SBC Voices

Let me start this by setting out my assumptions. 1) Children, because of their natural sinful state, need to be evangelized. It is imperative that we proclaim the full truth of the biblical gospel to children. Their eternal souls depend on it! (No, that is not an invitation for a TULIP food fight!) 2) Evangelizing children is a minefield with some very real dangers of which we must be aware. Children are often eager to please and susceptible to inducements. The possibility of a false conversion which gives a false sense of confidence to someone unconverted increases by orders of … [Read more...] about Thoughts on Evangelizing Children: A Glorious Minefield

Do we live in a theological bubble?  Are we failing to major on the main thing?  Has theology become the focus instead of obedience?  When did it become acceptable to let Calvinism or non-Calvinism determine our biblical approach to the call to make disciples?  Nate Akin wrote an article recently entitled The Conservative Resurgence, Calvinism, and Plurality of Elder (http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/2013/05/the-conservative-resurgence-calvinism-and-plurality-of-elders/). As I read the article I began to think of one idea. Is it possible that our theological systems dictate how we engage … [Read more...] about Commands Trump Interpretations

PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT:  DEEP CALLING UNTO DEEP BY WM. DWIGHT MCKISSIC, SR. JUNE 29, 2013 The multiple posts and comment threads on the continuationism vs. cessationism discussions here at SBC voices have been primarily academic and didactic in nature.  However, there is a devotional and inspirational component to this discussion that we have allowed to get lost in the weeds along the roadside. While we are volleying our divergent views across the median at each other; while we are all claiming biblical authority for our point of view and practice—or lack thereof; we are also overlooking … [Read more...] about Praying in the Spirit: Deep Calling Unto Deep (by Wm Dwight McKissic Sr)

I’m hearing our president and other important national leaders frame our religious freedoms by using the term “freedom of worship.” That phrase is restrictive and narrow. Our First Amendment ensures us of this: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Those who have an agenda to rewrite history will push to privatize our Faith so that our rights will only be … [Read more...] about Protecting the Principles of Religious Freedom (By: Ron F. Hale)

Yes, I know I risk another rebuke from the world-famous SBC Plodder for my use of a cliche in the title of this post, but I think it makes an important point. I wrote a post a couple of days ago on this topic and it completely disappeared into cyber-oblivion and I have not been able to relocate it. I spent yesterday going to Omaha to pick up Hurricane William (not the Plodder, my grandson - and his family) from the airport. My contributors have let me down by not giving me anything to post in the meantime, but in the spirit of grandson-induced joy, I will forgive them. I don't have much time … [Read more...] about We Live In Rome, Not Israel

The pace of change on the gay marriage issue has been breakneck, ever since President Obama changed his position and came out in favor of so-called "marriage equality." I don't have the time or the understanding of Supreme Court rulings to do a thorough analysis, but I thought that some might have the desire to address the issue (respectfully, please - even of an administration we disagree with). As I understand it, DOMA is basically gutted. It has been declared that marriage is a fundamental right and that it would be discriminatory (under the equal protection concept) to deny that … [Read more...] about The Supreme Court Rulings: “Houston, We Have a Problem” (Cliche Changed for William Thornton!)

With all due respect to the great minds that have contributed posts on the subject of continuationism and cessationism, I'm going to join in to offer what I see and why I see it. I am not going to attempt to settle the entire issue, but to add to the confusion discussion on just what "tongues" means. David Rogers in his earlier post, "Are Biblical Tongues a Personal Prayer Language," offers one way of striving to define the term "glossa" from the Greek of the New Testament. His post begins with 1 Corinthians 14, and then works from that point to explain the meaning of "tongues" throughout … [Read more...] about Defining the Terms of the Discussion

This is the first a series of posts I plan to author to explain, essentially, why when my fellow bloggers start vocalizing things other than English (or any other known language) I do not believe this to be a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. But before I go there, I want to start this whole process by giving a word to those of you who share my perspective on things. That word comes in the form of an exposition of 1 Corinthians 14:1. Chase love down unrelentingly, through the swamps and sloughs and briar patches and cane thickets, until you catch it, but be people who think the spiritual … [Read more...] about A Cessationist (of Sorts) to Fellow Cessationists

I'm not a real quiet person, and I have often struggled around quiet people. I mistake their silence for anger and figure that if they are not talking to me they must either dislike me or be angry about something. It is pretty easy to misread silence and misinterpret its meaning. It is generally asserted that the argument from silence in theology is among the weaker arguments and I would generally agree. It would be as easy to misinterpret silence in Scripture as it is for me to misinterpret it in others. "Jesus never addressed homosexuality," we are told. His silence is assumed as tacit … [Read more...] about Cessationism and the Argument from Silence