
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-12/27/2005

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One year after deadly tsunami, villagers <br>in India thank Southern Baptists for help
by Goldie Frances*
Date: December 27, 2005 - Tuesday

<i>EDITORS’ NOTE: On Dec. 26, 2004, a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean spawned one of the most destructive tsunamis in recorded history. It swept away thousands of lives and left millions of people homeless. One year later, Southern Baptists continue to aid and share God’s love with survivors in South Asia. In addition to reports in Baptist Press Dec. 22, the following stories report ongoing ministries and needs.</i>


CHENNAI, India (BP)--When Cole Elbridge* stood to accept the village leader’s appreciation, he did so on behalf of Southern Baptists who have given nearly $17 million to help survivors of the tsunami that ripped through southern Asia’s coastlines on Dec. 26, 2004, leaving a quarter of a million people dead and millions homeless.

Elbridge, a Southern Baptist worker, explained how supporters in America had been deeply troubled by the images and were moved to help. Their love for God had moved Southern Baptists to love the tsunami victims, he said, and he shared with the villagers about the true love of God for them in the Gospel message.

“I sat there in awe of how great our God is,” said Jana Eddleman*, another Southern Baptist worker who was at the village. “Here I was, this small insignificant part of His great plan for the nations, waiting and watching to see what He is going to do next.”

No one else had helped this particular village since the tsunami, the village leader told the workers during the December 2005 presentation.

“With such a sense of gratitude and appreciation, the village leader stood up and thanked us on behalf of the entire village for our assistance,” Eddleman said. “Hands shot up all over the area as he asked how many of the families there had been helped. They seemed anxious to get a look at these people who had come from afar and had been willing to help them when they needed it the most.”

A massive earthquake, centered in the Indian Ocean west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, set in motion the tsunami that sent deadly waves across low-lying areas in South and Southeast Asia -- and as far away as Africa. 

David Garrison, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board’s regional leader for South Asia, said the coastal areas most impacted by the tsunami “are home to millions of lost souls who have little access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Over the past months, these people have seen the love of Christ as never before. Southern Baptist workers have provided emergency food and water, rebuilt homes, purchased fishing nets, helped re-establish businesses and, most importantly, offered Good News of eternal hope in Jesus Christ.”

In South Asia, the tsunami battered coastal areas in Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives, taking a huge toll physically and emotionally on the people. Yet, Southern Baptist personnel report that in the past year God’s healing hand has been evident in each affected region.

In India alone, Elbridge said that about 1,900 people -– mostly Hindus and some Muslims -– have accepted Jesus as their Savior since the tsunami. As a result, about 150 house churches have been started. Some of these new congregations have birthed second-generation churches.

“Already &#91;the advance of the Gospel&#93; is growing and reproducing so quickly that it’s becoming hard for us to keep up with all that God is doing here,” Eddleman said. “But to me, that’s the exciting part. The potential here for the work to keep growing is almost limitless.”

Throughout tsunami-stricken areas in South Asia, Southern Baptists focused first on providing practical relief to survivors.

“Our primary guideline was to put people back to work by doing boat repairs, engine repairs, providing nets, purchasing boats and catamarans lost in the tsunami, and later vocational training for those without jobs,” Elbridge said.

“We also helped with physical needs by providing food, fans, sleeping mats, kerosene stoves and tarpaulins for shelter. We also helped organizations focusing on children affected by the tsunami, especially orphans and semi-orphans &#91;children who lost one parent&#93; by providing school supplies, shoes, clothes and recreational equipment.”

Relief workers have faced unique challenges in the wake of the disaster.

With nearly $17 million raised by the generosity of Southern Baptists for the tsunami efforts, Elbridge said, the workers “were limited not by funds but by stewardship, accountability, personnel on the field and ensuring we were meeting real needs of the people.”

As in Sri Lanka, the relationships Southern Baptist volunteers developed 
during their initial short stints of service in India helped spark 
spiritual interest among people they were helping in practical ways.	

“Last summer we were able to conduct at least nine children’s camps, thanks to two American teams that came,” Southern Baptist worker Tanya Chisolm* said. “Many of these villages had never before had a Gospel presentation there. We also had a team of college guys who lead sports camps in numerous villages, showing the ‘JESUS’ film at the close of each camp.”

