What Do They Know?
by David Flick

What do Southern Baptists know about the Baptist Faith and Message? How extensive is their knowledge about the contents of the confession.  How well do Southern Baptist pastors understand the statement of faith? I am convinced that 97% of all Southern Baptists have never had an opportunity to do an in-depth study of the Baptist Faith and Message. Why? Because their pastors have never taken the time to examine it with them. Why do Southern Baptist pastors never examine the Baptist Faith and Message with their people? Because 95% of all Southern Baptist pastors don't really know and understand it themselves.

I have earned two degrees from two different Southern Baptist seminaries and I don't remember having  any class time devoted to the Baptist Faith and Message. And I don't remember a single pastor in churches to which I belonged who ever devoted time to studying the BF&M with me.  I do remember joining churches where new members were given packets of information that contained pertinent information about the local congregation.  In several of those new-member packets, I received copies of the church constitution and bylaws along with a copy of the Baptist Faith and Message.  But there was never a time when the pastor or  a staff member sat down with me and examined either of these documents. They were simply given to me and it was my responsibility to do the study on my own.

I suppose I'm as guilty most Southern Baptist pastors. I pastored four Southern Baptist churches over a period of 35 years.  And in that span of time, I examined the Baptist Faith and Message with my people on only four occasions. I did this once at the Indian Baptist Church in Canton, OK, once at First Baptist Church in Elmore City, OK., and twice at the First Baptist Church in Dewey, OK. I served the Elmore City church for nearly nine years and the FBC in Dewey for fourteen years.

As I reflect on the limited number of times I examined the BF&M over the thirty-five years I pastored, I recall that on each occasion I did it on Wednesday evenings.  This, in all reality, was the wrong time to examine something so important to Southern Baptists. Wednesday evening crowds are generally very small. At Dewey, for example, there was an average of about thirty regular attendees on Wednesday evenings. And the membership of the church was, at the time, well over a thousand.  Even if I averaged thirty persons per session over the study period (which I didn't), I would have examined the confession with only 3% of my congregation. I'm no great mathematician, but I can deduce that three percent of one thousand leaves ninety-seven percent of the congregation who never took the time to examine the confession. I could rail away on the congregation for not availing themselves of the opportunity to study the confession but that would serve no purpose. And when I consider that I examined the confession at this church only twice in fourteen years, the guilt piles up on my shoulders. 

I was serving as a Director of Missions when Southern Baptists formally made the change in our statement of faith.  I  saw the "before" and "after" of the changes made in the confession. I had a fair understanding of the confession but the controversy surrounding the adoption of the 2000BF&M caused me to do some serious study about what was happening.  From June of 1999 through to June of 2000, there was a lot of talk about the new confession.  Most Southern Baptists had no earthly idea what was taking place. How could they have understood the changes in the 2000BF&M when they didn't even understand what was in the 1963BF&M?

Southern Baptist pastors are a proud lot. They don't want people to know that they are without a clue on the important doctrinal issues related to our denomination.  But the fact is, most Southern Baptist pastors, even today, are without a clue concerning the new confession. They don't really know the differences between the two confessions and they certainly don't want their congregations knowing they are without a clue. So they fake it. They lead their people to think they have full understanding of the contents of both confessions. Although they have never led their congregations in a study of the Southern Baptist statement of faith, they want their people to believe they are authorities. They speak with authority about something they know very little.

During the early part of 2000 and in the months leading up to the 2000 Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting, I had numerous conversations with pastors in my association. Almost all of them are enamored with the top leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. There is a lot of respect for Adrian Rogers, Albert Mohler, Jerry Vines, Nelson Price, Chuck Kelly, and the more prominent members of the BF&M revision committee.

If I had believed some of the pastors in my association, I would have believed that the men responsible for the radical changes hung the moon in theological matters.  Yet most of the pastors in my association never did grasp the magnitude of the changes being made in the confession.  On numerous occasions when I spoke out in opposition to the changes that were being made, they responded by saying, "Calm down, David, both confessions say identically the same thing. The same doctrines are simply being expressed in different words." Even today, these pastors believe there isn't an ounce of difference between the two confessions. That's how little they know about the changes that were made. They believe this primarily because they didn't know the contents of the 1963BF&M. And they don't know the contents of the 2000BFM. I suppose ignorance is bliss. And 95% of Southern Baptist pastors loyal to the present day Southern Baptist Convention are living in perfect bliss.

Here is an example of the bliss of ignorance found in a pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention. In a recent conversation on BaptistLife.Com, I received the following reply from a Southern Baptist pastor who is a regular participant on the interactive discussion forum. The pastor speaks with confident certitude concerning the confession's absence of Calvinism despite, the fact that Albert Mohler, one of the primary revisers of the confession, is himself a five-point Calvinist.

Pastor: I am a 5 point calvinist and I assure you that the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 is not a calvinist document. Having said that, the BF&M has always (in my experience) been written broadly enough to accomodate a number of viewpoints, for example, one can be almost anything speaking of eschatology, and still be a Southern Baptist. Certainly, one can be a calvinist and affirm the BF&M. But one can also be an arminian and affirm the BF&M. People will however, grasp at any straw to find fault with the SBC.

The pastor obviously hasn't a clue that the 2000BFM contains major changes toward Calvinism. Even speaking as a Calvinist, he has overlooked the fact the primary shaper of the 2000BFM is himself a Calvinist. Although the pastor wants people to believe he's an authority on both the 2000BF&M and Calvinism, he lives in ignorant bliss concerning the facts.  He is not alone. The vast majority of Southern Baptist pastors live in this ignorant bliss.

The following is excerpted from Stand With Christ, Edited by Robert O'Brien, (p. 44).

Russell Dilday: ...for the first time, a distinct Calvinistic slant to the statement. Since Al Mohler, a leading shaper of BFM2000, claims to be a Calvinist, it is easy to suspect that some of the changes have more to do with Calvinistic theology than Baptist history. It appears to be an effort to redirect SBC theology toward what Mohler calls "the Calvinism of the original founders of Southern Seminary"— in contrast to the more balanced position of later Baptist theologians, such as E. Y. Mullins and W. T. Conner.

When Al Mohler was asked in a Texas meeting in September 2000 if he were a "five-point Calvinist," he replied, "I will fly my colors boldly. If you ask me if I’m a Calvinist, I’m going to have to answer yes, but that is not the first, second, third, or even fourth term I would use." He continued by explaining that his beliefs are better described as "in the Reformed tradition."

Albert Mohler: "Every Christian, every Baptist has to believe in predestination. There’s not a person in this room who doesn’t believe in limited atonement—as opposed to universalism. . . . The difference is in how it is limited." 

What do Southern Baptists know about the 2000BFM? What do Southern Baptist pastors know about the 2000BFM? Practically nothing. Why? Because they have done very little serious reading and study on the confession of faith. They depend on others to tell them what it says. Most Southern Baptists look to pastors and/or the current SBC leaders for answers.  Most pastors look to other pastors and/or current SBC leaders for answers. The laity believe their pastors have the definitive answers. And the pastors honestly believe they have the definitive answers.  And everybody lives in ignorant bliss about Southern Baptist doctrines.  Well, all except for a few who do spend time in serious study and reading while comparing the confession with the Bible.

-- January 30, 2003

(This article was written for  BaptistLife.Com Discussion Forums)