Baptism

Brandon Thompson

Seminary Student

One of my most favorite classes I have ever taken was “Southern Baptist Heritage and Mission”. Perhaps, I found the class so fascinating because I didn’t grow up in a Southern Baptist Church, but regardless of the reason for my interest, I was hooked. The class was taught by a guy named Gregory A. Wills. He literally wrote the book on Southern Baptist history. 

All of the lectures were recorded from old, beautiful, and historic Baptist Churches throughout the South. It was quite a class. I learned so much about Baptist’s history, the downfalls and the triumphs. However, the thing I found most interesting was the tradition of baptisms in the church.

This past week, we all had the opportunity to watch students stand in front of the congregation and take part in one of the most beautiful ceremonies in the world, a baptism. As a youngster, I was baptized and I knew that the act of baptism didn’t save me. Maybe it was knowing that, that caused me to minimize the beauty of the tradition even Christ took part in. It was not until this class that I began to love baptisms.

One of things that made the class so interesting was reading old church documents about business meetings and occurrences at the church. The church has done an excellent job of keeping records. My favorite readings were about baptisms. There was one story about a baptism that stuck with me forever. A young girl, known for her free-willed spirit, had went to a revival and accepted Christ. The following week in sub-freezing temperatures almost 3,000 people attended her baptism. Her friends were begging her not to do it. They cried as she walked out into the freezing river.

After her baptism, she was never the same again. She had made a commitment and her friends knew she was a new person in Christ. A few weeks later her friends submitted to Christ as well and were baptized. 

While I was reading this story, I couldn’t help but picture 3,000 people in this small town standing outside in freezing temperatures. I could imagine her friends crying as she walked away from her other life. I could imagine the sound of cheering from all the people as she came up out of the water. What a sight.

As I watched the students Sunday, I thought about the miraculous thing that had happened in their lives earlier this week. They went from death to life in an instant. Baptism is an outward expression of what has already happened inside a person and I can’t imagine something more monumental or beautiful to witness. I then realized it is our job as a church family to support and help these students in their walk with Christ. My challenge to the church is to pray for these students, congratulate them, encourage them, and show them how to walk with Christ in everyday life. What happened this week was a big deal! A big beautiful deal!

Duty v. Beauty

A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and a super interesting article popped up. The article dealt with how many churches are experiencing declining church attendance numbers due to COVID-19. I read the article and I was intrigued. The story was full of quotes from pastors across the nation. Some churches have recovered and are thriving, while others are struggling to keep the doors open.

As I read this article, I began to wonder what was different about the thriving churches and the ones dying. Then I did what no man should do, I opened up the comment section. Now if you’ve ever looked at the comment section of anything on social media dealing with religion, you understand exactly what I mean when I say you should never go there.

While reading those comments my blood began to boil. Of course, there were normal numerous trolls bashing the church, God, and Christians, but the thing that got me the most was people that probably identify as Christian. First, the Christians defending going to church were often brutal, mean, and unapologetic. Second was the group that said things like, “God’s everywhere, so I don’t need to go to church.” Lastly, there was a group of people saying, “All I have to do is treat my neighbor well to be Christian and I do not need to go to church to understand that.”

After reading these comments, I was incredibly disheartened, but I understood why many churches closed after dealing with the events of the last year. The reason became super clear, many churches are full of people that do not understand the beauty of the gospel.

These people had been attending services for years and then got a year break from going. They noticed little to no change in their lives, other than sleeping in on Sundays. They still went to work and tried to be good, relative to people they saw as bad. They probably had a conversation with a friend or co-worker at some point about God, but it was most likely surface level. When church doors reopened, they just didn’t see the need anymore.

See the gospel is not that we just need to be good, it’s that Christ was good enough. The gospel is not that we love God so much that He loves us back, it’s that God loves us even when we don’t love Him. The gospel is not a merit-based system where you get so many points for every churchy thing you’ve done, its that God has given you unmerited favor. Churches are afraid to teach those things. They are afraid no one will come back, so they bind people by duty, tradition, and religious obligation. 

I am thankful that FBC Lawton is a shining beacon of gospel hope. I truly believe the congregation attends not out of sheer duty, but because of the beauty of the gospel. We come to church not out of obligation, but out of love for Christ and His church. There is a stark difference between obedience out of duty and out of beauty, and it’s our job to show the world the difference. 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

-Brandon Thompson

Father’s Day

I must admit I have a sweet tooth. The development of my affinity for sweets didn’t happen overnight, it grew over a long period of time. When I was little, I can remember my mom making chocolate cake or brownies and I would patiently wait to scrape every drop of the mix off the bowl. As I got older, I began preparing cake mix just to eat the raw batter. It was wonderful.

