To all that this may concern,
Normally I would begin a letter such as this with a greeting that clearly explains my hope and prayer that the reader is doing well, encouraged, and in good spirits. In such an instance I would further go on to explain my purpose of the letter to the reader so that not only are my words read but also so that my heart is heard. Unfortunately, I understand that the content of this letter, if read at all, may be misconstrued, misinterpreted, and misunderstood. Nevertheless, I have something to say.
Far too many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists have a problem. There are some authoritative and influential men traveling in both heavily right-leaning political and theological circles that seem to idolize conservatism while simultaneously ignoring the ways, will, and Word of Christ. Many of these men are quick to speak but slow to listen. They speak with a big voice and serve with what seems to be hardened hearts. Let me be extremely clear and specific. Those whom I am speaking of right now are those white men who lead the so-called “Conservative Resurgence” that seems to be more of a commitment to what they want to say rather than what the Lord has already said.
In the SBC, what ought to be an embarrassing and painful truth is the reality that no one has to even look outside of the entity heads of the past and the entity heads of the present to figure out or learn that there is a pattern of apathy, arrogance, bigotry, cultural insensitivity, pride, racism, sexism and from my perspective there is an unwavering commitment to whiteness. Why is it that the messengers within the SBC are ok with this? I believe it is because, many of the messengers believe the same exact way that many of the movers and shakers believe and think. Not only are all of these isms deeply embedded into the DNA of the convention, but these isms are a damning spirit in the convention. These isms are woven into the foundational fabric on which the Southern Baptist Convention was built. Racism and many other isms have been at the core of the Southern Baptist Convention since its conception.
Racism is not new to the convention and neither is racism dead within the convention. The reality is that racism is alive, well and perhaps thriving within the largest protestant organization in the United States of America and strangely enough, in my view, the SBC is a portrait of what America really is and has always been. Divided! It seems to me that many who lead and cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention are making strategic efforts to keep it that way. Division that is birthed out of racism and all of these other isms is not of God.
Moving right along… Bigotry, cultural insensitivity, racism, and sexism has always been among the sins that have caused division, gone ignored, unchecked and unrepentant in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. I don’t believe that there is anybody foolish enough to believe that the coddling, excusing, promoting, and showing an overwhelming support for an unregenerate being like Trump is where the isms started. I don’t know a single soul that believes that the bigotry, hate speech and hypocrisy started in recent days, weeks, months, or years. Cultural insensitivity and racism did not start when the harshest disdain and disrespect was shown to and continues to be shown to President Barack Obama, his brilliant and beautiful wife and daughters. It is also clearly understood that racism did not first raise its ugly head within the Southern Baptist Convention when Al Mohler who on one hand verbally denounced racism but on another hand, honors slaveholders by hanging their portraits around Boyce College and Southern Baptist Seminary and opposes renaming spaces that honor slaveholders decided to, along with the five other SBC Seminary presidents, pick what I believe to be an extremely unnecessary fight with Critical Race Theory while almost simultaneously tweeting his (Al Mohler’s) appreciation for Donald Trump. None of this is new. This is who the Southern Baptist Convention is, but it is not who the Southern Baptist Convention has to be. Perhaps naive but I honestly don’t believe that this is who the majority of the messengers want to be. This is why my predecessor; Rev. Dr. Lincoln N. Bingham has worked tirelessly toward his hope and idea for racial reconciliation within the local church and within the convention.
To be honest I have no personal allegiance to the Southern Baptist Convention but I do have a responsibility to the true and living God who by His grace called me into the ministry. I am committed to the church that I am learning to pastor. I do have a responsibility to the church as a whole. In addition to that, I believe that I would do a disservice to my predecessor whose life work has been an unwavering commitment to racial reconciliation. I can’t fulfill his ministry but I do want to honor him. I believe that I have a responsibility to continue in his work to some extent according to my own capacity and how God has wired me. However, I would not honor God and I would not serve the people well who God called me to love and lead and I would not be able to build on the reconciliation work that my predecessor engaged in if I were to be quiet about and did not work against the isms that are operating and speaking apathetically, arrogantly, dangerously and sinfully within evangelicalism, fundamentalism and specifically within the flawed operating system of the Southern Baptist Convention. For this very reason at this time, we will remain loosely affiliated. In other words, we aren’t leaving. We aren’t leaving because I, we have something to say.
