More SBC Mess?

Todd Friel dropping game on the SBC. Looks like the SBC is torn on politics as some want to go liberal and support BLM/ANTIFA/Gay Marriage/Abortion/Women Pastors/TBN style theology etc.

 
Article on the latest SBC resolutions:

SBC Resolutions Reflect Passion on Race, Abortion | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)

There was talk about repealing the 2019 SBC resolution endorsing Critical Race Theory, but as it turns out, it is not possible for any present or future SBC annual meeting to repeal or rescind any resolution of a previous annual meeting. Such resolutions reflect the position of the SBC messengers at that particular time in history, and they remain on the books forever and cannot be repealed or erased. It was possible for the 2021 SBC annual meeting to pass a new resolution repudiating Critical Race Theory, but apparently they did not do so - they passed a sort of generic resolution to “reject any theory or worldview that denies that racism, oppression, or discrimination is rooted, ultimately, in anything other than sin,” The resolutions apparently made no mention of Critical Race Theory by name (for or against).

Other SBC resolutions
  • "Urged the president and Congress to uphold the Hyde Amendment, which has prevented the use of federal tax dollars to pay for abortions in most circumstances.
  • "Opposed the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to offer anti-discrimination protection for LGBTQ Americans.
  • "Asked the federal government to make admission of Uyghurs to the U.S. as refugees a priority, given reports that more than a million members of the ethnic Muslim minority group have been held in concentration camps in China.
  • "Expressed their belief that 'any person who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor.'
  • "Grieved the more than 3.78 million confirmed deaths worldwide from COVID-19."
 
Tom Ascol, a leader in the conservative and Calvinist SBC "Founders Ministries" movement, explains "What Just Happened" at last week's SBC annual meeting:

The 2021 Southern Baptist Convention: What Just Happened? - Founders Ministries

Some interesting quotes: "Despite all of the attempts by the platform personalities to assure us that we are united and 'together on mission,' there is no denying that the division within the SBC right now is real. . . . There were two types of Southern Baptists in the convention hall: those who wanted open discussion and opportunity to repudiate Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality vs. those who wanted to avoid addressing those ideologies by name; those who wanted the voices of hundreds of Southern Baptists to be heard (through the submission of this resolution by more than 1300 church members) vs. those (primarily the Resolutions Committee chaired by James Merritt) who wanted those voices silenced. . . . The Southern Baptist Convention is in a mess. . . . grassroots Southern Baptists will be upset to learn that their money that they have contributed through the Cooperative Program has been poured into getting Ed Litton elected. . . . Once again, our Cooperative Program dollars hard at work. Whenever CP giving decreases over the next year, SBC executives ought to stop and consider that lots of people do not like paying for our denominational servants to use the money we give them to undermine the very things we stand for. If you are going to rob my house, don’t expect me to pay for your get-away car."
 
You need to understand that to the average rank and file Southern Baptist the convention is just some far away thing that church staff and some retired church members that have the time go to each year. Really nothing that they do has any binding effect on any SBC church. Most church members have no idea what happens there nor does it affect their life. The main concern in the past has been that the convention doesn't doesn't pass some goofy resolution that makes us all look like a bunch of idiots. Remember the Disney World boycott over "Gay Day?" Life at the church jus goes on as usual.
Jubal Sackett
 
Jubal Sackett said:
You need to understand that to the average rank and file Southern Baptist the convention is just some far away thing that church staff and some retired church members that have the time go to each year. Really nothing that they do has any binding effect on any SBC church. Most church members have no idea what happens there nor does it affect their life. The main concern in the past has been that the convention doesn't doesn't pass some goofy resolution that makes us all look like a bunch of idiots. Remember the Disney World boycott over "Gay Day?" Life at the church jus goes on as usual.
Jubal Sackett
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As Pastor of an SBC church, you are partially correct. The local church is not necessarily changed for good or bad by SBC resolutions. But there are many, many in the SBC who are concerned and upset by what they see as a drift toward accommodation with the idiocy of the culture. There is a major rift in the convention and much of the unrest comes from the pews and not simply the so called ivory towers of bureaucracy.
 
How do you expect Independent Fundamental Baptists to leave the IFB movement if the same junk is happening over at the "good ole' boy club" of the Southern Baptist Convention? It's essentially the same trash.
 