            One afternoon in college, I was making myself a bowl of cake mix and I became mesmerized by the way the mixers stirred the mix. It reminded me of two ceiling fans working in unison to combine all the delicious ingredients into the tastiest treat. I then began to wonder if I could touch my finger to the mixer, like a fan, without suffering any harm. 

            My father walked by me and he knew exactly what I was thinking. He said, “Son, don’t do it.” I thought to myself that I was a grown man and he couldn’t tell me what to do. When he had made his way into the living room, I decided I would try it. I slowly moved my hand forward and then smack! My pinky finger was twisted into the mixer with all the force of a typhon. The gears were grinding, but the mixer had not stopped. I didn’t dare yell, out of fear that my father might hear me. I reached over with my good hand and pulled the plug.

            After I regained my composure, I attempted to removed my mangled pinky from the mixer. I couldn’t budge it. I decided I would go outside and continue to work on my pinky problem before my father heard the ruckus. I spent several minutes in pain outdoors, but still had not succeeded to free myself. My younger sister walked outside, saw the mixer dangling from my hand, and immediately ran inside to get Dad. 

            I was preparing myself for a well-deserved tongue lashing when I saw him open the door, but he didn’t say a word. He just looked at me with these sad eyes, almost like he felt my pain. He walked over and instantly freed me from the mixer. He said, “I’m so sorry son, that looks like it hurt. Let’s get you some ice” I stood there confused. I couldn’t even muster a word, before he helped me and then went the extra mile to make it all better.

            Over the years, I have had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of people about God. Often the biggest obstacle I face is changing people’s perception of what God is like. I always share that story of my father along with Luke 15:11-32 to help them understand deeper that God is the perfect father. God is not some far-off, terrifying, mean, grumpy old-man in the sky waiting for you to mess up and smoke you with a lightning bolt. He loves you. Deeply. Always. Go share that good news with someone this week.

-Brandon Thompson

The Straw Man

It was almost Christmas and it was late when I made it home. I approached the front door of my parent’s house and through the window I saw a silhouette of an unfamiliar man. It was dark and I knew he was not supposed to be in the house. I grabbed a softball bat that was near the entry way, turned the key gently, opened the door, and crawled into the house. 

Once behind a wall, I stood and formulated a plan. I was going to defeat my foe with a Mel Gibson shout and a swift blow of a bat. I approached the shadowy figure and then he moved. I thought that he must have heard me. I turned the corner just in time to see a life size Santa Clause. He began singing, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, as I did a check swing of the bat mere inches from his head. As I laughed and he danced, I couldn’t help, but think about Tim Allen and the Santa Clause movies.

Needless to say, I didn’t become the real Santa that night, but I did learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes, people build up a straw man that looks like the real thing so they can defeat it. This technique is used by almost every atheist. Atheists cleverly avoid the topic of belief by stating that they have an absence of belief by definition. What they have done is twisted the argument to dodge any tough questions regarding belief. It puts Christians and other people of faith in a topic spot.

However, the atheist assertion is a complete logical fallacy. Atheists do have plenty of beliefs and many are startling if you were to go down the rabbit hole with them. For example, atheists believe the material world is all there is. Materialism leads to social Darwinism. Social Darwinism leads to a skewed perception of the value of human life. It was out of these beliefs that led to Joseph Stalin killing 6 million people. Richard Weikart makes the argument in his book, Hitler’s Religion, that Hitler believed nature was God (sounds a lot like Materialism to me). Example after example can be given to demonstrate the logical end to atheistic belief, but many atheists are oblivious to that.

The question then becomes, how can we fight against a straw man? The answer is you don’t. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Asking pointed questions can reveal beliefs even when a person claims there are no beliefs there. For example, most atheist will respond to most questions about their faith by stating that they only believe what can be scientifically proven. I like to ask if they believe in George Washington, Christopher Columbus, or Caesar. Most will say yes, but how can they scientifically prove their existence? Atheists like to talk about the roof of their worldview, but their foundation cracks and the walls come down with just a few questions.

-Brandon Thompson

The Power of a Good Argument

Over the past couple months, I have been working through the book of John with a group of students from Cyril. The book of John contains some of the most important truths in the Bible. We had navigated through some of Christ’s most bold claims without any problems. I was happy with the direction this series was heading, then one Wednesday night all of that changed.

When I arrived at the church that fateful night, I noticed a kid I had been inviting for months was there. I was so excited. I assumed it would be another fun night of breaking down Scripture with students, but I was wrong. 