I applaud the growing exodus of African American pastors and churches in the convention. Some of them I know well and consider good friends. I completely understand and fully support their necessary exodus. It’s not that time for me as of yet. This is no copout or compromise. Copping out and compromising, I will not do! This is not playing into the hands of an oppressive system. I don’t move like that! Staying is not because I’ve embraced a theology of whiteness. I most certainly have not! I’m staying, for now, because I have something to say. I’m staying because I believe that at this moment there is much work to do. Some tables need to be flipped over in the SBC. There are some sinful, strange, and obvious idols that need to be torn down and cast into the fire within the SBC. There are some men and women who love the SBC that desperately need a Nathan in their face telling them exactly who they are and reminding them what God expects from them.
Some may ask, criticize and/or wonder why I would even waste my time in an environment like the Southern Baptist Convention and that’s fair. My answer is simple. It’s an inside job. It’s a work that had started long before I came on the scene. It is, from the perspective of my predecessor one of the reasons why he felt it necessary to lead a church merger between a predominately African American church that had survived and thrived for well over 100 years with a dying Anglo church that was organized during a time of intentional segregation in a community that had a reputation for its disdain for African Americans. It’s cool to tweet about it. It’s cool to blog and post about it. It’s cool to jump on a podcast and offer perspective and opinion about it. However, this (calling folks to repentance) is a big part of the current calling on my life. They may not listen, but before I shake the dust off of my feet and chuck up the deuces I most certainly have something to say…
Enough for now!
Deryk Hayes is the pastor of Saint Paul Baptist Church at Shively Heights in Louisville, Kentucky.
I want to say thank you to Deryk for submitting his open letter. We are thankful for the opportunity to publish various voices here to help us understand various perspectives. I’m glad that (at least for now) Deryk plans to remain within the SBC and I appreciate getting to hear his point of view.
I don’t applaud the growing exodus of black churches he mentions. It’s been incredibly discouraging to me. At the same time I understand why many have made that decision. My hope is that the SBC can begin rebuilding trust with many black pastors and churches so that more of an exodus is avoided.
There are some strong words in this article that I believe go farther than is warranted, but that’s why this is his letter and not mine. I would say it differently even if I would identify some of the same problems. But I think we’ll get farther by listening and seeking to understand why he (and likely others) have this perspective than we will by getting defensive and arguing.
I decided to post this for one reason. Those if us in the Anglo churches need to hear the hurt that is out there.
Do I agree with everything Deryk says here? No. That is not the point.
I think it is good for us to hear voices that may make us a little uncomfortable.
I appreciate that pastor Hayes is sticking with us for now.
I want to say to Deryk that I am glad to read his open letter. I’m not in agreement with everything he says or how he says it, but I appreciate the honest perspective that I need to hear. I’m glad he is willing, giving our currently strained SBC environment, to hang in there and see how things develop.
Thanks for your vulnerability. You’re right on point. Hopefully we will all listen and take what you’ve shared to heart!
Thank you Deryk. Standing with you brother.
Praying your honest and heartfelt words are heard!
Yes.
Can someone please just say “yes, we hear you” rather than preface it with disclaimers.
Do you hear the hurt?
Can you not just listen and acknowledge what this brother is saying?
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with it all. It isn’t about you. It’s about the very evident frustration and hurt he is expressing.
Yes! Absolutely couldn’t agree more. Thank you!
Using the tool of Critical Race Theory I see the value in message that Pastor Hayes has penned. The SBC needs to be deconstructed as it is without hope as it white racist at its core and cannot be redeemed. It can be reconstructed with new leadership who do not have the inherent racial bias that the present SBC leaders and members now have.
I think that’s an unfair and unhelpful reading, but I get that anytime you have a chance to take a shot at CRT you’re going to take it. Instead of listening and trying to understand.
I’m not seeing an embracement of CRT here as a foundational source for this posting. I just don’t think it is there. However, I am often wrong. So I ask Pastor Hayes if the CRT is his foundational source for his post or if his life experiences in the SBC are the primary sources of his post? I don’t think that to be an unfair question.
I would like to know from Pastor Hayes when referring to Trump as “unregenerate” if he means Trump is lost and going to he’ll? If the answer is “yes,” then I would like an answer as to how you came to that conclusion?
