Comments for EDITORIAL: Forward to the past? at http://www.religiousherald.org , comment 1 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.religiousherald.org Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:47:02 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.religiousherald.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5989&Itemid=9#comment-66 How many words am I allowed to use in making a comment? I will go as far as possible, for the editorial above moves me to tears. I will answer my own question as to what is going on here. I believe stinginess in any form is a sign of spiritual poverty. What Jesus teaches is a literal fact and I, at ninety-three could write many words on that from experience--that is, the measure that you use in giving is the measure that you receive in blessings! Part of this problem is due to the short sighted leadership of the denomination that removed the Sunday evening training period from the programs of Southern Baptist churchs. That was the the Great Mistake of the Ages for SBC, for that organization used the lay person himself to learn and present the program material. It taught Sunday School teachers, deacons, finance committee members, all the ins and outs of our denominational life. I am a passionate Southern Baptist, and I have survived the rift in our denomination of the recent past, I do not hesitate to say that much of who I am today as a strong Christian believer who supports missions with all my heart, is due to my years of training every Sunday evening, and then putting it into effect in WMU and in all my church leadership roles. Now multiply this one person by the thousands who have been affected and you are bound to see the disaster that now faces us. You had just as well take away the direct support of our church programs as to suggest such a thing as not supporting the institutions and agencies that are the means of each church participating in carrying out the Great Commission. I speak the truth at this moment cold chills came up on my arms at such a thought, and tears are stinging my eyes and blurring my ability to write. How such an idea could come so far as to be spoken of as something to be desired, as Brother Jim has done here in this editorial, saying that he hopes that the Religious Herald will become independant of funds from church mission offerings,is to me a strong indication that he considers such monies as a hindrance to the efficient functioning of this organ of our mission effort in Virginia. I believe Brother Jim, having served as a faithful minister all these years, bringing all of his heart and mind to this paper, I cannot believe that he holds this opinion except as a means, he feels will keep the Herald afloat, for he knows the eternal purpose and value of it God bless you, Brother Jim, for you are holding on to your Christian principles and saying what God has laid on your heart, but I will say this, to the people in the pews who are reading this,today, if you hear His Voice, harden not your hearts! Our institutions and agencies are ones who put flesh and blood to our efforts to bring the gospel to our own "Jerusalem" namely our own commonwealth. Although I am now residing in Texas, I am still a Sourthern Baptist and this matter is of vital importance to us as a denomination. We must go back to our basics, but the basics are not the pre-coop, but the real thing which is the Great Commission that we are all joined together for the purpose of acting in obedience to Christ. - Maxine J. Bersch-Lovern Sat, 12 May 2012 14:28:03 +0100