@font-face {
font-family: “Cambria”;
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

The report from the Pew Research Center is titled “The
Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families,” but the bit that most people
noted was that 40 percent of respondents think marriage is becoming obsolete.
That’s a catchy headline. The full report is over 120 pages, including
appendixes, and contains interesting clues regarding the psyche of our society.
Questions addressed within the survey include broad subjects related to
marriage, family, and children. Even more than the changing attitudes toward
marriage, our cultural ambivalence toward children, indicated in this survey
report, should trouble and mobilize pro-family people in America.

Perhaps we don’t know what we think, only what we feel.
About two-thirds of those surveyed believed that the growth in the variety of
family types (same-sex, single parent, cohabiting heterosexuals, etc.) was
positive or at least harmless. Most, 60 percent, also said that premarital sex
is not wrong. But, and it’s fair to see this as a related issue, 69 percent
disapprove of the rising trend of single motherhood. Single women often become
mothers because of premarital sex, and they are an example of expanding variety
in family types.

Nothing new here; we often answer “yes” when asked if a
thing is right or wrong. All through the survey, respondents were more likely
to be relativistic when addressing subjects personal to themselves. Divorced
parents were less likely to see divorce as a handicap to their own children,
for example.

Here are some responses that seem important to me. In
keeping with our nation’s increasing lack of discernment, respondents affirmed
the increasing number of same-sex couples raising kids, increasing numbers of
unmarried couples raising kids, and even a rise in the number of unmarried
single parents. These trends were judged neutral or good by a little more than
half of our representative spokesmen. At the same time, a larger number (61
percent) said that it is best for children to grow up in a home led by both a
mother and a father. So the message must be, other types of families are OK but
a traditional family structure is best for the kids. That’s not really a
contradiction.

Here’s a contradiction, unless we really are ambivalent
about kids; respondents broadly agreed that the very things they affirmed were
harmful to kids. A whopping 78 percent said the children of same-sex couples
would face more difficulty, more than half believed that these kids would face
“a lot more” difficulty. A larger percentage still say that the children of
divorce face more difficulty. The same 78 percent also say that children raised
in single-parent homes will face more difficulty. This is not a Baptist
preacher moralizing against the opinions of his neighbors. This is those very
neighbors saying, “Yes, I believe that these trends are fine, even good; and
yes, I believe that they make lives of children harder.” They would likely be
offended if I cut the corner and asked them if they considered making the lives
of children more difficult a positive thing.

So what are we to think when people beat their breasts about
the need to raise money for schools or social programs aimed at improving the
lives of children? What do we make of initiatives to ban fast-food deemed
unhealthful? The most ardent of these pro-child advocates are often the most
tolerant Americans when it comes to the definition of “family” or of the bad
choices people find self-nurturing. Is our work on behalf of children
insincere? I don’t think we are insincere but we do work at cross purposes with
ourselves. Our society is sometimes a forlorn collection of people who spend
half our time throwing grounded starfishes back into the water one by one, and
the other half pushing hundreds up onto the dry sand with bulldozers. We lose a
lot of starfishes and employ thousands of people to study why.

Our progressive culture shuns traditional mores with little
regard for the strengths that made some practices and opinions “traditional.”
Granted, we sometimes also embrace tradition without considering why, but a
mistake in this direction is not as likely to be immediately as harmful as a
mistake in the other direction. Because we love novel ideas, our thoughtless
response is to say that the proliferation of new definitions of “family” are
good although the consequences of such proliferation are bad. Intuitively, we
have warm feelings regarding anything with “new” attached to it. Rationally, we
recognize the downside of impulsive decisions. Between our embrace of
politicians and ideas that promise us something new and our realization that
the change is not without a price, helpless people become victims of our little
experiments.

Our desire to be sympathetic toward the circumstances of a
person’s life often affirms the elements behind those negative circumstances.
Thus, we embrace sex without marriage while regretting its predictable
consequences. We see a pregnant teenager and we’re sorry for the newly
difficult life she is living, but we’d never suggest that she should mend her
ways. A committed same-sex couple really wants to provide a home for a child
languishing in a bad situation, so we affirm this new kind of “family” because
we wish them happier than they’ll ever actually be.

Then there’s divorce. This is the most socially affirmed
evil we bring upon children. At this point, our nation has an industry with
thousands of employees that depends on the continuation of no-fault divorce. We
approve of it many times each day by actually divorcing and facilitating easy
divorce. And 80 percent of us think it harms our children. Our friend or
neighbor or brother tearfully says he’s miserable in his marriage and we just
don’t have the character to tell him to stay with his wife even if he

@font-face {
font-family: “Cambria”;
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

CORPUS CHRISTI?More than 500,000 people were baptized and
29,000 congregations were birthed last year internationally because of Southern
Baptist missionary engagement.

