Timothy's Thoughts

W hen defining a character, it is more important to ask what the character won’t do than to ask what a character does. We often question what motivates a character to take a particular action. The problem with that is that we end up thinking of some action and then struggle with finding something that would persuade the character to take that action. What, for example, would cause a woman to kill her children? Or what would cause a man to leave a wife that loves him? It isn’t easy to come up with an answer. So how does turning the question around help? For one thing, it causes us to develop the motive before the action. Suppose a woman has spent all day listening to her children yelling at each other. What will she not do? Most women won’t kill their children in that situation. But they might be short with their husbands. Now, consider who we are as people. We might talk about the things we do, but the things we don’t do are far more interesting. What if a person were born without ...

T o catch you up, a few days ago a press release from The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) claimed victory over Chick-fil-A, saying that “In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations.” This left many of us scratching our heads and asking the Chick-fil-A company for an explanation. Chick-fil-A obliged us with a lengthy statement that I will summarize as saying, We’re going to continue with the same policy we’ve always had. [1] Within that document is the statement “The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year service tradition in our locally owned and operated restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” That statement is not new, but it is essentially the same wording that TCRA references when claiming victory. What is Really Going On? The last part of the statement just clarifies what they mean by “every person,” so it really comes down to wh...

I n recent years, there has been a push among some Baptists for elder ruled churches. Even among some BMA pastors, I’ve heard people say, “it’s the biblical way.” So, I went looking to see if I agreed with that claim. I found that there are some rather lengthy papers written about it. I intend to get to the point much more quickly. What Is An Elder? When referring to elder rule today, most people are using the term elder to indicate a church member who serves on a board that oversees the business of the church. You won’t find this definition in the Bible. The only support you will find in the Bible for anything near this definition is 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine.” The thing that makes this verse controversial is the word especially . Some people believe that it implies that there can be those who rule while they “labor in Word and doctrine” and those who rule, but don’t “lab...