Ben Hawkins Stories

Columnists

‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’

This month, campus life and classes are ramping up at Cooperative Program-supported schools, like Hannibal-LaGrange University, Missouri Baptist University, Southwest Baptist University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary/Spurgeon College. Across the state, Missouri Baptist churches and associations have in recent years begun—or are expanding—their own educational programs. And many Missouri Baptists are teaching children in public and private schools across the state. It’s clear that Missouri Baptists are heavily invested in education – and this shouldn’t be any surprise.
International

Pray, give to see Scripture available in all languages

A few years ago, at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, the International Mission Board (IMB) gave Southern Baptists the opportunity to help provide Bibles for people groups across the globe—particularly, for people groups who don’t have access to Scripture in their heart languages.
Columnists

‘We’re better together’: Southern Baptist Disaster Relief proves we are

Time and again, this network of state Disaster Relief groups – that is, SBDR – has proven it can respond to a broad variety of disasters with rapidity, efficiency and flexibility, as well as with a passion for proclaiming the gospel to hurting people.
Ethics

‘Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light’

As Independence Day rolls around each year, I think often about the young English Protestant Reformer John Frith, who was burned at the stake as a heretic on July 4, 1533. Why did he die? In short, he died because he refused to reject his biblical convictions regarding the Lord’s Supper and justification by faith alone. Frith lived and died in an era where few people could even conceive of the God-given liberties, expressed in the Bill of Rights, that United States citizens enjoy today.
Columnists

Father’s Day reflections

On a Sunday morning in June 2010, I first heard the congratulatory phrase directed toward me. As I turned the corner at a Texas church where my wife served as children’s minister, a sprightly, elementary-aged girl cried out, “Happy Father’s Day, Mr. Ben!”
Columnists

‘Strong theology of joy’ needed in an ‘age of anxiety’

In a world filled with heartbreak, disillusionment and discouraging headlines, we all need a “strong theology of joy,” built on the truths of Scripture and fed by the gigantic, rapturous joy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our “wellspring of the joy of living."
Ethics

‘Developmental Personhood’: Secular lie devalues the weak, defenseless

Pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia arguments presume an idea known as developmental personhood, the philosophical idea that human personhood and human life are separate categories of being and only human persons deserve protection but human life itself does not necessarily deserve protection.
Ethics

Missouri Governor signs House Bill 2634, defunding Planned Parenthood

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, on May 9, signed a bill into law that defunds Planned Parenthood, and we may now be tempted to think of our state as a pro-life “city on a hill." Nevertheless, Missourians must remember that our state is also a “besieged city.” Precisely because of our exemplary pro-life record in recent years, abortion activists across the nation are laboring to undo all that Missourians have done to save babies’ lives.
Columnists

Library content contested, summer reading options

Many of my fondest memories involve books—scanning my father’s bookshelves as a boy, perusing the set of print encyclopedias displayed in my family’s living room, growing in faith as a teenager while reading missionary biographies, like Jesse Fletcher’s "Bill Wallace of China."
Columnists

God is all Goodness, the Giver of all good things

God is all Goodness and the Giver of all good things – and, without Him, nothing is good. But, given our natural human tendencies, it’s probably healthy for us to memorize and often repeat the words of Psalm 107:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.”
Columnists

The thread of Scripture leads us to the real Jesus

The apostle John describes how he and his fellow apostles proclaimed “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life” (1 John 1:1). They saw Jesus, touched Him and—in the Gospels—proclaimed to us that the Jesus is “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:2).
Ethics

Defend the sanctity of life with compassion, conviction

Missourians must remain vigilant in protecting the life of the unborn, since Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups are working hard to bring a culture of death back to our state. Through the initiative petition process, they aim to enshrine abortion in Missouri’s Constitution. Missourians must decline to sign this petition.

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