The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/23/2002 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- BeachReachers minister to spring break crowds by Polly House Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Another year of BeachReach has come and gone, with 625 college students witnessing God's touch in the lives of college students from across the United States. Students from campuses across the country ministered on the Panama City, Fla., beaches during the month of March, recording 106 students' professions of faith and 23 decisions to rededicate their lives to Christ. Christy Ridings, event coordinator for adult enrichment events at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, said she was "both encouraged and challenged by the students," as they responded to the challenge of sharing the message of Christ with their peers in Panama City. "Their ability to turn a conversation about the Final Four into a conversation about eternal salvation served as a reminder to me to use every opportunity I am given to grow the kingdom," Ridings said. Each year the BeachReachers offer free van rides to college students at the beach and serve a free pancake breakfast every day. The vans are available for anyone who wants a ride. Ridings said each campus group that goes to BeachReach to minister is asked to bring a van to use in the "ministry of the free ride." Some Baptist Campus Ministry groups have their own van. Others bring a church van, and some will rent a van for the week. This year 8,361 van rides were given. "We had students who would call and say, 'I want a ride on the Jesus van,'" Ridings said. "That was a pretty cool thing, to be called the Jesus van. But we were. We had a lot of students who requested rides from us." The pancake breakfast, Ridings said, is always a big draw. The owner of the Sunset Restaurant on the beach has allowed the BeachReach group to use his restaurant for the breakfast for years, Ridings said. "Since the restaurant is only open for dinner, he generously lets us use it for our breakfast," she recounted. "We served 11,494 breakfasts this year." The disaster relief team from the Georgia Baptist Convention set up and cooked all the breakfasts. "These folks were great," Ridings said. "They arrived early every morning and cooked thousands of pancakes. We appreciate them so much." Just between the van rides and pancake breakfasts, almost 20,000 opportunities were presented for the students to hear the gospel. This number doesn't include the hundreds of students and conversations that BeachReacher Street Teams encountered, she said. "This generation is crying out for the hope that comes from a relationship with Christ, and deep down they know it," Ridings said. "I can't tell you the number of students who climbed on the vans for a free ride or came to the pancake breakfast for a free meal and opened up their lives to anyone who would listen." Buddy Young, then Baptist Student Union director at Alvin Community College, started BeachReach in 1980 at South Padre Island, Texas. Young, who is now Baptist Collegiate Ministry director at West Texas A&M, is still reaching out to students at South Padre Island, Ridings said. "Buddy Young is really the one who started this whole program. He deserves a lot of credit for the vision he has for students." --30-- For more information about BeachReach 2002 and for suggestions on involvement by campuses for BeachReach2003, contact Ridings at christy.ridings@lifeway.com or at (615) 251-2067. (BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: POWERED BY PRAYER, THE PLACE OF PANCAKES and DAY'S END. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1,000 senior adults tour Southwestern Seminary by Lauri Arnold Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--When Henry Ford began to produce the Model-T at the turn of the century, you could purchase one in any color -- as long as it was black. The same could be said of Southern Baptists' choice for a seminary education. At the time, only Southern Seminary existed. That changed in 1910 when B.H. Carroll established Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. In mid-April approximately 1000 senior adults, some who were alive when the seminary was founded, toured the campus of the Southern Baptist Convention's second -- and now its largest -- seminary. The seniors, who were in Fort Worth April 15-18 for the Joy in the Journey Senior Adult Conference sponsored by LifeWay Church Resources, toured the seminary's World Missions Center, Tandy Archeological Museum and the newly renovated campus mall. Not all of the seniors were being exposed to the seminary for the first time. For those who had been on the campus before, however, much has changed. Southwestern's main campus has grown to 200 acres, and 12 main buildings and dozens of large trees occupy the once barren landscape. Anna D. Miller of Ocean Springs, Miss., was familiar with Southwestern but was amazed at the changes she found on campus. She had been on the campus 