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Compassion Teaser

April 2, 2008 in Compassion, Friends, God, Ministry, Student Life 0

Taylor cut this video together from the footage we shot in the Philippines.  It features Rafonzel and Meishel, two of the LDP graduates we were able to hang out with.  This isn’t what we’ll be showing at camp this summer, but I think it’s pretty cool. Plus, if this is as good as it is with being so simple, I’m really looking forward to when we make the actual edits that we’ll be showing. I pray God uses them to get a lot of children sponsored.

Remember, if you don’t currently sponsor a child you can click on the link to the right, and feel free to share this video and let other people know about the opportunity to sponsor. Plus, there’s a link to Compassion’s blog in my blogroll.

Scrutiny and Responsibility

April 1, 2008 in Books, Ministry, Student Life, Writing 1

I just wrote a sentence and then immediately erased it. Let me explain why. First, here is the sentence:

“I want to have a wider audience.”

That statement is prideful, narrow-minded, short-sighted and ridiculous. Here’s why. I work for a great organization. God has chosen to bless Student Life and its ministry for many years. Even in moments of trials for us or where we might wonder if we have any idea where we are going or what we are doing, God has been faithful to continue us as a tool to further His kingdom. We will host something like maybe 80,000 students total at our events this year (I’m actually not real sure what the estimate is) and then we have a few thousand churches using our Bible study. We, as a general, non-written rule, don’t really like to talk about numbers outside the walls of our building, but here’s why I mention them. I have been personally blessed to have the opportunity to have my hands in almost everything we do around here. For that reason, I have a pretty big audience.

So, what do I mean when I almost make a statement like “I want to have a wider audience.” I mean a few different things, some of them noble, some of them not.

1. I want to have a more diverse audience. Our audience is almost chiefly from the United States. It is also largely made up of upper middle class, suburban, white kids. I have complained about that before, but I have found that to be fruitless. There’s nothing wrong with that fact. There are just times that I hope to be able to expand that scope.

2. I want my current audience to grow. I want to be able to reach more people, pure and simple. You question whether my motives for wanting that are all good, but I assure you most of them are.

3. The vast majority of “my” current audience has no idea who I am. So, when I say “I want to have a wider audience,” I mean that I want to have an audience that recognizes what I have to say. Now, some of my motives for wanting that are certainly prideful, but others are not. I believe God has purposed some messages in me to deliver. I want to be a good steward of that.

4. I want to have an audience that is more easily connected. The audience at Student Life is made up of youth groups. Members of youth groups are connected to other members of their particular group yet are rarely connected to members of other youth groups, at least not in very meaningful ways with regards to the content we present. However, people who all like John Piper or Brennan Manning or Passion or Hillsong United inherently have something in common that unites them to each other. They speak a common language and often do so. For some reason, that is not as readily apparent in our current audience. It might be true amongst some of the youth ministers and even fewer of the students, but it is definitely the exception and not the rule.

5. I want to have an audience that’s not so Baptist. I carry a lot of baggage about the Baptists (the Southern flavor), and some of it I should just get over. But, man, I get tired of all the Baptist stuff. Other denominations certainly don’t have their act together either, and I’m definitely not favoring one over another. What I do want, I guess, is a more equal opportunity audience where groups are challenging each other rather than one frame of thought dominating the conversation. Within Student Life I think we have that at times. Our audience just doesn’t always reflect that.

So, I want to have a wider audience but I also recognize that’s a ridiculous thing to say. However, in order to begin trying to accomplish that and to just present new challenges to myself and broaden my horizons a little bit, I’ve written a book. I should say Student Life has been gracious enough to allow me to write a book they will publish. It’s a small devotional book, part of a line we’re going to start producing called 31 Verses Every Student Should Know About… Mine is on the Way, our camp theme, and, incidentally, what the movement of Christ was initially called in the book of Acts.

This isn’t the type of book I always dreamt and envisioned myself writing, but it’s a start. And I’ve actually really enjoyed doing it. And I’m kinda proud of it.

