Why Stay in the SBC?

[Rhetorician]

Hello all to my IBF friends:

I know I know, some are you are still angry at Billy Graham, the New Evangelicals, and the SBC for what you believe is there liberalism. But if you have been following us since 1979 you know we have and are coming a long way. Anyway, here is a short article not exactly an apology but a good bullet point piece telling why we have decided to stay. I thought you might want to read it.

Why Stay in the SBC?

Enjoy!

rd

 

[Rob_BW]

Enjoyed. Thanks for posting.

 

[Jordan Kurecki]

Why I'm Not a Southern Baptist

Reply to a Southern Baptist Preacher

 

[JonC]

Why I'm Not a Southern Baptist

Reply to a Southern Baptist Preacher

While I would prefer that my church not continue to be Southern Baptist, I think that you may want to study a little more the reasons listed in the first article. I did not read past the fourth, but the first four reasons for not being Southern Baptist are mistaken ideas about the SBC.

 

[Revmitchell]

Why I'm Not a Southern Baptist

Reply to a Southern Baptist Preacher

"Denominational structures are man-made entities that have no biblical authority. "

Church buildings, toilets in those buildings etc have no biblical authority. Lack of does not also mean contrary to God and His will. When the organization is for the purpose of doing missions and fulfilling the Great Commission then it is on sound footing.

"THE SBC IS ECUMENICAL."

The argument made for this lie has no footing. The SBC has no doctrine that matches an ecumenical organization. Sorry this fails.

I would go on but it is nothing more than a rant from some unhinged idiot.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Then there are those of us whose churches have never been a part of the SBC the Northern Baptist movement and later the NB Convention yes but the SBC, no.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

I would add nor would we want to be a part of the SBC today.

Then there are those of us whose churches have never been a part of the SBC the Northern Baptist movement and later the NB Convention yes but the SBC, no.

 

[Rob_BW]

I would add nor would we want to be a part of the SBC today.

But...we have casseroles.

 

[Rhetorician]

I would add nor would we want to be a part of the SBC today.

Can you give a couple of reasons why? That is a rather obscurantists opinion.

Us SBC types must not forget to critique our own house but I would say the same for the IFBers.

Then again is there enough cohesion for anyone to even know what an IFBer is and where they stand?

Please see my paper at Has Fundamentalism Lost the Gospel?

I think it will be a good read and add to the discussion here.

rd

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Can you give a couple of reasons why? That is a rather obscurantists opinion.

Because we have developed our own robust ecclesiastical ecology over the last seventy years. Again, we date back to the split up of the Triennial Convention

Then again is there enough cohesion for anyone to even know what an IFBer is and where they stand?

Probably not, without adding some adjectives. To oversimplify, a man who is in the FBFI deals with matters differently from someone in the BBF. And then there are those who were in the Hyles-Anderson orbit.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

It boils down to the SBC is not my segment's mothership. The founding trio of my alma mater went to (between them) Eastern BTS, Northern BTS, Wheaton, Princeton, and the University of Chicago.

 

[agedman]

"Denominational structures are man-made entities that have no biblical authority. "

Church buildings, toilets in those buildings etc have no biblical authority. Lack of does not also mean contrary to God and His will. When the organization is for the purpose of doing missions and fulfilling the Great Commission then it is on sound footing.

Taking your statement at face value, both the Mormons and the Papists are on tremendously “sound footing.”

 

[Revmitchell]

Taking your statement at face value, both the Mormons and the Papists are on tremendously “sound footing.”

Good grief

 

[Rhetorician]

It boils down to the SBC is not my segment's mothership. The founding trio of my alma mater went to (between them) Eastern BTS, Northern BTS, Wheaton, Princeton, and the University of Chicago.

Squire,

This is probably more true for all of us than we know. That is one more proof of the "absolute sovereignty of God" I discussed in another thread. We are in the Baptist tradition we are because we were born and reared there. And most of us, including me, don't examine or consider wanting out b/c we believe this is the closest thing to what the Bible teaches. But we are unaware of our blind spots!!

Think on that.

rd

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Rhet, I was saved at 19. I was raised in a United Presbyterian church. My segment of the Baptist Galaxy has been separate from what became the SBC since the days of Francis Wayland.