Chisolm recounted that one village where volunteers conducted a children’s camp had a reputation for being hostile to the Word of God and its messengers.

“But after the tsunami, many secular groups came in to bring relief and didn’t live up to their promises,” she said. “So they came to us. &#91;It was&#93; a 180-degree about-face -– from telling us to stay away to asking us for our help. So as we gave nets and fans to the villagers, we also gave out the Good News.”

Volunteers served primarily in areas where there were no Christian believers or evangelical churches. Teams conducted children’s camps, sports camps and relief work. They integrated personal testimonies, tract distribution, open-air revivals, chronological Bible storying, the “JESUS” film and another Hindi-language evangelistic film to share the Gospel through their outreach.

“We recorded over 60 decisions for Christ through the volunteer teams who came to assist us,” Elbridge said. “Since these were pioneer areas for evangelism, the volunteers were not always well-received when they shared the Gospel, but we were able to determine open and closed areas to the Gospel through their efforts.”

The number of decisions to follow Jesus climbed as Elbridge and a team of Indian pastors with whom he partners began training laypeople and new believers to share the Gospel with others.

Workers are using the “T4T” (Training for Trainers) approach with the new Christians. T4T training begins by encouraging believers to intentionally share their testimonies with others. It takes trainers from evangelism to reproducing themselves in other disciples, which can in turn lead to reproducing house churches –- and ultimately a church-planting movement. As a part of the training, the new Christians go out and practice sharing their faith.

“One person who was saved today had previously gone to a church to ask for prayer for healing on his broken hand,” Elbridge said. “His hand was healed, but no one shared the Gospel with him. Today when our people shared &#91;the Gospel&#93;, he immediately accepted Christ. He had only been waiting for someone to tell him how to accept Jesus.”

Another training method the workers have used is called CAMEL, which focuses on reaching Muslims. The tool involves using verses about Jesus in the Koran as a bridge to sharing the Gospel of Jesus as presented in the New Testament.

“In September, we saw those trained in T4T and CAMEL reach 863 people for Christ,” Elbridge said. “As the churches grow and multiply, the walls of God’s Kingdom will begin to extend from one village to the next.”

Of about 500 villages affected by the tsunami in India, Southern Baptist workers have focused on several strategic areas, working in 85 villages across 620 miles of coastline.

Elbridge said that many of the pastors who were helping tsunami-battered villages had once been beaten and thrown out of the same villages that welcomed them after the tsunami.

Yet, the work of meeting both physical and spiritual needs is far from finished.

“The majority of aid donors who poured into India &#91;soon after the tsunami&#93; left just as quickly, within three to five months,” Elbridge said. “So while many tsunami victims admit they had plenty of food, clothing and assistance in the beginning, a year later -- when they are still facing shortages of food, water and basic facilities -- there are few or no organizations they can turn to for help.

“Those affected by the tsunami are still struggling, wondering if they will be able to have homes again or earn a living to support their families. It is clear that recovery from the tsunami will be measured in years, not months.”

In addition to the existing needs, new flooding in December 2005 compounded the problems. Eddleman said recent flooding has created a new sense of urgency as workers do initial flood relief in some southern Indian villages. 

“Even outside my apartment, the once small canal has turned into a raging river,” she said. “The only thing separating us from the flooding at the moment is a wall on the border of the parking lot. The mud huts that lined the canal are in the river as well, with only their roofs visible at this point.”

The spiritual urgency also has not dissipated.

“During a tent revival, we saw 40 people come forward to pray to receive Christ,” Elbridge said. “I heard a couple of weeks later that one of these people who accepted Christ was killed when a bus struck his automobile, killing five people -– another reminder of the urgent need to share the Gospel.”
--30--
*Names changed for security reasons. Goldie Frances is a missionary writer serving in the South Asia region. For more information about volunteering to do relief work in South Asia or to share the Gospel in other ways in the region, e-mail southasiavim@wigtake.org.


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Tsunami brings Sri Lankan home to meet Jesus
by Goldie Frances*
Date: December 27, 2005 - Tuesday

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (BP)--Silva wants his daughter to remember Dec. 26, 2004, to know for certain her young life is a miracle for which he is forever grateful.