And, yes, my name will be on it, which means I’ll get some credit (though I certainly don’t deserve all of it). For this reason, I recognize that I am opening myself up to more scrutiny. People want certain things out of their outspoken Christian brethren. In fact, many times, they can demand perfection. Now, you all know that I am certainly anything but perfect. However, I want to accept this responsibility, the responsibility of trying to reach a wider audience. I want to embark on this next stage of my life (because for some reason I feel like this is somewhat of a turning point for me; whether or not I’m correct is yet to be seen) and live up to as many expectations as I can.

For this reason I will no longer use symbols like “@#$%” to express my frustration or the words they stand for unless absolutely necessary, and then, I will probably delete them out of guilt, like I have done below.

The Philippine Chronicles, 8

March 18, 2008 in Compassion, Conviction, Ministry, Travel 1

To be perfectly honest, today was a hard day.  That’s kind of ridiculous for me to say considering what the day actually consisted of, but it’s true nonetheless, at least for me.

We spent most of the morning at a market so we could get stuff for people back home.  I don’t know what you’re picturing when you read “market,” but it wasn’t like a bunch of stands or shacks or anything.  It was actually kinda like a third-world strip mall made up of a bunch of little stores.  This was decently fun.  I actually get into bargaining with the sellers, which you wouldn’t think about me considering my personality.  However, it was tough ‘cause they were really stubborn.  I walked out on a few deals I was trying to work.  Usually that will send people chasing after you so that you can enter into another round of negotiations.  Not here in the Philippines.  They didn’t sweat it at all.

Once everyone had dropped way too many pesos considering what we’ve been seeing all week (myself included), we went to lunch.  There Nice and Rafonzel (two of the LDP graduates) presented us all with gifts.  I’ll save what they are so that some of you can be surprised.  Nice had also contacted her aunt who carved Student Life an eagle out of coconut husks.  It looks amazing, but I really have no idea how we’re going to get it home safely.  I think BoBe has been tasked with that responsibility.  Wish him luck.

Over lunch we discussed how the Filipinos wanted us to try one more food.  Supposedly you can’t say you’ve been to Davao until you have eaten some durian.  Durian is some kind of fruit.  It’s difficult to describe.  It is shaped like a melon but looks spiky like a pineapple, but it’s green in color.  Once you cracked it open it looked kinda like it consisted of four avocado pits with the flesh of the fruit surrounding these large seeds.  The locals have a saying about it.  “Durian tastes like Heaven, but it smells like Hell.”  And it does… smell like Hell I mean.  It stinks.  The moment the van doors opened at the fruit stand you could smell it.  As far as it tasting like Heaven, though, not so much.  Rafonzel told me that there are different kinds.  Some durian can be super-sweet, while others can be sweet and bitter.  This one leaned towards the bitter end of the spectrum.  It actually tasted like guacamole (you read that right, not avocado, guacamole with all the onions and stuff added).

We also sampled a couple of other fruits.  One was called mangostine (not sure about the spelling).  It’s what you would get if you crossed a plumb with an orange.  It was delicious.  I recommended they now say that you haven’t visited Davao until you’ve eaten a mangostine, but they insisted that durian is really where it’s at.

While we were at the fruit stand, we experienced one of the more difficult situations we’ve encountered since we’ve been here.  I’m sure some other people will be writing about this, but I’ll go ahead and do it too so that you can get a number of different perspectives.

The minute our vans pulled up there were street kids outside (well, evidently they probably weren’t all street kids, but Roger might can tell you about that), and they started knocking on our doors and windows.  Some of them had things to sell but most were just outright begging.  Our van door opened and when I stepped out there was a little girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old, holding a naked baby boy who might have been 18 months (I’m not the best judge of children’s ages).  She never really spoke but would get your attention and then point to the boy’s belly and then his mouth, indicating he was hungry obviously.  She’d then hold her hand out for something.

