This may be a first for SBC Voices - a guest post of a guest post. Todd Littleton blogs at "Edge of the Inside: toddlittleton.net" and has a podcast that features some of the best-looking authors in the SBC! You will not always agree with Todd, but your thinking will be challenged by what he writes. This post is a guest post at his site by Phillip Larsen (bio at bottom of page). After a long, frustrating courtship with the GOP, Richard Land, then President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention declared, ”The go-along, get-along strategy is dead. ‘No … [Read more...] about The Great Divorce: The Church and the GOP (Todd Littleton/Phillip Larsen)
Can We Talk? Mississippi Baptists and Racial Reconciliation (Bob Browning)
Bob Browning is a Research Structural Engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers. He holds a BS from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a MS from Auburn University, both in civil engineering. He is currently pursuing his MDiv online through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his family live in Clinton, MS and are members of Morrison Heights Baptist Church. Unless you’re the proverbial ostrich with your head buried in some extremely soundproof sand then you’ll have noticed that our culture is talking about a lot of things. From sex to religious liberty and from state … [Read more...] about Can We Talk? Mississippi Baptists and Racial Reconciliation (Bob Browning)
God, Caesar, and Pastoral Rights: When did we become governmental agents? (Marc Bewley)
Marc blogs at Marc Bewley. From 2008 to 2014 Bro. Marc has served in the metro Detroit area through the BSCM and NAMB as a Church Planter Catalyst. He currently serves in Chattanooga, TN as a Missions Pastor at Dallas Bay Baptist Church. In 1986, I was a twenty-five year old church planter in northern Michigan. A couple from down the street, who had been attending our new church, approached me and asked me to perform their wedding. Fortunately a generous friend had given me a copy of Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors as an ordination gift. I quickly turned to the wedding chapter and learned … [Read more...] about God, Caesar, and Pastoral Rights: When did we become governmental agents? (Marc Bewley)
The Problem Is Greater than Same-Sex Marriage (Paul Thompson)
Paul Thompson blogs at "The Bridge." There is not shortage of places or people weighing in on the legalization of same-sex marriages. Crimes against nature are no small matter, and now it is legal and celebrated. But this is not the only matter weighing the nation in the balance of danger. I get that unbelievers don’t want laws like believers do. They want laws, just laws that ease their conscience. But, that’s not really the problem either. The Lord’s church has grown cold, complicit even with many other fleshly vices that are rarely addressed from the pulpit any more, and even … [Read more...] about The Problem Is Greater than Same-Sex Marriage (Paul Thompson)
Pondering Our Times (Jerry Corbaley)
We still have the promises of God intact. We can, perhaps, be as thankful for 1 Timothy 2:1-3 as we should have been all of our lives. Why do Christians expect more than that in this world? We still have tolerance for religious freedom. How has it ever been more than tolerance for idolatry? We still have the truth about sexual expression in a holy way. Why do Christians obsess over one form of sexual sin and virtually ignore fornication and adultery? We still have the right to marry as Christians and to pursue Christian marriage. Why do Christians expect the godless to desire that for … [Read more...] about Pondering Our Times (Jerry Corbaley)
I’ve Heard LifeWay’s Critics and I’m Not Convinced. Here’s Why. (Brent Hobbs)
Brent Hobbs is Lead Elder/Pastor of New Song Fellowship in Virginia Beach. He blogs at Brenthobbs.com Over the past year, there's been a small but constant stream of criticism in SBC social media about certain books available in LifeWay stores. A few titles and authors are brought up frequently as evidence that LifeWay leadership must not care about sound doctrine or that they care about money more than biblical faithfulness. I reject those characterizations and you should too. Everyone agrees there should be a line drawn determining what books LifeWay should sell. The issue for us today … [Read more...] about I’ve Heard LifeWay’s Critics and I’m Not Convinced. Here’s Why. (Brent Hobbs)
The Jurassic Park Within All of Us (Andrew Green)
Andrew Green is pastor of First Baptist Church in Marble Hill, MO. In 1993 I still remember going to my cousin’s house and watching Jurassic Park. As a ten year old boy I remember sitting in awe as the mighty T-Rex attacked the two SUV’s filled with people and upon hearing the roar of the T-Rex I felt goosebumps. The movie was a hit at the box office and until the Titanic was released in 1997 it was the highest grossing movie in the American box office and as of 2013 the movie had grossed well over a billion dollars. The movie would spawn off two sequels and Jurassic World a fourth sequel is … [Read more...] about The Jurassic Park Within All of Us (Andrew Green)
Let’s Recover BIBLICAL (i.e. Congregational) Church Discipline (by Adam Blosser)
Adam Blosser is the pastor of Drakes Branch Baptist Church and blogs at One True Joy, where this article first appeared. Church discipline has made its way into the news recently as a result of a situation at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. I first became aware of the situation there as a result of some watchdog blogs picking up the story. It began to spread like wildfire on social media. Then Sunday I opened up my computer to discover that the front page of Yahoo had picked up the story. I was grieved as I read the way the Bible's teaching on church discipline was misrepresented to … [Read more...] about Let’s Recover BIBLICAL (i.e. Congregational) Church Discipline (by Adam Blosser)
Living in John Bunyan’s “Vanity Fair” (Paul Thompson)
This was originally published at "The Bridge" - Paul's blog. It is the allegorical ancient town of Vanity Fair that John Bunyan describes an atmosphere where “jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, rogues, and that of all sorts,” were happening all day and all night. As well as, “thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood-red color.” Is there any connection that a pop-culture magazine, where merchandise is bought and sold “as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as … [Read more...] about Living in John Bunyan’s “Vanity Fair” (Paul Thompson)
Help, I Still Live in White America (by Tony Jones)
Tony Jones is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rich Hill, MO. Editor's note: Rich Hill is on the southern end of the same county of my church (northern end). Rich Hill’s population is 95% white, and Bates County clocks in around 96% white. (Mike Bergman) I am, at this moment, sitting in the main lobby of Children’s Mercy Medical Center in downtown Kansas City. I live in Rich Hill, Missouri, a town of approximately 1500 residents which, until approximately 35 years ago had a sign that warned black people not to be caught in town after dark. I hope the title of this post shocked … [Read more...] about Help, I Still Live in White America (by Tony Jones)