Baptist Press Stories for Mar. 12 2013 --------------------------------------- 'Love for every Muslim' should be Christian's heart, panel says http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39861 Americans say homosexuality a civil rights issue http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39860 Retired SBC researcher Cliff Tharp dies http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39868 'The Bible' series retains strong ratings http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39863 Vietnam's decree is a blow to Christianity http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39864 Author: Reaching Muslims not 'rocket science' http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39862 FROM THE STATES: Texas and Alabama evangelism/mission news; Churches must refocus on 'telling,' panel says http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39865 FIRST-PERSON: What we talk about when we talk about Rob Bell http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39866 FIRST-PERSON: What if gay marriage goes nationwide? http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39867 --------------------------------------- 'Love for every Muslim' should be Christian's heart, panel says By Shawn Hendricks/Biblical Recorder Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39861 PLEASANT GARDEN, N.C. (BP) -- Nabeel's life used to be all about showing others he was "an ambassador for Islam." The grandson of Muslim missionaries, Nabeel loved to argue in defense of his religion. And then he unexpectedly befriended a Christian who helped lead him to faith in Jesus. Nabeel shared his story during the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's evangelism conference at Pleasant Garden (N.C.) Baptist Church. The conference theme was "Culture Reach: Understanding, Loving and Relating to Muslims." Also among the speakers were various Christian leaders, educators and mission workers, including Zane Pratt, Mike Licona, Alex McFarland and Fred Luter. "When I became a believer," Nabeel recounted at the Feb. 25 conference, "I had to give up a lot -- my family, my friends, the direction I was going in life. "And when you have to stand in the face of that, you're not going to give up your faith on a whim.... It means something to you." For a Muslim, "your religion is part of your identity," Nabeel added. "To leave Islam is to not just leave what you have believed, but to leave all of the people you know." Nabeel continues to pray for his family and hopes they will one day put their trust in Jesus. "Our job is to share the love of Christ -- period," he said. "That's our calling. Individually in our lives we should portray unadulterated, unabashed love for every Muslim we come across." Zane Pratt, who worked with the International Mission Board in central Asia for about 20 years, acknowledged the reality of persecution of Christians in many parts of the world. But, he noted, there are many misconceptions about Islam. Among them: All Muslims -- or at least most -- are terrorists, which is "simply is not true," said Pratt, now dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "The Muslims we have known, who constitute the vast majority of Muslims, are not violent people. They are warm and friendly. I believe they are wrong [about Jesus] but they are not terrorists." When he and his family moved back to the United States, Pratt described the transition as "incredibly disappointing." "Nobody came over to help us when we moved into our house," he said. "I can guarantee you every time we moved into a house anywhere in the Muslim world all our neighbors came and helped." Other common misconceptions include the idea that the words "Arab" and "Muslim" mean the same thing, and that the word "Allah" comes from the "moon goddess." Both are untrue, Pratt said. The word "Arab" refers to people group and language. While most Arabs adhere to the Islamic religion, many do not, he said. The majority of Muslims live outside the Arabian world, and the largest population of Muslims can be found in Indonesia. Other heavily Muslim populated areas include Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. And the word "Allah," Pratt said, is simply the Arabic word for "god." "'Allah' is related to the Hebrew word for God that you find in the Old Testament," he said. "[It] is the word that Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews used for God before Muhammad was ever born." When speaking English, Pratt said he avoids referring to God as "Allah" because in English the word is tied directly to Islam. "[But] if I'm speaking a Middle Eastern language," he said, "it's just the word that means 'god,' and that is the word I use because that's all it means." Pratt added that Christians still must "import" biblical content into whatever word they use. "You need to assume that people don't understand what you mean," Pratt said. "You need to explain yourself very carefully." Both Mike Licona and Alex McFarland spoke on the importance of Christians clearly articulating what they believe and why they believe it. "Sometimes we want to drive the point home by saying, 'What I'm telling you is true because it works for me. Let me give you my testimony,'" said Licona, associate professor of theology at Houston Baptist University. "And that works in a lot of cases with people whose Gospel language is testimony and experience. "But there are other people who say, 'I don't care about your experience.... I want the facts." Licona is the author of numerous books including "Paul Meets Muhammad." (Baptist Press editor's note: For BP stories involving Licona and the debate over biblical inerrancy, click [URL=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39699]here[/URL] and [URL= http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39700%5Dhere%5B/URL%5D.) Licona said Christians can begin faith-related discussions with Muslims by pointing to the Quran, where Jesus is referred to as Isa. Most Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a "good prophet" who was virgin-born and performed many miracles, Licona said, but they also believe the Bible has been corrupted and they do not believe Jesus is God. By learning what the Quran says about Jesus, comparing that with eyewitness accounts in the four Gospels and with what most historians say about Jesus' death and the resurrection, Licona said a Christian can make a solid case for Jesus to Muslims. "I call it the Catch-22 moment for Muslims," Licona said. The key to remember, Licona said, is that Christians can do better than "quot[ing] a couple Bible verses and walk[ing] away." Christians today live in the "golden age of apologetics," said McFarland, an author, speaker, occasional Fox News guest and director of the Center for Apologetics and Christian Worldview at North Greenville University in South Carolina. "We've had 50 years of C.S. Lewis and Josh McDowell," McFarland said. "There's no reason that every one of our churches shouldn't be equipping people to present, explain and defend the faith." "What we have is opportunity," McFarland said, "because we've got the one message of hope in a world that, with little reflection, concludes there is no hope.... "We've got to remember that our mission is that every succeeding generation know about salvation and about the Gospel," he said. "I will submit to you that we've forgotten our mission." Ultimately, every person needs Jesus no matter who they are, said Fred Luter, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. "You can receive the Gospel no matter your culture, no matter your language, no matter your race, no matter your ethnicity," Luter said. "You can receive the Gospel. "The only thing God is concerned about," Luter said, "is the color of the blood because the blood is what makes us whole. