true that in the Trinity itself--in the eternal relationships of Father, Son and Spirit, there is authority and submission, and the Son eternally submits to the will of the Father--if that's true, then this follows: It is as Godlike to submit to rightful authority with joy and gladness as it is Godlike to exert wise and beneficial rightful authority."

Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.

Copyright © 2002-2008 EthicsDaily.com

And here were my responses on her note:

Ben Currin wrote
at 1:21am on July 17th, 2008
Yeah, I just saw that on another messageboard---it seems consistent with the fundamentalist calvinazi thinking of today. Check out: http://adventuresinmercy.wordpress.com/2006/12/13/only-men-shine-with-the-direct-light-of-god-john-macarthur-on-women/, http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Extraordinary-Women-Shaped-Bible/dp/0785262563/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b or even worse: http://www.amazon.com/Calling-Women-Macarthur-Bible-Studies/dp/0802453082/ref=sr_1_63?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216270239&sr=1-63, http://www.amazon.com/Exemplary-Husband-Biblical-Perspective/dp/1885904312/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216271870&sr=1-10 and http://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Wife-Biblical-Perspective/dp/1885904088/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b .

Ben Currin wrote
at 1:26am on July 17th, 2008
Review of The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective:

77 of 142 people found the following review helpful:
Quotes Scripture Out of Context - Unbiblical, March 6, 2002
By Caralen Haymans - See all my reviews

I'm a 24 year old single Christian woman who has been a Christian for about 9 years. I recently started reading books on a woman's role in the Christian life. I was very emotional throughout the entire book because of the poor women who read this book deserve something better. Most women probably don't read the Bible while they are reading this book, so they probably don't realize that the author is ripping passages out of context. One example: she believes that it is easier for women to sin than men by quoting a passage about Eve being deceived and Adam not.
She instructs women to do everything their husbands say, even in questionable circumstances. The Bible says that we are not supposed to sin against our consciences and that other Christians are not supposed to ask us to do so.
The book puts husbands at such a lofty level - way above friendship and companionship. I am afraid that women will think that they will have to "worship" him and walk on eggshells around him.
The book says that women will have to have sex with their husbands whenever (and however) he wants to whether I want to or not, and to just "grin and bear it" or, as the author puts it, "suffer for righteousness sake".
Ben Currin wrote
at 1:27am on July 17th, 2008

This book, I sincerely believe, elevates husbands too high - and makes him an idol. This book does NOT leave the reader with the idea that marriage is a partnership. It left the impression that the worth of a woman is somewhere in-between a child and a slave. Wives must ask permission to do *anything* (including how to dress and wear their hair) and must do *everything* a husband says unless the Bible specifically says not to. Even in questionable situations - because "the husband always knows best".
If this is what marriage is supposed to be (a union between a master and a slave), I want no part in it. I want my marriage to be a union between friends (who aren't afraid to speak differing opinions) and equals before God.
Also, I don't like to be accused of being a "weak Christian" or in "rebellion" whenever I disagree with the author.

Ben Currin wrote
at 3:26am on July 19th, 2008
http://www.rickross.com/reference/fundamentalists/fund204.html

Ben Currin wrote
at 3:33am on July 19th, 2008
I read somewhere about some church that had to have male heads for female sunday school classes......crazy stuff.

Ben Currin wrote
at 3:57am on July 19th, 2008
http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:kHnz-7b95jgJ:www.ethicsdaily.com/doclib/upload/Queen-Jimmy_Carter_Was_Not_Alone.doc+Pastor+Mike+Queen,+First+Baptist+Church+Wilmington,+North+Carolina&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=30&gl=us

Also, check out this site:

Mary Hollings Whitehouse (Raleigh / Durham, NC) wrote
at 7:53am on July 17th, 2008
http://talibanrising.blogspot.com/2008/07/real-men-married-to-brotherhood.html

We might all end up on with our names on a list for reading this one, but it makes some good points.