Trump’s own word – that he doesn’t need to ask for God’s forgiveness- gives all the basis anyone needs to make that assertion. Not to mention the fruit of his life and words testify that he’s not a follower of Christ.
His own words, huh? I’m sure glad that you are not the one to JUDGE him. Oh, wait, you just did. He did a lot more FOR Americans, the WORKING CLASS, than any other president has in recent history…but all anyone concentrates on is ONE CORINTHIANS, and that he doesn’t think that he needs forgiveness. He tries doing right, and all ya’ll can do is MOCK him. May God forgive YOU for it.
I voted for Trump the second time, and I agree that he did a lot for many Americans, including the working class of all skin tones.
But that doesn’t make him a Christian.
He did raise our taxes, I’ll give him credit for that. But he lived a deliberately immoral life, pointing to everything from his adulterous affairs and high profile divorces to the strip clubs and gambling casinos off of which he made most of his fortune, to the incessant lying leading to the disastrous weeks of his presidency. It isn’t judging when someone is so open about it, it’s observation.
Exactly. If you or I were to say those same words the leadership of our denomination would come down hard in condemning us. What they do is nothing short of heresy…but they believe just as we do unless it’s their “hero”.
Thanks for saying it,Brent Hobbs.
Not to mention the fruit of his life and words testify that he’s not a follower of Christ. ” are you willing to say the same thing about our current vice president
The fruit of his life? This is the reason many hate Christians, because they judge people, forgetting where they, themselves came from. At all of his rallies, he PREACHED from the podium about God. Do you listen? The last president that I remember that talked a lot about God, was Reagan, and if my recollection is correct, ya’ll didn’t like his fruit, either. Something about divorce.
Big difference between talking about God and the repentance which leads to redemption. If he did preach, and there’s not a shred of evidence that he did, I wonder if he used Galatians 5:19-21 as his text. Or Luke 6:43-45. Observing someone’s behavior, which they are making public because they want you to see it, isn’t judging.
I was always told in my SBC church that we can not know another man’s heart as far as salvation was concerned. I was also told good works were evidence of being a good disciple and not salvation itself, since salvation is not of works.
Tony,
We are to judge with proper judgment.
We are to prove all things and hold fast to the good.
We are to be discerning and not just give the right hand of fellowship willy nilly.
And we are told to know someone by their fruits.
Works can be imitated by unbelievers.
Is President Trump proclaiming the Gospel with his words?
I agree with what you say here. I never said Trump was saved or unsaved. The only thing I know is Trump says he is a non denominational Christian. I have no more right to judge Trump’s salvation than I do a democrat that professes being a Christian while at the same time is pro abortion and is pro same sex marriage. I am just trying to be consistent.
How can a man who has never asked God for forgiveness be a Christian? If any man besides Trump had said this, we wouldn’t even hesitate to say he wasn’t a Christian.
I am not a Calvinist nor Arminian. My reading of salvation by grace is that salvation does not come by praying for forgiveness (that is a work), but by believing the gospel of grace found in 1 Cor 15:1-4. Once a person believes he/she is quickened and forgiven by God. I base this belief on passages such as Col 2:13 & Eph 1:7-13. Christ has already asked God to forgive sinners (Luke 23:34).
Remember the words of Stephen as he was being stoned to death? Remember the words of Jesus as he was on the cross? They never asked for forgiveness either.
And then they were saved?
When the Philippian jailor asked Paul what he must do to be saved, the answer was not to ask for forgiveness, but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). Forgiveness of sin is made possible by the cross and is received by believing the gospel.
Tony: Even if asking God for forgiveness is not required for salvation (a position I am skeptical of) the bible clearly and strongly enjoins all Christians to do it.
We see the saints under the law offering sacrifices and asking for forgiveness because the blood of bulls & goats could not take away sin. Under grace forgiveness is spoken of in the past tense as a one time completed act (see Col 2:13 & Eph 4:32). Bill, I am glad you are skeptical because that means you are thinking for yourself. I admire that character in people.
Tony,
FYI, the lost aren’t going to Hell.
The Good Shepherd will find and rescue all the lost sheep.
Whether Trump is going to Hell only God knows.
But it seems he isn’t saved at this time.
