Someone has asked the question, "What do you mean in your last blog, 'Somehow, we must get over this and move on.'?" My first response was, "I do not know." But, that was yesterday and I have had some time to 'mull over it.' Therefore, my response is as follows: "Choices."
I am a Follower of the Christ, primarily and a Southern Baptist because we have basically agreed that the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 expresses who we are. And my choice to be a Southern Baptist is, in part, due to that document. There are other reasons, too, but in the end the choice to be and remain a Southern Baptist for all of my life is entirely based upon the fact that I see the Bible as the Inerrant Word of God written by men who were Inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The present conflict which has arisen between 'Baptist Calvinists' and 'Baptist Traditionalists' brings me to this moment in question, "Somehow, we must get over this and move on." My answer is simply found in God's Word as Jesus said,
"Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. 36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?" Mark 8:34-36.
“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money." Matthew 6:24
“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where You’re going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:5-6.
In the present on-going Calvinist/Reform issue among Southern Baptists choices must be made, and oddly enough, this in and of itself rubs against the grain of the 'predestined' mindset of the Reformer. For the Reformer the decision must have already been made in Heaven and therefore there is really nothing to worry about.....sic.
Yes, we must somehow get over his huge bump in the road and move on. Many years ago, as a student as SWBTS, I recall one of our professors detailing the importance of contextual evidence being the precusor of biblical exegesis. Our choices today are to be made with that in mind and this is the foundation upon which Southern Baptists stand and THE singular reason for the weakness of the Reform argument of Election.
Jesus, in His statement to the gathered crowd of people in Mark 8:34 ff gives those hearers a choice to make, "If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself..." The simple choice is to become His Follower or not. There is not one single hint given here or in any other of Jesus' challenges in the Gospels concerning Election. Most noteably this is the case in point as Thomas asks, "How can we know the way?" Please understand that Jesus did NOT reply to Thomas by saying, "Only the Elect will come to the Father." Rather the Christ clearly indicates that to come to the Father is "through Me." There is a pathway to follow and in daily life everyone will make a choice as to which pathway to follow to get from one place to another. In order to follow the Christ there is a choice to be made.
If we, as Southern Baptists are to move on, we have a very large and important choice to make. No doubt the choice to do so will be a diffcult one, but we must do so. This is a 'Make it' or 'Break it' decision for many of us. I am NOT a Southern Baptist Calvinist. I am a Southern Baptist Biblicist, if you will, and there is a very BIG difference here.
Every indication is that the Reformers wish to determine the future of the SBC with the doctrine of Election as the standard. If the SBC chooses to allow that to happen I will no longer be a Southern Baptist for I am NOT a Calvinist and I do not believe in the tenets of that system of religion.
I choose to follow the Christ and deny to follow the Calvinist error, plain and simple. This is what I meant when I wrote, "Somehow, we must get over this and move on." I am a Follower of the Christ, not a follower of Calvinism and we must get over this and move on.
Jesus is Lord
Bob Williford
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
A Sword of Division
Being silent for a very long time has been difficult, but now I must begin to say some things that have been on my mind. Here I will begin. As a Southern Baptist I have always said that I am one by conviction and am a Believer and Follower of Jesus Christ by faith in Him alone. For this reason alone I am a Believer FIRST and FOREMOST and a Southern Baptist BECAUSE of my conviction that Baptists, in my lifetime, have been sound biblicists. For this reason I stood with those who were in the war over Biblical Inerrancy and Conservatism, and I will stand against the Reform Movement within the SBC today. This Movement is simply WRONG biblically.
Yesterday, May 3rd, I read the article from SBC Issues entitled,Calvinism in the SBC and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. This article alone has brought me to this juncture, my Turning Point. This article is found at the following address: http://sbcissues.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/calvinism-in-the-sbc-and-the-baptist-faith-and-message-2000/. Every Southern Baptist should read this because the "correct theological position of a majority of Southern Baptists today is that men are not born guilty of Adam’s sin as Nettles suggests." In many ways this may be the 'jumping off place' for the Reformer and this issue in the SBC.
Three years ago it was my priviledge to meet Dr. Malcolm Yarnell, Chair of Systematic Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Confronting Dr. Yarnell with questions about the Reform question, he introduced me to many of the surrounding issues of Calvinism in the SBC. He also encourage me to read the text Whosoever Will which contains essays addressing the Five Points of Calvinism. For this I am grateful.
As a result of that meeting, God has allowed me to come in contact with Dr. David Allen, Dr. Steve Lemke and others who have greatly influenced my journey into my studies of the Reform Movement. As a result of these encounters with incredibly blessed minds I have become a far better student of God's Word and am more informed of this critical study because of their suggestions.
