A Warning to Southern Baptists Against Diluting or Adding to the Gospel, Part

[Revmitchell]

I was being told that I was preaching a half-gospel if I was preaching a gospel of salvation of someone’s soul. That that’s not the whole story. Now I thought at the time, “OK, obviously he’s talking about I’m only giving part of the picture of the gospel. Him saying half-gospel means we need to talk about things like sin, why we need a Savior, what Jesus did, how we come to Him, and we need to talk about future things. We need to talk about, you know, the glorified state of believers, the restoration of all things in the end — the new heaven and the new earth — the full beginning-to-end gospel. Where the story begins, where it ends, and how the gospel makes that transformation. It’s all about Christ restoring mankind.

No! The element of the gospel apparently that’s being missed is the economic, social, the different pillars of society that have been broken and how we need to restore them. We need to engage in holistic restoration. That isn’t a work of those who have been saved by the gospel; that is the gospel.


I tried to give a little bit of pushback. Was he just emphasizing it differently? Was he just being a little bit sloppy with his wording? You know, just talking a little bit too quick and simplifying what he was saying instead of saying, you know, “This is a commandment given by Jesus; this is something that we who have been transformed by the gospel should be doing”?

James talks about the works of the believer. He makes it very clear that “How can we who have been transformed by Christ, how can we who’ve experienced the mercy of Christ not be merciful? How can we who’ve experienced this transformation not reflect it in our lives?” It’s important. It’s vitally important.

But no! It was being attached to the gospel itself; it’s a part of it. [They were saying] it’s necessary for the gospel to be true, for the gospel to be what it is. The gospel isn’t just about the salvation of men’s souls. Eventually, we will see full restoration. We will be raised back to life. These bodies will not just fade away. We will not just be bodiless souls for all of existence. This body’s going to be restored! There will be a resurrection. Christ is the firstfruits of that. He’s the proof that we will be raised from the dead.


But again, what was being taught was that the gospel, this work of restoration is something that we — me and you, all of us — do right here, right now in this earth.


A Warning to Southern Baptists Against Diluting or Adding to the Gospel, Part 1 - Word Foundations

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

Is he referring to this sort of approach to missions?

How to solve your city’s greatest problem

 

[Revmitchell]

Kyle Whitt is having a Q&A Thursday 7 pm on the southern Baptist Facebook page

Facebook Groups

 

[Reynolds]

Kyle Whitt is having a Q&A Thursday 7 pm on the southern Baptist Facebook page

Facebook Groups

That would be nice except I refuse to use Communist book.

 

[Revmitchell]

Here are brief summaries of the topics before us. As we cover them, I’ll rely on Kyle himself to present much of the content. After all, this series has been written to showcase (and to make even more understandable and accessible) the objections he has raised and the warnings he has presented. I pray Southern Baptists will carefully listen to and heed what this upcoming Christian leader is saying. Again, the topics before us are these:

• • • NAMB’s claim that the gospel includes “The Great Requirement”
    • Need #1: A Sense of Urgency
    • Need #2: Discernment
    • Need #3: Accountability

NAMB’s claim that the gospel includes “The Great Requirement”
In light of numerous statements in the the North American Mission Board’s SEND Values booklet, the charge that NAMB is adding a requirement of works to the gospel is impossible to deny. Here we see a clear departure from the path of authentic biblical teaching, a road Southern Baptists mustavoid taking. Listen to Kyle as he explain

This is from SEND Network’s Values Statement. It’s a booklet. It’s freely available; from Chapter 7, “RESTORATION THROUGH THE GREAT REQUIREMENT.” [A PDF file of the booklet is available from NAMB here. A PDF file of the following graphic is available here.]

https://www.wordfoundations.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/values-namb.jpg

 

[Baptist Believer]

...In light of numerous statements in the the North American Mission Board’s SEND Values booklet, the charge that NAMB is adding a requirement of works to the gospel is impossible to deny.

It's easy to deny, since they are doing no such thing. The gospel of Jesus calls us into discipleship -- to love our neighbors (and enemies) as we love ourselves. We engage in discipleship because we have met the Savior, and He calls us to walk with Him and do the things He is doing. Unless you have a "Jesus is a ticket to heaven" theology, there is no issue here. Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. This is not about earning, but loving obedience.

Here we see a clear departure from the path of authentic biblical teaching, a road Southern Baptists must avoid taking.

Believing and obeying Micah 6:8?

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.​

Do you now reject the Bible?

 

[Baptist Believer]

A Warning to Southern Baptists Against Diluting or Adding to the Gospel, Part 1 - Word Foundations

Dr. Garland would be appalled that his warning against idolatry is being quoted out of context and used as the introduction to an attack on the social ramifications of the biblical message. He was my seminary Hebrew professor, and I heard him speak on the issue of idolatry in class (where the quote comes from), but we also translated extensively from the OT prophets, that cried out for social justice, and discussed the meaning of the passage as we did the translation together as a class.

