St. John’s Bible, A Masterwork in Progress

St. John's University is in the process of producing a, handwritten, illuminated Bible of the sort produced in medieval days.  Why?  Here's the first Q&A from their faq:

Q1. Why has Saint John’s University commissioned a handwritten Bible? What is the significance of a handwritten Bible?

• Igniting spiritual imagination
• First handwritten Bible in the modern era, commissioned by a Benedictine Monastery
• Using ancient techniques
• Incorporating modern methods and themes

At the onset of a new millennium, Saint John’s University and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey are seeking to ignite the spiritual imagination of people throughout the world by commissioning a work of art that illuminates the world today. This will be the first time in 500 years that a Benedictine Monastery has commissioned a handwritten, illuminated Bible. Its construction will parallel that of its medieval predecessors, written on vellum, using quills, natural handmade inks, hand-ground pigments and gold leaf while incorporating modern themes, images and technology of the 21st century.

Sisters Deinsured against Immaculate Conception

Premillenial, postmillenial or amillenial? Here’s an unfortunate theological misadventure.

Britishinsurance.com has dropped three sisters from coverage against the event of an immaculate conception. The women had paid 100 pounds annually for 1 million in coverage against the costs of bringing up Christ. The story is reported by the BBC here. Coverage was dropped following complaints from the Catholic church.

Britishinsurance.com managing director Simon Burgess said that the company receives many strange requests and that their issuance of insurance had not been intended to offend anyone. The burdon of proof, in the event of a claim, would have rested with the sisters. The company, based in Braintree, specialises in accident and unemployment insurance.

“The Catholic Church is up in arms about what we’ve been doing. We have withdrawn the cover because it was causing a furore,” said Burgess. “The three ladies have been informed.”

The women, who have not been identified, are believed to be members of a Christian group in Inverness.

The Narrowing Scope of Free Speech & Brittany McComb’s Valedictory Address

Not only do Christian themes and religious speech earn ratings warnings in movies, they draw censorship in public venues.  Take the startling case of Brittany McComb, the valedictorian of Foothill High School in Clark County Nevada, who, knowing her speech would be cut short, went through with it anyway last Thursday, determined to tell her fellow graduates what was on her mind and in her heart.

Even though administrators warned McComb that her speech would get cut short if she deviated from the language approved by the school, she said it all boiled down to her fundamental right to free speech. That's why, for what she said was the first time in her life, the valedictorian who graduated with a 4.7 GPA rebelled against authority.

The Baptist Press reported that when administrators noticed McComb was deviating from the pre-approved text, they turned down her voice. But news reports indicate that jeers erupted from the nearly 400 graduates and their families in response to the school’s action and in support of McComb. “I was hoping they were going to turn it back on,” she told Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. “… But God had bigger plans. It was kind of exciting, because everybody was upset. McComb mentioned an avowed athiest who called up to a local talk program in defense of the valedictorian's right to freedom of expression.

"I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech," McComb said. "God's the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior."

In the 750-word unedited version of McComb's speech, she made two references to the lord, nine mentions of God and one mention of Christ.

In the version approved by school officials, six of those words were omitted along with two biblical references. Also deleted from her speech was a reference to God's love being so great that he gave his only son to suffer an excruciated death in order to cover everyone's shortcomings and forge a path to heaven.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada, had read the unedited version of McComb's speech and said district officials did the right thing by cutting McComb's speech short because her commentary promoted religion.

"There should be no controversy here," Lichtenstein said. "It's important for people to understand that a student was given a school-sponsored forum by a school and therefore, in essence, it was a school-sponsored speech."

Lichtenstein's views were cldearly neither echoed by nor represented of the general public. 

Billy Graham Statue Unveiled

This statue of Billy Graham before the cross was unveiled last week at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro NC.  Dr. Graham plans to preach again this July 7th through 9th at a series of Fraklin Graham meetings in Baltimore.  He will be joined by 97 year old George Beverly Shea.

Blogging Baptists Credited with Changing SBC Election Outcome

Articles reviewing the recent SBC election have referred to Frank Page, the new president as "the dark horse," "an outsider to the reigning, conservative leadership," and "little known." 

Frank Page's election is viewed as a new era in Southern Baptist politics and part of the credit for this 53 year old pastor's election has been credited to a cadrew of SBC bloggers.

Distinguishing Page from the rest of the pack in this year's election is that he was neither hand-picked nor groomed by the established, (some would say entrenched), fundamentalist leadership.  Nevertheless, Frank Page is a thoroughgoing conservative. "I believe in the Word of God," he said. "I'm just not mad about it." When asked about the qualifications for key leadership positions under his Presidency, Page cited, "a sweet spiritj," as the first requirement.

Wade Burleson, a 44 year old Enid, Oklahoma pastor who served on the International Missions Board (IMB), published notes on internal debates within the IMB on his blog and also promoted Page.  Burleson was both publicly chastised for his efforts and was threatened with removal.

"They had their concerns, and their concerns were the battle for the Bible," Burleson said. "And you know what? I affirm my respect for them over that. But sometimes you win and you've got to move on. … I think today we've moved on."

Frank Page Elected to Presidency of Southern Baptist Convention

Frank Page, pastor First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 13 by messengers to the SBC’s annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C.

In a three-candidate race, Page on the first ballot defeated Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., and Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.

Of the 8,961 votes cast, Page received 4,546 votes, or 50.48 percent. Floyd was second with 2,247 votes (24.95 percent), followed by Sutton with 2,168 votes (24.08 percent). In the election for first vice president, Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., was elected in a runoff.

