The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum On SBC report on Calvinism

Roger, it is wonderful to see you again. You and Brenda have been on my mind a lot lately and also in my prayers. I hope that you are able to find something in your area. Not many of us are able to do so these days. Good churches are few and far between.

Thank you both for the encouragement.Our story is a long one, maybe to be shared on that day that we sit down together,huh?
For now I'll just say that Brenda is holding steady and I have retired as of last week.
Pilgrim as always has his finger on the pulse of what is happening in the true Church.What would we do without the internet where we can find a few of those 7,000 to fellowship with?
I just don't have any confidence that half of the men on that COC shared their honest opinions.Just go to SBC Voices and look in the archives going back three months or so and you will see their real color stripe.Dr. Hankins being just one of many said basically that if you are a Calvinist you would be welcome to stay in the SBC as long as you don't try to teach any of the "Doctrines of Grace." Now tell me please,how any person with the least bit of backbone could agree to that.

I am not happy with the report either. However, I need some clarification from you.
You said I have a feeling I have missed it, but where did Dr. Hankins insinuate this?
I doubt very much that any Calvinist Church within the SBC would stop preaching the Doctrines of Grace.

Tom

Tom,
Good to hear from you again.Dr. Hankins has many quotes that are anti-Calvinist.You will find most of them on the SBC Today site.Below is one that came from his ,"Statement of Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God's Plan of Salvation."
"While Calvinists have been present in Southern Baptist life from its earliest days and have made very important contributions to our history and theology, the majority of Southern Baptists do not embrace Calvinism. Even the minority of Southern Baptists who have identified themselves as Calvinists generally modify its teachings in order to mitigate certain unacceptable conclusions (e.g., anti-missionism, hyper-Calvinism, double predestination, limited atonement, etc.). The very fact that there is a plurality of views on Calvinism designed to deal with these weaknesses (variously described as “3-point,” “4-point,” “moderate,” etc.) would seem to call for circumspection and humility with respect to the system and to those who disagree with it. For the most part, Southern Baptists have been glad to relegate disagreements over Calvinism to secondary status along with other important but “non-essential” theological matters. The Southern Baptist majority has fellowshipped happily with its Calvinist brethren while kindly resisting Calvinism itself. And, to their credit, most Southern Baptist Calvinists have not demanded the adoption of their view as the standard. We would be fine if this consensus continued, but some New Calvinists seem to be pushing for a radical alteration of this long-standing arrangement."
This is the same man who wants us all to get along.What he left out of his "get along offer" was that he wants it to be on his terms.

Very sad Sojourner, coming from a Southern Baptist to a Presbyterian, to a Reformed Baptist. Am still a Presbyterian at heart, but the one and only Presbyterian Church in my town went PCUS, just couldn't abide that.

I had a chance to look at the issue a little more in depth.

The committee was made of SBC members who were fairly represented by both Calvinists and non-Calvinists.
Basically there were four issues that they all believe are the most important to rally under.
“We affirm together that Southern Baptists must stand without apology upon TRUTH; that we do indeed have some challenging but not insurmountable points of TENSION; that we must work together with TRUST, and that we must encourage one another to TESTIMONY.”Dr.Albert Mohler
As I read this document, something that Dr. Mohler said seems to me to be the major theme of this document.
“We are thankful that the Southern Baptist Confession is engaged in debate, and not over core doctrines and biblical morality that are shattering liberal Protestantism.”
I read this statement a few times and unless I am misunderstanding something, among other things, he has basically said that Calvinism does not contain core (essential) doctrines.
I have read a fair amount of articles and listened to some of Dr.Mohler’s messages over the years. One particular message I listened to by Dr. Mohler really stands out to me as what appears to be a contradiction of this statement by him.
This message was on how he became president of SBTS. He told how when he presented his vision to the board of governors at SBTS on what he believed and what he would do if he became president of the seminary. Despite the fact he was only about 32 at the time and despite the fact that he held to the doctrines of grace; which was at the time a position that wasn’t popular. He was elected and began to implement his vision for the seminary. During that process many people were fired for unbiblical stands on issues such as Arminianism. In those early years the implementation of his vision took a huge toll on him and his family, as well as student membership taking a hit. Despite all this, he remained faithful to his calling because he believed it was the God honoring thing to do. Eventually the seminary grew and became a pillar for Reformed Baptist seminaries. But, the seminary had to go through a cleansing before it became what it is today. I hope and pray that SBTS doesn’t stop standing for Biblical truth.
Something that stood out to me as I read what Dr. Mohler has to say concerning the committee; was the fact that despite the differences of both sides of the debate; he believes both sides are committed to the SBC.
This sounds quite noble, but I can’t help but think that where essentials are concerned, both sides can’t represent Bible truth at the same time. It is good to respectfully debate what Scripture says on a given issue, while trying not to speak past each other. However, there comes a time when to compromise for the sake of unity, is to put the denomination ahead of God and His holy Word.
I would like to end this by quoting Pilgrim concerning what CH Spurgeon said on unity.
That quote seems a lot more like the Dr. Mohler I listened to concerning becoming president of SBTS, than the quotes he recently made.
Tom

Welcome to the Highway.I hope that you find many useful tools for sharpening your spiritual life here.
As far as churches go it seems to be the same all over, especially in smaller towns.