Newspaper Page Text
6B
♦ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2006
Southern Baptists lack consensus on speaking in tongues
By ROSE FRENCH
Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
- The first time the Rev.
Dwight McKißsic ever spoke
in tongues, he was a semi
nary student, praying on his
knees in his dorm room.
“Strange sounds begin
to come out of my mouth,”
McKissic said. “The only
thing I could think of was,
I was either losing my mind
or this is what the Bible
calls speaking in tongues. I
wasn’t trying to do it. It just
happened.
“It’s this sense of being
intimate with God,” said
McKissic, who is now a
Southern Baptist minister
in Arlington, Texas. “It’s
different, but not necessar
ily a better way to pray.”
Southern Baptists have
long viewed speaking in
tongues with ambivalence,
not exactly condemnirig a
practice that’s mentioned
in the Bible, but not allow
ing it from its pastors and
Rambunctious toddlers are not suited to attend church
Question: I get very
upset because my 2-year
old boy will not sit still
and be quiet in church.
He knows he’s not sup
posed to be noisy, but
he hits his toys on the
pew and sometimes talks
out loud. Should I repri
mand him for being dis
ruptive?
Dr. Dobson: With all
respect, your question
reveals a rather poor under
standing of the nature of
toddlers. Most 2-year-olds
- those who are normally
active - can no more fold
their hands in church and
listen to a sermon intended
for adults than they could
swim the Atlantic Ocean.
They squirm and churn and
burn because they must.
You just can’t hold a toddler
down.
All their waking hours
are spent in activity, and
that’s normal for this stage
of development.
So I do not recommend
that your child be punished
for this behavior. I think he
should be left in the church
nursery where he can shake
the foundations without dis
turbing the worship service.
If there is no nursery, I sug
gest, if it is possible from a
financial point of view, that
he be left at home with a
sitter until he is at least 3
years old.
Question: At what age
POWELL
From page jB
mother, Eve, by an umbilical
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cord was cut, forming a scar,
called the navel.
Humans are limited in
their grasp of eternal mat
ters and naturally assume
that everything has an origin
and every cause an effect.
We naturally ask the ques
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But now, as Baptist church
es become more accepting of
charismatic forms of wor
ship, some are asking the
denomination to clarify its
position: Is it OK for Baptists
to speak in tongues?
McKissic is at the center
of the debate, recently send
ing a letter to the Southern
Baptist Convention’s presi
dent and executive commit
tee, asking for church lead
ers to clarify the conven
tion’s position.
The nine-page letter was
in response to Southwestern
Baptist Theological
Seminary’s refusal earlier
last month to post on its Web
site audio and video record
ings of McKissic’s sermon at
the school’s chapel, in which
he describes experiencing a
“private prayer language.”
Leaders at the Fort Worth,
Texas, seminary said the
statement conflicted with the
SBC’s International Mission
Board, which voted in
November to ban missionar
should discipline begin?
Dobson: There should be
no physical punishment for
a child younger than 15 to
18 months, regardless of the
circumstance. An infant is
incapable of comprehending
his or her “offense” or asso
ciating it with the resulting
consequences.
Some parents do not agree
and find themselves “swat
ting” a baby for wiggling
while being diapered or for
crying in
the mid
night
hours.
This is a
terrible
mistake.
Other
parents
will shake
a child
violently
when they
are frus-
Dr. James
Dobson
Focus on the Family
trated or irritated by inces
sant crying.
Let me warn those mothers
and fathers of the dangers
of that punishing response.
Shaking an infant can cause
serious neurological dam
age as the brain is slammed
against the skull. Do not
risk any kind of injury with
a baby!
Especially during the first
year, a youngster needs to be
held, loved and calmed by a
soothing human voice.
He should be fed when
tion: “Who created God.” If
someone could supply that
answer, then we would ask:
“Who created the creator
that, in turn, created God?”
This line of questioning is
unending. The only conclu
sion we can reach based on
our finite wisdom is that God
is the “Uncaused Cause.” “I
am Alpha and Omega,” say
eth the Lord. “I am the one
who is, who was, and who is
to come, the Almighty.”
ies from speaking in tongues
in private. Previously, mis
sionaries were discouraged
from speaking in tongues
publicly, but private prayer
was not monitored.
Dissenting bloggers in the
denomination, who have
been credited with help
ing propel the little-known
Rev. Frank Page to election
as convention president in
June, have criticized the
mission board’s decision.
Speaking in tongues is com
mon among Pentecostals,
whose more exuberant brand
of Christianity is spreading
in the U.S. and in countries
where Southern Baptist mis
sionaries work.
