Having grown up in a Southern Baptist church and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ while growing up in that church, and being a current member of a SBC church, I have been watching with interest some of the discussions going on “in house” among fellow Baptists.
This open letter is a very interesting one, though rather long, and the pastor who wrote it does a nice job of confronting some of the misrepresentations that were made in a sermon the state convention mailed out to Florida Baptist pastors and which are often made about those of us who hold to a reformed or Calvinist view of doctrine by men who disagree with that view. Though I tend to stay out of the debates I find on this topic, I have been awfully frustrated when I’ve read many of those same misrepresentations on several blogs recently and heard them in other places, and I’ve often found myself thinking, “But that’s not really what we believe or say. Why do people insist on twisting what we really believe and presenting it as something else?” I am not intending to get into an argument in my comment section over this debate or rebuke anyone who disagrees with me or anything like that, so please don’t go there. I’m just pointing out an article that does a nice job of articulating a response to some of the misrepresentations that are commonly used by brothers in Christ who disagree with what they think their reformed brothers and sisters believe and who are not giving an accurate presentation of what the reformed pastors in the SBC are truly saying. This pastor does a nice job of taking these misrepresentations and articulating what we actually believe in a very coherent manner, and I appreciate his spelling it out so well.
(HT: my dad for mentioning this letter and telling me where to find it so I could read it.)
This is also interesting, and relates to the subject matter of the above link, in regards to the Florida Baptist Convention in my home state. I’ve been following some of this situation due to the fact that I lived in Florida most of my life, and my parents are still there, so I’m very interested to see how this develops.
I very much appreciate what Tom Ascol says in conclusion in his post:
“We have no interest in division or in being contentious. We do have an interest in truth. We believe what we believe because we think the Bible teaches it. We understand that not everyone shares our convictions. But we desire of ourselves and ask of others, not to misrepresent the views of their brothers and sisters with whom they disagree on these vitally important issues.
For the cause of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, please pray that His truth will prevail and that we will all be humbled before it.”
(HT: Reflections of the Times for this one, for I saw she had posted about it before I happened to see it on Tom Ascol’s blog myself.)
2 comments:
I was raised in SBC's, met my husband at a SBC, and married in a SBC--we have a long history of SBC!! Even though we no longer attend a SBC church I have been watching with great interest and delight since the late 80's as various men and women commit themselves to reclaiming a God-centered theology within the SBC!
I agree, they should not attack Calvinism with SBC money, especially if they allow Calvinistic churches to be a part of the SBC.
On the other hand, why do the Calvinists care? If God doesn't open people's eyes to their perspective they cannot espouse it. If God does open their eyes, they will not be deceived.
This is what always baffles me about Calvinists that engage in such controversies, the SBC cannot alter the will of God so why get all upset? The SBC is so corrupt that even true Arminians should come out from among them.
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