It’s all about Christmas
It’s Christmas. Pure, plain and simple, it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For the spokespersons at the Baptist Joint Committee [“Is there a war on Christmas?” Herald, Dec. 15] and their cousins at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State: (1) You do not speak for the vast majority of Baptists and Christians, and (2) it is Christmas. It is a Christmas tree, not a holiday hedge. Christians do not call a Menorah a candlestick. It is not about diversity; it is about Christ. It is not about paying homage to multiple so-called religions; they do not understand the sanctity of Christmas. It is not about guidelines to fit with the naysayer interpretations of our courts. Our courts continue to get it wrong about Christianity and Christmas. Since 90 percent of our citizens celebrate it, let’s get it straight: Christmas, Christ’s birth; not Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings, but Christmas.
Carl Douglas, Springfield
Carl Douglas, Springfield
Change and Christmas
One of the things Christians are rightly accused of is our tendency of shooting down one another. Church splits and denominational divides provide evidence to the fact. Brent Walker’s article [“Is there a war on Christmas?” Herald, Dec. 15] is no exception. While he may have his view of the changing culture in America and how Christians ought to take it, he is wrong to say that other believers in Christ are self-centered because they see things differently.
America is in the midst of change, as is the whole world. What was once indeed a “Christian” nation has become very pagan. I say Christian nation in reference to America, in the same way I would say that Egypt is a Muslim nation or that Israel is a Jewish nation. Indeed, all of Europe, from whose womb America was conceived, was once Christian. And to call this a “myth” is an insult to every intelligent student of history and, worse than that, to every elderly person across America who still remembers prayer in school and even the reading of the Bible in class, before the courts reinterpreted the First Amendment to prohibit both in our schools. (What part of “nor prohibit the free exercise thereof” are we missing here?)
As I write this letter, I have at my feet Richmond Times-Dispatch newspapers from December 1972. While the ads use both “holidays” and “Christmas” in wording their promotions, it is the second term that stands out overwhelmingly. Thalhimers even called itself “Your Christmas Store.” Is there a store that would make that claim today?
What happened? Change happened. Is the change for the better? Let me answer that with a question. What single event in human history changed the entire course of the world for the better more than anything else in the memory of mankind? Would the birth of Jesus Christ fit the bill?
Now another question: Are we right to blend Christmas among the other holidays or is there something about Christmas that elevates its value above the others? Did the whole world benefit from the humanists, the ACLU, Muhammad or Buddha, as it has from the coming of Christ? Or am I just selfish?
Jeff Farris, Petersburg
Jeff Farris, Petersburg
More dangerous than dumb
I read with great interest and anticipation your recent editorial, “Just plain dumb” and the corresponding article regarding the International Mission Board [Herald, Dec. 8]. I have no point of disagreement with what you had to say in the editorial. However, in the emphasis over whether a candidate professes to use a private prayer language, I believe a more substantial issue may have been overlooked.
That issue is the checking back on the doctrines of baptism and of the security of the believer (or any doctrine for that matter) of the candidate’s church. The IMB website states, “… the candidate is responsible to meet this doctrinal commitment. While the IMB candidate consultant should have a working knowledge of other denominational groups, the document says he is not expected to investigate every church.” I can only surmise what the church believed about the doctrine of the “security of the believer” when I was baptized over 40 years ago. And in what time period does this apply—when the candidate was baptized or when he/she is applying for a missionary position? And if a candidate is not expected to investigate his/her church, what is the point of this requirement? I agree that disqualifying a person because of his/her use of “private prayer language” is dumb. But delving into a candidate’s church’s doctrinal positions is more dangerous than dumb.
I can see all kinds of complicated ramifications from this policy, based upon when the candidate was baptized, the doctrines of any other churches the candidate held membership in and, ultimately, the autonomy of the local church. Many religious ultraconservatives have decried their perceptions of “Big Brother” moving into the fabric of our society. Maybe he has found a home at the IMB as well.
David Robinson, Hampton
David Robinson, Hampton
Christmas on a Sunday?