Gordon Fort, the International Mission Board vice president
for global strategies, told messengers and guests at the SBTC annual meeting on
Nov. 16 that SBC international missionaries have “continued to engage ? at a
rate of over 100 new people groups a year.”

To flourish and make other disciples, new believers must
“must be grounded theologically,” said Fort, noting that 12,500 converts were
trained last year in theological education.

And in many places, persecution for following Jesus is the
norm. For example, in southern Bangladesh, Hindus persecuted new converts and
more than 500 homes were burned, Fort said.

In China, God is moving in unprecedented ways, he added.

“The Zhuang Chinese are one of the most responsive people in
the world today. They are simply waiting for someone to present the gospel to
them.”

In Cuba, more than 75 percent of the population has either
personally been witnessed to or received a gospel tract from the Baptists
there, he said.

“We’re grateful to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
for your support,” Fort said.

Fort also spoke at the SBTC President’s Luncheon, stating
that every believer “ought to have a passport. We ought to put our name on the
altar and say, ‘Lord, anytime, anywhere ? you want me to go. What part of ‘go’
don’t we understand?'”

Churches should “tithe” their membership to go out and reach
others, he said.

Other nations are setting an example to American believers,
he noted. For example, Argentine Baptists have sent out 700 missionaries; in
Europe the gypsy population has dispatched 33 missionaries.

Southern Baptists are not held back for lack of money, Fort
said.

“It’s not the economy, it’s priority.”

@font-face {
font-family: “Cambria”;
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

CORPUS CHRISTI?Messengers to the 2010 SBTC annual meeting
approved five resolutions, including statements on racial reconciliation,
life-affirming stem cell research and sex trafficking.

The resolutions, which are non-binding consensus statements
of voting messengers elected by member churches, also covered gambling and
adoption and orphan care.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

The racial reconciliation resolution acknowledged the
“nearly 400 ethno-linguistic groups” in Texas and commended “continuing efforts
to make the representative diversity of our convention” reflected in
leadership.

Noting the gospel’s universal message of sin and redemption
“irrespective of ethnicity, language or culture” and the ethnic diversity
awaiting believers in Heaven, the resolution expressed “love for all people of
every ethnicity.”

Further, “we condemn any action which is racist in nature or
intent” and “we encourage churches to consider ways in which their church
committee and leadership structures can accurately reflect ethnic diversity
within their congregations.”

LIFE-AFFIRMING RESEARCH

Also of note was the stem-cell research resolution, which
referred to the research of “Dr. Shinya Yamanaka [who] while at Kyoto
University in 2007 discovered a method of transforming somatic cells into
induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells?thus making embryo-destructive research
unnecessary?”

The resolution affirms man created in God’s image (Genesis 2:7)
“and thus human life has value (Jeremiah 1:5),” and life beginning at
conception (Psalm 139:13-16) until “God’s appointed time” (Jeremiah 29:11).”

“Resolved, we encourage our elected officials to promote
adult stem cell research and defund embryo-destructive research.”

SEX TRAFFICKING

The sex trafficking resolution decried the 293,000 minors
exploited annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of
Justice, and encouraged churches to “support victim rescue and restoration
ministries.”

The resolution came within a week of the Texas attorney
general’s office announcing its intention to aid law enforcement agencies in
combating sex trafficking during Super Bowl week next February, when the game
comes to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

The resolution noted “the ever-expanding and increasingly
mainstream pornography industry?which seeks ever-younger children for its
lucrative films, videos and printed materials?[which] drives the demand for
child sexual exploitation.”

Further, the resolution quotes Proverbs 24:11-12, which
speaks of rescuing “those who are being taken away to death” and “stumbling to
the slaughter” and condemns those who would turn a blind eye from it.

A national sex-trafficking exploitation hotline is included
in the resolution: 1-888-373-7888.

“Resolved, we encourage churches to support victim rescue
and restoration ministries, demonstrating the spirit of Psalm 82:3-4, ‘Give
justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and
destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the
wicked.'”

ADOPTION/ORPHAN CARE

Following a theme at the Bible Conference, where a portion
of the offering went to adoption ministry, this resolution spoke of God as a
“father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5) and the approximately 40 biblical
references to care for orphans.

It also recognizes the metaphors of Israel as God’s
“firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22) and the adoption of believers as God’s children
and “fellow heirs with Christ.”

“Resolved, we encourage our pastors and church leaders in
their continuing efforts to preach and teach on God’s concern for orphans and
to commend ministries that provide financial resources to families desiring to
adopt?” the resolution stated.

<p style="fon