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." --30-- Shawn Hendricks is managing editor of the Biblical Recorder ([URL=http://brnow.org]brnow.org[/URL]), newsjournal of the North Carolina State Baptist Convention, where this story first appeared. -- End of story -- Americans say homosexuality a civil rights issue By Russ Rankin Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39860 NASHVILLE (BP) -- As public policy continues to change on the issue, a LifeWay Research poll shows 58 percent of American adults believe homosexuality is a civil rights issue and 64 percent say it is inevitable same-sex marriage will become legal throughout the United States. Twenty-nine percent say it is not a civil rights issue and 24 percent say gay marriage legalization is not inevitable. LifeWay Research conducted a wide-ranging survey of American adults on questions surrounding same-sex marriage, specifically examining whether Americans believe clergy, wedding photographers, rental halls, landlords and employers have the right to refuse access and services to same-sex couples even if same-sex marriage is made legal in their state. According to the findings: -- 63 percent agree and 27 percent disagree that pastors should be allowed to refuse to officiate same-sex weddings if they are made legal in their state. -- 58 percent agree and 33 percent disagree that photographers should be allowed to refuse to work same-sex weddings if they are made legal in their state. -- 40 percent agree and 52 percent disagree that rental halls should be allowed to refuse to rent out their facilities for same-sex weddings if they are made legal in their state. -- 27 percent agree and 67 percent disagree that landlords should be allowed to refuse to rent housing to same-sex couples if same-sex marriage is made legal in their state. -- 14 percent agree and 82 percent disagree that employers should be allowed to refuse employment to someone based on their sexual preference. Clearly, Americans believe the prerogative exists for individuals such as clergy or photographers to deny services for same-sex marriage, said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research. However, the level of agreement changes with scenarios that could be interpreted as more basic rights such as housing and employment. Consistent in all scenarios of the survey, men are more likely than women to agree these individuals should have the right to refuse services, rental agreements or employment -- as are Americans calling themselves born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Christian. While Americans calling themselves born-again, evangelical, or fundamentalist Christian are most likely to agree that pastors (74 percent), photographers (72 percent) and rental halls (57 percent) should be able to refuse same-sex involvement, the level of agreement is much lower concerning landlords (39 percent) and employers (19 percent). Additional demographic breakdown of the LifeWay Research study shows: -- Americans in the Northwest (31 percent) and West (36 percent) are more likely to disagree than those in the Midwest (22 percent) and South (23 percent) that pastors should be allowed to refuse to officiate same-sex weddings. -- Americans age 65 and older are more likely to agree (37 percent) that landlords should be allowed to refuse to rent housing to same-sex couples. -- Americans who attend religious services one or more times a week are most likely to agree (22 percent) that employers should be allowed to refuse employment based on sexual preference and that landlords should be allowed to refuse to rent housing to same-sex couples (41 percent). While 64 percent of Americans agree same-sex marriage will become legal in the United States, a quarter disagree and 12 percent dont know. The survey reveals Americans in the West (72 percent) are more likely to agree than those in the Midwest (57 percent) that legality is inevitable. Sixty-one percent of Southerners agree. Those calling themselves born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Christian are less likely to agree (50 percent) and more likely to disagree (38 percent) that this will happen. The survey shows women (61 percent), Americans with a college degree (65 percent), and those age 18-29 (65 percent) are more likely to agree that homosexuality is a civil rights issue like gender, race and age. While a majority of Americans categorize homosexuality as a civil rights issue like age, race and gender, and almost two-thirds think legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is evitable, the research does show lines and divisions on these issues clearly exist in our country, Stetzer said. The survey was conducted Nov. 14-16 via an online panel representing the adult population of the United States. Responses were weighted by region, age, ethnicity, gender, and education to reflect the population. The completed sample of 1,191 surveys provides a 95 percent confidence that the sampling error from this panel does not exceed +2.9 percent. Margins of error are higher in subgroups. --30-- Russ Rankin is a writer for the communications office of LifeWay Christian Resources. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]). -- End of story -- Retired SBC researcher Cliff Tharp dies By Marty King Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39868 NASHVILLE (BP) -- Cliff Tharp, Jr., who coordinated the annual reporting and analysis of the Southern Baptist Convention's membership statistics, died Monday (March 11) in Richmond, Va. He was 70. Tharp retired from LifeWay Christian Resources in 2008 as senior coordinator of the Annual Church Profile (ACP) process after serving the denomination 39 years. The ACP is the system the denomination's 45,000 cooperating churches use to report membership, attendance, stewardship and leadership information. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, announced Tharp's death at the opening of a meeting of statistical representatives from state Baptist conventions the day following his unexpected death -- a meeting Tharp would have organized prior to his retirement. "Much of what Cliff Tharp did is foundational to what we do today through LifeWay Research," Stetzer said. "In our desire to serve our churches and be good stewards, we stand on his shoulders. Cliff taught me that facts are our friends. We would be a better convention if we loved facts like Cliff Tharp did." Tharp led conversion of the ACP process from a laborious manual system to web-based reporting focused on a few key statistics. His statistical analysis provided valuable information to SBC churches across the country and trend development and analysis to denominational leaders. LifeWay presented each state ACP coordinator with a copy of Tharp's book "Standing Out of Sight: A History of Denominational Statistics in the Southern Baptist Convention 1882-2009." Tharp held a bachelor's degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., a master's from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and a doctorate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Tharp and his wife Rose were longstanding members of First Baptist Church in Nashville but moved to Richmond, Va., following retirement to be near their daughter Stacey and her family. --30-- Marty King is director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]). -- End of story -- 'The Bible' series retains strong ratings By Staff Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39863 NASHVILLE (BP) -- History Channel's "The Bible" miniseries retained strong ratings in its second week with 10.8 million viewers Sunday (March 10), placing it second among all cable programming. "Walking Dead" (11.46 million) finished first among cables shows for the night. Among both broadcast and cable programs, CBS' "60 Minutes" finished first with 11.58 million viewers. The Bible miniseries debuted with 13.1 million total viewers March 3 to become the No. 1 entertainment telecast on cable so far this year and was the top show that night on either broadcast or cable TV. More than 50 million cumulative viewers have seen at least a portion of the series since it began, according to a press release. Media websites have noticed the miniseries' popularity. BusinessWeek.com posted a story with the headline, "How the History Channel Turned 'The Bible' Into a Blockbuster." Time.com and several other websites posted stories calling the miniseries a "hit." "Those are the kinds of numbers that get TV executives' attention, and 'attention' in the TV business means copying," Time's James Poniewozik wrote. "Last year, History pulled meganumbers with Hatfields and McCoys; now NBC is developing a Hatfields and McCoys series. So I wouldn't be surprised to see more religious epics coming to TV -- stories aimed, like The Bible miniseries, at the comfort zone of believers." The five-night series will be telecast over the next three Sundays, concluding Easter. Next up is an episode portraying the arrival of Jesus. Two professing Christians, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, are the executive producers. Downey told the radio program "For Faith & Family" that the "intention of making this series was to glorify God." The Bible airs Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on History Channel. --30-- Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]). -- End of story -- Vietnam's decree is a blow to Christianity By Staff/World Watch Monitor Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39864 VIETNAM (BP) -- Vietnam's latest changes in enforcement of its highest law regarding religion clarify the country's intent to especially control the spread of Christianity, according to an authority on Vietnamese Protestant Christianity, World Watch Monitor has reported. The authority, whose name is being withheld for his safety, has served as an advocate for persecuted Christians in Vietnam since it reunited under communism in 1975. World Watch Monitor asked him to take a close look at the new Decree