FYI, the lost sheep refers to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 10:6) not Gentiles. I agree the Shepherd will rescue the lost sheep of Israel in the future, since God has not cast them away (Rom 11:1-2). God, under Grace, is making no distinctions between Jews or Gentiles. All (Jew or Gentile) must believe the gospel of Grace (1 Cor 15:1-4) for salvation or go to hell.
??? Why are some of you continuing to skirt the issue? Instead you find fault with one or two things he’s said, CRT, “unregenerate” Trump, etc?
You are not listening and hearing the hurt that comes through in his words. Stop trying to redirect and take the focus off the issue he brings up! Racism. He and others feel it.
So what are you going to do about it?
He needs to charge specific people with racism, so that some kind of committee can investigate the allegations, so that a conclusion and come to fruition. Otherwise, it’s just generalities. Who is willing to name shame? In my opinion, the Bible overrides CRT, when we are under the NEW COVENANT of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and treat others as how you want to be treated. E pluribus unum
You are missing it. There is a lot of hurt in the black community. Forget CRT, forget some of the other “generalities” that he’s mentioned. Listen and hear the hurt and frustration that underlies it all.
It’s great to quote scripture. I can do that too, but actions speak louder than words. Sadly, the actions or lack of action have caused this hurt.
James 1-2 covers it all.
It’s great to quote scripture! Yes, I’m sure Jesus would appreciate that statement, as if minimizing God to earthly philosophy. But Out of MANY, one. We are of the same blood, Adam/Eve. “IN CHRIST” there is no Male/female, jew/gentile. Is the bible out of touch with reality? The complaint I’m seeing is LEADERSHIP positions & a hatred to Trump.
Jen,
What is your plan of action?
woody
It doesn’t matter what my plan of action might be. I’m white. I hear his and other brothers’ and sisters’ hurt. We need to ask them, what would they like to see happen. How do they believe we need to address this? And then move forward in engagement and dialogue.
Can you name one thing he said that it’s been hurtful to minorities or indicates that he has a racist heart? I don’t see it. By his words and actions he is consistently worked for the betterment of all Americans. Blacks and Hispanics have recognized that and rewarded him with more popularity than any other Republican president in recent times.
Not really clear what you’re talking about here?
I was responding to your question about plan of action regarding what Brother Hayes shared.
I don’t and won’t talk politics.
Sorry. Woody Whitt’s question…
Sorry Jen, I misread your previous statement.
Jen,
Sounds like a wonderful plan, Lord Bless you!
woody
Two part response because of word limitations!
I agree with Brent and Dave. To Rev. Hayes,
The many “ism” charges you laid against the convention, from racism to sexism; some are obvious where others allude me (and I’m certain other messengers as well). But you’re right, a fundamental change is necessary. Many have suggested it; few have offered a solution.
How would you, as a minority leader conceive a path forward? What would you suggest the SBC do to address these issues and move us all forward together. Specifics! No generalizations like “whites need to be more aware.” I agree we do, but I want to know a specific plan of action. We need one and I think it has to come from minorities because the majority has not walked in your shoes!
And I meant all of this sincerely! We need to unite and the voice of the minority must be most vocal for it to happen. How can we move forward?
At the risk of stating the obvious: electing a black SBC president and supporting their decision to appoint black entity leaders would be a great place to start.
.
I’ve been listening to podcasts on racial reconciliation.
One speaker gave this example: Emotional hurt is shared. The listener’s response is to ask for examples and then give an analysis.
No sympathy.
This is akin to having a cut on your body that is bleeding profusely. You go to someone for help. Instead of grabbing bandages, medicines and giving comfort…
…you ask “how did you come to the conclusion that you were bleeding?” “When did you first realize you were bleeding?” instead of meeting the need for comfort and healing.
The SBC has an ingrained “white way” of knowing, doing and being. Bible theology alone cannot save Christians from their prejudices. Pastor Hayes alerts us to the theology of whiteness that is in the very creation/foundation of SBC. Many here say they understand why many black churches are leaving SBC, they do not because they are white , they think they understand, from their white viewpoint.
Southern Baptist are evangelical conservatives. Our BF&M is based on a theologically conservative evangelistic position. Our theology is neither white nor black. It is well rooted in the word of God.