Your recent front page story “Christmas on a Sunday?” [Herald, Dec. 22] misses an important point, like so many other recent discussions on this topic. From the comments presented, one would get the impression that these churches went a week with no corporate worship gathering, even though the article itself indicates that these churches did have corporate worship—sometimes multiple corporate worship gatherings—mere hours ahead of the usual Sunday morning time. Our church was also one of those that chose to put all of its emphasis into the Christmas Eve worship time, and not attempt to convince people to go home for a few hours, then run back to church, as if the previous worship experience was somehow illegitimate or inadequate.
Baptists claim that they are not a sacramental people. But from this issue, it is clear that Sunday morning worship (and I dare say, for some, Sunday morning at 11 sharp) is a sacramental hour. If the worship experience our congregation had a few hours earlier was an illegitimate expression of weekly corporate worship, then is an 8:30 a.m. Sunday service incrementally less legitimate than 11? If we had moved Sunday worship to Sunday night, would we be equally apostate?
In the Advent and Christmas season, our church gathers more, worships more, praises more than in any other season of the year. Our sanctuary fills up multiple times in December, when there is room to spare the rest of the year. Any commentator who then thinks we have somehow “sold out to culture” by moving a weekly worship service to a time several hours earlier than usual, and filling the sanctuary in the process, does not know the difference between sacrament and symbol, habit and holiness, ritualism and relationship with Christ.
Alan Thompson, Crozet
Alan Thompson, Crozet
Thanks for assistance
Grace Hills Baptist Church in Appomattox, Va., wants to take this opportunity to thank the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and all members of the Baptist General Association of Virginia for their generous help with the construction and furnishing of our new church. We realize that it is most unusual for the board to grant both the start-up fund and the fund for permanent structures at the same time. This makes us feel very humble and appreciative.
Because of your help, we had our first service in the new facility on Dec. 18 with an overflow attendance.
Please accept our grateful and heartfelt thanks.
Members of Grace Hills Baptist Church
Members of Grace Hills Baptist Church
Saddened by action
It is with sadness and shame that I learned of the International Mission Board trustees’ decision, in effect, to “forbid speaking in tongues,” even in private.
This incredibly un-Christian and un-Baptist action denies the competency of the individual soul in matters of personal relationship with and worship of God. This action is absolutely not in keeping with true Baptist tradition!
That a practice is “common” or “typical” to many local congregations certainly does not mean that such a practice is either truly Christian or even “traditional Baptist.”
Even heathens understand that, “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society” (Krishnamurti). Nor is it a measure of sound doctrine to imitate the practices of churches that deny the clear command of Scripture.
This act by the IMB trustees is a direct rebellion against God’s command in 1 Cor. 14:39 (note also vv. 37-38) and would make the Apostle Paul himself ineligible for IMB appointment. Shame on us!
The New Testament word translated “heresy” means literally “a choosing.” When we choose which parts of Scripture we will and will not obey, we are—literally—committing “heresy.” Heresy is not really about “wrong belief.” Heresy is about picking and choosing which parts of God’s written Word one will believe and obey.
I call upon the trustees of the International Mission Board to: 1) disclose their own votes on this issue; and, 2) to rescind immediately this un-Christian and un-Baptist act of heretical rebellion.
Peter H. Gilliland, Rocky Mount, N.C.
Peter H. Gilliland, Rocky Mount, N.C.
On speaking and listening
Your recent editorial “Speaking and listening” [Herald, Dec. 15] reached a new height in my opinion of your Religious Herald editorials. It was Christmas morning with an extra hour before going to church when I got a true meaning of your statement, “It is amazing what we learn when we cease speaking for God and instead dwell quietly before him.” Yes, our church decided not to have our ten o’clock Sunday school hour. I was among the minority vote.
With an extra hour I finished my Sunday school lesson, “Why Jesus?” and had an extended quiet time with only the sound of rain on the windows. Had I been at Sunday school, I would have been part of the discussion taking place. Your editorial made me aware that sometimes I am most generous in sharing my opinion in Sunday school or the business meeting; it is only when I am suddenly asked to pray that I am not so gifted.
During this experience, I realized I was not only celebrating Jesus’ birthday, but I felt his presence. This evening all of our family will gather and celebrate the joy of Christmas. I will have had the best of both worlds.
James Bennett, Red House
James Bennett, Red House