on Religion 92/2012 ND-CP, known as ND-92, meant to clarify rules written in 2005. Here are his findings. Background Eight years ago, the highest levels of the Communist Party and the Vietnam government signaled they were shifting away from direct ideological opposition to, and repression of, religion, especially Christianity. They took up a new, managerial approach to religion, using registration as the chief means of control. This was somehow supposed to translate into more freedom. The evidence for this change was the adoption of three new religion "laws:" The 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief; the 2005 Decree on Religion 22/2005/ND-CP explaining how to implement the ordinance, and the Prime Minister's Special Instruction No. 1 Regarding Protestantism. The latter was hastily created to fill a hole during the run-up to Vietnam's attempt to accede to the World Trade Organization when the country faced harsh international criticism for its repressive religion policies and practices. It was intended to show quick progress in church registration while the larger laws were being worked out. In the eight years since this legislation, the church-registration regime has been found seriously wanting. While eight Protestant denominations could prove they had been around since before the 1975 communist victory, more than half of Vietnam's Protestants remain unregistered. Hundreds of applications by congregations to receive supposedly straightforward permission to function have been ignored or rejected by local authorities. For the dozens of house-church denominations that began to emerge in 1988, there is no clear path toward registration, despite what the laws may say. In actual practice, registration has often been used as a tool to manipulate churches, leading many to lose interest in registering. The new decree ND-92, which had long been rumored, is intended to replace and clarify its often murky predecessor, ND-22, as the operational guide for the implementation of the 2004 ordinance, Vietnam's highest "law" on religion. The new decree went into effect Jan. 1. A transparent registration regime is far short of full religious freedom. In theory however, it could be better than the previous heavy-handed oppression and persecution sponsored from the top. Yet registration has been implemented inconsistently, leaving more than half of Protestants still unregistered and vulnerable to arbitrary harassment and oppression. There is reason to believe this is intentional: Vietnam's religion bureaucracy last February credited The Prime Minister's Special Instruction on Protestantism for slowing the rapid growth of Protestantism.2 This application of the instruction is directly opposite to its originally announced purpose. Registration decree ND-22 left many things unclear, creating room for officials to apply much subjective discretion. Most often they simply ignored registration requests, or capriciously denied them. In practice, many religious communities functioned without too much difficulty. The vagueness of ND 22, however, also meant it was difficult to enforce some provisions of the ordinance. After gradually granting legal status during the last eight years to eight Protestant denominations, the registration process for Protestants effectively ground to a halt. Enforcement of other provisions of the religion laws has been arbitrary. From the government's point of view, more clarity was needed if the ordinance and its operational decree were to become effective tools for managing religion. The result was ND-92. The omens however, were not good. During the drafting stages of ND-92, there were news reports of government consultation with religious leaders known to be sympathetic to the government. Even these leaders were said to object strongly. Method of evaluation The Vietnamese language decree ND-92 reached me Nov. 9, 2012, the day after it was published. I have studied it carefully in the original language. In December I was able to ask well-placed government officials and a significant number of Protestant leaders about the new decree. A number of other religious groups, some Buddhist and Catholic organizations for example, have published their own analyses, which I have compared with my own findings. What does ND-92 include, and does it advance freedom? The tone is set early. Chapter I is entitled "Freedom of religion and belief." Article 2 contains 23 words that "guarantee" freedom of religion and belief. Those are followed by 142 words of conditions and warnings about its abuse. That's a 6:1 ratio of warnings of abuse to promises of freedom. Article 2 also promises "no one may infringe on a citizen's freedom of religion." The rest of the 24-page, 46-article decree infringes on that guarantee in even more intrusive ways than its 2005 predecessor. And so it goes: one step forward, two steps back. ND-92 is designed to be more a tool for the control of religion than a step toward religious freedom. The Party's and the government's deep suspicions of religion and religious people remain clearly on display. The updated decree appears to unmask the real purpose behind the 2004 ordinance: to manage, control and contain religious groups. The weight of abiding by this decree would be onerous for religious people and organizations, and this appears intentional. Most relevant to Christian organizations are the six sections and 18 articles comprising Chapter 3, entitled "Religious organizations." Fundamental to understanding this chapter and the entire decree is the word "dang ky," commonly translated "registration" or "register." In developed legal systems, if one meets well-known, clear and encoded written requirements, the law obligates the state to register it, be it an organization, a car or a copyright. By contrast, the dang ky registration in Vietnam's handling of religion, including in ND-92, functions like having to ask permission. The evidence of this is that officials, usually at the commune level, have complete discretion on whether to grant registration. "Registration" therefore, is more accurately understood as "asking permission." Many observers have not grasped or accepted this reality, thinking that registration in this context means meeting an objective requirement, or simply informing officials. The reality is registration or permission is often conditional on elusive criteria which are open to highly subjective interpretation. This holds for permission for various levels of religious practice, such as religious meetings, religious activities or organizations seeking full legal recognition. It also holds for the approval of religious leaders in their official positions or location of service, and to students who wish to enter a religious vocation. These elusive criteria are prominently spelled out in Articles 8 and 15 of the 2004 ordinance. According to Article 15: Religious activities or belief will be suspended in the following instances: -- They infringe upon national security or seriously affect public order or the environment; -- They adversely affect the peoples' unity or the fine national cultural traditions; -- They infringe upon the life, health, dignity, honor or property of other persons; -- They involve other serious breaches of the law. What comes through clearly in these criteria is the government's assumption that religious people are potentially dangerous people existing at the margins of legality and inclined toward antisocial behavior. The criteria readily provide excuses for officials to deny permission. Consider the leader of a religious group seeking permission to conduct a meeting. Article 5 of ND-92 requires the leader "to have a spirit of national unity and reconciliation." Anyone who teaches the fundamental Christian tenet of worshipping God alone, and not ancestors or national heroes, is someone who could be accused of being against "national unity" or "the fine national cultural traditions." Article 6, stipulating qualifications for registering religious activities, says the group must have "doctrines, articles of faith, rites and ceremonies that support the nation and do not contradict fine traditions and customs." This leaves much discretion to often hostile officials and state agencies with power to grant permission. A new category -- and why is that? There are other anomalies and contradictions in the decree. Article 5 adds "religious meetings" (sinh hoat ton giao) as a new, lowest-level practice needing permission or dang ky, "[if] citizens have a need for religious meetings to worship, pray and express their faith." This appears to replace the 2005 PM's Special Instruction, issued under international pressure, to purportedly grant permission promptly. "Religious meetings" seeking registration are required to name their organization and beliefs, identity their "representatives" by name and address, specify the number of members, and guarantee that the objectives