A few minutes into the lesson, I was challenged on a basic Christian belief. As I answered objection after objection, I could feel the tension in the room rising. I felt terrible that the lesson had taken that turn. I kept thinking about the student that had walked into church for the first time. 

The discussion ended with a line in the sand drawn. I dismissed everyone in prayer and ducked my head in shame. I was preparing myself for the fallout and I didn’t even want to look up after the prayer. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the student I had been inviting to church. I was flooded with so many emotions when I saw his face. I wanted to tell him, “Please don’t think this is what church typically is”, but before I could get those words out of my mouth, he stopped me.

 He said, “Can I talk to you for a second?” He started to speak, but then his eyes filled with tears. We walked outside to a private place and he began to talk through the tears. He said, “I have never experienced anything like tonight. It was precisely what I needed to hear.” I asked him what he meant by that. He explained that he had never witnessed someone defend the gospel like that. He said that it was ugly at times, but it was true. He went on to tell me that what had happened that night changed him. He said, “Tonight rocked my world, I understand what the gospel means now.”

I went home that night and told Courtney the story of my wild night as I cried like a baby. I explained to her that I was overwhelmed. I knew I was at my worst that night. I was caught off guard. However, when I was at my worst, God was at His best. It was a great reminder that we cannot save anyone. 

It was also a great reminder that Christians shouldn’t be afraid of a good argument. We are often afraid to argue with one another because we are afraid it will lead to division. That fear of division is warranted when it comes to silly issues (2ndTimothy 2:23). However, there are times when argument is warranted (2nd Timothy 4:2-5). Two vital roles of apologetics are defending the church against heresy and strong argumentation. Sometimes the truth can be divisive, sometimes it can hurt, sometimes it leads to disagreements, but it should never be forgotten or left unsaid. 

-Brandon Thompson

Evidence for the Existence of God

In high school, I had the opportunity to play football for Larry Mantle. Coach Mantle was the youngest brother of the hall of fame baseball player Mickey Mantle. When Coach Mantle began coaching at Cyril, he was well into his late 60’s and didn’t really care to walk around at practice all afternoon, so he rode in an old golf cart. 

I despised that golf cart and so did most of the other guys. The reason we hated that golf cart was not because we didn’t like Coach Mantle, we thought he was awesome, we hated it because it always ran out of juice by the end of practice. When it ran out of battery, we were forced to push the cart into the field house. It was not a fun experience.

At the end of the season, a few friends and I decided to get our revenge on Coach Mantle. We “borrowed” a key to the fieldhouse and the coach’s office and went to work in the dead of night. We painstakingly deconstructed the golf cart and walked it piece by piece up the stairs to the coach’s office. Then we re-assembled the cart, planted a video camera to be able to watch the moment of discovery, and waited for the next morning to arrive.

The next morning, Coach Mantle walked into his office, poured himself a cup of coffee, sat down, grabbed the newspaper and started to read. As he was reading, another coach asked him if he noticed anything different. He peered over his newspaper and saw his golf cart. He then looked at the small door and then the stairs. I can’t write was said next, but my name was involved in his tirade of anger and laughter. Coach Mantle knew my fingerprints were all over that golf cart appearing in his office.

Much like the scenario described above, we can look at this world and know that something or someone is behind it. The universe didn’t just appear out of thin air with no cause. The universe is so finely tuned that the evidence clearly points to a Creator. There are certain things in nature that have to be so finely tuned that if just moved a small degree the universe could not exist at all. Astrophysicist Hugh Ross explains the finely tuned nature of the strong nuclear force and expansion rate of the universe by describing stacking dimes across a billion North Americas all the way to the moon, then blindfolding yourself, and picking one exact dime. If any other dime is picked the universe couldn’t exist.

The example above is just one of many things that point to a Creator. The gravitational constant must be fine tumed to 1 in 1060. The strands of DNA in our bodies contain organized information that makes life possible. We are located in the perfect place in the cosmos to support life. There are countless examples of God’s fingerprints in Creation. Even atheist Stephen Hawking remarked in his 1988 bookA Brief History of Timethat, “The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” I encourage you to take a walk outside this week, watch the sunset, look at the stars, sit beneath a tree, and appreciate how great of an artist the God of the Bible truly is.

-Brandon Thompson

Textual Criticism and Bubble Gum: The Case for the Reliability of the NT

When I was playing sports in high school, I might have been a little bit superstitious. Some of my friends had a lucky ballcap, others refused to shower, occasionally certain socks could not be washed, but I took superstition to the next level. I had a lucky piece of gum. This may seem strange, but in 7th grade I played the game of my life chewing this certain piece of gum and I couldn’t just throw it away. I actually, put it in a bag and threw it in the freezer. 