But the racism argument has now become a tool to coerce the convention toward a progressive cultural theology rather than sound Biblical doctrine.
“Bible theology alone cannot save Christians from their prejudices”??? What other sins is Bible theology insufficient to save a person from?
If scripture can’t “save Christians from their prejudices” where can we turn for conviction? Furthermore by definition, theology is the study of God, the nature of God and God’s relation to the world. Please explain how “the theology of whiteness” relates to the study of God. Your comments seem contradictory to biblical teaching.
Are contradictory…
Pastor Hayes,
Thank you for calling us to repentance. The Southern Baptist Convention cannot stand unless we learn to walk in repentance. Our triumphalism will be our downfall. Our divisions go beyond race, We seem to be divided between those who understand and embrace true repentance and those who merely seek to maintain and to enforce doctrinal and legal conformity.
We do have an “ism” problem.
I’ve come to the conclusion there are many within the SBC who will not be satisfied until evangelism is replaced by progressivism, conservativism by liberalism, complementarianism by egalitarianism….
Anyone on the “wrong” side of the argument is automatically labeled a white racist oppressor.
Yes, we have an “ism” problem, racism being the least of these.
Those that want to be heard must speak clearly.
I have no idea what is meant by a commitment to whiteness,
Can Dr. Hayes or anyone who knows, explain to me what this is?
Bother Deryk, I have not met you, but I knew Lincoln Bingham (he of blessed memory) well. For our Voices readers, Dr. Bingham served for many years as the liaison between National Baptists and Southern Baptists in Kentucky. He did much in promoting racial reconciliation. In his later years, he accepted the pastorate at a struggling church and revived it. He was truly a man of God.
Michael, like the Fabreze commerical where people have gone “nose blind” to certain orders white people have grown blind to their white theology. We have learned and taught the Bible from a Western Civilization white perspective and can not conceive how a person non white or sexually different understands the Bible. Group id overrides personal id. We are committed to our white understanding.
As I understand you, you’re suggesting the only way for racial reconciliation to be obtained within the SBC is for those who profess a conservative evangelical doctrine and theology to admit they’re wrong and change their doctrinal and theological position?
That seems to be Pastor Hayes position as well.
D.E. Clemons, White Christians profess a white Christian theology not a conservative evangelical doctrine and theology. They do not know they are wrong as their whiteness makes them blind to it. The whole history of the SBC needs to be discarded as well. Their whiteness overrides their Christianity, they cannot help it.
That has to be one of the most racist statements I’ve ever heard. You truly believe all white Christians have a screwed theology? That every white believer can be stereotyped as a racist because we are white and placed in one theological can?
That’s flawed thinking at best and hypocrisy at worst.
D.E. google white theology . Pastor Hayes stated he is staying in the SBC in spite of their white theology which he does not ascribe too. I am white, I cannot understand the viewpoint of Pastor Hayes as I am totally into white theology and cannot recognize my own privilege. Our race and culture into which we were born and raised makes us unable to seek, understand or value any other world view.
I understand what’s meant by white theology. But to say that people’s view of God differs based on race or circumstances or any other cultural issue is an unsound practice. The results could lead to a form of idolatry.
Again, I believe anyone who stereotypes all whites as racists is in fact a racist.
But that’s one of the flaws of CRT/I. It just reverses the sin of racism. As a result the solution becomes “tear down the oppressor” rather than “lift up the oppressed” as our Lord calls us to do.
D.E. Our whole social, justice, economic and faith based systems are based on white culture that has held power for over 2000 years. Western civilization is based and is upheld by ideas, teachings and beliefs of white people who have dominated the world with their belief systems. The oppressed are just given token acceptance if they buy into the white power structure, to enable it.
And we’ve been empowered by the Holy Spirit for that same 2000 plus year period.
So, have we been misled by the Spirit? All of church history was just a farce? Men gave their lives for the theology we believe and you say they died just to uphold a white theology?
Look, should the SBC ever formally buy into the foolishness you’re selling would you kindly hold the door open for me?
Steve,
Could you give an example of ” white Christian theology”?
woody
White Christian theology is related to teaching divine election of Western Civilization & USA as a white and Christian nation and the “white” church & the theological reflections done by white religious are the model to pattern after and which teach white church theology and Christianty. Google it.