The Resolutions Committee drafts these resolutions and presents them to the assembled delegates from independent churches to vote their approval. Most of the resolutions are incredibly weak political statements. Some of them try addressing social issues of the day, but are worded oddly and do not have the ability to be reworded by the assembled delegates. So either you vote for "racism is a bad thing" or you vote against it. You don't get to vote on whether or not to condemn critical race theory. If you think it should be worded "all racism is a bad thing" or "racism is a very bad thing" or "only some racism is a bad thing" it matters not. You only vote on what is presented and have no say as to what they present.
 
Some in the SBC want a model like unto the Catholic church where a board gets to dictate what churches should and should not be able to accomplish or do or whatever. This is the group that won the election. They want more authority over the local church. The losing party wanted the SBC to only be a missional board as it was intended to be and allow churches to maintain their independence.

The vast majority of SBC churches will never know anything is different. They will continue having church as they always have and will continue sending in funds to the SBC to support over 6,000 missionaries. Like the IFB, there will be some pastors who consider themselves big shots who will rant and rave in their churches about the travesty of the politics of it all. They will declare their opinion to be God's opinion and rile the church up into a fever pitch and so become distracted from the real purpose of church.

Yes, politics is involved in every denomination. Not just the IFB and not just the SBC.
 
Interesting observations on the SBC Convention by an SBC preacher, who feels that the Convention dodged the issue of Critical Race Theory:

We Don’t Like Theology, Do We? Three Reflections from the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention | Via Emmaus (davidschrock.com)

Some excerpts: "The unwillingness to name CRT highlights a commitment to superficial unity over biblical truth.
"The Southern Baptist Convention gathered nearly 16,000 messengers in Nashville, and many of them—most of them?—expected that the convention would clarify the problem with Resolution 9. With the infamous words 'analytical tools' driving Southern Baptists to discern what Critical Race Theory is, Southern Baptists waited two years in order to rescind Resolution 9 (2019) or at least to give clarity to what we do and do not believe. Affirming this anticipation were the many discussions leading up the convention and even the motion to increase time for Southern Baptists to talk at the convention.
"Unfortunately, that never happened.
"Instead of addressing CRT with any resolution, all the resolutions addressing the matter (at least 9 listed in the convention bulletin), including the petition signed by 1300 messengers, were shoehorned into Resolution 2, a resolution titled, 'On the Sufficiency of Scripture for Race and Racial Reconciliation.' In this resolution, we have solid affirmations of Scripture and sufficient denunciations of unbiblical theories and worldviews—but only if Resolution 9, titled ‘On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality,’ did not exist and did not directly name Critical Race Theory.
"However, because Critical Race Theory is mentioned in Resolution 9, because it was what the messengers wanted to address in their resolutions, and because it was discussed repeatedly from the floor and the platform, it is beyond unfortunate that the language of Resolution 2 did not include direct mention of CRT, which is raging across our country and razing schools, homes, businesses, etc. in its wake. . . .
"Today, theology is often seen as an enemy of church unity, multi-ethnic diversity, evangelism, and church growth. This was on full display in Nashville this week, but in truth theology is the real source and catalyst for powerful evangelism and spiritual unity."
 
This article is interesting because, among other things, it alleges that the original 2019 SBC resolution on Critical Race Theory was actually written in opposition to CRT and was rewritten by the Resolutions Committee to make it a commendation of CRT - and the rest is history.

Will the Southern Baptist Convention Survive? | Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc (midwestoutreach.org)

Also there is a quote from a black SBC pastor who is considering leaving the SBC because the convention failed to repudiate CRT: "James Pittman is pastor of New Hope Community Church in Palatine, IL. He is African American, and his church is racially mixed but predominately 'white.' . . . Pastor Pittman is quite clear on which path he and his church will choose. 'Social Justice,' Pittman says, 'is not the gospel,' and 'CRT is another religion.' When he and I spoke about what direction his church might take he said he and the church are praying about it but, he said, 'If the Scriptures constrain me, I don’t know if I have the freedom to stay in the SBC'”
 
illinoisguy said:
This article is interesting because, among other things, it alleges that the original 2019 SBC resolution on Critical Race Theory was actually written in opposition to CRT and was rewritten by the Resolutions Committee to make it a commendation of CRT - and the rest is history.