and contents of the meetings do not offend the "people's unity," "cultural traditions" and other virtues exalted in Articles 8 and 15 of the 2004 ordinance. At points, ND-92 ties itself in knots. One requirement is having a "legal place for religious meetings." By definition a "religious meeting" seeking permission to meet does not have such a place. This new requirement apparently means every local congregation must obtain permission to meet before the congregation's umbrella denomination can apply for higher-level registrations. This is yet another twist in the old tangle of already legally recognized denominations going back to register their individual ethnic minority churches. Before ND-92 came along, the government sometimes would order a denomination to do this. Under the new decree, it appears to be a standard requirement. All the while, many Hmong congregations already one or two decades old and affiliated with Evangelical Church Vietnam North, which has had legal registration since 1958, have been waiting years for registration. This provision of the decree only raises the question: what does full legal recognition mean, anyway? Unreasonable times frames -- 20 years and counting, but from when? One level up from "religious meetings" is the category of "religious activities" (hoat dong ton giao). Registration at this level requires the demonstration of 20 years or more of "stable" religious meetings, meaning a spotless criminal and administrative record in the eyes of commune-level peoples' committee. Prior to ND-92 however, the law contained no provision for registration of religious meetings. The prerequisite to registration for religious activities, then, was 20 years of meeting illegally, yet somehow without criminal or legal blemish. The new decree may have eliminated that particular catch-22, but it also may have introduced a new obstacle. Consider: The earliest commune-level permissions for religious meetings could first be granted in January. The logical conclusion, then, is that no registrations for "religious activity" could be obtained for another 20 years. With the period between registration for religious activity and full, legal registration now extended to three years, the first of such registrations could not take place until 2036. And if commune authorities accuse a group of legal or administrative infractions, or of having leaders lacking "the spirit of national solidarity," the process is further prolonged. A better but still dispiriting possibility is that authorities could decide to start the 20-year, good-behavior period if and when an organization had at least some of its congregations registered under the 2005 PM's Special Instruction. In this case, the earliest next full legal registrations would be possible in 2028. There is mounting evidence that the strategy of the government, in sticking with and even extending these unreasonably long time periods, is to pressure unregistered groups to join already registered ones, supposedly to more easily manage the religion file. There is growing government pressure for individual congregations to leave their current organization and join registered groups. And some of these groups, believed to be a bit too friendly with the government, are themselves recruiting otherwise affiliated congregations promising them benefits. Cumbersome and complicated obligations Registered congregations and denominations are required each October to disclose all their intended activities for the coming year. Changes in activities are not allowed after permission is granted. This is impossible because religious organizations by nature must deal with members' unpredictable rites of passage, such as baptisms, weddings and funerals. There are complicated provisions for varying or adding unforeseen activities, but they are cumbersome and require unreasonable advance notice. Promises of efficiency and clearer lines of authority Government officials are quick to point out that the new decree is more advantageous for religious groups than the old because it shortens the time in which officials must respond to requests and applications, and even requires them to state in writing the reasons in case of denial. Five final articles of the new decree do more clearly describe government lines of authority than the old decree. These "improvements" as described by some government officials could, if implemented, mean more efficiency in management and control of religion. But it is hard to see how they could concurrently produce any steps toward greater freedom. It is possible that already fully registered organizations may benefit from clearer guidelines and timelines in asking permission for training schools and other infrastructure. If authorities abide by timelines required, religious organizations will not be left hanging interminably as they often have been under the 2005 decree. It is a big "if." Leaders and clergy on a short rope Articles 14 - 26 of ND-92 include highly detailed and intrusive qualifications and provisions for clergy training, ordination, stripping of credentials, placement, change of placement, travel and so on. All of these matters are universally considered internal ones for religious organizations. International travel by clergy and believers for religious reasons now requires permission from the central Government Committee of Religious Affairs in Hanoi, and full details of the meetings to be attended must be provided to the government. The government requires 25 working days to decide and reply. A Vietnamese religious person granted permission to travel abroad must report any change in status granted to them by the overseas organization, and must disclose the content of courses studied. These requirements are new. If enforced they will largely frustrate the regular international travel of the hundreds of Vietnamese Protestants who have in recent years been going abroad for religious meetings, conferences and training. This is probably the intention. Religious activity confined to the four walls of a church There is a strong, explicit theme in the decree trying to confine and limit "religious activity" to the four walls of a church building. Most Protestants in Vietnam do not have church buildings. Article 31 prescribes the times and conditions under which a religious congregation can ask for permission to conduct a religious activity outside a legal church establishment. If the activity involves anyone outside the membership, the authorities require 15 working days to consider a reply. Try to imagine attempting to organize the funeral of a prominent person, which many from afar would like to attend and which required more room than the local church building. Foreigners and religion Twenty-five working days are required for the religious affairs committee to consider a detailed request for foreign religious leaders to visit Vietnam for a religious event. The same holds true for foreign students who want to study in Vietnam. Foreigners living in Vietnam may request permission to meet for religious worship only within in a church building, a reversal of the current practice in which some foreign congregations meet in homes, hotels or other buildings. What others say The website of the Vietnam Human Rights Committee published an article Dec. 19 by Protestant lawyer and activist Nguyen Van Dai, who is under restricted release following a prison sentence. Dai notes several significant internal contradictions in Decree ND-92. One is the new and severe limitation of religious practice during the 20-year probation period following the first registration of a congregation by its commune level peoples' committees. He observes that only "religious worship meetings" (sinh hoat ton giao) are allowed, not "religious activities" or "operations" such as organizing religious events, conducting missionary work, internal organizational development, electing leaders, holding classes, repairing or renovating facilities, or conducting charitable activities. Dai pessimistically concludes that the decree's goal "is to completely abolish the organizational structure and religious operations of the Protestant denominations that were formed some 20 years ago and have not been registered according to Decree 22/2005 ND-CP." This is a reference to the large house-church movement in Vietnam that began in 1988. Party and state media sources reported in January that the head of the government religious affairs committee not only introduced Decree ND-92, but also proposed amendments to the Ordinance on Religion and Belief. It will be interesting to see what these are, given the direction of the new implementation decree. Prominent in each of the official press accounts on the publication of ND-92 was the identical line: "Participants emphasized the corrupt use of religious and ethnic issues by hostile forces to sabotage the Vietnamese State." This refers to Vietnam's ongoing concern