It is the growth of this type of postmodern moral relativism that have some concerned about the rise of liberalism within the SBC, including here on Voices.
Scripture is clear; it and nothing else, is the foundation of our theology. Sola Scriptura is not, in any way, a form of “white theology”. As such, the search for truth can be done without regard to skin color.
Character count now? Hard to engage with just 400 characters.
To deny that there is absolute truth in scripture is dangerous. Every single denomination that has drifted down the path of postmodern moral relativism has become devoid of Christ. From the acceptance of homosexuality, to the teaching of universalism, all have gone astray. If Steve Newhouse is the future of the SBC, I weep.
One more amen!
sv, I was a die hard Trump supporter & conservative in politics & in matters of faith. I have changed as much as I can after fighting hard to hold on to what I thought was correct. I am saved by the Grace of God & believer that Jesus is my Savior & came to give all who will eternal life. My core faith has not changed but my political and social views have changed.
Amen! And again I say amen!
As I read Bro. Hayes comments I came away with three observations: 1. Hurt caused by “whiteness” and racists in the SBC 2. Anger and hate (sin) for those deemed racists and 3. It ends up being political. So I ask, is there any difference in one who is judged as racist and one who has hate in there heart against the racists? Furthermore, why does Christian commentary have to turn political?
The issue of abortion looms large over every discussion of Christians & politics, so we might as well address it. Many Christian Trump voters have chosen to prioritize pro-life judge appointments over Trump’s obviously inadequate moral character. And tribal groupthink takes it from there.
Ranked-choice voting would reduce partisan polarization in America & the SBC. The ability to vote for a candidate that cares about loving one’s neighbor both before & after birth could finally unite us. We’ll keep spinning our wheels on race forever, so long as racial advocacy belongs to Democrats & stopping the genocide of the unborn belongs to Republicans.
Will, Pastor Hayes article is not about abortion. It is about how the SBC white theology upon which the SBC is based makes it impossible for the SBC to relate to the black community. The SBC history should be shunned and a new SBC needs to be reconstructed as the white foundation and white theology is inherent in the SBC.
We can’t engage with the ongoing captivity of white Christianity to the Republican party (and its minimization of racial reconciliation efforts) without directly addressing the main reason for that ongoing loyalty. So long as racial justice & prenatal justice are on opposite sides of the aisle, we’ll be fighting this civil war in the SBC.
To that, I’ll agree. The SBC needs to get out of politics. Christian Nationalism is one ism we should certainly avoid.
Why reinvent the wheel. The CBF has already done the groundwork for you.
Amen.
Thank you Deryk! We want you to know that we hear your pain and that you are being prayed for by our small church plant in New Jersey. I’m thankful for your boldness and vulnerability as I know you knew what the response would bring. I’m still hopeful that the SBC won’t allow this small but vocal minority to purge those of us who see and call out the sin of Trumpism for what it is…idolatry.
Mr. Hayes, very thankful for your article and glad for your voice and your presence in the SBC.
As for the rest of these comments, most are a dumpster-fire that just highlights why this article is needed. SMH.
Kimberly, That is why Pastor Hayes is staying within the SBC. He is bringing truth to power. I do not find the comments that upsetting as I once did not realize how ingrained my whiteness influenced my social, political and yes, even religious outlook. We should just call out and redo the SBC. White males are at the top, middle and control the SBC, they are the oppressors and do not even know it.
To grow in understanding of how biased we often are in reading scripture, consider reading:
Dr. Esau McCaulley’s Reading While Black and Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible by Richards and O’Brien or
Jackson Wu’s One Gospel for All Nations.
Our white culture has influenced our reading of Scripture.
Fact.
Jen, you are right. If you are white, you cannot help but to be biased. White Christian have used the Bible against oppressed people. Oppressed people view the Bible though the lens of personality morality and societal morality. The oppressed do not need white people how to understand the Bible or anything else.
Again, postmodern moral relativism is not consistent with scripture. There is absolute truth, it is found in scripture and scripture alone. It is not white or black, it is the truth, the word of God.
But let me also highlight you fallacy. I have a genetic disorder that can be degenerative. By your logic, your thoughts on living with a disorder do not matter, my opinions out weigh yours. Right?