A lot of you know that I usually give something to someone who is begging even in the states.  I’ve been taken advantage of by that a number of times, but I still do it pretty consistently.  Here I really didn’t have anything left, and there were just so many of them.  I was really having trouble processing it all.  The closest I could come was to think, “I wish you were involved with Compassion.”  Afterwards I found out that many of us were thinking that exact same thing.

Now you may be asking yourself, “how do they know that one of those kids isn’t involved with Compassion?”  Well, trust me… I know.  Compassion makes such a difference in the lives of these children (and obviously I know that God is the one actually making the difference through Compassion) that even though they come from the same communities and same life situations, they behave differently.  They have confidence.  They have pride (the good kind).  They have dignity.

We drove away with them staring after us (actually, first, some of them grabbed some fruit from Callie as she was trying to pass it out to them and they proceeded to fight each other for it).  It was an extremely sobering moment.  That’s yet another reason I’m an advocate.  So that more people can help Compassion help more children in more places.

We traveled back to Manila tonight.  We had a final dinner with Noel, the Compassion country director for the Philippines, and Kiwi and Daniel (two of the other LDP graduates).  They also presented us with gifts.  It seems there is no end to the hospitality of the Filipino people, regardless of life circumstance.

The rest of our day has been full of goodbyes and questions.  Goodbyes to all of the friends we’ve made in the short time we’ve been here.  Questions about what the future holds, specifically if we can get Kiwi, Daniel and Nice over to the states for the summer.  It sucks.  And it’s hard.  But I trust God.  I really do.  I know that He desires to change the lives of children in all twenty-four countries in the world in which Compassion works, and I know that He desires to change the lives of teenagers in the U.S.  I believe that one of the ways in which He accomplishes both is through the relationship of an American teenage sponsor and their Compassion child.  It really does change two lives.  So, I know that He is working out His will and purpose for how to best make those connections this summer.  But I desperately yearn for Him to choose to do that by bringing these other LDP graduates.

That is my prayer, and I pray it confidently and humbly.  Please, join me.

In a few hours we’ll wake up and head to the airport to fly to Tokyo for a day.  Yet another extreme moment of culture shock, I’m sure.

Signing off…

The Philippine Chronicles, 7

March 18, 2008 in Christianity, Compassion, Conviction, Ministry, Student Life, Travel, Uncategorized 1

If you read yesterday’s post and missed the Balut video, that’s because I had trouble uploading it, but it’s there now. So, be sure to check it out.

Today was our last day to really see any of the Compassion stuff. As I mentioned, we had a lot of filming left to do. Well, we rock-n-rolled and, despite the torrential downpour we experienced at one point, we made it happen.

To start the day we headed to yet another Compassion project, and this one was, of course, fantastic. We were greeted again by some of the children. The hung homemade ribbon necklaces around our necks and escorted us individually to seats for a program. The little girl who escorted me wasn’t much for conversation, but she was super-cute.

If you remember, this is one of the first visits Davao has ever had from Compassion advocated, so they really pulled out all the stops. There were a lot of greetings, a number of musical performances and a chance to build and paint the wall of a classroom, which our fearless event directors were more than gracious to undertake.

This was our first day to spend with Rafonselle, the one LDP student who has already been granted a visa for the summer. So we spent a good bit of time filming her with some of the children. I told her that we just wanted some shots of her talking to them or singing with them or playing with them or whatever really. She was awesome. She jumped right in, and you could definitely tell that she knew what it was like to be where they are now, and she looks at them differently than we do. No pity. No worry. No appreciation. No Fancy. She looks at them with hope.

After lunch we drove out to the middle of nowhere through some beautiful country. We haven’t seen much of rural Philippines, but we did today and there were moments where it could really be breathtaking. Our destination was some rice fields where we were planning on shooting Rafonselle’s interview. Through a lot of waiting for motorcycles to pass, we were able to get most of it done, until it started sprinkling. I should mention that before this occurred our van driver realized one of the tires was flat and left us out there to go take care of it. Roger was convinced that it would pass after a little while. It didn’t. Right as the bottom dropped out, our heroic chauffer comes bounding down the road to rescue us. We ditched the rest and came back to the hotel. Luckily we were able to finish it there.

