From Law to Grace » Archive
Jewish Basketball, Texas Stupidity & Hank Greenberg
Hank Greenberg would be proud. The Beren Academy boys’ basketball team stands to forfeit their semi-final game on Friday because the game is scheduled after the start of the Jewish Sabbath. Beren, an Orthodox Jewish day school in the Houston area, will be knocked out of the championship tournament because the team refuses to violate their religious beliefs by playing on the Sabbath. It seems that the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), will hold fast to their “rules” which prevent tournaments from being rescheduled. An appeal by Beren to have the game rescheduled was unanimously rejected by the TAPPS’ Board. Could the Board’s vote be construed as anti-semetic, given that Beren is the only Jewish school among the 58 schools in TAPPS. Of the other 57, only 6 are non-Christian. Why would TAPPS’ inflexibility exhibited toward the … Read entire article »
SBC Nickname: Confusion, Clarity & More Questions
A week after the great “Nickname” proposal was unveiled to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, more illuminating information continues to trickle out. With each new nugget, more questions seemed to be raised. For many name change completely optional nickname proponents, the EC’s approval of the recommendation of an unofficial blue ribbon panel assembled by the sitting President of the Southern Baptist Convention, thus sending it to the messengers to vote whether to approve the aforementioned completely optional nickname (or is it now a tagline or informal descriptor) — Great Commission Baptists — settles the matter. Without speaking to the bad precedent that has been set (I’ll save that for another post), the Executive Committee (save a reported five brave souls whose vote against the nickname proposal not only cut down on their own mental clutter, but … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christianity, Religion, SBC Name Change, Southern Baptist Convention
Mega Fridays: Furtick Says Pastors “Rip Off” T.D. Jakes
Today marks the launch of Mega Fridays, a new, weekly post at From Law to Grace. Every Friday, I’ll share the latest jaw-dropping, perplexing, “you just can’t make this stuff up” gems from some of America’s most well-known celebrity megachurch pastors, many of whom are setting the trends (not all good) that many younger pastors will follow. Every now and then, I’ll pass along a wise word or a particularly encouraging message from some of Evangelicalism’s (and Southern Baptists’) most well-respected non-celebrity megachurch pastors. With limited comment from yours truly, I’ll ask my readers to ponder and answer a few relevant questions related to the post. Some Mega Friday stories will be infuriating while others will be inspirational. Some posts will make you scratch your head and still others would be funny if they were not so sad. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Christianity, Mega Fridays, Megachurch, Religion, Southern Baptist Convention
Tweets of SBC Elites & What They Reveal
I confess that I have a Twitter account — you can follow me @fromlaw2grace (shameless promotional plug). The only tweets that you will find are the ones about my latest From Law to Grace blog posts. Apart from that, I can honestly say that I have never once posted a tweet that I have composed. Quite frankly, I don’t get Twitter. Yes, it is another means of communication in our ever-increasing social media, youth-oriented culture (at-large and in the SBC/GCB). There are pastors and Convention leaders who skillfully use Twitter to get out a particular message. But, for every good use of Twitter, there is the temptation to succumb to a narcissistic personality that cries to be unleashed. It seems that most of the SBC’s movers and shakers — from entity heads to megachurch pastors — have a Twitter account. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Baptist Convention of New Mexico, Christianity, Great Commission Resurgence, Religion, Southern Baptist Convention