SV, CRT is a useful tool, not a replacement for the scripture but a tool to help us understand present society. Oppressed people see though a different lens that the oppressors. White people in control of teaching, literature, history and faith teachings use an oppressor lens. Health issues can also be more viewed differently by those with issues than those who do not issues.
Steve: I understand you are being facetious in this thread. But those who do not know your commenting history may believe you are being serious and I think that would be dishonest.
Bill Mac, think what you will. I have become convinced that CRT needs to be used as an tool not to replace the Bible. Is not that the intent of Resolution 9 and the belief of many of some SBC members? If I am not projecting the correct CRT teachings that is my short coming.. I cannot speak for others but perhaps Pastor Hayes is using some aspect of CRT to arrive at his decision .I have changed.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
” If someone or a group needs more than God’s Word to discern mankinds heart issue (sin), then this verse is irrelevant and then we would need the “new gospel” of CRT. However, God’s Grace and Word is sufficient and man made philosophy (which CRT is) is just like man, full of error.
There are no absolute truths found outside of scripture?
Thank you, Pastor Deryk. I hear you, and I while I definitely understand if you do eventually leave, thank you for holding our feet to the fire meantime. Keep being that Nathan!
He is not in the SBC. Look him up on twitter. If you do not agree with everything he says, he’ll call you a fool then block you. In his twitter posts he exudes no fruit of the Spirit.
Romans 12:14 says, Bless those that persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Again, the basic premise that the sin issue is in a “denomination” is a fallacy. As Pastor Voddie Baucham will never stop saying, “the problem is in the individual’s heart.” “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Period. Yes, there is work to do as there has always been since the garden but now with hope we do this work because of the resurrection – in hearts.
We’re fine calling out China for their genocide instead of specific individuals. Or are we going to disregard the biblical prophets when they call out Israel, Egypt, Babylon, etc. for their collective sins? It’s not that we don’t have a category for a group of individuals sinning; we just don’t want to admit that we could be that group instead of someone else.
Read Ezekiel chapter 18. Man will stand before God for his own sin, not for the sins of others, therefore a denomination (entity) will not stand before God, but the individual people.
Point taken, Darrell. But what about when individuals act in concert? (Ezk. 18:30) In chapter 19, God condemns Israel’s leaders and traces their sin from their ancestors to the next generation all the way to the leaders in Ezekiel’s day. Again, the Bible has a category for groups of individuals called out for their sins, we call out other groups, we just don’t like getting called out ourselves.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When someone points out sin in others, they tend to forget that they have 3 fingers pointing back at themselves. I know I’m a sinner saved by God’s Grace, therefore I don’t go to other denominations or churches and point out their shortcomings and wrongdoing.
As in Joseph’s case, God turned what was evil into good. The SBC is not perfect by no means, but there has been a lot of good come from it’s beginnings. I was a part of the SBC for over 40 years and saw lots of Godly men and women do wonderful things through Christ who strengthened them. However, as the Word teaches us, not all who says Lord, Lord will make it, therefore when the SBCs shortcomings are brought forth from others, be rest assured they have some of the same.
Therefore, individually, each person (definitely myself), must check themselves against God’s Word daily to make sure that we are becoming more like the image of Christ than trying to make Him into our image. Therefore, we should shun profane and vain babblings, especially from man made philosophy and let God’s Word judge mankinds attitude and heart.
Good. Your attitude is like Jesus’ attitude. Jesus who knew He would be crucified by His own people loved them to death. God, the Father, honored that love through the resurrection.
God will honor everyone who lives their lives like His Son did. That is the bottom line of the faith before nationalism, culture and denomination.
Good post! I, too, never understood “ism” as part of our culture but I am beginning to see it. We voted safely and securely for years in another state by mail in ballot. Moved here and it is fought tooth and nail. Truth is that is voter suppression, keeping old, poor, or minorities from equal access to the vote. White rural and suburbs have many polling sites, inner cities have few for larger population. Sin is heartily preached against here and I applaud that, but you never hear about the sins of greed, or covetousness.
I was raised to judge a person’s religion by their beliefs. Get the doctrine and theology right and you are good to go. Funny. Jesus talked more about our walk than our doctrine.
Maybe we missed a turn?
The Bible has lots to say about sound doctrine, it’s how a person uses wisdom to go along with their knowledge. Remember all scripture is God breathed, so there is only one true author of the Bible.