With regards to Rafonselle, let me just say that our students this summer are in for a treat. She gets it. She really wants to meet Chris Tomlin, but as Taylor has said more than once, ol’ Tomlin “should be so lucky to get to meet her.”

After dinner tonight (we had pizza; can you believe it?) we spent a good bit of time just kinda debriefing our week. So, I feel like I might share a bit of it here.

In transferring posts from my old Xanga to this blog, I found one I had written a few years ago basically whining about how frustrated I was that my current ministry was to middle-class, suburban, white American kids. This made me think about how there was some moment during the last year-and-a-half that I just made a decision that I was no longer going to feel guilty about that. If God has proved anything throughout history and in my own life, it’s that He knows exactly what He’s doing. He’s not just making it up as he goes along. So, while I believe that He is big enough to handle me questioning Him, I can certainly try to realize when those questions and complaints are purely selfish in nature. My post about ministering to middle-class, suburban, white American kids was/is selfish. So, what has that led to?

Callie and I were talking earlier this week about what we do in response to everything we’re seeing. I said that one of the things I’ve realized is that there’s only so much I can do. That might sound simple, but for many of us I think it can actually be somewhat profound. It was for me. Here’s why…

There are a lot of problems in the world, a lot of injustices. As a Christian I have a responsibility to do something about this. It is incumbent upon me to give to the poor, care for the sick, feed the hungry, provide for the needy, make disciples of the world, care for widows and orphans, and basically, look after the “least-of-these.” But you know what? I don’t bear the burden of giving to every poor person, caring for every sick person, feeding all the hungry, providing for everyone in need, making sure every person hears the Gospel, caring for every widow and every orphan and ensuring that anyone who might be considered “the least of these” is looked after. Because that’s your responsibility too. We share that. If I tried to make a difference in the world by giving to every relief organization I come in contact with, going on every mission trip I hear about, promoting every awareness video or event, reading every book on how to heal the world’s ills, and jumping on every social-justice bandwagon that comes my way, I would utterly, miserably, and completely fail. So, what do I do?

I become obedient to that which God calls me, and I get other people on board as much as possible to fill in the gaps. This for me is what it means to be an advocate.

This past year I received an email from Compassion saying they were looking for more people for their advocates network. Now, I already do a lot with and for Compassion, but it’s all through Student Life, which, though a ministry, is also my job. So, I became an advocate to be a part of something outside of my work. It’s something I really believe in and something that works. That advocacy for me leads to action, as I hope it will for others. Advocacy is about action, not awareness. If I constantly talk to people about Compassion, but it never leads to them sponsoring, then what am I doing?

The other thing my refutation of guilt has lead to is a new and different outlook on what I experience overseas in developing countries. I don’t feel a lot of pity anymore. I actually feel a great deal of respect. This makes me uneasy because it seems such an unnatural reaction to seeing what we see on these types of trips or in the squatter camps of South Africa, but that makes me feel like it might be right. The Kingdom of God is unnatural. In fact, it’s supernatural in the purest sense of the word. God has such great affection for these people, for all people, and when I can catch just a glimmer of that, it changes the way I can relate to other people completely. I can be a voice for them, and when that voice, the way I tell their story, comes from a place of respect rather than pity or guilt, I believe it is more honoring to them and to the work that God is accomplishing in their lives.

Lastly, my decision has changed the way I feel about those middle-class, suburban, white American kids. They’re a product of their culture just like these Compassion children are. Neither are at fault for where they find themselves. For whatever reason that’s just where they are. So I can’t get upset with them. I can’t fault them. I have to be just as patient and compassionate with them as I would be with others.

I live for the moment that a student gets it. This is my purpose in life. God manifests that purpose in me in a variety of ways, and being an advocate and sponsor with Compassion is just one of them. I look forward to a lifetime of discovering all the others.

Tomorrow we visit a market to… well, you know… shop (nothing like finishing what I just wrote and then typing that sentence to test my resolve to not feel guilty). We then fly back to Manila for a final meal with some of the Compassion country staff before catching a few hours of sleep and then flying Japan for 24 hours in Tokyo and then back to the ‘Ham by way of Detroit.