about the rapid growth of Protestant Christianity among ethnic minorities in Vietnam's Central Highlands and Northwest Mountainous Region. Though the government now rarely uses "eliminate" language, it is very open in its intention to "contain" Christianity. As recently as Christmas 2012, officials in some ethnic areas brutally attempted to force recantations. --30-- Adapted from an article by World Watch Monitor, online at worldwatchmonitor.org. -- End of story -- Author: Reaching Muslims not 'rocket science' By Shawn Hendricks/Biblical Recorder Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39862 PLEASANT GARDEN, N.C. (BP) -- Community and family are everything to a Muslim. Most Muslims "would rather go to hell with their families than go by themselves to heaven," said Nik Ripken*, who has served for 25 years alongside his wife Ruth* in North Africa and the Middle East. Ripken, author of a new book "The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected" from B&H Publishing, was among the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's featured speakers at the annual state evangelism conference. Muslim family bonds should never be taken lightly, said Ripken, a leading expert on the persecuted church in Muslim cultures who has interviewed people from Muslim backgrounds in 60-plus countries. Christians must reach out to families, not just individuals, Ripken noted at the Feb. 25 conference at Pleasant Garden (N.C.) Baptist Church, with the theme of "Culture Reach: Understanding, Loving and Relating to Muslims." Friends of his have lost their lives for their faith, Ripken said, describing the number one cause of persecution globally as people choosing to follow Jesus. Yet persecution is a sign of Christian growth, he said, noting, "Where we're seeing the greatest growth of the church is in places where persecution is the most widespread." Building relationships with Muslims and people of different ethnic groups isn't "rocket science," Ripken said. Ripken described Muslims as loveable and, like everybody else, in need of friendship. One of the first things a person can do to build a friendship with a Muslim family is invite them to dinner, Ripken said. "Fix them a bologna sandwich," joked Ripken, who clarified that the bologna should be made out of beef, not pork. "Jesus knew this Himself that there's nothing that encourages witness, that facilitates love more than breaking bread together. "... When was the last time you had a lost family in your house on purpose that wasn't your relatives?" Ripken asked. "What would it mean to the tens of thousands of Muslims in North Carolina if you were to feed them and invited them in your home?" While meeting and interviewing Muslims in the Bible Belt, Ripken said nearly 100 percent of those who were asked about their lives in the United States said they had never met a Christian. They said no one had mentioned Jesus to them, and nearly all described America as a lonely place to live. "Almost all of them had [invited family from overseas] to come and live with them because no one had ever spoken to them from this country," Ripken said. "Some of them had been here for 10 years." All it takes to begin a friendship with a Muslim neighbor, he said, is to have "an obedient heart." Native tongues Churches need to take more initiative in learning the native tongue of different ethnic groups, Ripken said. Christians need to be better equipped when they travel overseas and learn to speak to people in their "heart language." Having the attitude "you're in America, speak English" is counterproductive, Ripken said. "We don't have a church planting problem," he said. "We have a biblical problem. Everybody [who] came to Jesus in the New Testament came to Jesus in their heart language or in a regional language that is close to them." Anybody can do it, Ripken said. "Even if you're getting gray haired, no hair, we can teach you four or five sentences in most of the languages of the world, and you can go up to people and say 'Hello' and 'How are you?'" he said. "I know everyone in this room could be taught just those few sentences." Ripken, in exhorting the crowd to "send your babies to Mecca, Saudi Arabia," said he heard an "audible gasp." "One of the lies that Satan has told the church is ... 'If I give myself full-time to my church, especially in the missions department, then [God] is to keep His hands off my kids,'" Ripken said. "And that is a lie, not from God, but Satan himself." Missions needs to be in the DNA of every church, Ripken said. As churches dedicate children, they need to give each one a Bible and a passport application that is folded up inside the pages. The church, he said, should also start a savings account (maybe $50 or $100) for the child to help them save for his or her first mission trip. "If [parents] are not willing to give that baby to God, to the nations, they're not willing to give that baby to God," Ripken said. "I believe if you are not going to the nations overseas, you're not going to your neighbors here. I believe it firmly." --30-- *Names changed. Shawn Hendricks is managing editor of the Biblical Recorder ([URL=http://brnow.org]brnow.org[/URL]), newsjournal of the North Carolina State Baptist Convention, where this story first appeared. -- End of story -- FROM THE STATES: Texas and Alabama evangelism/mission news; Churches must refocus on 'telling,' panel says By Staff Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39865 Today's From the States features items from: Southern Baptist Texan Alabama Baptist Evangelism panel: Churches must refocus on 'telling' By David Roach IRVING, Texas (Southern Baptist Texan) -- A recurring theme emerged during a panel discussion March 5 at the Empower Evangelism Conference in Irving: Churches need to refocus on telling the lost about Jesus, regardless of which evangelistic method they use. "The issue is whether we'll be part of what God is doing or sit on the sidelines and watch," Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., said. "If our hearts are right, any strategy will work ... It will work because we have a love for Christ and lost people that compels us to share." Along with Akin, the panel included Ronnie Hill, a vocational evangelist from Fort Worth; David Wheeler, evangelism professor at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va.; and Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research in Nashville, Tenn. SBTC Evangelism Director Nathan Lorick moderated. The recent decline in baptisms among Southern Baptist churches is due partly to demographics, Stetzer said, noting that many SBC congregations are in areas where the population is stagnant or declining. But part of the problem is also a lack of witnessing, he said. "The promise of the Conservative Resurgence was that we would eventually agree on enough together that could we go reach the world for Jesus," Stetzer said. "I'm ready for that to happen." Reversing the decline "is not going to happen on a seminary or LifeWay level," he added. "Churches have to say, 'We've been redeemed. This is worth telling.' Southern Baptists need to tell the old story all over again." Though some argue door-to-door witnessing no longer works, panelists said it is still a viable method of evangelism, with Southerners being more open to home visits than people in any other region, Stetzer said. Hill has been doing door-to-door witnessing for 10 years "and it still works," he said, "but with organization. You've got to plan. But we've had results and we've seen people saved." Wheeler recommended combining servant evangelism with knocking on neighbors' doors. He said service has created witnessing opportunities with his own neighbors, some of whom recently committed their lives to Christ. By giving them apple dumplings, raking leaves in their yard and performing other acts of service, he and his wife drove them to ask the motivation for such kindnessa perfect door for sharing Jesus, he said. "Adopt five to 10 neighbors," Wheeler said. "Start praying and ask God to give you opportunities to serve them." In terms of mass evangelism, panelists agreed that preachers must extend an invitation for people to repent of their sins and trust Christ for salvation. But they said an invitation must not always involve people walking to the front of a room to indicate commitment to Jesus. "I don't always ask people to come forward," Akin said. "You don't have to change geographic space to get them to respond. But I give an invitation when I do a wedding or a funeral. I teach students that when given an opportunity to speak to lost people, you're guilty of ministerial malpractice if you don't present the gospel and invite people to respond." Hill said a "come-forward invitation" is his preferred method of inviting people to trust Christ for salvation because it allows someone to counsel and pray with a new convert. He also advocated baptizing new believers