“I want her to know how her mother &#91;saved&#93; her in the tsunami -– not her father, because I was away,” he said.

Having worked the past six years in Saudi Arabia, Silva, 32, had been home only once for a short visit after his daughter’s birth. That changed Dec. 26, when a friend called to ask whether he had heard about the tsunami. He hadn’t.

“Whatever I earned, everything was gone in five minutes” to support his family back home, he said. “I am keeping positive hopes that it will come back. Not overnight, it will take time, but I am hoping God will help me.”

Silva’s wife, Ranjani*, tried to outrun the tsunami waves while carrying their only child, a 17-month-old daughter. The force of the waves proved too strong for her, as rushing, murky water covered the earth beneath her feet. The mother and daughter fell into a shallow well. Ranjani struggled to get out of the well, crying out for those around her to help. But in the frenzy of panic, no one responded.

Ranjani’s husband had been gone from the country for several months. In her terror, she wondered whether she would ever see him again -– and whether he would ever see their daughter a second time.

As Ranjani continued to yell for help, an elderly woman suddenly appeared. The woman somehow found a stick and helped pull Ranjani and her daughter out of the well. They found refuge on the roof of a two-story building until the raging waters subsided. Then, like so many others, she made her way to the higher ground of a nearby Buddhist temple. 

“I am lucky to see her again,” Silva said. “I thank God because &#91;Ranjani saved&#93; my daughter.”

When Silva talked with Ranjani by telephone and heard her account of the horrendous events, he decided to write a letter to his daughter.

In the letter he wrote: “Thousands of people were swept away by the water. ... I must pay my gratitude to your mother because she’s now given you to me a second time in my lifetime” -– once at birth and once in the tsunami.

Silva returned to Sri Lanka and his family last January after friends collected money for his plane ticket. Reunited with his wife and daughter, he had no job to provide for them. He found temporary work translating for English-speaking disaster relief teams –- Southern Baptist workers and volunteers.

For months, Silva quietly listened to conversations. He watched Southern Baptists interact with the Sri Lankan people and care for them. He observed them give thanks to God in prayer.

By June, Silva was beginning to ask questions about their faith. Then he, his brother-in-law and a few others watched the “JESUS” film.

“We thought that in Jesus’ character and reading the Bible stories, there is something we can get for our lives,” Silva said. “It’s teaching us to become a good person.”

Before the tsunami, the only Christian he knew was his Buddhist brother’s wife. He had never heard about Jesus and His sacrifice to pay the price for the sins of man.

“Before Jesus, I was in Saudi Arabia trying to earn money,” Silva said. “After the tsunami, I came to Sri Lanka and I learned about Jesus.”

Other new Sri Lankan believers baptized Silva in the Indian Ocean in mid-September. He attends leadership training classes regularly, and he said he is sharing his faith with family and friends. He asks Christians to pray for his family, for their health and for his small business, which Southern Baptist gifts recently helped him start. He still works with volunteer teams as much as possible while his wife manages their shop.

“She is not a Christian,” Silva said of Ranjani. “I am giving her time. Maybe she will join in the future. I am telling her some of the stories.”

Silva said he knows for certain now that God saved his family. His wife gave his daughter new life by saving her in the tsunami. Jesus has given him new life by saving him from his sin.

“Today, I know what is the truth,” he said. “I want to help the people, and I am so happy. &#91;The tsunami&#93; changed my life.”
--30--
*Names changed for security reasons. Goldie Frances is a missionary writer serving in the South Asia region.



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Atlanta Falcons kicker puts spotlight on Christ
by Luanne Byrd
Date: December 27, 2005 - Tuesday

ATLANTA (BP)--“I don’t have a game plan when I share my faith,” Todd Peterson, a kicker for the Atlanta Falcons, said. “If I act like Jesus, if I’m controlled by the Holy Spirit, and if God is the One who is empowering me, I don’t really have to have a game plan or a strategy for sharing. God will give me that opportunity.”

Team evangelism is quite familiar to this 12-year NFL veteran after previously playing for the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers. Step aside from his field goal career stats that include an impressive number of long kicks and you’ll catch a glimpse of his much larger career focus -- sharing Christ with his teammates.