 

[Yeshua1]

I was being told that I was preaching a half-gospel if I was preaching a gospel of salvation of someone’s soul. That that’s not the whole story. Now I thought at the time, “OK, obviously he’s talking about I’m only giving part of the picture of the gospel. Him saying half-gospel means we need to talk about things like sin, why we need a Savior, what Jesus did, how we come to Him, and we need to talk about future things. We need to talk about, you know, the glorified state of believers, the restoration of all things in the end — the new heaven and the new earth — the full beginning-to-end gospel. Where the story begins, where it ends, and how the gospel makes that transformation. It’s all about Christ restoring mankind.

No! The element of the gospel apparently that’s being missed is the economic, social, the different pillars of society that have been broken and how we need to restore them. We need to engage in holistic restoration. That isn’t a work of those who have been saved by the gospel; that is the gospel.


I tried to give a little bit of pushback. Was he just emphasizing it differently? Was he just being a little bit sloppy with his wording? You know, just talking a little bit too quick and simplifying what he was saying instead of saying, you know, “This is a commandment given by Jesus; this is something that we who have been transformed by the gospel should be doing”?

James talks about the works of the believer. He makes it very clear that “How can we who have been transformed by Christ, how can we who’ve experienced the mercy of Christ not be merciful? How can we who’ve experienced this transformation not reflect it in our lives?” It’s important. It’s vitally important.

But no! It was being attached to the gospel itself; it’s a part of it. [They were saying] it’s necessary for the gospel to be true, for the gospel to be what it is. The gospel isn’t just about the salvation of men’s souls. Eventually, we will see full restoration. We will be raised back to life. These bodies will not just fade away. We will not just be bodiless souls for all of existence. This body’s going to be restored! There will be a resurrection. Christ is the firstfruits of that. He’s the proof that we will be raised from the dead.


But again, what was being taught was that the gospel, this work of restoration is something that we — me and you, all of us — do right here, right now in this earth.


A Warning to Southern Baptists Against Diluting or Adding to the Gospel, Part 1 - Word Foundations

Sounds like you were being told to get woke into your message!

 

[Yeshua1]

It's easy to deny, since they are doing no such thing. The gospel of Jesus calls us into discipleship -- to love our neighbors (and enemies) as we love ourselves. We engage in discipleship because we have met the Savior, and He calls us to walk with Him and do the things He is doing. Unless you have a "Jesus is a ticket to heaven" theology, there is no issue here. Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. This is not about earning, but loving obedience.


Believing and obeying Micah 6:8?

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.​

Do you now reject the Bible?

Did jesus die and rise again to give to us the Great Commission, or to give to us time to get woked?

 

[Baptist Believer]

Did jesus die and rise again to give to us the Great Commission, or to give to us time to get woked?

Jesus died to provide a way for humankind to be redeemed, transformed, and prepared for the expansion and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

By entering into the life of Christ (being born from above), we are to live as disciples, expanding the influence of the Kingdom and reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-29). This aligns completely with Micah 6:8:

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

You are obsessed with the word "woke." It is simply a secular way of recognizing that the world is unjust towards some. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor (which goes a lot farther than "woke"), because we are called to work for justice. NOTE: That doesn't necessarily mean lawsuits, protests, etc., but it can include them. The harder work is building community and making restitution for wrongs committed by previous generations. It involves changing the way our institutions operate and how we advocate for change in public policies.

 

[Reynolds]

Jesus died to provide a way for humankind to be redeemed, transformed, and prepared for the expansion and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

By entering into the life of Christ (being born from above), we are to live as disciples, expanding the influence of the Kingdom and reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-29). This aligns completely with Micah 6:8:

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

You are obsessed with the word "woke." It is simply a secular way of recognizing that the world is unjust towards some. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor (which goes a lot farther than "woke"), because we are called to work for justice. NOTE: That doesn't necessarily mean lawsuits, protests, etc., but it can include them. The harder work is building community and making restitution for wrongs committed by previous generations. It involves changing the way our institutions operate and how we advocate for change in public policies.

Woke is secular. That should tell you all you need to know.

 

[Yeshua1]

Jesus died to provide a way for humankind to be redeemed, transformed, and prepared for the expansion and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

By entering into the life of Christ (being born from above), we are to live as disciples, expanding the influence of the Kingdom and reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-29). This aligns completely with Micah 6:8:

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

You are obsessed with the word "woke." It is simply a secular way of recognizing that the world is unjust towards some. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor (which goes a lot farther than "woke"), because we are called to work for justice. NOTE: That doesn't necessarily mean lawsuits, protests, etc., but it can include them. The harder work is building community and making restitution for wrongs committed by previous generations. It involves changing the way our institutions operate and how we advocate for change in public policies.