I completely understand why so many want to meet at a 'Table of Peace' and draft some sort of agreement that might produce some sort of solution. However, my question remains.....how am I/are we able to come to a working agreement with someone who simply does not and cannot agree with me/us about the biblical question concerning the Gospel Message found in John 3:16? We do not agree upon "Whosoever will". And in our disagreement people are asking the question, "How can I become a Christian?"
For everyone, Jesus says it best in Matthew 10:34, 39, "Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword...Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it."
For each of us in the SBC there will be no peace over the questions raised over this issue and the sword (the Word of God) is the defining principle. In His Word we will either find or lose our spiritual lives and we cannot assume anything less. We will fall or stand upon Him alone. A Baptist cannot stand arm in arm with a Baptist Calvinist, as Dr. Yarnell describes them, and share the same Gospel Message with a lost person. One of us will say, "You must make a choice to follow Jesus or not." The other will say, "You may or may not be of the Elect and when you have faith you know that you have already been saved because the choice is really not yours to make."
The decision is not about Institutions, etc owned and operated by the SBC. The decision is whether or not one chooses to lose life because Jesus Christ has already asked me to follow Him. This is a 'no brainer.' Certainly I am a Southern Baptist because of a deep seated conviction that finds root in the Word of God and expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. However, I am first of all a Follower of Jesus Christ by faith in Him alone and the fact that I am a Southern Baptist has no bearing on my decision to follow the Christ.
Christ has given a sword of division in order to find a correct direction and in that I will find my life......
Jesus is Lord
Bob Williford
Yesterday, May 3rd, I read the article from SBC Issues entitled,Calvinism in the SBC and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. This article alone has brought me to this juncture, my Turning Point. This article is found at the following address: http://sbcissues.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/calvinism-in-the-sbc-and-the-baptist-faith-and-message-2000/. Every Southern Baptist should read this because the "correct theological position of a majority of Southern Baptists today is that men are not born guilty of Adam’s sin as Nettles suggests." In many ways this may be the 'jumping off place' for the Reformer and this issue in the SBC.
Three years ago it was my priviledge to meet Dr. Malcolm Yarnell, Chair of Systematic Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Confronting Dr. Yarnell with questions about the Reform question, he introduced me to many of the surrounding issues of Calvinism in the SBC. He also encourage me to read the text Whosoever Will which contains essays addressing the Five Points of Calvinism. For this I am grateful.
As a result of that meeting, God has allowed me to come in contact with Dr. David Allen, Dr. Steve Lemke and others who have greatly influenced my journey into my studies of the Reform Movement. As a result of these encounters with incredibly blessed minds I have become a far better student of God's Word and am more informed of this critical study because of their suggestions.
I completely understand why so many want to meet at a 'Table of Peace' and draft some sort of agreement that might produce some sort of solution. However, my question remains.....how am I/are we able to come to a working agreement with someone who simply does not and cannot agree with me/us about the biblical question concerning the Gospel Message found in John 3:16? We do not agree upon "Whosoever will". And in our disagreement people are asking the question, "How can I become a Christian?"
For everyone, Jesus says it best in Matthew 10:34, 39, "Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword...Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it."
For each of us in the SBC there will be no peace over the questions raised over this issue and the sword (the Word of God) is the defining principle. In His Word we will either find or lose our spiritual lives and we cannot assume anything less. We will fall or stand upon Him alone. A Baptist cannot stand arm in arm with a Baptist Calvinist, as Dr. Yarnell describes them, and share the same Gospel Message with a lost person. One of us will say, "You must make a choice to follow Jesus or not." The other will say, "You may or may not be of the Elect and when you have faith you know that you have already been saved because the choice is really not yours to make."
The decision is not about Institutions, etc owned and operated by the SBC. The decision is whether or not one chooses to lose life because Jesus Christ has already asked me to follow Him. This is a 'no brainer.' Certainly I am a Southern Baptist because of a deep seated conviction that finds root in the Word of God and expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. However, I am first of all a Follower of Jesus Christ by faith in Him alone and the fact that I am a Southern Baptist has no bearing on my decision to follow the Christ.
Christ has given a sword of division in order to find a correct direction and in that I will find my life......
Jesus is Lord
Bob Williford
Friday, May 3, 2013
A Call for 'Unity' Among Southern Baptists.....Is This Really Possible?
For many years the call for 'Unity' among us Southern Baptists has been made and this is going on today, at this moment as I am writing. Please do not get me wrong, I am for unity, but not for unity at all costs. There are far too many problems and 'gives and takes' to make this happen. In the not too far distant past there was a statement made among the SBC faithful that went something like this, "Ropes of sand with the strength of steel." And we SBCers were very proud of this because while there was no sense to the idea, there was much truth to it.
During the years from 1960 until now, our SBC has taken on a very new and different brand in many, many ways....as has our Nation. In 1960 as students we celbrated morning worship before classes began...in the school auditorium and classes were began with the reading of Scripture, Pledge to the Flag and prayer as well...over the loud speaker.
