Baptist Messenger:
Oklahoma Baptists’ Weekly Newspaper
July 13, 2000
OPINION:
On the wrong flight?
By John
Yeats, Editor of the Baptist Messenger.
An
interesting event happened while waiting...
on the return flight from the Southern Baptist
Convention in Orlando. This particular airline has a policy of loading the
back of the plane first. The seat assignments for my wife and me were in
front of the wing, so we had to wait. We were standing so we could see
down the concourse to the door of the plane. We noted a little lady
walking away from the plane while anxious passengers were making their way
to the door. My immediate thought was, “I wonder if she forgot
something.” When she arrived at the ticket counter she said, “Oh my, this
is the wrong plane, the wrong flight. I belong somewhere else.”
Normally
the Baptist Messenger doesn’t report...
events concerning other denominations unless there is some aberration
that warrants it. We have so many great stories to tell about Oklahoma
Southern Baptists that space is at a premium.
Most
Oklahoma Baptists know there are...
more than 100 different conventions of Baptists in North America
Most belong to Southern Baptist churches. There is a small Baptist group
called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. This denominational group met
in Orlando, June 30-July 1. Many of the churches in this group are
“dually-aligned” with the Southern Baptist Convention. The number of
“uniquely-aligned” churches are barely enough to form a metropolitan
association. Of course, Baptists believe a Baptist church has every right
to align with whatever group it determines as the will of God for its
church. And as a local church is autonomous, so are Baptist organizations
and conventions.
Since the
inception of the CBF,
some of its leaders have said they were not forming a new convention. But
to borrow the phrase, “if it talks like a duck, walks like duck, flies
like a duck, it probably is a duck.” What must a denominational identity
look like before it is? Guess it depends on one’s definition of “is.”
What are the
facts?
The CBF has its own missionaries and global mission offerings. It has
an affiliated press service, Associated Baptist Press. Smith Helways and
the publications division of the Baptist General Convention of Texas
provide curriculum for many of its churches. A dozen schools provide
theological education for the ministers who serve its churches. The CBF
voted this year to partner with the American Baptist Convention for its
ministers’ retirement plans. In several states, CBF has affinity groups
usually called Baptist Committed or Mainstream Baptists. CBF voted this
year to apply for recognition with the Baptist World Alliance. Wouldn’t
the above factors be sufficient to identify the CBF as a denominational
identity?
My immediate
thought was “Has this person... Forgotten historic Baptist theology?
Is figuratively on the wrong flight? Doesn’t this kind of statement belong
with some faith group other than a Baptist group? I had to double-check
the article to make sure she said “sacraments.”
This is
major news.
When did Baptists start doing sacraments? The answer is “we don’t!” A
sacrament belongs to those denominational groups who believe that a right
relationship with God comes through a person’s performance of religious
duty. For example, the Roman Catholic Church requires seven sacraments.
Baptists do not have sacraments. We know from the truth of God’s Word
that a person enters into right relationship with God through repentance
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A person cannot come to God on the
basis of performance of religious duty (see Eph 2:8-9).
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Perhaps the
BWIM board member had a mental lapse.
and she meant to say “ordinances.” However, she is a professor of
theology at one of the CBF aligned institutions.
Historically, Baptist churches have two ordinances:
The Lord’s Supper and Baptism. These ordinances symbolize our
identity with the Lord Jesus. Some other denominations make these
precious symbols into sacraments. They require their adherents to
participate in them before granting their denomination's brand of
salvation.
Historic
Baptists want to help people understand...
that performance of religious duty is not the way of genuine
salvation in Jesus Christ. Surely, as Baptists, one of our goals is to
teach the truth of God’s Word about people coming to Jesus by faith alone.
It would be a good thing for true, faithful Baptists to pray for those who
are foaming new Baptist identities. While these folks seek to market their
identity before the world, pray they will present a clear understanding of
the core teachings in God’s Word.
There are several
ministries that receive...
CBF funds. One is the Baptist Peace Fellowship. According to a June 30
Baptist Press article, BPF produces a curriculum in partnership with the
Alliance of Baptists affirming same-sex partnerships, denying the Bible
condemns homosexual behavior and affirming homosexuality as an
unchangeable sexual orientation. This is a view the vast majority of
Baptists find despicable and would not want to financially support.
Instead, most Baptists affirm and support a redemptive ministry toward
those caught in a web of sexual confusion.
Here’s what
prompted my thoughts...
about the lady on the wrong flight. A ministry that receives a CBF grant
is Baptist Women in Ministry. In a Baptist Press interview, a BWIM board
member said, “We (women in ministry) charge ahead with preaching and the
sacraments.”
My immediate
thought was “Has this person...
Forgotten historic Baptist theology? Is figuratively on the wrong flight?
Doesn’t this kind of statement belong with some faith group other than a
Baptist group? I had to double-check the article to make sure she said
“sacraments.”
This is major
news.
When did Baptists start doing sacraments? The answer is “we don’t!” A
sacrament belongs to those denominational groups who believe that a right
relationship with God comes through a person’s performance of religious
duty. For example, the Roman Catholic Church requires seven sacraments.
Baptists do not have sacraments. We know from the truth of God’s Word
that a person enters into right relationship with God through repentance
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A person cannot come to God on the
basis of performance of religious duty (see Ephesians 2:8-9).
Perhaps the BWIM
board member had a mental lapse...
and she meant to say
“ordinances.” However, she is a professor of theology at one of the CBF
aligned institutions.
Historically,
Baptist churches have two ordinances:
The Lord’s Supper and Baptism. These ordinances symbolize our identity
with the Lord Jesus. Some other denominations make these precious symbols
into sacraments. They require their adherents to participate in them
before granting their denomination’s brand of salvation.
Historic Baptists
want to help people understand...
that performance of religious duty is not the way of genuine salvation in
Jesus Christ. Surely, as Baptists, one of our goals is to teach the truth
of God’s Word about people coming to Jesus by faith alone. It would be a
good thing for true, faithful Baptists to pray for those who are foaming
new Baptist identities. While these folks seek to market their identity
before the world, pray they will present a clear understanding of the core
teachings in God’s Word.
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