Living to Regret
The Southern Baptist Convention may
be analogous to a man preparing to take a dive into a dry swimming
pool. He is preparing to jump without realizing the dive cannot be
reversed in mid-air. He fails to realize the impossibility of
returning to the jump position once the dive is executed and he is
headed for a disastrous landing on the bottom of a dry concrete pool
floor. He fails to recognize the disastrous consequences of such a
dive. He fails to realize the potential disaster to his body. He fails
to heed the warning of friends not to dive into a dry pool.
The SBC is preparing to take a disastrous dive by severing
itself from the Baptist World Alliance. While denominational leaders
such as Paige Patterson, and the SBC Executive Committee, may not
realize it now, they will soon live to regret losing some of the best
Baptist friends they ever had. Baptist friends worldwide are warning
the SBC of the disastrous consequences of taking the dive without
thinking it through clearly.
Gullible, closed minded followers of fundamentalist SBC leaders
have been duped into thinking that all other Baptists are liberal to
the point of possessing and/or teaching aberrant theology. They have
been lured, by smooth-talking seminary presidents, into believing the
lies perpetrated about the BWA. They thoughtlessly believe the SBC’s
BWA study committee’s report that “positions contrary to the New
Testament and Baptist doctrines” are being supported by the world of
Baptist bodies. They ignorantly believe that the BWA exudes with
“anti-American” sentiment and “criticism of the International Mission
Board.” They foolishly believe Paige Patterson’s false report that a
German Baptist theologian stated that he disbelieved the existence of
the “Great Commission.” Despite these wrongheaded beliefs, there are
no Baptist bodies outside the normal range of Baptist orthodoxy.
A precious few SBC leaders may be regretting the future
severance from the BWA but are simply too proud to admit the
possibility that the dive will be a disaster. Who among the proud
fundamentalist leaders would ever admit to making an erroneous
decision? None that I can think of at that moment. Pride and arrogance
have a way of preventing such persons from ever admitting a mistake.
Baptist friends worldwide are valiantly warning the SBC of the
consequences of the dive. They are prayerfully pleading with them not
to take the dive.
I believe the SBC, if it does execute the dive, will eventually
live to sincerely regret taking the plunge. There are some, however,
who are so hard-headed that they believe they can survive a head-long
dive onto a hard surface of a waterless pool. Baptist bodies worldwide
are already grieving the sad consequences of what the SBC is preparing
to do. In the end, Southern Baptists will regret diving into the
waterless pool of isolationism.
February
15, 2004 - Written for BaptistLife.Com
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