Spring and Fall Revivals, Sunday School Evangelism, Training Union Parts and Wednesday Night Prayer Meetings all fell by the way side as the Conservative Resurgence gained strenght. The CBF and a large host of other Alphabets sprang up as a result. The FMB became the IMB, the HMB became the NAMB as the SBC began a series of new ideas in an effort to give birth to a new identity in a New Age. Our Assemblies....Glorieta and Ridgecrest have changed along the way as well, and Baptist Bookstores became LifeWay....and the list goes on and on and on.
Today is now. Among us in the SBC the call for unity struggles for a hearing as so-called SBC Traditionalists are meeting with Southern Baptist Reformers (Calvinists). However, my question is simple enough, "How can there be unity in a larger group when there is so much diversity over the Word of God?" One group, the Traditionalists know that one is saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and the other group, the Reformers believe that regeneration comes by grace and faith comes later. There are other rifts, but this seems to be the major crisis. Everything else results, ie, control of SBC Agencies, etc.
In this mix, evangelism and missions....the hallmarks of the Southern Baptist Convention.....suffer because of the differences of biblical interpretation. The struggle for unity is just that...a huge struggle over principles of faith and practice. This is sort of like attempting to mix oil and water.....
"This AIN'T gonna happen." Just as lost people will not be found in Heaven......
Would I like to unity amongst us? You bet I would. But can someone such as myself teach from the Word of God and say, without interruption, that "Whosoever will may come to the Cross...." means every human being God has ever created can do so? NOT if a Reformer is in the room. This statement alone dictates that unity is not possible.
There is no harmony in any of this. Somehow, we must get over this and move on. There are too many lost souls who are dying and losing opportunity to hear the Message of the Gospel as we struggle for unity with the person who says, unless that person has been elected to go to Heaven, the Gospel Message is meaningless.
Just as Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16, HCSB. (NOTE: Paul was inspired to write, 'to everyone who believes' and not, 'to everyone who is of the elect'.)
Jesus is Lord
Bob Williford
For many years the call for 'Unity' among us Southern Baptists has been made and this is going on today, at this moment as I am writing. Please do not get me wrong, I am for unity, but not for unity at all costs. There are far too many problems and 'gives and takes' to make this happen. In the not too far distant past there was a statement made among the SBC faithful that went something like this, "Ropes of sand with the strength of steel." And we SBCers were very proud of this because while there was no sense to the idea, there was much truth to it.
During the years from 1960 until now, our SBC has taken on a very new and different brand in many, many ways....as has our Nation. In 1960 as students we celbrated morning worship before classes began...in the school auditorium and classes were began with the reading of Scripture, Pledge to the Flag and prayer as well...over the loud speaker.
Spring and Fall Revivals, Sunday School Evangelism, Training Union Parts and Wednesday Night Prayer Meetings all fell by the way side as the Conservative Resurgence gained strenght. The CBF and a large host of other Alphabets sprang up as a result. The FMB became the IMB, the HMB became the NAMB as the SBC began a series of new ideas in an effort to give birth to a new identity in a New Age. Our Assemblies....Glorieta and Ridgecrest have changed along the way as well, and Baptist Bookstores became LifeWay....and the list goes on and on and on.
Today is now. Among us in the SBC the call for unity struggles for a hearing as so-called SBC Traditionalists are meeting with Southern Baptist Reformers (Calvinists). However, my question is simple enough, "How can there be unity in a larger group when there is so much diversity over the Word of God?" One group, the Traditionalists know that one is saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and the other group, the Reformers believe that regeneration comes by grace and faith comes later. There are other rifts, but this seems to be the major crisis. Everything else results, ie, control of SBC Agencies, etc.
In this mix, evangelism and missions....the hallmarks of the Southern Baptist Convention.....suffer because of the differences of biblical interpretation. The struggle for unity is just that...a huge struggle over principles of faith and practice. This is sort of like attempting to mix oil and water.....
"This AIN'T gonna happen." Just as lost people will not be found in Heaven......
Would I like to unity amongst us? You bet I would. But can someone such as myself teach from the Word of God and say, without interruption, that "Whosoever will may come to the Cross...." means every human being God has ever created can do so? NOT if a Reformer is in the room. This statement alone dictates that unity is not possible.
There is no harmony in any of this. Somehow, we must get over this and move on. There are too many lost souls who are dying and losing opportunity to hear the Message of the Gospel as we struggle for unity with the person who says, unless that person has been elected to go to Heaven, the Gospel Message is meaningless.
Just as Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16, HCSB. (NOTE: Paul was inspired to write, 'to everyone who believes' and not, 'to everyone who is of the elect'.)
Jesus is Lord
Bob Williford
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