50 years ago. "It's beautiful. It's really nice," Miller said. Miller received a degree in religious education from Southwestern and intended on serving on the foreign mission field. Her plans changed when she married a fellow student who became a minister. "We still did mission work wherever we went," Miller quickly said. Melba Crews of Arnold, Mo., also had plenty to think about while on campus. She had not been to Southwestern's Fort Worth campus in several decades. She came to Fort Worth with her husband, Vernelle, in 1949. He graduated from Southwestern in 1957. "We came down with two little girls and went home with three," she said, smiling. "We took a Texan back with us." Her husband passed away in 1998. Melba thought a fitting memorial for her late husband would be to purchase one of the inscribed bricks in front of the new Ralph M. Smith Leadership Development Complex. His name was carved on the brick, and she saw it for the first time on the recent tour. "When I sent the money down here, I thought, 'Well, I'll never see it,' but here I am," she said. Many of the senior adults, such as Bob Swift of Tulsa, Okla., were visiting the campus for the first time. The tour helped him to see how Southwestern began and how it has developed, he said. In addition to a tour of the campus, seniors were able to watch a video highlighting the history of Southwestern as well as what it offers today -- more than 30 degree plans and a foundational focus on evangelism and missions. "I'm amazed at how well they've done," Swift said. Southwestern students were able to share in the benefits of the senior adult convention since several of the speakers or performers, such as Southwestern alumnus Dennis Swanberg, also made appearances in chapel services on campus. "It's been a wonderful trip," said Mamie Turnbo of Savannah, Tenn. She noted everything from the "wonderful" speakers during the convention to the beautiful lawns on the Southwestern campus. "The only thing discouraging was the tornado," she said, laughing. On Tuesday, April 16, two tornadoes touched down in eastern Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas. --30-- (BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: SENIORS LIFT SEMINARY, PRAYING TOGETHER, AT THE MISSONS CENTER and SENIORS DIG IN. -------------------------------------------------------------------- State senator seeks Mo. health dept, attorney general review of sex event by Art Toalston Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday EDITORS' NOTE: The following story contains material not suited for children. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)--A state senator has introduced a resolution calling for the Missouri department of health and attorney general to investigate the safety and legality of sex-oriented events such as a "Beat Me in St. Louis" conference April 26-28 at a Howard Johnson facility near Lambert Airport. State Sen. John Loudon, R-Ballwin and a member of Ballwin Baptist Church, introduced the resolution April 23 in response to the sadomasochism conference, which prompted the Southern Baptist Convention to drop the hotel from its block of rooms for the SBC's June 11-12 annual meeting in St. Louis. Loudon, speaking across the street from the Howard Johnson's facility April 21, described the "Beat Me in St. Louis" event as "absolutely dangerous," the Associated Press reported. Loudon's resolution notes: -- the "Beat Me in St. Louis" event promises, according to promotions by its sponsoring organization, St. Louis Leather and Lace, to include "dungeon parties" with "flogging and cutting" for which a "tarp or drop cloth" may be needed for "messy blood scenes and other bodily fluids." -- "sadomasochist behavior of this kind," the resolution states, "spreads disease." -- "engaging in deviant sexual behavior and experimentation is widely recognized by experts to lead to more extreme behavior, particularly the victimization of women and children who are not 'consenting.'" -- "by allowing the 'Beat Me in St. Louis' gathering to be held at their hotel, the Howard Johnson hoteliers are contributing to the overall risk to the health and welfare of their other patrons and the public." The resolution reminded that Howard Johnson Hotels "hold themselves out to be a 'family oriented' hotel chain and encourage families to use their facilities for family vacations." If passed, "a properly inscribed copy of this resolution" is to be sent to Howard Johnson hotels. The Associated Press, in an April 22 story about Loudon's resolution, quoted a spokeswoman for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom Foundation, Susan Wright, as saying that critics should lighten up and mind their own business, as the AP paraphrased it, and stop "using scare tactics and lies," Wright said, "to impose their beliefs on everyone else." "Conventions exactly like this are held every weekend in communities throughout the country. They're your neighbors and co-workers," said Wright, whose organization depicts itself as providing