Friday, July 28, 2006

Responding to the General Secretary's July 17 Statement

What was our General Secretary thinking when at the ’05 Denver Biennial he gave the speech that might be the death blow to our denomination. Probably, he was thinking the conservatives would go along to get along once more, and step out of the way as ABCUSA made its headlong run into progressive liberal extremism.

That didn’t happen. PSW did what many other ABC people are thinking about. They voted their official withdrawal from a denomination which had turned the meaning of the Bible on its head.

Now the General Secretary has restated his opinion with the recently released statement of July 17, 2006. In it he expresses his personal belief in traditional morality, and his responsibility as General Secretary to implement the policies of the General Board. I am glad to hear him make such statements, however, they do not stand alone. There is a wide and serious context in which his words must be interpreted.

As a Christian brother I love Roy in the Lord. I am grateful for the many good things his ministry has accomplished over the years in ABC. I worked well with Roy when he was the Executive Minister of New Jersey, and gave him a supportive review when questioned by an evangelical brother in another Region prior to his becoming General Secretary. I want to keep my personal friendship with him in good standing, but realistically I can’t view this statement as anything more than a last ditch attempt to keep the denomination from coming apart.

In November PSW will be gone. At least, 80 individual churches have left the denomination since Denver. Regions and churches around the country are reevaluating and, some reconsidering, their connections to ABC. Who knows how many more are likely to say adios.

Into this milieu comes the July 17th statement. My take is that it is too little, too late.

TOO LITTLE: There is nothing in the statement that indicates the General Secretary will make any effort to implement the General Board’s policy in a way that would call the Welcoming & Affirming churches to repentance regarding their antibiblical endorsement of homosexual behavior, or invite them to relocate if they will not repent. The statement appears to be a sop to conservatives whose departure en masse would break the back of the denomination. It’s an attempt to staunch the bleeding. Roy, does not promise to use the bully pulpit of the OGS to promote a return of ABCUSA to traditional Bible believing faith. He does not promise to support associations or regions who feel compelled to discipline churches violating the teaching of scripture. He has not promised to advocate implementation of the 1992 Policy by National Ministries. Recent job descriptions mailed out by National Ministries (7/06) do not even list a biblical worldview as a requirement for consideration. He has not promised to attempt to steer clear of promotion of unbiblical theology and practice by speakers at Biennials and other national meetings, nor has he promised to give equal time to conservative theological biblical speakers.

I can only assume that while he will continue to implement the policy as he describes in his statement, that across the denominational landscape we will simply see more of the same kind of things we’ve witnessed over the last decade.

TOO LATE: I believed when Roy came to the OGS he could have turned our denomination around (the Executive Secretary of my Region still thinks he can). A letter like the July 17th statement with some specific promises, and projected implementations spelled out could have stopped the split. But back then such a statement was not forthcoming. It appears to me he proceeded then on the usual ABC experience that the conservatives would turn the other cheek “AGAIN,” as they had done so often in the past. But this controversy over the meaning of scripture appears to have been the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Some think it’s about time.
It’s now or never. Turn ABCUSA back to the teaching of scripture as authoritative for faith and practice, and the expected standard for all member churches, or wish Bible believers well as they go in a new direction leaving Valley Forge and their memories behind.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

We've Been Talking Long Enough

What are the results of our (ABCUSA’s) more than 20 year long discussion of this behavior the Bible calls sin? Here are some:
ABE (American Baptist Evangelicals) declare no possibility of renewal in ABCUSA and goes out of existence to form a new para church organization.
ABCPSW declares no possibility of biblical renewal in ABCUSA and votes to withdraw from the denomination.
ABC of Michigan is said to possibly be on the verge of voting regarding withdrawal if there is no change in the Valley Forge position.
ABC of the West changes its name so as not to be too closely identified with the denomination.
ABCWV a national magazine reports that another vote on withdrawal is possible.
ABC of Indiana-Kentucky makes efforts in the ABCUSA regarding enforcing the Resolution on Homosexuality.
GREEN LAKE gears up for post denominational ministry.
INDIVIDUAL CHURCHES (number unknown) frustrated by Valley Forge’s unwillingness to promote biblical obedience among the churches consider leaving the denomination or remaining inactive. 81 churches (outside of the PSW) have recently withdrawn from the denomination, with 47 of those being linked to the current turmoil over the Bible’s teaching. It is my opinion that among those who gave no reason for withdrawing a majority withdrew because of the unbiblical stance of ABCUSA.
Now, are all these people simply so unlearned that they can’t read the words of the Bible and understand what they mean?
Are all these long time American Baptists just a bunch of mean spirited nasties?
Are they “mind numbed robots” who follow anything Pat Roberston says on t.v.? Or are they good people, denominationally concerned, who have realized that the discussion has revealed to them that there is very little hope our leaders across the denominational spectrum will ever go back to the Bible as a true authority for ABCUSA?

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Another Thought From HEF

“You see, we Protestant modernists have sometimes been so anxious to be liberal that we have forgotten to be religious.”
Some of you may not recognize that statement by Harry Emerson Fosdick. Harry is one of my favorite liberals. He was the "modernist of modernists" in the 1920's to the 1950's. He made this statement circa 1935, but it still carries weight. The current “modernists,” liberals, progressives (or whatever name they’d self identify with) are so anxious to be seen by the world outside the church as liberal that they have forgotten Christianity has a foundation upon which it stands.
Maybe they haven’t really forgotten. It’s just that they’d rather be liberal than stand on that foundation.
They’d rather be liberal than religious.
They’d rather be liberal than be biblical.
They’d rather be liberal than Christian.
Now here’s the kicker. Those of us who identify ourselves as Bible believing or evangelical don’t have a problem with them being liberal. We want them to believe what they choose to believe even if we disagree with them, but we want them to be straight forward enough to admit that their choice to be liberal, modernist, progressive, non-Bible believing, or however, they might characterize their position, is a departure from the traditional Baptist position, and we want them to start their own organization and not destroy the American Baptist Churches as a denomination. In my opinion, that would be the honorable thing to do. Do I have much hope that they will stop disturbing the ABCUSA? No, I don't. So Bible believing ABCers will probably continue to leave, not only because ABCUSA is not what it ought to be, because they have no other option if their desire is to be a part of a biblical denomination.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

The Basic Message

The clear message of the biblical gospel is that Jesus died for us.
He is perfect - we are sinners.
He is holy - we are ungodly.
He is accepted - we are condemned.
He is life - we are caught by death.
But by dying for us He offers us all that He is.
And, if we believe in Him, in some miraculous way God changes us, makes us like Him, and gives us new lives and newness.
It's amazing, it's a miracle, it's available, it's yours
if you will trust in Christ as your savior and Lord.