as quickly as possible. One key to evangelistic invitations is not manipulating people, Wheeler said. But in an effort not to manipulate, some Christians have overcorrected by stopping invitations altogether, he said. Another point of agreement among panelists was the usefulness of vocational evangelists in the postmodern era. Stetzer noted that "the revival is a newer phenomenon than the gift of the evangelist" and said all churches don't have to hold revival meetings. But Scripture commands evangelists to equip churches for the work of ministry, he said, and evangelists should train believers how to share their faith. "We need more evangelists functioning in our churches than ever before," he said. On the question of how to begin an evangelistic conversation, the panelists said Christians should not always use the same lead-in to the gospel but discover a lost person's needs and speak authentically. Wheeler cited Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well as an example of how to relate to a non-believer interpersonally before delving into sin, repentance and faith. "It's not the cutesy little lines," Wheeler said. "It's the authenticity. The woman at the well wanted to know who Jesus was because a man hadn't looked at her who didn't want something from her," but Jesus was willing "to engage" and "affirm her humanity." In the end, every church does not need to have the same evangelistic strategy, but every church must do something to reach lost people for Christ, panelists said, even if that means diverting energy and resources away from other worthy programs. "We have churches that are really, really, really busy doing lots of good, good, good things, but to the neglect of the most important things," Akin said. "And I would rather see our churches do less and do the most important things better than do many things and do many things well and leave the most important things neglected." --30-- This article appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan (texanonline.net), newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. David Roach is a freelancer for the Southern Baptist Texan. With reporting by Tammi Ledbetter. ********** 'Thrilling' Evangelism Conference draws big crowd, online viewers By Grace Thornton and Julie Payne TRUSSVILLE, Ala. (The Alabama Baptist) -- "Alabama Baptists are not dead yet." Sammy Gilbreath made that declaration with a smile to a full house at First Baptist Church, Trussville, on the opening night of the State Evangelism Conference. "I pray the record books will record that revival broke out from Mobile to Huntsville, Gadsden to Tuscaloosa; that churches once declining are now standing straight and tall, and it all started with a group at First Baptist Church, Trussville, on a Monday night," said Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. The conference, held Feb. 2526, drew a crowd of more than 1,000. More than 500 also watched online. And those present weren't a quiet crowd the house resounded with amens, applause, comments and loud singing as a range of speakers and musicians challenged them to be the Church and reach the lost. "A lot of churches today are hiding out," said Jonathan Falwell, senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Va. Many Baptists got used to the "glory days" of the Southern Baptist Convention, when people were "coming out of the woodwork" to get saved and Baptists had to build bigger churches, Falwell said. "They were coming and coming and coming, and they're not coming anymore. Why not? Because we kept expecting them to come and we forgot somewhere along the way that we're supposed to go," he said. The uttermost parts of the earth are never found within the walls of the church, Falwell said. "When we are walking with God, talking with Him, learning from Him and passionately sharing Him with everyone ... that's when the church stops being stoppable and starts being the Church," he said. Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, said the Church first began to see its mission when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, an event found in Acts 2:113. It's a power-filled moment the Church needs to get back to, he said. "We don't need gadgets [and] we don't need schemes. We need Kingdom power." With Kingdom power, a movement begins, he said. "You not only see the movement born, you see the advance of the movement occur -- the kingdom of God began to advance in the Spirit of God through the Church of God around the world when those people left the city of Jerusalem." Floyd told the audience that God wants to "use you to take His message" to every people group, both internationally and locally. Robert Smith, professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, added that God has been for the redemption of all nations from the very beginning, as evidenced by the story of Rahab the prostitute. As recorded in Joshua 2, Rahab saved the Israelite spies in Jericho by letting them out of the city through her window, and as a result, they saved her whole family when Israel destroyed the city. "Rahab shows us a different kind of ecclesiology. She didn't know Galatians 3:28 -- that was about 1,400 years later," Smith said. "But she did experience that in Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free." She risked her life to save the Israelite spies because of what she had heard about their God, and for that faith she is commended in Hebrews 11:31. So Rahab -- a "mess" -- lived with Israel and became part of the genealogy of Christ, Smith said. "She is commended for her faith and yet can't shake that designation (of being a prostitute)," he said. "But she makes her mess her message. Her faith is real, but it is flawed. We are all growing in grace." And all believers can experience the provision of God as the spies did, Smith said. "When people close doors on you, God can open a window." Christians need to be willing to ask persistently for Him to do just that, said William Rice, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Clearwater, Fla. Rice spoke of Jesus' story beginning in Luke 11:5 about the person who knocks on a neighbor's door at midnight and asks for three loaves of bread. The neighbor gives the bread, not because of friendship but because of that person's shameless audacity, Rice said. In Luke 18, Jesus tells a similar story about a judge who first refuses to grant a widow justice against her adversary, but after her continued requests the judge finally gives her what she asks for. Rice said Jesus tells this story because He "wants you to pray and wants you ... to keep on praying and to never give up praying." "God is eager to answer your prayer," Rice said. He explained that unlike the characters in the two passages, God "is eager to open a door for you." "When will we be desperate (enough) to ask and keep on asking and seek and keep on seeking and knock and keep on knocking till our final breath ... for God's (work) to be done? It's that audacity, it's that faith, that Jesus is looking for in us," Rice said. He is also looking for a people, a church sold out to Him as their Lord, said Herb Reavis Jr., pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. "What needs to happen is a Holy Ghost revival where God's people get on the altar and give up their lives," he said. "It's about getting out of the way and letting Jesus take charge and take us where He wants to go." Jesus doesn't want to be your co-pilot -- He wants to be your pilot, Reavis said. "This false way of looking at the Christian life has infected way too many of our people," he said. "They see Jesus as hell insurance and shove Him in a closet somewhere as if He's a fire extinguisher and just hope you never have to use it." Salvation is a gift, Reavis said, but Jesus can't be Savior without also being Lord. "Time is growing near. The end is coming. The answer is Jesus Christ," he said. "And what God needs is a man or woman who dares to abandon themselves fully to the lordship of Jesus." That man or woman will be the bearer of good news to a world with no hope, said Dan Lanier, pastor of Northcrest Baptist Church, Meridian, Miss. "In a world filled with discouragement, disillusionment and doubt, we need to herald the good news," he said. "We should be living for the other world, because we are pilgrims passing through." We are to be in the business of reaching people for Jesus, Lanier said. "Folks, there is something better than what we have here," he said, telling those present that heaven is real and "beyond our comprehension." "Let's go and tell every man, woman, boy and girl that there is One who is mighty to save," Lanier said. --30-- This article appeared in The Alabama Baptist (thealabamabaptist.org), newsjournal of the Alabama Baptist Convention. Grace Thornton is assistant editor of The Alabama Baptist. Julie Payne is a news writer for The Alabama Baptist. ********** 'Death of discipleship' reason