Will the Southern Baptist Convention Survive? | Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc (midwestoutreach.org)

Also there is a quote from a black SBC pastor who is considering leaving the SBC because the convention failed to repudiate CRT: "James Pittman is pastor of New Hope Community Church in Palatine, IL. He is African American, and his church is racially mixed but predominately 'white.' . . . Pastor Pittman is quite clear on which path he and his church will choose. 'Social Justice,' Pittman says, 'is not the gospel,' and 'CRT is another religion.' When he and I spoke about what direction his church might take he said he and the church are praying about it but, he said, 'If the Scriptures constrain me, I don’t know if I have the freedom to stay in the SBC'”
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To quote a PragerU post today, " Justice is getting what you deserve without favor. Social justice is getting what you don't deserve because you are favored."
 
Big mess at McLean Bible Church, a Virginia megachurch which was, or was not, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, depending on who you believe. Elder Nominee FAQ site states that they are now totally disassociating from the SBC.

Platt’s McLean Bible Church Hit With Attempted Takeover, L...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

Elder Nominee FAQ - McLean Bible Church | McLean Bible Church

Looks like Pastor David Platt, former head of SBC missions, is getting hit from all sides - some thought he was too friendly to Trump in 2019, others in 2020 thought he was leaning toward Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter. Some years ago, I read Platt's book "Radical." It was a bit too much on the radical side for me. He wants all Christians to go on short-term missions trips. I thought to myself, "If this teaching catches on, I need to invest in airline stocks," because I suspect that the airlines get most of the benefit from all that traveling back and forth on some types of short-term missions that do not involve medical, technical or theological expertise).
 
illinoisguy said:
This article is interesting because, among other things, it alleges that the original 2019 SBC resolution on Critical Race Theory was actually written in opposition to CRT and was rewritten by the Resolutions Committee to make it a commendation of CRT - and the rest is history.

Will the Southern Baptist Convention Survive? | Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc (midwestoutreach.org)

Also there is a quote from a black SBC pastor who is considering leaving the SBC because the convention failed to repudiate CRT: "James Pittman is pastor of New Hope Community Church in Palatine, IL. He is African American, and his church is racially mixed but predominately 'white.' . . . Pastor Pittman is quite clear on which path he and his church will choose. 'Social Justice,' Pittman says, 'is not the gospel,' and 'CRT is another religion.' When he and I spoke about what direction his church might take he said he and the church are praying about it but, he said, 'If the Scriptures constrain me, I don’t know if I have the freedom to stay in the SBC'”
Click to expand...
Brother Pittman is correct. Many churches are considering leaving the SBC over the Critical Race Theory, but the problems concerning the leadership, or lack thereof, in the NAMB, Lifeway, the ERLC, and the other missions programs supported by the SBC churches. Our church, a SMALL SBC church has not become embroiled in all this controversy. We just keep trudging along, building the kingdom as we were commanded.
 
Todd Friel still claims the woke soy boy Platt is still a brother even though he joined forces with Chandler and Piper to endorse Antifa and BLM.

 
I listened and didn’t come to the same conclusion that you did. Friel gives a total and clear renunciation of CRT. He does however acknowledge that Platt is an Orthodox brother in Christ. I agree with both of his points.
 
illinoisguy said:
Big mess at McLean Bible Church, a Virginia megachurch which was, or was not, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, depending on who you believe. Elder Nominee FAQ site states that they are now totally disassociating from the SBC.

Platt’s McLean Bible Church Hit With Attempted Takeover, L...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

Elder Nominee FAQ - McLean Bible Church | McLean Bible Church

Looks like Pastor David Platt, former head of SBC missions, is getting hit from all sides - some thought he was too friendly to Trump in 2019, others in 2020 thought he was leaning toward Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter. Some years ago, I read Platt's book "Radical." It was a bit too much on the radical side for me. He wants all Christians to go on short-term missions trips. I thought to myself, "If this teaching catches on, I need to invest in airline stocks," because I suspect that the airlines get most of the benefit from all that traveling back and forth on some types of short-term missions that do not involve medical, technical or theological expertise).
Click to expand...

Platt has jumped on the BLM/Anti-White bandwagon but doesn't appear to be cramming it down his people's throats like Piper/Chandler/Giglio are doing. Platt figured to join Chandler/Giglio/Piper as well as the seeker sensitive/charismatic crowd because CRT/Black Lives Matter/Anti White/Anti Family is now the main subject in churches and in the public school system.
 
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