In an interview with the Christian Index, Page had said, “We need to put a face on missions. The International Mission Board does a very good job of telling their story and explaining why we need to give sacrificially to their cause. On the other hand, I don’t feel that NAMB has done very well in that area. I think it has spread itself too thin and needs to return to its core values, and one of those values is missionary support.

“I’m not talking about turning up the volume of the message to ‘give, give, give;’ I’m talking about beefing up the content. If the denomination wants stronger Cooperative Program support, it needs to show us the value in giving. Today’s younger generation wants to know how its money is being spent and why they need to support an agency.”

Page said he would like to see NAMB return to being a leader in North American missions and evangelism. But it needs to work fast if it is to get beyond its low morale and questions about its overall effectiveness.

One of Page’s loves is to help declining and plateaued churches recapture the vision for their lost communities. Both his current and previous pastorate in Georgia fit that description, but with prayer and patience the congregations were able to turn the corner and grow again.

Since he came to First Taylors in February 2001 the church has seen a steady increase in missions involvement, both domestically and internationally. That first year the congregation sent one international team to Brazil. This year it will send 11 teams plus multiple teams within the U.S. During that same time period four families have been commissioned as IMB missionaries.

Although a strong missions-minded church, the congregation had not sponsored a new church start in its 130-plus-year history. But under Page’s leadership, First Taylors has been involved in five local church starts and is committed to at least one new start per year in its vision plan.

And the church accomplished it all without diverting funds from its Cooperative Program budget.

“I believe that you can have both a major missions outreach through your church while still being a strong advocate for the denomination’s (unified) missions programs,” Page told the Index.

“We do that, but not at the expense of our giving to the CP. We do both, and God makes it possible.”

Pastor’s Salaries Rise Faster than Inflation

According to a new study by the Kentucky Baptist Association, average compensation for pastors has increased $3400.00 since 2004. The study drew results from over 17000 pastors representing over 7000, Southern Baptist, churches. The study also found that pastor’s salaries have risen faster than inflation for over a decade.

Key figures include the following:

1) Average salary and housing packages for full time Southern Baptist pastor was $49,952, a 7.4% increase over 2004

2) The average pay package including benefits was $59,995, a gain of 6.7% over the same period.

3) The average pay for bivocational pastors was $15,865, a $1,077 increase from 2004 with an average total package of $17,384

Don Spencer, director of the Kentucky Baptist Association’s financial benefits department said that even though salaries were up over 50% in the past decade against a cumulative inflation rate of 28%, he was still concerned about those pastors at the lower end of the scale.

While averages are interesting they are easily skewed by outliers. More useful would be percentile breakdowns. Nevertheless the figures are encouraging. It does no one any good to “muzzle the ox” while threshing.

Phelps Protests at SBC Convention

Anti Gay activist Fred Phelps is planning to protest the unveiling of a statue of Billy Graham at the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro this week.

The statute of Graham, with outstretched hands underneath a cross, will be unveiled at the convention’s grand finale.

Phelps, whose 15-20 person demonstrations often draw hundreds of counter-protesters, said he pickets the funerals of soldiers because they died protecting a country tolerant of homosexuality. Graham, he said, no longer preaches the truth about homosexuality to maintain widespread support.

Phelps says that as a ministerial student he helped out on Graham crusades.

“I know him, and I think a lot of him, and we go way back,” Phelps said. “However, he has departed from the faith and gone off into heresy. He says (homosexuality is) a sin all right, but so is anger — as if you can equate that.”

Another Reason for Christian Missions – Woman Marries a Snake

A woman who fell in love with a cobra has reportedly married the reptile at a traditional Hindu wedding celebrated by 2,000 guests in India's Orissa state. (AFP/File/Peter Parks)

"Though snakes cannot speak nor understand, we communicate in a peculiar way," Das, 30, told the agency.

"Whenever I put milk near the ant hill where the cobra lives, it always comes out to drink.

"I always get to see it every time I go near the ant hill. It has never harmed me," she added.

Villagers welcomed the wedding in the belief it would bring good fortune and laid on a feast for the big day.  Snakes and particularly the King Cobra are venerated in India as religious symbols worn by Lord Shiva, the god of destruction.

Das, from a lower caste, converted to the animal-loving vegetarian Vaishnav sect whose local elders gave her permission to marry the cobra, the world's largest venomous snake that can grow up to five metres.

"I am happy," said her mother Dyuti Bhoi, who has two other daughters and two sons to marry off.

"Bimbala was ill," Bhoi told local OTV channel. "We had no money to treat her. Then she started offering milk to the snake … she was cured. That made her fall in love."

Das has moved into a hut built close to the ant hill since the wedding.  Another woman in the same area married a dog.

Film Rated “PG” for being Too Religious!

At least 86 to 90% of Americans believe that faith in God is a good thing but can you have too much of a good thing?  A church-produced film about a school whose losing football team is turned around after the coach turns to God has been assigned a "PG" rating — for being too religious.

The Reverend Alex Kendrick, who directed and stars in "Facing the Giants," said it was produced for only $100,000 by using members of his Georgia church for both cast and crew.

Kendrick said when he sought permission to use a song by the Christian band "Third Day," the record label's parent company, Sony Pictures, viewed the film and decided to release it in 400 theaters in late September.

But after the Motion Picture Association of America rated the film, Kendrick said he was told that it received the 'Parental Guidance' rating for being so openly religious. Kendrick said he's never heard of that criteria before and suggests it shows how much times have changed.