for SBC's nosedive, Kelley says By Jennifer Davis Rash TRUSSVILLE, Ala. (The Alabama Baptist) -- Southern Baptists may indeed be planning their own funeral as a convention if something doesn't change and change soon. Chuck Kelley didn't use those exact words, but the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president sent that message to the more than 1,000 Alabama Baptists attending the opening session of the State Evangelism Conference at First Baptist Church, Trussville, on Feb. 25. "On the whole our Great Commission momentum as a convention has disappeared," Kelley said during his "State of evangelism in the SBC" sermon. Even while the convention spent two years talking about the Great Commission Resurgence, "we died on the vine," he noted. It all comes down to discipleship, or rather the lack of, Kelley explained. "The most significant and influential death in the modern history of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was the death of our discipleship program. "We are like the grandchildren of farmers keeping harvest stories alive over coffee and dessert at family reunions," he said. Pointing to baptism numbers from the 1940s and 1950s when Southern Baptists were untouchable, Kelley explained that the evangelistic growth during the "greatest" era happened because most Southern Baptist churches had more discipleship activities than evangelism activities. "Aggressive evangelism was matched by aggressive discipleship. We were disciplistic (a word created by Kelley to mean an evangelistic discipleship that continually seeks to incorporate both evangelism and discipleship at the same time)." The emphasis on discipleship began to fade in the 1960s and has dropped steadily since then. "We should have paid more attention to our discipleship process," he said. "As time went by and the world changed, that biblical worldview inspiring evangelistic discipleship dropped between SBC generations. The heart for evangelism remained strong, but the concern for discipleship was significantly weakened. "Time had its impact. It always does." Kelley pointed out that Southern Baptists have more of everything -- churches, Baptists, ministries, missionaries, resources -- than they've ever had, but they are bearing less fruit. "The focus of our attention has become more internal, inside the church, than external, in the field," he said. It's not about methods or money or even the power of the gospel, Kelley said. "The Bible speaks little of methods. ... Having more money will not turn things around. ... The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of incredible power still today." So what is the problem? "Discipleship is the crucial issue," he said, noting the typical Southern Baptist church is no longer anointed and Southern Baptists are distracted. "Our behavior, the way we live our lives, is blending more and more with our culture," Kelley said. "Our problem is not that more of us don't witness to our neighbors. Our problem is that more of us do not look like and live like Jesus. "If we do not produce children, youth and adults who live out a biblical worldview, no strategy for doing church will make us salt and light in the world," he said. "Baptist believers must be taught how to be the distinctive presence of Christ in the culture. "In times past God has worked through our Southern Baptist churches in a mighty way. In times present God is not working in a mighty way through most of our churches," Kelley said. "How are we going to respond to this?" Noting the "if my people ... pray" Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:1415 and showing a photo of the Western Wall of Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Kelley zeroed in on his closing point. At the Western Wall, also known as the wailing wall, "Jews and pilgrims from all over the world come to see and weep over what was lost and pray that one day all will be restored," he said. "If [Southern Baptists] do not respond, if we continue on this road we are traveling, there is only one question left: To what wall will our children and grandchildren go to weep and remember what Southern Baptists once were? "There is no silver bullet," Kelley said. "There is no plan of three things to do to turn your church around. There is no book I can put in your hand. "There is only this: We pray about what we care about. If someone you know and love is in a crisis, you pray for them. If your church is facing a great crisis, you pray for it," he explained. "Question is: How many of us care?" During a preconference dinner, Kelley shared five major shifts in Southern Baptist life to help Alabama Baptists dialogue about the future of the SBC. To watch the video, visit http://www.alsbom.org/resources/videos and select "Dinner with Chuck Kelley." --30-- This article appeared in The Alabama Baptist (thealabamabaptist.org), newsjournal of the Alabama Baptist Convention. Jennifer Davis Rash is executive editor of The Alabama Baptist. -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: What we talk about when we talk about Rob Bell By Trevin Wax Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39866 NASHVILLE (BP) -- Rob Bell's new book came out Tuesday: "What We Talk About When We Talk About God." In line with his previous offerings, it's a conversational, thought-provoking monologue designed to raise questions and stimulate discussion. It's been two years since the release of "Love Wins," a book that challenged traditional evangelical conceptions of hell and eternity. Bell has since left the pastorate and embraced a new role as a post-evangelical, spiritual advisor of sorts. He is positioning himself more an artist than theologian, more poet than preacher. That said, his poetry preaches. So what's the sermon? The gist of Bell's new book is that the world is humming with spirituality. Far from being distant and removed, he says, God is present in our lives. We need to be reawakened to Him; we need the eyes to see Him at work. Dogmas and doctrines just get in the way of truly experiencing God. What once helped us now harms us and holds us back. But God is ahead of us, beckoning us forward to the new world that is coming. Takeaways Before challenging Bell on a few points, I think it's good to mention some things that church leaders (especially traditional evangelicals) can take away from his book. Ability to Create Memorable Pictures The first has to do with communication skills. Bell is compelling because of the vivid way he describes things. For example, take a look at this scene where Bell recounts a conversation with a friend going through a divorce: "He told me about their history together and how it got them to this point and what it's doing to her and what it's doing to him and what it's like for him to go grocery shopping and then go back to his new apartment, all alone. "Somewhere in our conversation the full force of what he was saying hit me -- divorce, the effect on their kids, the image of both of them at some point taking off their wedding rings." Note the poetic way Bell puts together the first run-on sentence, letting us feel the misery of an unraveling marriage without pause or breath. Then look at the imagery of the divorce, the picture of two people taking off their rings. This is just one example of how Bell utilizes language to create mental pictures. I could fill the rest of this review with similar illustrations. And while Bell's artistic sensibilities aren't everyone's cup of tea (I grow weary from watching him weigh down verbs with multiple adverbs), there's no question he can make a point in a memorable way. Tapping Into Spiritual Yearnings A second takeaway is Bell's ability to capture the sense that spirituality is breaking through the scientific, closed world that undergirds secularism. There's a memorable picture from N. T. Wright's "Simply Christian" that imagines secularism as a dictatorship that puts down concrete as pavement over "dangerous" springs of water. All goes well, for a time, but the hidden springs eventually bubble up and erupt through the pavement. In a similar way, Bell is tapping into the spiritual yearning of many people in our post-Christian culture. According to Bell, everyone is a "person of faith," even the most ardent skeptic. The question is not if we have beliefs but what those beliefs are. The best part of the book is Bell's gentle, but firm challenge to those who refuse to believe anything science can't prove. For centuries, skeptics who challenged the dominant religious dogma related to miracles were seen as open-minded, willing to step into a further stage of enlightenment and challenge the prevailing religious consensus. Today, now that secularism is the consensus, Bell turns the tables and casts the scientific skeptic as the closed-minded logician who fails to leave room for the mysterious, the mystical, and the soul. Science fails to deliver explanations that resonate with