Not sure if this will be the last post before then or not. If it is, I’ll be sure to post any more reactions I might have once I get back in the U.S. Until then…

Thanks to all of you who read this for journeying along with us.

Signing off…

C U L8r

March 10, 2008 in Compassion, Ministry, Student Life, Travel 0

So, in a little less than 12 hours I’ll board a plane here in Birmingham with my ultimate destination being Manila, Philippines.  Taylor, Eric and I are headed over with the event staff and Ben from Compassion to shoot some videos of the LDP students that will be traveling with our teams this summer serving as advocates for children living in poverty.  I’ll try to post here as much as possible to keep any of you that are interested up to date.

It’s pretty overwhelming.  Going on these trips always is.  Going to a new country can be overwhelming.  Seeing poverty like we don’t experience here in the States is overwhelming.  The humility that God wants to use you to do something about that poverty can be overwhelming.  Plus, I feel like I’m leaving a lot behind undone and unfinished.  That’s overwhelming.

But I refuse to whine about it.

I look forward to what’s about to happen to me.  I look forward to when I will look back on this past month and these two weeks and see all the ways I missed how the Lord was moving.  I look forward to getting back and being able to share all my stories.

But as I look forward, I will also be committed to the present, to the nowness of what’s going on.  I will make the most of every opportunity and live in the moment.

Just so long as everyone else in the moment isn’t driving me bonkers.

I’ll see ya’ when I see ya’!

Here We Go

April 20, 2006 in Christianity, Conviction, Ministry, xanga 13

Settle in.  It’s a doozy.

During their meeting up in Huntsville, AL held Nov. 14-17, the trustees of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention approved a guideline and a policy.  The guideline was on baptism.  The policy was on tongues and prayer language.  I wish to discuss the policy.  You can view both at the IMB website, but I will reproduce the policy on tongues and prayer language below.

Policy on tongues and prayer language
TOPIC:  MISSIONARY
SUBJECT: TONGUES AND PRAYER LANGUAGE
DATE:  November 15, 2005
That the following policy regarding tongues and prayer language of missionary candidates be adopted:
GLOSSOLALIA
1.  The New Testament speaks of a gift of glossolalia that generally is considered to be a legitimate language of some people group.
2.  The New Testament expression of glossolalia as a gift had specific uses and conditions for its exercise in public worship.
3.  In term of worship practices, the majority of Southern Baptist churches do not practice glossolalia.  Therefore, if glossolalia is a public part of his or her conviction and practice, the candidate has eliminated himself or herself from being a representative of the IMB of the SBC.
PRAYER LANGUAGE
1.  Prayer language as commonly expressed by those practitioners is not the same as the biblical use of glossolalia.
2.  Paul’s clear teaching is that prayer is to be made with understanding.
3.  Any spiritual experience must be tested by the Scriptures.
4.  In terms of general practice, the majority of Southern Baptists do not accept what is referred to as “private prayer language.”  Therefore, if “private prayer language” is an ongoing part of his or her conviction and practice, the candidate has eliminated himself or herself from being a representative of the IMB of the SBC.
APPLICATION
1.  This policy is not retroactive.
2.  Any exceptions to the above policy must be reviewed by the staff and the Process Review Committee.

This has caused quite an uproar among some Southern Baptists (probably mostly made up of the minority that do practice and accept) for a number of reasons.  Chief among them being that Jerry Rankin, the IMB President, has publicly stated that he has practiced a private prayer language “for more than 30 years.”  Under this new policy, if the IMB President left his position under the calling of God to serve as a missionary and desired to do so through the help and support of the organization that he leads, he would be denied.  Well, technically he would have “eliminated himself…from being a representative…”  The IMB wouldn’t deny him for something that isn’t covered doctrinally in the Baptist Faith and Message.  This is quite a conundrum since it is Rankin himself who has come under fire numerous times, most critically for requiring that all missionaries on the field that were approved before 2000 sign an approval and adoption document of the BF&M 2000.  This was seen as forcing doctrinal beliefs on missionaries in a creedal fashion (you won’t find creeds, Apostle or otherwise, cited or recited in most SBC churches), which Baptists have historically avoided citing the autonomy of the local church, who, in the case of Southern Baptist life, are technically the sending agents of any missionaries.

