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
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