Opinion Column Archives - Baptist & Reflector

ARE YOU READY TO RECONCILE IN 2021?

January 21, 2021

By David S. Dockery
Interim provost, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Perhaps in recent weeks you have been given the opportunity to sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” one of Charles Wesley’s great Christmas carols. The angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King: peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”

Nowhere is the theme of reconciliation better pictured than in II Corinthians 5:11-21, which has been called one of the apostle Paul’s charters of Christian ministry.

Paul explains that this new reconciled relationship believers enjoy because of their union with Christ (v. 17) is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. And now He has given us the ministry of reconciliation (v. 18), reminding us that the Lord has committed to us the message of reconciliation (v. 19). Reconciliation involves the restoration of peace in the midst of estrangement as seen in Romans 5:6-11, the exchange of hostility for a friendly relationship.

Behind Paul’s words in Romans 5 and II Corinthians 5 stands the reality of the world’s fallenness, characterized by sin, selfishness, enmity and death. [Read more…]

BURNING WALLS AND BUILDING BRIDGES

January 19, 2021

By Charles A. Fowler
President, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City

The violence that took place at Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 is indefensible. It is an egregious violation of law and an extremely sad chapter in the history of our nation. Regardless of how justified some people who take such extreme and destructive actions may feel, violent events like this deserve to be condemned and hopefully those who planned and perpetrated those acts will face the rule of law.

Sadly, what we saw in Washington, D.C., is an escalation of many events that have taken place in our country over the last few years. It is heartbreaking that on a daily basis news stories inform us about violence that is destroying communities and taking lives all across our nation.

These events confront us with the sobering reality that our nation is in crisis and has been for some time. Many no longer value human life. Others are blind to the presence and painful cost of racism. Many fail to recognize the importance of community. [Read more…]

JUST FOR THE RECORD — ‘AMEN’ MEANS ‘SO BE IT’

January 18, 2021

By Todd E. Brady
Vice president for University ministries, Union University, Jackson

When toddlers jabber made-up phrases, parents and grandparents say, “Aw, isn’t that cute?” When older adults utter nonsensical language, it’s usually sad. When national leaders use senseless words, it’s downright ridiculous.

This week, I could hardly believe the recent headlines that told of House Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) who is also an ordained United Methodist pastor who voiced the prayer for the 117th Congress. As he concluded his prayer, he said “We ask it in the name of the monotheistic, God, Brahma, and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths.” He then finished what the Daily Mail called his “woke Congress prayer” by saying “Amen and awoman.”

What? Well, if that’s not a bunch of mumbo jumbo, then I don’t know what is. It’s one thing to be politically correct. It’s another thing to be ludicrous. Tristan Justice of The Federalist called it “pointless passive-aggressive virtue signaling.” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa summed it up by saying, “Unbelievable.” [Read more…]

CONFESSION NEEDS TO BE MADE ON AN ONGOING BASIS

January 15, 2021

By Chris Turner
cturner@tnbaptist.org

Do Christians need to continue confessing sin after they’ve come into a relationship with Jesus Christ?

I was recently asked that question by a friend who’d been told that continued confession is unnecessary. Since that conversation with him, I’ve heard and read others propagating that same perspective. I don’t know how widespread that thinking is, but it is categorically unbiblical and dangerous to one’s understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

The entire narrative and tone of the Bible establishes God superior to man and man subordinate to God. A methodical reading of just Proverbs reveals two core biblical points: (1) The way to grow in fear (awe/devotion/worship) of God is to pursue (relentlessly chase after) the wisdom (good sense), understanding (mental grasp) and knowledge (familiarity through experience) God offers in His Word; (2) The person who embraces these actions with the goal of living a life pleasing to God will live; the person who does not will die.

Confession is foundational to both points, and it would be difficult to circumstantially support continued confession as unnecessary even through extremely selective proof texting. [Read more…]

A WORD OF HOPE IN A WORLD OF HURT

January 13, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

Racial tensions were high, extremely high. Riots flared and spread across the nation like wildfire. Hundreds of protestors were killed. Lynching was all too common and scarred our society.

But it got worse.

Politics and political parties were in upheaval, and in less than five years a president, a presidential candidate and a globally recognized American civil rights leader were all assassinated.

But it got worse.

Cities burned in protest of a war costing tens of thousands of military lives, and the Pentagon, the epicenter of the U.S. military, was assaulted by over 50,000 protesters as they breached the gates. [Read more…]

TIME TO TURN OVER THE HOURGLASS

January 13, 2021

By Jerry Drace
Evangelist/Senior Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church, Friendship

As the last grains of sand ran out of the 2020 hourglass I read once again the speech of Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn given on June 8, 1978, at the Harvard University commencement service. They were profound at the time and prophetic for 2021.

A portion of his speech follows and concludes with my personal comments. His entire speech can be found at: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/alexandersolzhenitsynharvard.htm. [Read more…]

THREE CERTAINTIES OF LIFE: DEATH, TAXES AND JESUS

January 12, 2021

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Bill Wilkey with his wife, Lynn, left, and sister, Ruby Taylor.

It’s long been said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.

After writing checks for my property taxes in 2020 and learning of the deaths of two dear friends and a family member in just the past two weeks, I tend to agree with that statement.

But, there is a third certainty that far outweighs the first two: Jesus Christ is still on His throne. [Read more…]

GOODBYE 2020, HELLO 2021

January 6, 2021

By Kathy McBroom

This year is a not a year we will soon forget. Speaking for educators, our lives have changed drastically. Those close relationships that we built with kids are now so different.

We’ve gone from watching students learn our educational concepts while being in a classroom with a teacher each day to struggling with the inconsistency of being in class, or at home and online or a combination of both with limited support. The consistency of having students every day close by is gone, and a lot is lost in that. [Read more…]

2020 — A YEAR THAT WILL ‘LIVE IN INFAMY’

January 4, 2021

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

In 1941, then United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt described Dec. 7 “as a day which will live in infamy” after the Japanese attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

This past year will probably be remembered by those who have survived it and historians who look back on 2020 as “the year that will live in infamy.”

To say 2020 was a difficult and trying time for all Americans would probably be the most understatement of all time. [Read more…]

WHEN GOD MAKES MUCH OF LITTLE

December 30, 2020

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

There are times when the peculiar will cause you to pause and think.

For instance, during the first of November, the TBMB received an anonymous donation of two pennies in an envelope addressed to no one in particular, and with no specific gift designation. The envelope had no name or return address, just an Etowah postmark and inside the giver’s two cents. [Read more…]

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