How to Share Your Faith Using Hannah Montana

How to Share Your Faith Using Hannah Montana Written by: Jane Dratz
Position: Editorial Coordinator
Posted: 11-05-2007
Culture Commission Archives
Tweener phenom Hannah Montana's (aka Miley Cyrus') whirlwind tour is packing concert venues across the country. If she hasn't already descended on a city near you... trust me, when she does, you're going to hear about it before, during and after her entourage sweeps in and out of town! Like it or not the buzz is deafening. Scoring a ticket has become a notable event in and of itself, if not for the swoon effect exhibited by ultra-devoted Hannah Montana fans, then for its potential resale value. Hannah's buzz is so intense and intentional that ticket prices on the resale market start at $300 in most concert cities and have reached a reported $2565.00 for a single ticket to the Charlotte, NC show.
Perhaps you are already more aware of this phenom than you want to be, but for the benefit of those who are still Hannah-oblivious, here's the crash course...Disney's Hannah Montana is a normal teen by day and a rock star by night - but this dual life is a secret from all but her family and her closest friends. Fanatical fans, world travel, shoes, hot clothes - did I mention shoes? - fill her world when she's inhabiting her rock star persona. But each morning a regular day-life awaits her as a typical teen with the normal teen joys and challenges - so what's not to love? As the song goes, it's "The Best of Both Worlds." Who wouldn't want to live their stardom dream AND keep their normal life?
And maybe that's the appeal. Deep down we all want to live our dreams. But how do you figure out in the first place what your dream is? What will really satisfy you in life? And if you're a believer, where does God fit into your dreams for the future? (Read more: Here).

For something different---go: Here---for what seems to be a subtle attack on the Emerging/Emergent Church though as usual confused with Rick Warren and the Seeker-Sensitive Church.

Anyways, here's a Hannah song that I think speaks to Dr. Queen's message from this past Sunday:

The key verses are:

You... You need to discover
Who can make you feel free
And I, I need to uncover,
The part of you that's reaching out for me
Hey hey hey!

I know where I stand
I know who I am
I would never run away when life gets bad
I'ts Everything I see,
Every part of me
I know I can change the world, yeah, yeah, yeah!

---these verses also remind me of Cassie Bernall.

So do you know where you stand and who you are in Christ? Do you stand against the things that Christ stood against? (Predjudice, racism, classism, bigotry, judgementalism, literalism, self-righteousness, materialism, sexism, social and individual sins, etc.) And do you stand up for the ones Christ stood up for? (The poor, the oppressed, the enslaved, drunks, homosexuals, prostitutes, tax-collectors, the elderly, the disabled, etc.)

Relationships needed to break poverty cycle

Relationships needed to break poverty cycle
By John Pierce
Baptists Today

ATLANTA-While soup kitchens and clothes closets meet some basic human needs, something more personal is needed to counter poverty, said one who lives and works among the poor.

"We need football games, where we can play together," said Jimmy Dorrell of Mission Waco, a multifaceted ministry with impoverished persons in Central Texas.
Relationship-building is the first and most important step in discovering ways to help break the cycle of poverty, he told participants in a special interest session Feb. 1 during the New Baptist Covenant celebration.

"You should have friends who are poor," said Dorrell, who along with his wife, Janet, bought a home in an economically deprived north Waco community 28 years ago, raised four children and built long-term relationships with neighbors.

Mentors, who build relationships with and help guide those seeking to improve their lives, are an essential part of the decade-old Christian Women's Job Corps and its counterpart, Christian Men's Job Corps, said Cara Lynn Vogel of Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina.

The job-training ministry sites are separate by gender and vary in emphasis by location, Vogel said of the WMU ministry efforts in which "women mentor women and men mentor men."

"The issue of poverty can be overwhelming," said Vogel. "But more importantly, we need to talk about solutions."

The solutions found in the Christian Jobs Corps efforts are built on mentors encouraging and enabling participants to develop through spiritual nurture, health and nutrition, education and job skills training.

Vogel told of an African-American woman, pregnant as a teen, whose experience in the program led to setting and repeating new goals. Today she is a pharmacist serving as a mentor to another woman at one of the sites in North Carolina.

(Read More: Here)

Tropical Storm Hanna

The other week Tropical Storm Hanna hit the Carolinas but wasn't too bad---just a lot of sand, dirt, leaves and pinestraw everywhere. The other day I came across this old article from the New York Times about my church, when Hurricane Fran came through and knocked our steeple down.

Here is the relevant portion of the article:

Here in Wilmington, residents began to saw, rake and sweep up the mess. But many knew it would be days, if not weeks, before the machinery and manpower necessary to haul away the wreckage would become available.

At the First Baptist Church of Wilmington, the pastor, Michael Queen, spent the morning receiving the whispered prayers of passers-by mourning the destruction of the church's 197-foot-tall steeple, a city landmark.

"Rabbi Waxman was here, and Father Hadden from the Catholic church and one of the ministers from the Presbyterian church," Queen said.

The spire, built in the 1860's, lay in a three-foot heap of brick, wooden beams and copper sheets, leaving an open roof of jagged brick. Queen said the title of last Sunday's sermon, still advertised in a glass case, served as a perfect epitaph: "All in a Day's Work."

Queen said he was profoundly sad about the steeple, but was trying to keep it in perspective.

"A steeple in the street pales in comparison to the death of any one person," he said. "The church is not the steeple or the building and I keep trying to remind myself of that."

