Missions

by Keith Bassham

Though the Tribune covers Baptist Bible Fellowship mission  work each month, one of our better traditions is to take one  issue of the Tribune every year and devote it almost entirely to missions.  This first issue in volume 62 is the Missions Issue for 2011.

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Our cover this month is a photo from downtown Boston. In the  foreground is the historic Faneuil Hall, the venue for the Monday  night meeting in the BBFI Fall Fellowship hosted by Boston Baptist  College. It was my great honor to speak in this building at the college’s  commencement this past May, and it will be a genuine treat  for our Fellowship to have a bit of our own history in this building.  See other details about the meeting in this magazine, and visit the  meeting website, www. boston2011.net. Boston President David  Melton, his staff, student body, and area pastors will do all they can  to make the meeting memorable and profitable for our Fellowship.

Speaking of history, readers know that we publish snippets  from past Tribunes in our “Digressions” section. Last month, an  alert reader noted our excerpt was from 1951 though the heading  indicated the page was 50 years old. It was, of course, 60 years old  as the reader noted.

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The issues connected with same-sex marriage and homosexual  activism continue to ripple. One large evangelical ministry  has tried to distance itself from Exodus International, a group who  ministers to homosexuals and helps churches to address the issues  of homosexuality with grace and truth. Because Exodus considers  homosexuality to be sinful and heterosexuality is God’s norm for  human behavior, they come under a lot of criticism. Apparently,  the aforesaid evangelical ministry, while agreeing in general with  the Exodus position, did not want to continue to be associated  with them. The Christian community obviously does not speak  with one voice on the matter.

But, then, the United States government has a similar schizophrenia.  The Obama administration, acting through the office of  the U. S. Attorney, refuses to defend the legally enacted Defense of  Marriage Act and has taken the position that at least one section of  DOMA is unconstitutional.

In a case currently before the court, Tom Strode of Baptist Press writes, “In its legal briefs arguing that the law should be upheld, the  legal team hired by the U.S. House says DOMA, as it’s often called, is  naturally tied to procreation and children benefit from having both  a mother and father in the home. The Justice Department [of the  Obama administration] has discounted the procreation argument  and argued that the gender of parents does not matter.”

This all reflects confusion. Evangelicals and other Christians  may be confused. Governments may be confused. Media may be  confused. I may be confused. But the Bible evidences no confusion  on the subject. And clearly societies who remain in their confusion  are, according to the Apostle in Romans 1:28-32, headed for  trouble.