We Must Get Over THIS and Move On

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