our experience, and Bell wisely exploits this failure of the materialist worldview. This challenge to secularism leads to the biggest surprise of the book -- a lengthy chapter in which Bell delves into the physical cosmology of the universe. His goal is to wow readers with the wonder of existence. And, in large part, he succeeds. Even with the evolutionary anthropology he assumes, Bell shows the weirdness of the world and why we ought to be amazed at life. No place for dogma Unfortunately, the strengths of the book are outweighed by the vagueness of Bell's talk of talking about God. Nowhere is this more evident than his treatment of traditional Christian teaching. For example, Bell chides religious people for their certainty. He believes certainty about God has limits. We have to leave the door open for mystery, he says. Knowing always takes place in the middle of unknowing. People who talk with too much certainty about God are attractive because people want to be right, but we should resist the allure of the religious know-it-all, he says. It's true that the Christian should have the humility to recognize that no one has exhaustive knowledge of God or truth. To point out our finiteness is not only humble; it's really the way things are! There is no way to know everything we could know when we talk about God. But Bell seems to make the jump from humility due to our inability to have exhaustive knowledge to the newly defined "humility" that says we can't have certainty about anything. Certainty is suspect. Except, of course, when it comes to the certainty of the harm traditional theology can cause. On this, Bell leaves no room for ambiguity. Our view of God may be foggy, but our view of fundamentalists is clear, he claims. He writes: "You can believe something with so much conviction that you'd die for that belief, "and yet in the same moment "you can also say, 'I could be wrong ...' "This is because conviction and humility, like faith and doubt, are not opposites; they're dance partners. It's possible to hold your faith with open hands, living with great conviction and yet at the same time humbly admitting that your knowledge and perspective will always be limited" (93). First, it's hard to imagine martyrs giving their lives when they think they might be wrong. Nothing would cause me to rethink and renege on my certainty than facing a lion in a coliseum. Secondly, notice how Bell says we should have conviction and humility, as if these two things are opposites, like faith and doubt. He appears to see "humility" not as the gracious stance of someone who has tasted and seen the Lord is good, but as the willingness to hold doctrines loosely, as if certainty and humility can't coincide. Ironically, his description of fundamentalism centers on the elimination of paradox: "When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension and dodges the paradox and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are and gives black-and-white answers to questions, leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine, it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience. Especially if that person is really, really confident" (93). What's interesting is that, in reading the rest of the book, Bell eliminates more paradoxes than traditional Christian teaching does. It's traditional Christianity that portrays God as holy and wrathful against sin while being gracious and loving towards the sinner. For all Bell's talk about embracing "both/and," it's his vision of Christianity that emphasizes God being for us, to the exclusion of any idea that God would stand over us in judgment. Traditional Christianity doesn't just include "both" but "triple" truths -- God against us in our sin, God instead of us as sinners, and God for us as the Justifier. Far from diluting the beauty of God in His transcendence, traditional Christian dogma leaves us with unresolvable tensions and paradoxes galore: free will and sovereignty, God in us and yet distinct from us, the Trinity, the inclusive call to salvation from an exclusive Savior. The list goes on. The paradoxes of traditional Christianity multiply in ways that stimulate the imagination. Bell's teaching lacks that kind of substance. Bell's book goes down easy, kind of like whipped cream without the cake. God is ahead of us, beckoning society forward, and (how convenient!) it just so happens to be in the direction that society is already headed. Oddly enough, after reading this book, I came to the conclusion Rob Bell is a fundamentalist of a different sort. In fact, I could apply his warning to himself, adding to his own words: When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension (between wrath and love, or immanence and transcendence) and dodges the paradox (between judgment and grace) and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are (traditional Christians) and gives black-and-white answers to questions (such as, you can't be humble and certain) leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine (or the revelation of this mystery, as explained by the apostle Paul), it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience. Especially if that person is really, really confident (or really, really cool). I believe this book will resonate with many because the idea of "spiritual experience" is popular today. The question is, does Bell's vision of spirituality have the doctrinal bone structure to sustain faith for two thousand years? I'm afraid not. His artistic abilities aside, the book's vision is boring because the drama is missing. Dorothy Sayers was right: "It is the dogma that is the drama -- not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death -- but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world, lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death." --30-- Trevin Wax is managing editor of The Gospel Project, a curriculum line developed by LifeWay Christian Resources for all ages. This column first appeared at TrevinWax.com, a Gospel Coalition blog. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]) -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: What if gay marriage goes nationwide? By Mark Heath Mar. 12 2013 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=39867 WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) -- If, as many believe, the framers of the Constitution held Judeo-Christian values, they saw the social benefits of the freedom to spread religious ideals. And certainly it is easy to assert that same-sex marriage does not fit with the Judeo-Christian worldview. But what if, in this liberal democracy, Christians find themselves in the cultural minority, and same-sex marriage is legalized? How will those who identify as followers of Christ react to such a monumental shift in the culture? Christians should not let such a thing rattle their faith. Cultural disgust should not stop the work of the Kingdom. And we must think about this: How will our response affect our children? I can remember as a young 8-year-old boy observing my father in the 1996 presidential election. An avowed politically conservative, pro-family and pro-life citizen, my father would watch and comment as the campaigns unfolded. He may not have realized it, but I was watching his every move. I still have memories of him watching the campaign speeches, the TV ads and the news reports. I still remember his demeanor as drastically different from other adults I observed. Some in our church were disgusted with the election's results. My father's reaction was different. He was not shaken. To this day, he is the most unwavering man I know, and this speaks volumes to his child. For those of you who are parents, heed this: How you react to the world and the happenings in it will set an example for your children. We can't simply stop paying our taxes because we don't like how things are going, remembering the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 13: "Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves." Until we are forced to do something contrary to the will of our Lord, we must obey the law to the fullest. We must hold strong in our faith because people will see the glory of the God Most High, and He will be praised. --30-- Mark Heath is a former Christian worker in Iraq and currently a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter ([URL=http://www.Twitter.com/BaptistPress]@BaptistPress[/URL]), Facebook ([URL=http://Facebook.com/BaptistPress]Facebook.com/BaptistPress [/URL]) and in your email ([URL=http://baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp] baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp[/URL]). -- End of story -- Copyright (c) 2013 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press 901 Commerce Street Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: 615.244.2355 Fax: 615.782.8736 email: bpress@sbc.net

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