 

[JohnDeereFan]

The church we came from was SBC and I, personally, was SBC for about twenty-five years.

When we founded the new church after our old church split, we debated whether or not to affiliate with the SBC and decided not to. We still talk about it every now and then.

To be honest, I have no strong conviction either way, but for now, it doesn't seem like the right decision to affiliate with them.

 

[Salty]

The church we came from was SBC and I, personally, was SBC for about twenty-five years.

When we founded the new church after our old church split, we debated whether or not to affiliate with the SBC and decided not to. We still talk about it every now and then.

To be honest, I have no strong conviction either way, but for now, it doesn't seem like the right decision to affiliate with them.

Just curious - what were the reasons for not affiliating with SBC?

 

[CertainSound]

I don't want to be part of the SBC because it is a political boat anchor. I mean that "good conservative leaders" had to take decades to ditch the liberalism that was in their schools and had moved into their pulpits. I get the impression from the Bible that God wants immediate obedience not decades of politicking to try to "save the convention". I saw them argue about the liberalism at their national convention then elect a conservative, some times they had to use nifty maneuvering. The election would be followed up by a press conference where the conservative would call for unity once again, reminiscent of Rodney King's, "can't we all get along." speech." We are sent into the world to save souls, not save a convention.
I don't want to be part of the SBC because they have proven that I can't trust their missionary program. They discovered that some of their missionaries were allowing speaking in tongues. After political wrangling they vote against allowing it but that didn't change what was going on in the field. 10 years later they voted that the missionary churches could do it if they wanted to because the convention couldn't force them to change. Sorry but I have an agreement with my missionaries that they will establish doctrine in their church that is like mine.

 

[Salty]

... I don't want to be part of the SBC because they have proven that I can't trust their missionary program. They discovered that some of their missionaries were allowing speaking in tongues ....

I have spent time overseas with the military. I have met some IFB missionaries. I remember talking to one - about Bible Versions (this was about 1975) I asked him what the people back home would think about him using the NIV. His answer: "Who says they know about it" Also met another missionary- who was sent to start a German work - but ended up pastoring an English-speaking church (mainly military) - he was doing a lot of underhanded things. In fact, he ended up in a German jail. Mission Board at the time was not aware of it.

Sure - the SBC may have its problems - but so does the IFB's!!!

 

[Rhetorician]

I don't want to be part of the SBC because it is a political boat anchor. I mean that "good conservative leaders" had to take decades to ditch the liberalism that was in their schools and had moved into their pulpits. I get the impression from the Bible that God wants immediate obedience not decades of politicking to try to "save the convention". I saw them argue about the liberalism at their national convention then elect a conservative, some times they had to use nifty maneuvering. The election would be followed up by a press conference where the conservative would call for unity once again, reminiscent of Rodney King's, "can't we all get along." speech." We are sent into the world to save souls, not save a convention.
I don't want to be part of the SBC because they have proven that I can't trust their missionary program. They discovered that some of their missionaries were allowing speaking in tongues. After political wrangling they vote against allowing it but that didn't change what was going on in the field. 10 years later they voted that the missionary churches could do it if they wanted to because the convention couldn't force them to change. Sorry but I have an agreement with my missionaries that they will establish doctrine in their church that is like mine.

Dear CS,

I know what you mean about all of the "family feuds" of the SBC. I was in them back in the day. But we in the SBC are much like America before the world, we fight and air our dirty laundry in public.

One critique, or response, or observation I would make on your observation; we all "contend for the faith" in our own ways, in our own times, in our own doctrine, with out own attitudes, and so forth. But we all serve one Lord Christ. So why should we not love and accept one another as he or she falls or stands as to the Lord as his owner or Master.

My larger concern is that the "fightin' fundamenatlists" have so much emphasis on the "fightin'" that they have lost the Solas of the Reformation, the T-U-L-I-P of Particular Redemption, and the Orthodoxy of The Fundamentals as written, and that they are so right and everybody else is so wrong that they (hopefully not me? but probably me too to some greater or lesser degree) have lost the Gospel!!

rd

PS Dr. BGray Allison; Founder and President Emeritus of Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary of whom I am a proud alum; said many times--"there is no competition between light houses!"