Someone’s picking another fight in the Southern Baptist Convention.
It seems innocuous enough — some pastors and denominational bigwigs decided to craft a theological statement on their view of salvation. There’s nothing really wrong with that on the face of it. This particular statement, however, seems more intent on drawing dividing lines than anything else.
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| Behold the Bogeyman – John Calvin (who did not invent the doctrines that bear his name) |
Many of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 19th century held to such a view. I suppose then they can’t be considered “Traditional” Southern Baptists. But it’s fair to say it became a minority position in the 20th century. Now the tide has shifted a bit and those who oppose such theology are really concerned.
The statement, called a “Traditional Baptist View,” has created quite a stir, as these things usually do. The blog wars in the SBC are nothing new. Many have cited some sloppy theologizing and the typical straw man argument (misrepresenting the views of those you oppose) – for example, the statement depicts Calvinists as believing that salvation can come without repentance or faith (cf article 3 and 5).
The statement has been dissected and debated by others.
Here are my 3 thoughts on the “Traditional Baptist View” statement:
3. I often wonder what it is about reformed theology that makes it so personally threatening to such men that they go to such great lengths to fight it and expunge it from their denomination. Seriously – it’s quite a fixation for some of them. Is it an affront to pride? Fear of something different? Or is this a sort of theological/SBC version of “Get off my lawn!”?
The whole idea of the Southern Baptist Convention, as I understand it, was to draw together a group of diverse baptist churches under one big tent in order to partner together in the missionary cause.
Apparently that tent is a bit too big for some people, which is too bad.