Yes, disaster relief is a big priority for Baptists. Hopefully, Hurricane Ike didn't do too much damage in Texas.

So as I was Googling Dr. Queen, my pastor...

And I discovered this:

"Allow me to now make come connections that should cause NC Baptist to pay attention. As you look to the committees that were structured for the planning of this celebration you will notice some very well connected NC Baptist. First I want to point your attention to the Program Committee and you will not that Dr. Bill Leonard is a member of this committee. Dr. Leonard is the Dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University. You will remember that this is the divinity school that would not take a stand against receiving Gay and Lesbian Students to study for the ministry. It is not about the students themselves, but the fact that we have a Divinity School that does not support the scripture as speaking to the issue of homosexuality. Second, I want to point your attention to the Finance Committee. You will note that Dr. Mike Queen, Pastor of First Baptist Wilmington being involved in that committee. Dr. Queen, you will remember is a former President of the Executive Committee of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. While this does not really concern me as Dr. Queen is a pastor of an autonomous church, it would concern me if he were serving in a leadership position within our state convention at present. Third, there are 2 other NC Baptist connections serving on the Communications Committee that does concern me. One is Mrs. Ruby Fulbright. Mrs. Fulbright, as you know, is the Executive Director of WMU-NC. The same WMU-NC that recently left moved out from under the umbrella of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina because they wanted to ‘do missions with other groups’. It seems that Mrs. Fulbright may have found another source of funding outside of NC Baptist by taking part in this celebration. Also, it concerns me to find Dr. Tony Cartledge listed as a member of this committee. It does not surprise me, but it does concern me that we have a professor teaching in a NC Baptist college/divinity school that will attend a celebration that puts down bible believing Baptist as being some fundamentalist idiots. Why does it concern me? Campbell University has a desire to still have access to the students in NC Baptist churches. These NC Baptist churches have repeatedly voted to align ourselves more fully with the Southern Baptist Convention, and we are sending our students to a school whose professors, at least one, openly plan a meeting to speak against the very rallying cry of the SBC." --- from : Southern Baptist In NC

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No wonder Dr. Queen said that I would've enjoyed the New Baptist Covenant Celebration ---anything that annoys Fundamentalists that much is a good thing.
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Unrelated but in the same vein I also discovered this older article:

Same-sex ceremony to be permitted in Wake Forest University's chapel

By Art Toalston

Oct. 11, 1999

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=71


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (BP)--A same-sex “covenant” ceremony for a Wake Forest University divinity school student and her lesbian partner has cleared by the president and chaplain of the university which until recent years had been affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Wake Forest Baptist Church, which meets in the university’s Wait Chapel, will conduct the same-sex ceremony, if the two women choose to proceed with the marriage-like ceremony.

At issue has been the holding of such a ceremony in a university facility.

In August, university chaplain Ed Christman declined to schedule the women’s ceremony, citing the lack of a university policy for such ceremonies. Christman, a member of Wake Forest Baptist Church, referred the matter to university President Thomas K. Hearn Jr., another member of the congregation.

Hearn turned the issue over to the university's board of trustees. A committee formed by the board issued a statement in September asking the church not to hold such ceremonies. The committee's report also noted the church's autonomy and said the university did not want to restrict the church's worship practices, according to an Oct. 8 article in the state Baptist newsjournal, the Biblical Recorder.

Hearn stated in his Sept. 28 ''State of the University'' speech it has never been the university's intention to interfere with Wake Forest Baptist Church’s internal matters, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. ''Nowhere does the [trustee committee] statement prohibit or forbid the church from doing anything,'' Hearn was quoted as saying.

In an Oct. 7 article, chaplain Christman then was quoted as saying that Hearn’s comments settled the question of university policy. Christman’s office controls scheduling for Wait Chapel.

The 24-student divinity school opened this fall with Bill Leonard, a longtime Baptist historian, as dean.

The divinity school receives part of its funding from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a national denomination-like organization of Baptist moderates.

Among the divinity school’s faculty members is James Dunn, recently retired as executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. At the divinity school, Dunn is visiting professor of Christianity and public policy.

The trustee committee which addressed the same-sex marriage issue was chaired by Mike Queen, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wilmington and a Wake Forest alumnus.

Queen declined additional comment to the Biblical Recorder, noting that his term as a trustee had just ended. "We've done our work," he told the journal. "We made our recommendation."

Hearn, in his "State of the University" address, said the trustees' report had been "all but universally misunderstood,” the Biblical Recorder recounted.

The trustees did not "forbid" or "prohibit" the church from doing anything, Hearn said. “In summary, Wake Forest deferred a liturgical, religious question to the appropriate body, the church."


-- End of story --