A shortened version of my March 17th post on Royal Lane is now featured over at Associated Baptist Press under the title Opinion: Why can’t the BGCT be Baptist when it comes to sexuality?
Former SBC blogger Marty Duren has a counter-point op-ed on Royal Lane as well. It is titled: Opinion: Why is Royal Lane still even in the BGCT?
I will respond to comments here at thebigdaddyweave through tonight (Thursday). Tomorrow, Alexis and I are making the trek to Houston to see the Baylor Bears try to advance to the Elite Eight and hopefully we’ll return to Houston again on Sunday to see the Bears again!
I agree with Marty’s opinion though only specifically as it relates to the issue and news at hand. I would disagree with him when it comes to always putting the responsibility on the church to be the one to separate from cooperation. I think this takes free-church ecclesiology too far and ends up devaluing the Church.
Antagonism is warranted if a church or churches feel that they can still make a change in the group they are cooperating with. The CBF was formed because a bunch of churches felt they could no longer make the changes they desired to see in the SBC. Young people are encouraged not to leave the SBC because older people that feel their pain and share their complaints want them to stick around to change the convention. How many Roman Catholics if asked to confess what they believe would really write the Catechism of the Catholic Church? There are tons of Catholics that are still there out of a hope that the church will change.
I am not confessionally a Southern Baptist but I would still say I am Southern Baptist by conviction. I have a conviction to take seriously the command to be in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Too many low church Protestants do not sufficiently appreciate the importance of a visible catholicity. The Pope shouldn’t be encouraging me to come back to the mother church, he should be worried about my commitment to the Body if I ever leave the church that mothered me (the SBC).
I could never in good conscience sign the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, but I do hope by some miracle that God will use me to make positive changes in the movement and direction of the SBC. I believe in the people that make up the SBC but not their leaders. I believe Southern Baptists really do want to follow God and impact the world for Christ, but the wolves have too long had a heyday with the sheep. I stay precisely to be antagonistic about issues that I think should be important to the convention and I think other churches should too. I don’t fault Royal Lane and others for trying to stay and don’t fault their associations and conventions for expelling them (in some cases).