“It’s more than leading, it’s a serving capacity. My job on the team is to make sure that the guys are equipped, feel connected and are aware of what’s going on from a ministry standpoint,” said Peterson, who played college at the University of Georgia. “My wife and I have always felt that this is something we should spearhead because there are not many athletes in the NFL doing it. This is a role I have played for the bulk of my career.”

Peterson, his wife, Susan, their daughter, Hannah, and son, Zach, live in the Atlanta metro area, where they attend an evangelical church. 

He sits on the board of directors for Eagle Ranch, a Christ-centered home for boys and girls in crisis and in need of hope and healing, and he actively promotes thegoal.com, a website created by more than 1,000 pro athletes who desire to share their faith with people around the world.

Peterson says the environment of the National Football League is daunting, but he and his wife try to make players and their families feel welcome to the team. As he builds relationships and shares his life with them, he knows that opportunities will arise to present the Gospel.

In the absence of the chaplain, Peterson often steps forward to lead the team Bible study during training camp and on road games during the season. He also encourages his fellow teammates to lead. When he allows Christ to inspire him, he said there’s never a struggle to find a message that relates to hardcore athletes. 

“God makes it pretty clear what He wants me to talk about. The circumstances are evident,” Peterson said, citing the physical and mental intensity of training camp. “If I know guys are struggling, I go to James 1 and talk about trials -- how we walk through trials and endure trials in a God-honoring way. I teach practical stuff that guys can walk away with and change their lives.” 

Referring to recent headlines regarding prominent NFL players who have disappointed fans with career-altering actions, Peterson said the fame and the economic power of pro athletes today tend to lead to tragic situations. Some athletes, he said, suffer from an identity crisis because their identity is based on self rather than on Christ.

But the 35-year-old Peterson strives to ensure his walk remains rock solid. 

“It just comes down to flat-out being grateful for what Jesus did for me," he said. "How in the world can I not live my life for Him when He did what He did for me? If I want to be the best that I can be and have peace and an identity that is secure, I am a fool for not asking God to take control of my life."

Accountability is very important to Peterson. At any time, a handful of his closest friends have the right to question his activities. For athletes, given the long periods away from their families, the extreme pressure of the game and presence of others consistently “wanting a piece of them,” Peterson bears witness that his unshakable relationship with Christ is a testimony of God’s goodness and grace.

But Peterson’s life wasn’t always focused on Christ. He was driven to reach the top in athletics and academics at a young age. 

“My identity was built on school, sports and relationships. I realized over time that anything and everything in the world would fail me if my identity was built on just those things. God showed me in high school that an unstable foundation gets washed away in the storm."

During the regular season, Peterson is involved in a player’s Bible study and a couples’ study for players and their spouses. In the off-season, he meets with other professional colleagues and close friends in a men’s Bible study group. These athletes and entertainers -- at similar places in life with similar demands -- meet to encourage each other, hold each other accountable and challenge each other through the Word. 

So how does Peterson re-group after a tough game? 

“I have the professional goal to see my team win the Super Bowl. The spiritual component of that &#91;is that&#93; if I honor God in all that I do and give Him everything I’ve got every time I go out there, my hope is that people will see the excellence that attracts them to the One who is excellent. That’s the natural by-product of a tough game. If we keep our eyes on the Author and the Perfector of our faith, we’ll be OK. It’s not about me, it’s all about Him."

Whether he’s kicking field goals, being a dad or a husband or simply sharing his faith, it’s all for God’s glory and purpose, he said. With a defined amount of influence, time and resources, Peterson is determined to use his position as a professional athlete for something good beyond himself.

“That’s what life is all about if you’re a Christian -- to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ," he said. "The longer I am around, the more I really see that this is my life purpose." 
--30--
Luanne Byrd is an Atlanta-area freelance writer.


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Does Christianity squash women? Author explores feminism
by Sara Horn
Date: December 27, 2005 - Tuesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Can women have it all? A new book from Broadman & Holman explores that very question by defining womanhood from a biblical perspective.

Rebecca Jones, a mother of seven and grandmother of six, wrote “Does Christianity Squash Women? A Christian Looks at Womanhood” to help Christian women understand their identity by examining God’s definition of womanhood.

Jones served for 17 years with her husband, Peter, as a missionary in France with the Presbyterian Church in America and later taught graduate writing skills at Westminster Seminary. A frequent speaker for women’s groups, Jones also serves on the board of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. 

