The right fluff

A state Baptist newspaper getting called out for excessive fluff is not surprising. A self-proclaimed fundamentalist doing the calling is downright shocking.

A letter to the editor in the Biblical Recorder, the state Baptist paper in North Carolina, carries the headline, "Too much fluff." The letter is from Shelby resident Bill Rhymes, who identifies himself as a Sunday School teacher and choir member of Zion Baptist Church. Rhymes says he has been a Baptist for 74 years and taught Sunday School for 60 years.

"What concerns me are the last two editions of the Biblical Recorder," Rhymes writes. "Inside was page after page of 'fluffy' writings about by-laws, rules, etc."

An editor's note at the end of the letter says the paper is required by the Baptist State Convention bylaws to print proposed changes to the convention's Articles and Bylaws at least twice.

In newspaper lingo, stories with little news value are often called fluff pieces.

While that might indeed fit the bylaw changes mentioned by Rhymes, his reasoning is completely different. He said after seeing the information, he asked himself, “What could all of this possibly mean for bringing people to know and love Jesus Christ?”

Rhymes said he wondered who would read the information and what Jesus would think about all the "excess garbage in what is supposed to be an inspirational publication about Him."

"I’m afraid He would have said, 'I never said these things, I never mentioned petty mounds of rules and bylaws about following Me.' Jesus would have said, 'I spoke the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer. That is all you need for salvation with Me.'"

Interestingly, the comments section focuses on Rhymes' view of salvation and quickly becomes a debate between opposite sides in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy.

More revealing is the last part of the editor's note, which says printing the proposed bylaw changes is "a laudable safeguard and should inspire trust in the process by which this Convention of churches conducts the business that enables them together to care for others, share the gospel and dare to attempt great things for the Kingdom."

Now that is fluff.