I first became aware of this issue in a recent edition of Christianity Today of which I am a subscriber (interestingly, Dean George of Beeson is one of the executive editors of this fine publication along with J.I. Packer and Thomas C. Oden [perhaps you've heard of them as well]).  It was reported as a news story with none of the bias that I’m sure I’m displaying here.  However, it piqued my interest and I began researching all I could about it.  By the time I did so, position papers on both the tongues policy and the baptism guideline had been published (though conveniently not formally adopted) and Tom Hatley, Chairman of the IMB trustees, had written a letter to Baptists in general and then one to Baptist pastors in particular.  All of these documents can be found on the IMB website, which I have linked above.

Hatley clearly states that the decision of the trustees to adopt this policy has little to do with Rankin other than the fact that the IMB President and others within the organization asked the full board to approve or disapprove the policy after it had been only adopted by the Personnel Committee.  He’s also kind enough to give a decent explanation of a candidates approval process and how holes in the approval process helped make it necessary to adopt this particular policy.  Other reasons for doing so asserted by Hatley are that 1. “some of our ministries in some of our regions were facing doctrinal challenges” 2. “we were receiving concerns from…pastors and others returning from mission trips…” that included “charismatic problems that would intrude into some of our mission work” and 3. “our doctrinal resolve needed to be affirmed.”  However, notice under the “application” section of the policy that the policy is not retroactive.  So, in no way does it address those concerns and doctrinal challenges that have already been on the field.  Hatley acknowledges this in saying that “no one on the board thinks we should terminate a missionary for believing something we allowed at the time of their appointment” because “we already have policies in place to address these issues when they become problematic.”  There’s already a process in place and the issue isn’t serious enough to result in termination of present missionaries but is serious enough to prevent any in the future from causing these dreaded charismatic problems.

Notice that in neither the policy nor Hatley’s letters (if you read them) are Scripture references given.  But don’t worry.  That’s what the Position Paper (that “has not been adopted by the board of trustees”) is for.

This paper begins by saying “while an exhaustive treatment of even the few biblical passages that make any mention of tongues is not practical for this rationale, dealing with those passages in context is extremely helpful and important.”  I will deal with some of their context in a moment.  But to begin with I want to say that they are certainly correct that passages should be dealt with in their context, but while they assert that an exhaustive treatment is not practical I should point out that they devote more of the paper to the “Historic Baptist Understanding” than they do to the passages of Scripture.  Interesting.  Let me address a few of this paper’s points.

They begin with the first instance of the gift of glossolalia that followed the coming of the Holy Spirit at the celebration of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2.  Here those followers of Christ present were “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  We then find that the people present could understand at least some of those speaking through hearing their own native language.  The first argument made by the position paper is that the glossa (tongues) referred to were actual known languages.  And because this same term is used in the passages in 1 Corinthians (where the issue of tongues is dealt with most directly) the conclusion is that when Paul writes of different kinds of tongues in 1 Cor. 12:10 he just means different languages (though it’s still quite amazing that it’s not languages the speakers have learned).  At any rate this is all well and good, but since we are taking Scripture in context, then you must deal with Paul’s teachings on tongues in full context as well.  This occurs primarily in 1 Corinthians 12-14. That’s right, over the course of three chapters.  Including chapter 13.  The love chapter.  In the context of Paul’s letter, chapter 13 does address love and the lack of it in the lives of many in the Corinthian church.  They were dealing with a multitude of sins, one being the abuse of Spiritual gifts, especially tongues.  It had been elevated to even above the supremacy of Christ.  They were holding it over people’s heads as a measure of superiority.  They were acting without love.  Thus Paul begins the love chapter (that wasn’t a chapter in his letter; that was added later, obviously) “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels…”  Glossa is used here as well and refers to languages of men and languages of angels.  It stands to reason that we don’t know what the language of angels is, or if there is more than one.  Thus it seems appropriate to deem this an “unknown” language, though the position paper argues that such a thing doesn’t exist.