Jones’ book begins with the examination of feminism and whether women have experienced all of the benefits the women’s movement set out to achieve. The freedoms feminists fought for, Jones writes, have resulted in certain expectations within society -- women expect equal pay for equal work; equal participation in any and every organization, including academics, sports, politics, the military and the church; and to make decisions “about their bodies and their health.”

So, Jones writes, “Having severed their dependence on men and the family structure, women are forced to prove that they can make it on their own.

“Independence has come at a great price.”

Throughout the book, the relationships and lives of Bible characters -– including Adam and Eve’s relationship and the role the first woman played in the world -– are examined in detail. Jones profiles such women in Scripture as Mary, the mother of Jesus; sisters Mary and Martha; Deborah; Sarah, the wife of Abraham; and more notorious women such as Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba.

And Jones shows how Jesus treats women, an example for men to follow.

“Jesus never slanders or belittles women,” she writes. “He does not make generalizations about them. He does not shut them out of conversations or ignore them. He doesn’t make them feel small or relegate them to an inferior status. Everything He says and does in relation to women shows the utmost care and respect.

“If Jesus the Christ does not squash women,” Jones writes, “then Christianity should not squash them either.”

The book ends with a close look and comparison of the relationship between the church and Christ and the husband-wife relationship.

“A woman does not look to her human husband for regeneration, but she does find refreshment, comfort and renewed strength in his strength and love,” Jones writes.

“It is a happy woman who lives in a home where her husband bathes himself in God’s Word and creates a Word-soaked atmosphere for fun and work.... Just as the church drinks up the love and truth that Jesus offers ... so a wife’s soul is revived by a husband whose love she trusts.”

Women have “listened too long to the poisonous whispers of our culture” for their identity in marriage, Jones writes, noting, “It is not demeaning to ‘belong’ to a husband.”

Instead, women should embrace their roles as helpers to the authority of their husbands, just as the church should embrace its role as a support to Christ, Jones argues. In the same way, men must treat women with respect, just as Christ treated women, Jones writes.

A woman’s significance should not be based on the world’s formula but rather God’s, Jones writes, and as women learn to do this, they will experience greater personal satisfaction for themselves and their families.

“Our God has asked us to fulfill a job,” Jones writes. “It may seem small and insignificant. It may seem humiliating and second class. But God has defined what He wants us to do. He has given us the gifts, the power and the love necessary for our task, and He promises to establish the work of our hands.”
--30--
"Does Christianity Squash Women" can be purchased online at www.LifeWayStores.com.


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FIRST-PERSON: Why the church needs apologetics
by Mark Coppenger
Date: December 27, 2005 - Tuesday

EVANSTON, Ill. (BP)--Now and then apologetics (argumentation for defense of the faith) has a direct impact on lost people, leading them toward conversion, or at least away from hostility. For instance, perennial skeptic Antony Flew now expresses a form of theism, in part because of the argument from intelligent design in nature. (See the interview at www.biola.edu/antonyflew/.) 

But it’s been my experience that the will is more often the problem than the intellect. People don’t want a Lord; they don’t want someone interfering with their agendas. Rather than admit this (to themselves or others), they toss out arguments to lend their indifference or hostility to God an air of sophistication.

Still, apologetics is an important handmaiden of evangelism. It can strip away smugness, loosen up hardened soil, embarrass treasured criticisms, and sow disarray in a pagan worldview. Of course, the critic will seldom admit on the spot that you’ve scored points, but his private reflections may be a different story.

What if they don’t listen? Is apologetics worth the effort anyway? I think so. There are benefits for the church just the same:

-- We can savor, cultivate and honor rationality, just as we do physicality. 

Feeling and irrationality are highly prized in this postmodern age. In an Emerging Church favorite book, "Blue Like Jazz," Donald Miller says things like, “My dislike for institutions is mostly a feeling, though, not something that can be explained ... I don’t have to like them either. It’s my right,” and “There are many ideas within Christian spirituality that contradict the facts of reality as I understand them.” And he’s not embarrassed to talk this way.

