Opinion

The old joke goes, “Baptists believe the Bible; they just don’t know what is says!” In my more mature years, I’ve stopped worrying whether or not people take the Bible literally and started asking if they take it seriously.

Heard any good jokes lately? Early Christians customarily celebrated Easter with joy, laughter and lots of jokes. Someone once said that humor is our response to seeing the proud lord of death step on a banana peel. That proud lord of death (Satan) thought he had won. But God had the last laugh! The resurrection of Jesus turned tragedy into comedy.

Like many people, I was appalled the first time I heard the story of how Thomas Jefferson, one of our nation’s founding fathers, personally edited the Bible. He took a pair of scissors and cut up his copy of Scripture, removing the parts that he believed did not pass the Enlightenment test of reason.

But I wonder. What about us? Without ever touching a pair of scissors, have we “cut out” important scriptural themes simply by ignoring them?

It mattered to God that the Hebrew people, wandering in the wilderness, were famished. He gave them manna. It mattered to Jesus that 5,000 people were hungry, and so he fed them with five loaves and two fish. It matters to God and to Jesus that people are hungry today.

The question is: Does it matter to us?

Urging churches to provide adequate financial care for their pastors, other ministers and staff members during less-than-stellar financial times might seem a stretch. After all, gifts to many churches are down even as members struggle with unemployment and, in other cases, less disposable income.

Under such circumstances, what is a church to do?

Israel and Gaza have the responsibility to do what may seem incomprehensible and take the first steps to address barriers to respect.

When people view others as fellow human beings and seek to understand them, stereotypes are broken down.

Several Midwesterners have helped shape changes in the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Attendees at the 2014 CBF General Assembly saw and felt a good bit of enthusiasm as the organization moves forward with more of its structure in place for ongoing work.

Evangelism, heritage, discussion and a little bit of debate are constants when Southern Baptists get together each June for their meeting.

It is encouraging to see churches helping members become better educated about mental disorders and working to defuse the stigma of mental illness. Dealing with this issue requires high levels of sensitivity and respect. In today's world, mental illness is not a rarity -- if it ever was.