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God, baseball and missionary work: Do people in Serbia really deny the Resurrection?

Terry Mattingly

Every now and then, journalists have rather technical arguments about
the meaning of terms such as "truth" and "accuracy."

For example, what if a reporter quotes a person who is involved a
complicated, even emotional, debate and people who reject this
person's perspective later call the reporter's editor and insist that
this information was untrue and should not have been included in the
printed story?

Reporters often respond by saying something like this: "I was covering
a very bitter debate. I could not prove that what this expert said is
accurate, but my quotes were accurate. It is accurate to state that he
said this and his claims are part of the story. Want to hear my
recording of the interview?"

Arguments are like that. There are times when people with quite a bit
of education, training, skill and personal experience disagree with
one another about basic facts.

This brings me to a story that ran recently in The Claremore Daily
Progress in Oklahoma -- one that talks about God, baseball and mission
work. Here's how it starts:

Spreading the love of baseball and the love of Christianity seems
like a perfect fit for Claremore High School Athletic Director Brent
Payne.

The longtime baseball coach who hung up his cleats after the 2015
baseball season, is once again joining a local missionary group and
heading to Serbia to teach the word of God, and also how to turn a
double play. ...

Serbia, a country sandwiched between Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary,
and Bosnia and Herzegovina, has a population of just over 7 million.

Baseball, as would be expected, is not the country’s national
pastime.

No problem, so far. However, an Orthodox reader out in the wilds of
Oklahoma (such people do exist) had a spew-your-drink-of-choice moment
when he hit this statement in the original version of the story that
appeared in print, and on the newspaper's website.

These missionaries, said Payne, knew they would not be in Bible Belt
territory.

“We have to be very careful,” Payne said. “The country of Serbia
is Orthodox. Their basic belief is that God loves everybody and Jesus
was just a prophet, just another good guy. ... They do not believe in
the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus."

Whoa there. That will come as a shock to the flocks of Orthodox
believers who constantly recite, and defend against all comers, the
Nicene Creed.

All together now.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten,
Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, Very God of
Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom
all things were made:

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made
man;

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered
and was buried;

And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;

And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the
Father;

And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the
dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together
is worshiped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets;

And we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.

We look for the Resurrection of the dead,

And the Life of the age to come. Amen.

Trust me, as a kid raised Southern Baptist in Texas, that I know some
people down in those zip codes believe that members of ancient,
liturgical churches just go through the motions and are not real
believers. Tragically, there are, in fact, people in all religious
traditions who are just going through the motions and they may not
believe the words they are speaking.

Now, I have no doubt that it is accurate to say that Coach Payne said
those blunt words and that he believes them to be true. Were his words accurate? In one sense of the word, yes.

However, I believe that he Rev. Billy Graham was telling me the truth
(in the 1980s, before I converted to Orthodoxy) when it told me -- in
a discussion of his evangelistic work with various Christian flocks --
that no church "preaches the reality of the Resurrection more than the (Eastern) Orthodox."

So what did the editors in Claremore do in this case? Well, the online
version of that story now ends like this:

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained
incorrect information about Christianity in Serbia.)

Could the editorial team there have produced a story that took this
issue seriously, reaching out to Orthodox leaders in the region for
their point of view? Could they have asked this coach and missionary
to respond?

Of course. That would have been a valid approach for journalists to
take on this kind of issue.

Would this story have provoked debate?

Oh. My. God. Look at the comments!

Tagged: The Daily Progress, Claremore, Oklahoma, Billy Graham,
baseball, Bible Belt, Serbia, Ressurection, missiology, media,
journalism, truth

https://t.co/gZp4evNNg5


Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com

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