Technorati Lists Grace and Truth to You A Top 100 Blog

I don't know a great deal about technology, but over the past few years I've become a tad bit more proficient. Technorati is the resource for all things associated with blogging, and according to the professionals Grace and Truth to You is in the Top 100 blogs for two categories: Living and Religion. Last week this blog cracked the Top 10 of all Religious Blogs. It's obvious the subject matter of this blog covers more than just religion. Posts relate to history, culture, politics, the family, and a host of other topics. But it is true that one of the major functions of this blog is to address issues related to the Southern Baptist Convention. I write, and it seems that people are reading. In commemoration of reaching the 4,000,000 visitor mark, I refer the reader to an interesting commentary on the power of blogs in the 21st Century:

It used to be that once something appeared in print it was rarely ever challenged. I think, to to a certain extent, the system in place for challenging the journalists and national newspapers was too complex and time consuming for many of us to pursue. ..not to mention that the Press Complaints Commission is a self regulating body… Today, however, it’s much easier to correct factual inaccuracies--(thanks to the power of blogs).

Here's hoping that the ideologues who give an inaccurate and false accusation of "liberal" toward those conservative, Christ-honoring, Bible-believing Baptists within the Southern Baptist Convention who happen to disagree with their ideological interpretations of Scripture can forever be corrected by bloggers who will correct the record.

In His Grace,


Wade Burleson

Are the Bluebirds, Evidence of Perfect Balance, at Home in Our Churches?

Mike Klemme is a famous photographer. He made his reputation by publishing breathtaking photographs of golf courses around the world. Mike has worked with the legends in the game of golf, including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf and others. It was very interesting listening to Mike's stories last week as we traversed the state doing some research and photography.

Mike is very familiar with the finest golf courses in the world, having officially photographed Augusta, St. Andrews, and other legendary golf courses at home and internationally. He rates the top golf courses in Oklahoma, in terms of beauty and balance, as (1). Karsten Creek, Stillwater; (2). The Golf Club of Oklahoma, Broken Arrow; (3). Southern Hills, Tulsa; (4). Oak Tree, Edmond, (5). The Territory, Duncan. One of the interesting tidbits of information Mike gave me was how a layman like myself could determine whether or not a golf course was in natural balance. He said that when nature and ecology are in balance at a golf course, the blue birds appear. A golf course without blue birds is a sign that there is either too much or too little water, chemicals, noise, etc....

As I thought about the natural balance of "grace and truth," I couldn't help but wonder what are the bluebirds of balance within our churches. In other words, what are the signs that we have a perfect blend and balance of both grace and truth. I don't know that I have the answers, but I can tell you I'm at least asking the questions.

In His Grace,

Wade

When Men Begin to Make Monkeys of Themselves

On November 12, 1927, Harlow's Weekly reported: "On July 17, 1926 Pastor J. Frank Norris shot and killed Dexter E. Chipps, a Fort Worth lumber dealer. Pastor Norris claimed the shooting was in self-defense as Chipps had made a "hip pocket" move. Chipps was unarmed. A jury from which there was an attempt by by the defense to exclude all Roman Catholics and "so-called liberals" and the prosecution to exclude all fundamentalists and members of the Ku Klux Klan, acquitted Pastor Norris on January 25, 1927."

Harlow's, an Oklahoma City newspaper in the 1920's, reported on the background of the Pastor of First Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, because of the anti-evolution controversy occurring in Oklahoma during the 1920's. J. Frank Davis, the fighten' fundamentalist from Texas had joined forces with Mordecai Ham, Pastor of FBC Oklahoma City, to enact the first "Anti-Darwin laws" in the nation; two years prior to Tennessee's Scopes trial. Speaking before his own legislature, in preparation for assisting his fellow Southern Baptists against evolutionists, Pastor J. Frank Norris declared:

""So far as I am concerned, so help me God, I will not be a party to wink at, support, or even remain silent when any group, clique, crowd or machine undertakes to ram down the throats of Southern Baptists that hell-born, Bible destroying, deity-ot-Christ denying, German [!] rationalism known as evolution."

J. Frank Norris graduated from Baylor and Southern Seminary. He pastored Southern Baptist Churches in Dallas and Fort Worth. He is credited with moving Southwestern Theological Seminary from Waco to Fort Worth. He edited the Texas Southern Baptist paper, the Baptist Standard. He was a blue-blood Southern Baptist who considered anyone who disagreed with his interpretations of the Bible an enemy. To Pastor Norris, destroying reputations, tearing down another's ministries, or even shooting a man, was justifiable if the cause of truth was being upheld.

When the Scopes Trial ended in Tennessee, having felt the intense hatred and anger of the religious fundamentalists, Lady Darwin, daughter-in-law to Charles Darwin, was overheard while boarding an oceanliner saying, "I think men are beginning to make monkeys of themselves."

As one who believes, unlike Lady Darwin, in a literal six-day Creation, let me add my agreement to her statement. When religious fundamentalists, no matter their beliefs, act as if they must defend the truth, to the point of destroying anyone who disagrees, then we are making monkeys of ourselves. Truth needs no defense. It simply needs to be loosed. And, if the enemy of truth tries to keep it caged, the God of all truth holds the lock.

