Disturbed by article
The May 26 article, “Surrender All,” by Margaret Bernstein of the Religion News Service, disturbed me. My great dilemma is being uncertain of why I was most disturbed.
It bothered me that a Baptist pastor such as Otis Moss would have invited Oprah Winfrey to preach at his church when she has such a history of promoting New Age thought on her TV show. While she claims to have a Christian heritage, she has exchanged it for a generic spirituality that embraces all sorts of non-Christian beliefs. Perhaps Rev. Moss allowed her into his pulpit because of the “overflow crowd of 2,000 [that] had gathered to hear.” I'm sure that morning brought a record-breaking offering.
Bernstein's article noted Winfrey's $600,000 donation to Cuyahoga Community College. My question is, what is that to the richest woman alive? The article reminded me of Mark 12:41-44, the story of wealthy people who proudly gave a small portion of their abundance and the poor widow who humbly gave all she had. Oprah makes a great deal of her philanthropy-giving new cars to every member of her studio audience, having televised baby showers for hundreds of expectant mothers, and so forth. Her giving is always grandiose, always public, and always designed to bring glory to Oprah, not to God.
Bernstein makes a great deal of Winfrey's limousine-driven appearance, and her “glamorous hair and a form-fitting peach suit that instantly set the crowd abuzz.” The message she preached was about herself, and how God had granted her success.
Bernstein seemed impressed by the dance offered in her honor, saying, “The girls … swirled around her like little angels in their floor-length white robes, while Winfrey beamed and lifted her hands in praise.” My question is, praise to whom? The entire article seemed devoted to praise Oprah Winfrey, who deigned to attend a Baptist worship service.
I am not sure whether I am more upset with Rev. Moss's lack of judgment in inviting a pagan to preach in a Christian church, or with the Oprah-praising tone with which Bernstein writes. I am disappointed with the Religious Herald for printing the story, and even more so for giving it front-page status. Let's have a little more discernment in the future, please.
Greg Smith, Red Oak
I do believe you missed your mission statement in your article “Surrender all”! If Otis Moss, pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, chooses to have Oprah Winfrey fill his pulpit on Christian Family Unity Day, of all days, that is his problem. But to have the Virginia Baptist weekly Religious Herald print it is another problem!
I like Winfrey a lot and am sure she does a lot of good for many people. But that does not change the facts. She lives with a man that she is not married to and makes no secret of that fact.
Is this just one of those “little sins” that you just ignore? None are perfect, but let's not encourage it by having her speak from the pulpit and then bring it to us Virginians like it is newsworthy. Leave it in Ohio. Virginia has enough going on now.
Betty Hammock, Keysville
Unfamiliar word
I think this is a thought worth sharing. After listening to public prayers (including my own) for many years, it is registering with me that there is a word I do not ever recall hearing-“Please.”
Bill Crisp, Haymarket
Church sign
As a churchgoing moderate Baptist from “liberal” Northern Virginia and a retired foreign service officer, I write with saddened heart and outrage over a broadcast I heard on ABC radio affiliate WMAL's morning show on May 25. A pastor Lovelace of a Southern Baptist church in North Carolina was interviewed because of a lighted sign in front of his church this past week which read, “Flush the Koran.” The pastor contended that the Christian concept of God is the only god, and showed no respect for other religions of the world.
This message blemishes the name of all Baptists and further reinforces the recent negative public opinions in much of the rest of the world against the United States. Moreover, it is not a message that “my” Jesus Christ would have preached. It is little wonder that simple uneducated U.S. military prison guards see no harm in the actions confirmed by leaked FBI documents in today's media that the Koran was indeed flushed down the toilet in Guantanamo.
It is time for moderate Baptists to step up to the plate and defend the true Christian faith, which teaches that God loves everyone, and that we “should love one another.”
Ted Poling, McLean