Over my high school career, I would break that same piece of gum out for big games. My friends would remind me on gamedays to bring the gum if we thought we might need a little “extra” help. Time after time that piece of gum proved to be reliable. We consistently won. We consistently played our best ball while I was chewing that gum. Looking back, now that I have taken microbiology, I realize it was not the gum that was reliable and that I was probably putting my life on the line trusting in a piece of gum.

As I was reminiscing about my gum earlier this week, I couldn’t help but think about the need for us to put our faith in something actually reliable. In order for something to be reliable, it must be true, effective, and consistent. When it comes to matters of eternity, reliability is imperative and I truly believe the New Testament is the most reliable document in all of history. It honestly has no parallels. Let’s explore what makes the New Testament the shining example of historical reliable.

When examining an ancient document, historians look at the number of manuscripts that have been found. The number of manuscripts adds credibility to the actual account taking place in history. For example, we have approximately 643 copies of Homer’s epic called the Iliad so it’s considered very reliable. The next thing historians look at is the amount of time between the date of the original and the earliest surviving manuscript. Again, looking at the Iliad, we have discovered a manuscript dating about 500 years from the original. Lastly, historians look at the accuracy between all the manuscripts found. For example, between all 643 manuscripts of the Iliad historians have concluded that the copies are about 95% accurate.

            The Iliad is often considered the crown jewel of ancient literature. We have several manuscripts, the time between the author’s life and the earliest copies is relatively small, and it appears to be very accurate, but it doesn’t come close to the reliability of the New Testament. We have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and over 16,000 manuscripts in other languages. The earliest manuscripts are dated to within a generation of Christ. The accuracy is unparalleled. The manuscripts of the New Testament are 99.5% accurate and of the errors only 1/10th of 1% of those are noteworthy enough to make it to a footnote in your Bible. 

The New Testament is the absolute most reliable document from antiquity. You can trust it, you can bet your life on it, I know that I have. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant in life is change”, but I don’t agree with that. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and He can be that constant in your life. What does Heraclitus know anyways? We don’t even have one surviving manuscript of his work.

-Brandon Thompson

Remember the Gospel

One of my favorite movies of all time is Remember the Titans. The team must overcome racism, injury, hate, and anger in order to work as a team and win ballgames. Perhaps, my favorite part of the movie is when Coach Boone takes the team to camp near Gettysburg. As the players are loading up on buses, Coach Boone hands his playbook to the coaching staff. One of the coaches remarks that the playbook appears to be a little small. Coach Boone says, “I run six plays, split veer. It’s like novocaine. Just give it time and it always works.” 

That line has been burned into my mind since the first time I watched the movie. It’s a silly simple statement, but I think it applies to one of the goals of apologetics, evangelism. It’s easy to get caught up in deep theological and philosophical arguments with people, but the ultimate goal is to share the gospel. 

The gospel should always be the center of apologetics. If you find yourself running in circles trying to convince someone of why they need Christ, the best thing you can do is find an opening to share the gospel. Why? Why would Coach Boone only run six plays? The answer is simple, it works. We can never save anyone, we could not even save ourselves, it is only by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ that salvation is possible. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. 

Another reason I love Remember the Titans so much is because the team eventually comes together. Despite all the chaos and hate, they choose to work together for a bigger goal. Often when people hear the word apologetics, they begin to think of arguments and debates. They see different schools of thought within Christianity lined up on different sides of the battlefield, but that is not what apologetics should be.

If the gospel is at the center of your story, then issues outside of the realm of the gospel suddenly seem small. The gospel should unite believers. It should be the reason we wake up in the morning. It should bring so much joy to our lives that we can’t help, but share it with others. I love how Pastor Keahbone has drilled into our heads that the church should be, “Gospel Centered. Christ Led. Body Engaged.” It fits perfectly into a truly biblical apologetic model.

My second favorite line of the movie is at the very end. Sheryl Yoast, the young spunky girl throughout the movie, is now fully grown and at the funeral of one of the football players on the famous Titans football team. She is explaining how the team and community has continued to overcome racism and hate. In a moment of pure poetic brilliance she says, “We still have our disagreements, of course, but before we reach for hate, always, always, we remember the Titans.” My hope is that every believer at FBC Lawton learns the importance of apologetics, but even more so, my hope is that before we reach for a witty comeback, before we dust off the boxing gloves in a debate, before we decide to witness to a nonbeliever that we always, always, remember the gospel.

Brandon Thompson