There are different under
standings of the practice,
which is believed to be
inspired by the Holy Spirit.
It commonly sounds like a
series of nonsense syllables
strung together rapidly in a
song or chant.
Curtis Freeman, director of
the Baptist House of Studies
at Duke University Divinity
hungry and kept clean, dry
and warm.
The foundation for emo
tional and physical health is
laid during this six-month
period, which should be
characterized by security,
affection and warmth.
Question: My children
are still in elementary
school, but I want to
avoid adolescent rebel
lion in the future if I can.
What can you tell me to
help me get ready for
this scary time?
Dobson: I can understand
why you look toward the
adolescent years with some
apprehension.
This is a tough time to
raise kids.
Many youngsters sail right
through that period with no
unusual stresses and prob
lems, but others get caught
in a pattern of rebellion
that disrupts families and
scares their moms and dads
to death.
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RELIGION
School, said Southern
Baptists and Pentecostals
are competing for the same
converts, but Baptists have
traditionally seen the prac
tice as undermining their
belfef in biblical authority.
“There’s a kind of theolog
ical division,” Freeman said.
“The focus of Baptist piety
tends to be on Jesus and the
Bible, while Pentecostals are
more focused on the Holy
Spirit.”
Freeman said many
Southern Baptist churches
in recent years have become
more charismatic-friendly,
with more praise-and-wor
ship music, singing choruses
and lifting their hands at
worship services.
McKissic, a seminary trust
ee and pastor of Cornerstone
Baptist Church in Arlington,
Texas, said missionaries
should be able to speak in
tongues privately and that
nothing in the Baptist Faith
and Message, the denomi
nations articles of faith, or
Bible is at odds with what he
I’ve spent several decades
trying to understand that
phenomenon and how to
prevent it. The encouraging
thing is that the most rebel
lious teens usually grow up
to be responsible and stable
adults who can’t remember
why they were so angry in
their earlier days.
I once devoted a radio pro
gram to a panel of formerly
rebellious teens that includ
ed three successful minis
ters, the Rev. Raul Ries,
Pastor Mike Macintosh, and
the Rev. Franklin Graham,
son of Dr. Billy and Ruth
Graham.
Each of them had been
difficult adolescents who
gave their parents fits. With
the exception of Raul, who
had been abused at home,
the other two couldn’t recall
what motivated their mis
behavior or why they didn’t
just go along to get along.
That is often the way with
adolescence. It’s like a tor
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said in his chapel sermon.
“I recognize this is a
thorny, uncomfortable issue
for all of us, but righteous
ness and biblical integrity
demand that we deal with
this issue,” McKissic’s letter
states.
Kenyn Cureton, vice presi
dent for SBC relations, said
the executive committee,
which met last month at SBC
headquarters in Nashville,
did not address the issue
because it is “not official and
therefore pending business
at this point.”
McKissic said if the execu
tive committee does not act,
he would make a similar
proposal at the SBC’s con
vention next year in San
Antonio, Texas.
Pentecostals believe speak
ing in tongues is a sign of
the Holy Spirit. Sometimes
this speech is translated
publicly by another person,
while at other times it is a
private prayer language that
McKissic describes.
Soon after the
nado that drops unexpect
edly out of a dark sky, tyran
nizes a family, shakes up the
community and then blows
on by. Then the sun comes
out and spreads its warmth
again.
Even though the teen
years can be challenging,
they’re also filled with excite
ment and growth. Rather
than fearing that experi
ence, I think you ought to
anticipate it as a dynamic
time when your kids transi
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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
International Mission
Board’s vote last fall, blog
gers jumped into the debate
the most notable being
Wade Burleson, a pastor from
Enid, Okla., and a member
of the mission board.
Burleson was reprimand
ed by other board members
for writing about the board’s
internal debates on his blog
and threatened with remov
al.
Burleson said the issue
was not whether most
Southern Baptists agree
with McKissic’s views, but
whether his sermon can be
viewed by the public.
Freeman, from Duke
University, said most in the
SBC’s “new guard” led by
Page are likely to be more
“charismatic-leaning” and
open to charismatic practic
es like speaking in tongues
privately.
“Page and the others
I think want there to be
a bigger tent in the SBC,”
for it to be more inclusive,
Freeman said.
tion from childhood to full
fledged adulthood.
Dobson is founder and
chairman of the board of
the nonprofit organization
Focus on the Family, P.O.
Box 444, Colorado Springs,
CO. 8090.3; or www.family,
org. Questions and answers
are excerpted from “The
Complete Marriage and
Family Home Reference
Guide” and "Bringing Up
Boys, ” both published by
Tyndale House.
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