Of course, Pascal says, “The heart has its reasons.” Of course, John 3:8 says the Holy Spirit moves mysteriously, like the wind. But this does not warrant contempt for reason, any more than esteem for spiritual matters means contempt for the body. God gave us our minds, and we should be good stewards of them. One way is to read and construct good arguments.

-- It cultivates dialogical prowess for the public square.

Evangelicals need more practice in responsible disputation. Consider this comparison: For every Cal Thomas and Richard Land, you have a dozen (current or lapsed) Roman Catholic commentators or columnists, such as Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, Pat Buchanan, Bill Bennett, Bill Buckley, Bill O’Reilly, Andrew Sullivan, John McLaughlin, Anna Quindlen, Phyllis Schlafly, Michelle Malkin, Linda Chavez, Peggy Noonan, Mark Shields, Paul Begalla, Laura Ingraham and Robert Novak. And we may be on the brink of a Catholic majority on the Supreme Court, with justices Thomas, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia and Alito. Also, note the many front-line Jewish commentators, such as William Kristol, David Horowitz, Michael Medved, Mona Charen, David Frum and Al Franken). We Evangelicals seem to have some cultural and educational gaps to fill.

-- It helps keep the warrior spirit alive.

Back to "Blue Like Jazz." The “war metaphor” is a big turnoff to Miller. Well, certainly it’s not the only good one, but you can’t marginalize such expressions as “the whole armor of God” and “fight the good fight,” without doing serious damage to the Christian’s situation and calling. In our rush to become “Christlike” in the tender sense, we forget that Christ was often edgy and confrontational. Apologetics helps keep that aspect of “Christlikeness” alive.

-- It keeps us honest -- we need to hear our critics. 

I have a copy of an 1860 book, published in Louisville, entitled "A Bible Defense of Slavery." It reminds me of how a group of believers can cling to something really stupid and wrong for years and years. Insularity is treacherous. We need to listen to those who gainsay us. It can have a hygienic effect, helping us to sort out the defensible from the indefensible.

-- It encourages the troops who have been beaten down.

University students and regular consumers of the mainstream media can be demoralized by the incessant defamation of the faith and biblical standards. The redeemed won’t lose their salvation in this barrage, but they can be demoralized. Insightful apologetics can help restore their confidence and refresh them for engagement with the world of hostile ideas.

-- It is good pre-evangelism -- for the evangelizer as well as the evangelized.

Listening is important. Like Paul, we can pick up a pagan poem to quote on Mars Hill. When we adopt an apologetics mindset, we turn on our radar for good material. We Christians are polymaths, since everything connects to God. We read voraciously. We build our database. We do our homework.

-- It helps us become culturally literate.

From "Pensees" to "Mere Christianity," from Aquinas’ Five Ways, to Anselm’s “being than which no greater can be conceived,” to Pascal’s "Wager,” to Paley’s watch found in a field, Christian apologetics is historically and culturally significant to believer and non-believer alike. Great literature, great concepts, great arguments. 

-- It helps us clarify our own language. 

By reading in apologetics, we learn to distinguish the atemporal from the everlasting, the fully human from the merely human, and the defeatable from the defeasible. These and a hundred other distinctions can help us sort things out.

-- It exposes the opposition as a Wizard of Oz.

If you want to gain confidence in the sweet reasonableness of Christianity, read Bertrand Russell’s “Why I am not a Christian.” He may have won a Nobel Prize, but his case against the faith was full of schoolboy criticisms, easily answered. The opponent is not really so impressive after all.

-- It’s fun, and a form of wholesome recreation and entertainment.

No kidding, you ought to see budding philosophers work out on iterations of the ontological, Kalam or anthropic arguments. Who needs video games? 

Look, Dante was right when he called history a “Divine Comedy.” There are a lot of vexatious aspects to this world, just as there was a lot of stress in an episode of “I Love Lucy.” But in the end, all was happy. You know, “Oh, Ricky!” “O, Lucy” (big hug). Similarly, the world’s story turns out well. Truth will prevail. Error will tumble. If the world won’t listen to reason, we can listen to it in house, and have the time of our lives. Church-league basketball, church-league apologetics. Game on!
--30--
Mark Coppenger is pastor of Evanston (Ill.) Baptist Church and distinguished professor of apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Reprinted from the Illinois Baptist newsjournal, online at www.ibsa.org/illinoisbaptist.