The only thing that needs constant propping up, as well as continual attacks against those who question it, is error.

The Silence of Southern Baptists Shall Become the Shame of Southern Baptists

Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner, President of Liberty Seminary in Lynchburgh, Virginia has been caught in a web of deception of his own making. Dr. Caner has publicly stated that he came to the United States at age fifteen having been trained to be a jihadist. In reality, Caner came to Ohio at age four and lived a comfortable, American life.  Dr. Caner has also publicly stated that his first language was Arabic and he was trained in a madrassa in Turkey. Several International Mission Board missionaries who speak fluent Arabic have emailed me, horrified at what they have heard Dr. Caner try to pass off as his native Arabic during his audio and video sermons at SBC churches. They confirm what others have been saying--he is speaking complete gibberish. The myth Dr. Caner has created about himself seems now to be unraveling. He never came to America "via Beirut and Cairo." He has never been trained as a fundamentalist Muslim. He has never been a jihadist. He has never debated top Muslim scholars, in Nebraska or anywhere else. It is impossible for any of us to understand why someone would fabricate or embellish his past, but there's a great deal of money to be made selling books and DVD's about Islam in post 9/11. Whose a better expert on the subject than a radical jihadist who has converted to faith in Jesus Christ, right?

My friend, Mosab Hassan Yousef, has lived the life that Ergun seems to want Christians to believe Ergun has lived. People like Yousef see right through Ergun. I cannot figure out why some Southern Baptists seem to have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that one of our leaders is capable of lying about his past. The excuse making, the covering up, the dismissals, the justifications, and most of all the silence of Southern Baptist leadership about one of our own will one day wind up turning into our collective shame. What is available in published form is enough to indict Dr. Caner's truthfulness, without ever going to motive. Dr. Caner's apology for mistakes of "unintentional misleading statements" is like a Certified Public Accountant apologizing for unintentionally ignoring GAAP accounting principles and the law of the land - he may be sorry but there are consequences when the issue goes to the heart of one's calling.

The new biography of Dr. Caner is set to go up this week. The old biography, filled with deceptive statements, remains down at Caner's  website . The new one has been directly approved by Liberty Seminary's Chancellor, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Jr. When write I Dr. Falwell has"approved" the new biography, I mean the Chancellor sat at his desk, read the new proposed biography of Caner's life, and said, "Post it." I'm not sure it has even crossed the Chancellor's mind how odd it is to have to rewrite, reread, and repost a biography of his President. Reporters from two national newspapers and producers from a national news magazine are watching with keen interest upcoming conferences where Dr. Caner is speaking. Why is the secular media interested?

Well, according to them, it's baffling how we evangelicals will allow someone who has given us falsehoods about his past to teach us "the truth" about Islam. I happen to agree. But I would also question why we would even allow him to teach us "the truth" about the gospel.

How God Merges Culture and Truth in His Word

There are some conservatives who are concerned that "truth" is often compromised by the embrace of "culture." Evangelicals that adopt certain aspects of culture in order to promote "the truth" of God's word are sometimes condemned as "liberals" or "compromisers."

Interestingly, the biblical word "truth" is formed using the Greek culture of mythology. "Truth" translates the biblical Greek word "alethia." Alethia is a compound word composed of "a" (which means "not" in Greek) and "lethe" (which means "forgotten, hidden, or concealed" in Greek). Truth, then, literally means "that which is not hidden" or "that which is not forgotten."

Lethe was the Greek goddess of oblivion and forgetfulness. When people died, according to the ancient Greeks, they went to Hades where they had to drink from Lethe's water--a river in Hades named after the goddess Lethe. Those who would cup their hands, draw water from the river and drink, would forget their previous existence on earth. This would allow for the dead to be "reincarnated" and not remember their past lives.

The Apostle Paul says that we Christians are to delight in NOT hiding, concealing and forgetting (i.e. "lethe"). We are to "rejoice with the truth" (Gr. "alethia") I Corinthians 13:6. Comprehending the meaning of this word truth does not negate the rightful understanding that we Christians are to be people who love right doctrine, but the understanding of the etymology of the Greek word "truth" should lead us to believe other things as well:

(1). We Christians ought to rejoice in all matters of Christian ministry being placed out in the open for all to see and not hidden from view (i.e. "We are children of light, not darkness"). This should give every SBC convention committee (think GCR), institution (IMB, seminaries, etc...), church and person pause before we do ANYTHING in secret.

(2). We Christians ought to live lives that are authentic and transparent, avoiding hidden agendas and secrets.

(3). We Christians ought to delight in relationships that are built on genuine openness and real community--not the superficial, religious relationships often formed by institutional Christianity.

But the interesting tidbit about biblical "truth," at least from my perspective, is that the word itself comes from ancient Greek mythology. Not many western Christians realize this. It seems God is not as upset about using certain aspects of pagan culture to promote the "truth" as some would have us think.

God bless those evangelicals who understand this principle.

In His Grace,

Wade