That is a horrible title for this post – but it alliterates!
What is weird is that among Southern Baptists I am a liberal heretic. Among Anglicans I am a rabid right wing conservative. It just depends which classroom I am in at the moment. Go figure. (For the record I do not describe myself as “conservative” and certainly reject the idea I am a “liberal”. Labels are precarious but for the sake of convenience I usually describe myself as “moderately conservative” politically and theologically.)
I participate in discussions on a Baptist discussion board. (Do not look for it or sign up or start posting. You will never escape.) There are Baptists of various stripes – on average the theological tenor is “moderate”. There are conservative Southern Baptists with whom I/we butt heads (minds) and disagree on various issues. Most of them I genuinely love and respect. And most of the more moderate-liberal fellow Baptists I genuinely love and respect.
Lately there has been more… disagreement than usual over how Baptist Press has been reporting on the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly which I attended in Memphis last week. The exchanges have been vigorous and healthy. I have had to back off and rethink some of my more impassionate(?) assertions.
Two of our more conservative brothers in Christ (one I think the world of, the other is relatively new and I am learning to regard highly) offered two recent gems. (No names. I do not have permission to reprint these. Free legal advice is welcome.)
An excerpt from the first.
Much of…heck, nearly all of the discussions of salvation when conservative bigwig pastors get together at pastors conferences and conventions revolve around how to avoid hell and scalp counting (“lookie at how well so and so’s church is doing… x more baptisms than your church”!!!). Very rarely is the topic of experiencing “fullness of joy” or a life lived where one is moved “from one degree of glory to another” the focus of the discussion. I still remember, with a ting of frustration, regret, and not just a little bit of disgust, hearing, as a child, as a youth, as a college student, etc… from several speakers that the focus of a testimony was the money quote where you would reference the year, month, day, hour, and minute that you were saved. Without this knowledge, your testimony was suspect, unsexy, and probably suspect. How many folks felt the need to fabricate their testimony to get to this all important moment?
By comparison, I heard very little about how the very evidence of salvation (the ongoing working of the Holy Spirit in one’s life) in the life of a believer is the critical component here and now…and that without this, no amount of talk about heaven or hell is valuable.
And then our second conservative Baptist brother in Christ used that as a springboard to compose this.
The one common factor in all their stories is that their lives were changed–transformed, if you will.
This sent me back to the Bible to examine what it says about what is involved in salvation. John the Baptist preached, “repent.” Jesus preached “repent.” Peter, on the day of Pentecost preached “repent.” Paul preached both repentance and faith. Romans 10:9 (Confess Jesus as Lord, believe that Jesus rose from the dead). Acts 17 (On Mars Hill, Paul said that God commands all people everywhere to repent. The response? “Some believed.”) The Ethiopian eunuch, when asking Philip about baptism, said “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Then I began to look at my own situation. As a 9-year-old, I came under conviction, headed down the aisle to the pastor. I remember that he asked me some questions, among them, “do you understand that you are a sinner, are you sorry for your sinfulness, do you trust Christ for your salvation.” All of which, through tears, I answered, “Yes.” That was it. No prayer.
I believe that a truly repentant sinner may ask God for salvation. But over and over, the message is repent, believe, confess, not ask. (edited very slightly)
I do not hear this brother saying “we need to dump the Sinner’s Prayer” nor am I prepared to conclude that either. But dang if that does not give us something to consider. What do we mean by salvation? And how much of our talk/practice revolving around salvation is just show and games?
Something huge happened last week. Gafcon – which is not a very hot sexy or informative acronym for a conference of conservative/orthodox Anglican bishops and other luminaries in Jerusalem. Much was said. And they released a communique that some interpret as dividing the Anglican Communion (although the persons who released the communique insist it does not – it does change the situation greatly).
This week I joined my daughters and the youth to go watch “Kung Fu Panda”. Is it the most awesome computer animated movie in the last ten years? No. But I loved it. The intro is hysterical. I was rarely bored. I laughed through most of it. I do not recall anything that was (so far as I could tell) stupid or offensive. The movie is even funnier if you have any familiarity with the kung fu movies genre. (I do wonder how our Chinese friends would respond.) I am not a movie critic and hardly write like one so I will leave it at that.