help in conducting sex seminars safely and legally. The SBC Executive Committee's vice president of business and finance and convention manager, Jack Wilkerson, informed hotel officials of the convention's decision to cancel its rooms at the Howard Johnson in an April 4 letter. "It is extremely unfortunate that your hotel and parent corporation has chosen this departure, which is a direct attack on the fabric of traditional family values and the Biblical heritage of our denomination and its churches," Wilkerson wrote. More than 4,000 hotel rooms have been blocked for messengers and guests attending the St. Louis meeting, and Wilkerson assured Southern Baptists who made reservations at the Howard Johnson would be assisted in finding alternative housing. Liz Ryan Sax, a media relations manager for Howard Johnson's parent company, Cendant Corporation, told CNSNews.com that HoJo's guests are a top concern but that Cendant doesn't own any of the Howard Johnson locations, but just franchises them. When individual HoJo locations enter into a franchise agreement, there are "standards and stipulations" set by Cendant to which the hotels must adhere, Sax said. However, she said, "The way that we see it is that as long as they [Howard Johnson St. Louis Airport] are adhering to their local government ... they're the best judge of how their town should conduct business." --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Homosexual minister who left family battles child support, seeks estate by Staff Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday DALLAS (BP)--A legal battle has erupted between a homosexual minister who has claimed he has amnesia and the wife and daughter who were left behind in 1984. The homosexual minister, James Simmons, has balked at paying back child support, an attorney for his former wife, Beth Cox, told the Abilene Reporter-News. Simmons, after child support proceedings began against him, filed court papers to have his death certificate reversed and his estate returned to him. If Simmons is able to regain his estate, Beth Cox said she will face "total bankruptcy," the Abilene paper reported April 17. After her husband, who grew up as Wesley Barrett "Barre" Cox, was declared legally dead in 1991, she received part of the proceeds of the sale of a ranch in the Texas Panhandle owned by the Cox family, the Reporter-News recounted. Prior to the sale, she had received lease payments on part of the ranch. The money she received has been spent in raising their child, Cox, who never remarried after her husband's disappearance in rural Texas, told the newspaper. Barre Cox was identified in December 2000 as James Simmons after he preached a trial sermon at a predominantly homosexual church in Dallas. Simmons had just left Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., where he had been campus housing director and had earned two degrees. Officials at the seminary said Simmons never indicated he is a homosexual during his 1990-2000 stay at the seminary. The Abilene newspaper reported that a hearing for Beth Cox's case for back child support is slated June 7 in Dallas. Simmons' legal action, meanwhile, filed in Gray County, Texas, in addition to seeking to nullify his death certificate and reclaim his estate, also asks that he receive any profits since accrued by his estate, according to the Reporter-News. On April 1, the Dallas Morning News reported that Cox, who has started a homosexual-oriented church in Garland, Texas, is under the care of a neuropsychologist and beginning to recall "bits and pieces," as he put it, about his former life. Beth Cox, who now lives in Franklin, Tenn., had believed her husband to be dead after his mysterious disappearance on July 12, 1984. At that time he was a youth minister at MacArthur Park Church of Christ in San Antonio and was working on a doctoral degree in art at Texas Tech University. After finishing a summer class on the Lubbock campus, he was on his way home when his car was found abandoned and ransacked on a rural road outside Abilene. Cox's daughter, Talitha, was six months old at the time of his disappearance. Cox has told of being beaten to unconsciousness in 1984 and found in the truck of a car in a junkyard. He said he awoke from a coma with amnesia in a Memphis, Tenn., hospital. Police officials there have no record of Simmons' account. He said he chose his last name after moving to Virginia, but the name, birthdate and Social Security number he was using happen to be those of a Texas rancher. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- NCC delegation meets with Syria's president by Art Toalston Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A National Council of Churches 13-member delegation met April 22 with Syrian President Bashar Assad. NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar described Assad as "very interested in trying to help us understand better the personality of Syria and of the region, and the belief that the U.S. needs to play a better role in the peace process particularly [supporting] the U.N. resolutions for peace in the region," according to an Associated Press report. The AP also quoted Edgar as: -- challenging the Israelis to end the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, considered in various Christian traditions as the birthplace of Christ. "We hope that the Israeli officials would take a different tact and recognize it as a holy place and provide opportunity for the tension and the siege to be removed," Edgar was quoted as saying. Israeli troops and tanks continue to surround the ancient church where an estimated 250 Palestinian gunmen took refuge April 3. Forty or more clerics and several nuns also are in the church, with Israeli, Palestinian and various Christian officials debating whether they are being held hostage. -- supporting the state of Israel "with secure borders, but we believe that they should leave the occupied territories" so that an independent Palestinian state can be formed, Edgar was quoted as saying. The delegation is scheduled to arrive April 23 in Israel. Edgar said the NCC delegation plans to "urge the Israelis" to live in accord with various U.N. resolutions calling for Palestinian self-determination. The Associated Press account did not report whether Edgar voiced any concerns about the Palestinian Authority and its leader Yasser Arafat and the wave of suicide bombings by Palestinians against Israeli civilians. A complaint that the NCC has shown "a severe tilt toward the Palestinian Authority that distorts truth and undermines the church's witness" was voiced by the Institute on Religion and Democracy's president, Diane Knippers, in an April 17 news release by the Washington-based organization. Knippers urged the NCC delegate to avoid becoming "mere propagandists" for the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She also urged the NCC delegation to avoid "a mindless moral equivalence" and, instead, make "crucial moral distinctions between the identities, goals and tactics of the parties in conflict." Among those joining Edgar in the delegation are William Shaw of Philadelphia, president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc.; James Edward Winkler of Washington, D.C., general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society; and James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister at New York City's Riverside Church. The NCC has 36 member denominations; the Southern Baptist Convention, however, has never been affiliated with the council, which was founded in 1950. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FamilyNet to reprise animated series 'JOT' by Staff Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--The classic animated series "JOT," created in 1964 by the former Southern Baptist Radio & Television Commission, will return to the airwaves on FamilyNet Television in May. "JOT Classics" will air daily during FamilyNet's children's block beginning May 6 and will be compiled for product sales. JOT was conceptualized in 1959 by Ruth Byers, a Baylor University graduate who majored in children's and teens' theater, and Ted Perry, a writer with the RTVC. Paul M. Stevens, then-president of the RTVC, commissioned Byers and Perry to develop JOT into a children's television show with the purpose to reach children with moral messages. Stevens, Byers and Perry along with staff from the-then Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board), educators, community leaders from across the United States and others collaborated on JOT. Preliminary sketches and scripts were submitted to a production company and after some tweaking, JOT came to life. "The Lutherans had Davey & Goliath and I wondered what we Baptists could do for children's television," Stevens recounted. In the preliminary sketches, he said, JOT had hands and feet in all the frames, but exorbitant production costs forced a change resulting in a "bouncy, fun" JOT whose hands and feet only appeared when he was at rest in a scene. JOT teaches its young viewers morals and manners through easy-to-understand lessons. The four-and-a-half minute segments deal with topics such as racial tolerance, making right choices and adapting to life in the big city. JOT aired nationally and internationally for nine years. "For people like me who grew up with JOT, seeing these stories again brings back fond memories," said Martin Coleman, vice president of programming at FamilyNet. "I remember Dad honking the horn for me to come get in the car, so we could get to church on time. But I just couldn't go until JOT was finished. Now I'll get to watch JOT with my own kids." JOT was translated into 19 foreign languages with the simple lessons carried around the globe in the form of film, Sunday School and Vacation Bible School literature, lesson plans and products. Broadcast syndication continued for years after production ceased. JOT also inspired "A Day in the Life of JOT," a stage production inspired by several episodes performed at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, FamilyNet is a 24-hour television network affiliated with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board airing more than 50 hours of original, values-based programs weekly. FamilyNet broadcasts to a potential 34 million TV households and is available on cable systems and broadcast stations nationwide. For more information, visit the FamilyNet website at www.FamilyNetTV.com or call 1-800-832-6638. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hometown Legend: faith & football by Kaylan Christopher Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Though it premieres during baseball season, "Hometown Legend" is a football film. This Christian-based movie, now showing in secular theatres, is based on a novel written by Jerry Jenkins, coauthor of the "Left Behind" series. Jenkins and his son, Dallas, also produced the movie. Hometown Legend is set in Athens, Ala., and focuses on its legendary high school football team. Led by coach Buster Schuler (Terry O'Quinn), the team starts to fall apart after an accident forces him to retire from coaching. After 12 years, the high school is on the verge of being closed because of financial difficulties. Through prayer, high school student Rachel Sawyer (Lacey Chabert) helps create hope for the dying institution, which leads the plot toward a hometown miracle. Contributing to the miracle is the new kid, Elvis Jackson (Nick Cornish) who drifted into town from foster home to foster home in hopes of finding a free ride to college through a football scholarship. Coach Schuler returns to the high school for one last season in hopes of leading the team to a championship, but he also tries to heal the deep divisions that have torn the school apart. With the football prowess of the new kid, the prayers of a high school girl and persistence of the legendary coach, the team learns the true meaning of working together. Among positive reviews the movie has received: -- Crosswalk.com's Holly McClure notes, "This is a thoughtful character-driven story about a town's last hope for survival. The movie focuses on the game of football and personal rivalries, while emphasizing the sacrifice of individual goals for the sake of the community. I enjoyed the story, the spirit and the message of this movie." -- Chris Hewitt of Knight Ridder News writes, "Hometown Legend adds a spiritual element to this oft-told story, since many of the players and fans are inspired by God and by the memory of their team's faded glory days. Hometown Legend is sensitively written and sharply acted." -- Tom Snyder, from Ted Baehr's Movieguide, declares, "Hometown Legend must be seen! It will win the hearts and minds of everyone in the audience." -- Tammy Leytham of the Foley Onlooker on the Internet says, "Take a teen film, remove all the profanity, sex, bathroom jokes, drinking and drug use; add some soul and the fervor of Friday night football and what do you have? Hometown Legend, an independent film that is simple, pure, and yet, proves to be entertaining." -- Lawrence Specker of the Mobile Register writes, "Hometown Legend exceeds every expectation ... it has a playbook that Hollywood ought to consider stealing." Apart from the positive reviews, however, is one from Nicole Duclos of citypages.com. "The movie would be easy to dismiss as a mindless appeal to old-school American idealism if it weren't so insidiously offensive," Duclos writes. "Time and again (and again), Schuler is quick to share his racist and homophobic beliefs, as well as to warn against the 'curse of individualism' that threatens not only his team but the audience and, by extension, the American people as a whole. Good thing he has the Almighty to back him up." The Christian-based rock band Jars of Clay contributed to the Hometown Legend soundtrack. "I've been a huge fan of Jars of Clay for years," said the film's producer, 25-year-old Dallas Jenkins, "and it's long been a dream of mine to work with Dan Haseltine on a project. The score, as well as the songs he put together, are even better than we had hoped for." The film is rated PG, which is discussed at length at the Focus on the Family film reviews website, www.family.org/pplace/pi/films. The Focus on the Family review describes Hometown Legend as "a film the entire family can view together. Just don't leave out the requisite family chat about the film's pros and cons afterwards." Distributed by Warner Brothers, the movie is directed by James Anderson and stars Terry O'Quinn, Lacey Chabert, Nick Cornish, Kirk B.R. Wohler, Ian Bowen and Mary Pat Gleason. --30-- Kaylan Christopher is a student at Ouachita Baptist University and an intern with Pastors.