They also argue that tongues are a sign, which is supported by 1 Cor. 14:22, but they then move on to assert that it is only a sign for Jews, though Paul makes no distinction about that in chapter 14.  He does say that Jews requested a sign in chapter 1 as well as that Gentiles requested wisdom, which is also a gift of the Spirit.  At any rate they draw their support for this from Isaiah’s prophecy where he refers to “this people.”  Though, this prophecy certainly was given to Jews and held a fulfillment for the Jews, those who study prophecy also know that it can carry on further meaning and fulfillment.  For instance, messianic prophecies were not always understood as such.  They had their own fulfillment at the time they were given and than had a future fulfillment that didn’t just apply to their initial audience.  But at any rate, the position paper says that “in every instance of tongues in Acts there were Jews present and at least one apostle.  It is true about the apostles.  However, in order to make the argument for the Jews one has to consider Acts 19 where Paul visits Ephesus.  Here he meets a group of people only referred to as disciples who had received the baptism of John.  Paul baptizes them in Christ and they are filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues.  In order to argue that they are Jews, one has to do so from silence because Scripture doesn’t say.  This is faulty hermeneutics.  Also, tongues was obviously being experienced in Corinth (abused or not) and there was not an apostle present, hence the need for Paul’s letter.

The writers of the position paper say that Paul wrote to Corinth “to correct a problem, not to encourage or promote a particular experience as a means by which to have a superior intimate relation to God.”  This is true, but that sentence should be examined carefully because Paul does encourage and promote tongues here just not as a means to have a superior relation to God.  He writes in 14:5, “Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.  The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.”  Paul doesn’t require interpretation except for in public gatherings of worship where he places further restrictions on the use of tongues, though he does encourage all tongues-speakers to pray for interpretation (1 Cor. 14:13).

They also admit that a usage of tongues according to 1 Cor. 14:28 is to speak to God, though “some Baptists argue that the Corinthian practice is not, strictly speaking, an actual spiritual gift, because Paul defined a spiritual gift as “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7).  True, but he also says in 14:4 that the one who speaks tongues builds up himself though in chapter 12 he obviously considers tongues a spiritual gift.

They argue that the work of the Spirit is to exalt Christ.  True.  Read John 14-16.  Knowing this truth, they say that any teacher, teaching, or movement that exalts oneself rather than Christ is not from the Holy Spirit.  I think this might imply that the tongues in Corinth weren’t from the Spirit since they were being used partially for this purpose, though also for the correct purposes as well.  But then they say that the Corinthian Christians were just misusing the gift of tongues.  So, I’m not sure what they’re trying to say.

At any rate they completely skip the parts of 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul does mention tongues being used in prayer other than that one instance in verse 28 that they write off because of the argument of “some Baptists.”  Like verses 13-16 that say, “Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.  For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.”  So, should I not pray in tongues then?  No.  “What am I to do?  I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.  Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?”  The argument against this is that it implies prayer in a corporate setting and not in private.  But elsewhere we are told to “pray in the Spirit” (Jude 20,21; Ephesians 6:18).  Though tongues aren’t mentioned in those passages directly Paul does use the same language in 14:2 when he writes, “For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (emphasis mine).

At any rate the writers of the position paper and the board of trustees if nothing else did ignore 1 Corinthians 14:39-40: “So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.  But all things should be done decent and in order”  (emphasis mine, again).

I won’t even discuss the whole “the majority of Southern Baptists do not practice/accept” statements.  After all, we made it a democracy and not a theocracy (though I’m not really trying to make a point about church leadership and organization; an extensive discussion of that here is not practical).

Seems like maybe they should have worked on addressing those abuses, like Paul did, and not forbidden what he taught not to.

But what do I know?

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