SBC Voices

As an aging man, and one who had been a Christian for over 30 years, John Newton had this to say about his experience: At my first setting out, indeed, I thought to be better, and to feel myself better from year to year; I expected by degrees to attain everything which I then comprised in my idea of a godly Christian. I thought my grain of grace, by much diligence and careful improvement, would, in time, amount to a pound; that pound, in a farther space of time, to a talent; and then I hoped to increase from one talent to many; so that, supposing the Lord should spare me a number of years, I … [Read more...] about Is This Helpful or Needlessly Pessimistic?

I spent part of Friday morning at the Stuttgart, Arkansas, Public Library. My kids were at "Art Camp" in Stuttgart and we were getting so much of the desperately needed rain that the one road out of Almyra to the north was about to flood under. So, I needed a place to read in town and not buy excessive numbers of donuts. The library fit the bill. While I was there, I noticed a pair of items in the restroom that I had not put together before. On previous trips, I have explained to my son what the "towel roller" on the wall is. Now, those of you who are my age or older likely remember these … [Read more...] about GFCI Outlets and Cloth Towels

In Romans 9 God says, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." Romans 9 is one of the Calvinists’ favorite chapters. They refer to it often and believe it refers to personal salvation. They use it against Traditionalists or non-Calvinists. Some say Traditionalists have no answer to this obviously Calvinistic Scripture, or that they don‘t believe it. One joked a couple of years ago about how a Traditionalist tore Romans 9 out of his Bible. We have even been accused of not believing in inerrancy because we do not agree with their interpretation of this passage. The answer to Romans 9, … [Read more...] about Romans 9, Calvinism, Traditionalism (by David R. Brumbelow)

We Southern Baptists really do prefer our words over our deeds. Alan Cross submitted a resolution to the Southern Baptist Convention on Holistic Ministry and Community Involvement. His third resolved read as follows, RESOLVED, That we encourage every local church to engage the needs of their community with a strong gospel witness in both word and deed as God uniquely gifts, directs, and enables; and be it further Wednesday morning, June 20, Alan began reading the form of his resolution that made its way out of committee. … [Read more...] about Needed: Courage in the SBC (by Todd Littleton)

With Dave's departure for the island nation of Taiwan, I have been left to man the fort and keep posts posted and comments commented, or something like that.  I have asked for help from all of our contributors in continuing to bring you some of the finest content we can produce, since I don't tend to write as many posts as Dave does.  To that end, I am going to try and write a little more myself in the next couple of weeks and lean on the expertise of our crack staff.  And if anyone tries to take advantage of the deputy, I fully intend to "nip it in the bud." Lastly, while the deputy is … [Read more...] about The Deputy Is on Duty

Wes Kenney blogs at "Reason for the Hope." It has often been said that, thanks to the battles of the last generation in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to return the convention to a commitment to biblical inerrancy, we can be grateful that theological discussions in the SBC can be conducted on that basis. We do not spend our time debating and arguing the veracity of the creation narrative or whether the teachings of Paul on gender roles and homosexuality are culturally conditioned. We have been set free to have robust theological debate on the basis of a firm reliance on scripture, … [Read more...] about BOOK REVIEW: David Dockery’s “Southern Baptist Identity” (by Wes Kenney)