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Messianic Fellowship slates June 10 meeting in St. Louis by Staff Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday ST. LOUIS (BP)--The Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship will meet from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. June 10 in St. Louis in conjunction with the June 11-12 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. The fellowship, which will meet in room 231, level 2, of the Cervantes Convention Center, will have a time of worship as well as business sessions. Stuart Rothberg of Sagemont Baptist Church in Houston will be the featured speaker. Ken Alpren, pastor of Kol Dodi Messianic congregation in Boynton Beach, Fla., is the fellowship's president. Membership is open to anyone in the Southern Baptist Convention with a particular concern for ministry to Jews. For further information, e-mail 4zionsake@mindspring.com. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Intelligent design's patriarch by Terry Mattingly Date: April 23, 2002 - Tuesday WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (BP)--Call them the Evangelical Alpha Males. There's Chuck Colson and James Dobson, James Kennedy and Robert Schuller, and Paul Crouch and Pat Robertson. There are many more. They are 60 years old or much older, but they still command the spotlight. "During this decade the American Church will experience a massive turnover in ... leadership," note researchers George Barna and Mark Hatch, in their book, "Boiling Point." If history is a guide, "the impact of many of the personality-driven ministries will fade as the primary personality departs the scene." Celebrities are hard to replace. That's why a provocative thinker named Phillip E. Johnson -- patriarch of the "intelligent design" movement -- has taken a different path. It's not that he is terribly modest. But Johnson wants to win and he is convinced that aiming the spotlight at others is good strategy. He wants his cause to thrive after he is gone. "One of things that the Christian world is notorious for is a celebrity style of dealing with issues," Johnson said, speaking at a conference at Palm Beach Atlantic College (which is also where I teach). "That puts a big burden on one person.... I never wanted a movement like that." So Johnson writes his own books while promoting those written by his colleagues. And he keeps yielding the stage to biochemist Michael Behe, philosopher Stephen Meyer, mathematician William Dembski, worldview specialist Nancy Pearcey and a host others. Johnson would rather be a rabbi than an Alpha Male. This is not normal. Then again, Johnson has not lived a normal, garden-variety Christian life. He is a graduate of both Harvard University and the University of Chicago School of Law and served as clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. Then he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley -- a great home base for a left-of-center agnostic. However, a personal crisis rocked Johnson's life and he became a Christian believer, of a bookish Presbyterian stripe. Years later, he read Michael Denton's "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis" and was hooked. Johnson became convinced that the legal rhetoric being used to silence critics of Darwinian philosophy was, in fact, a secular fundamentalism. Acting as fierce, but jolly, academic samurai, Johnson set out to slice up the scientific establishment. The result was "Darwin on Trial" in 1991, followed by numerous other books that have inspired and infuriated readers. Last summer, Johnson suffered a major stroke. He responded by writing yet another book, the upcoming "The Right Questions." Johnson thrives in secular settings. When he does agree to talk theology, rather than science, he refuses to march straight through the landmines in the first chapters of Genesis. Instead, he starts with the prelude to the Gospel of John, which states: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." After reading this, Johnson asks: "Is that true or false?" Then he turns this Scripture inside out and creates a credo for use in sanctuaries aligned with the National Center for Science Education. It sounds like this: "In the beginning were the particles and the particles somehow became complex, living stuff. And the stuff imagined god." After reading this, Johnson again asks: "Is that true or false?" The movement Johnson calls "the Wedge" argues that today's debates over science, creation and morality are, literally, clashes between people who believe there is scientific evidence that God created man and those who believe there is scientific evidence that man created God. This debate will not be settled overnight, which is why Johnson is convinced he must not fight alone. He believes the stakes are high and getting higher. "If there is no Creator who has a purpose for your life, then there is no such thing as sin," he said. "Sin would mean that you are in a wrong relationship to your Creator. Well, you can't be in the wrong relationship with the particles. They don't care. So you don't need a Savior, to save you from the consequences of your wrong relationship with the particles. "When you give away creation, you have given away everything." --30-- Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic College and is senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.