I am against how whites are being portreyed now as being all racists, as being privileged, as somehow being more evil then others!
The message of the Cross is that we ALL are equally sinful, and that the Only Critical race theology refers to all of humanity, as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!

 

[Baptist Believer]

Woke is secular. That should tell you all you need to know.

Yeshua1 is the person obsessed with "woke." I've only mentioned it in response to his obsession with it.

I'm not advocating being "woke," I'm advocating being a disciple of Jesus.

 

[Baptist Believer]

I am against how whites are being portreyed now as being all racists...

I have certainly said nothing of the sort, nor have I heard any credible person say that. On Fox News, I have heard commentators claim that others claim all whites are racist, but they are not credible people and you shouldn't pay attention to them.

...as being privileged

I think you are confusing "white privilege" with normal privilege. Seems like you need to read up on the subject. White privilege is not something that you choose, nor can you easily control. Many of those privileges come from our nation's history and policies that were put in place during the Jim Crow years, including the New Deal, with such practices as redlining. Do some reading on the subject and your won't feel so attacked.

...as somehow being more evil then others!

Humankind all shares a deep commitment to sin.

 

[Yeshua1]

Yeshua1 is the person obsessed with "woke." I've only mentioned it in response to his obsession with it.

I'm not advocating being "woke," I'm advocating being a disciple of Jesus.

Are there not many Christian groups now who are making "getting woke up" part of their Christian message though?

 

[Yeshua1]

I have certainly said nothing of the sort, nor have I heard any credible person say that. On Fox News, I have heard commentators claim that others claim all whites are racist, but they are not credible people and you shouldn't pay attention to them.


I think you are confusing "white privilege" with normal privilege. Seems like you need to read up on the subject. White privilege is not something that you choose, nor can you easily control. Many of those privileges come from our nation's history and policies that were put in place during the Jim Crow years, including the New Deal, with such practices as redlining. Do some reading on the subject and your won't feel so attacked.


Humankind all shares a deep commitment to sin.

Many into BLM and Critical race theory indeed do want whites to be seen as guilty and to feel that also!

 

[rlvaughn]

On Fox News, I have heard commentators claim that others claim all whites are racist, but they are not credible people and you shouldn't pay attention to them.

They may not be credible, but I have run across people who say (or write) it. Here is an example:

I need White people to understand that all White people are racist.
Admit it, and let’s move onto the business of repairing and healing the country. We can’t do it without you.
Yes my dears, all White people are racists. All. Of. Them.

White people admitting they are racist will be the only way they’re able to decolonize their minds.
Just admit it to yourselves. The rest of the world already knows it. Nothing you say or do can make any sense until you make this admission.

Yes My Dear, All White People Are Racists

 

[Baptist Believer]

Are there not many Christian groups now who are making "getting woke up" part of their Christian message though?

I don't know of any. There's no point in "getting woke" since the gospel message has broader and deeper demands than "wokeness." Many Christians just don't actually know what Jesus taught, so they confuse gospel with "wokeness."

NOTE: I would be delighted never to use the term "woke" again. It is a foolish distraction and has nothing to do with what I have been saying.

Many into BLM and Critical race theory indeed do want whites to be seen as guilty and to feel that also!

That is a broad undefined statement that is unverifiable. It's as unkind and foolish as when my atheists friends claim "Christians are irrational and hate gay people." You will always find folks like that, but that doesn't characterize the movement. Loving your neighbor (and your enemy) requires that you not make disparage them with blanket statements.

 

[Baptist Believer]

They may not be credible, but I have run across people who say (or write) it. Here is an example:
Yes My Dear, All White People Are Racists

That's an uncharitable way to introduce the topic of systematic racism. It's designed to provoke instead of help.

If you want to read and helpful discussion of systematic racism, then I recommend The Color of Compromise instead of garbage like that. The Color of Compromise comes from a Christian perspective and is well-reasoned and respectful of the reader.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

That's an uncharitable way to introduce the topic of systematic racism. It's designed to provoke instead of help.

If you want to read and helpful discussion of systematic racism, then I recommend The Color of Compromise instead of garbage like that. The Color of Compromise comes from a Christian perspective and is well-reasoned and respectful of the reader.

You claimed no one is saying all whites are racist. Confronted with a prime example you correctly refer to it as garbage, yet don’t admit your own error. Yes, it is garbage. There are a great many people spouting such garbage saying all whites are racist. Your attempts at gaslighting won’t work, except to make you look like you are trying to cover up the truth for whatever reason.