I spend an inordinate amount of my time writing blog posts, reading them, administrating this site and commenting. I have formed an opinion about Southern Baptists that I would like to share with you. I believe I have identified the real problem, the biggest problem in the SBC.
First, two observations:
1) Southern Baptists (at least the blogging kind) are often kinda angry people. I observe blogging and I am simply amazed at the anger that comes through. From all sides at all sides.
2) Just about everyone considers themselves the victim of the other side. Calvinists are being pushed out by the anti-Calvinists. The non-Calvinists are offended at the arrogant and aggressive Calvinists. The hipsters are “marginalizing” the traditionalists and the traditionalists are excluding the younger generation from leadership. It just goes on.
The Biggest Problem!
I have finally figured out what the REAL PROBLEM in the SBC is. It is THEM. Those people. The other side. The folks I disagree with. They are sneaky, ungodly, unkind, manipulative, dishonest and mean. They are trying to ruin the SBC that I am trying to save!
Those no-good, dirty-rotten scoundrels. It’s a good thing me and my side are here to protect the SBC from them their cronies.
That is the problem in a nutshell. The other side. Me and my guys, we wear white hats. But those guys over there, those folks who disagree with me, they are the villains.
I watch Calvinists complain about how “they” are trying to drive us out of the convention. I watch non-Calvinists talk about how “they” are trying to force their doctrines on us. “They” (traditionalists) are preventing growth and “they” (the young and restless) are ruining everything. The problem is “them.”
Here is what Jesus said. (Mt 7:3-5)
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
What amazing advice. You mean it is not all about them? But, that other side, they have a speck of dust in their eye. I need to confront that. I need to challenge their false doctrine and bad attitudes. Okay, but there is something Jesus tells me to do first. I need to deal with myself, with that big ol’ log in my own eye!
Jesus never says that we shouldn’t challenge or even correct one another. He just tells us that before we do that, we need to challenge and correct ourselves!
I would make the following points:
1) If every one of us took as much time examining our own faults as we do magnifying others, this would be a much different denomination!
2) The sin of another person never justifies my own. I cannot tell you how many times on blogs I have seen someone justify their unkind words because someone else did it first or did it worse.
But I am never justified or absolved of sin because of what someone else did. In fact, Jesus commanded me to love my enemies and to pray for them, to turn the other cheek. Paul told us to return good for evil. It isn’t easy, but it is godly, it is right and it is not optional for the believer.
The Solution to Our Biggest Problem
So, the solution starts with a simple step. I need to look at my own attitude. I need to hold myself and my side in any argument accountable for doing what is right. I need to care more about how I treat others than how others treat me. I need to practice the commands of Jesus and return good for evil.
We are imperfect people who live imperfectly and blog imperfectly and sin constantly. But we are called to seek Christ’s power to resist temptation and walk in holiness instead of sin. We are to imitate the Savior.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:22–23.
No, in this life I will never be sinless as Jesus was. But I have the Holy Spirit to empower me so that no deceit will be found in my mouth. When I am reviled, I can return good instead of greater revilement. When I suffer, I can respond in love and not threaten those who hurt me. I can seek good and entrust myself to the one who judges justly.
In the long run, isn’t that what matters most?
Amen!!!
I sure hope THEY read this…..wait…
2 good posts in one day? I think we are going to have start testing you for PEDs.
The default justification for harsh words, hateful rhetoric, and opinionated rants, “Well, they started it.” And of course, none of us wants to be the first one to stop trading blows, to break the cycle with a kind word or personal message of apology for letting words go too far.
It would be easy to blame the Internet, but I do the same in real life.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Johnathon Edwards who said something like when I see sin in someone, let it cause me to grieve at and repent of my own sin. Man, I need to be more like that.
I don’t know who said it, but I am glad you repeated it.
In the interests of full disclosure, so do I.
Well said.
Thanks
The biggest problem in the SBC is giant killer ants?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/
A thorough consideration of 1 Corinthians 6, especially verse 7 always makes me insane. If Paul is really telling the believers that the mature, appropriate Christian response is to accept being wrong or defrauded, why am I fighting over what I’m fighting for? Am I really fighting for truth that will be lost or am I fighting for Doug?
Then I get all sulky and go whine for a few days.
You absolutely crack me up.
Please tell me that you have watched this movie and didn’t just google the word THEM or something.
The old THEM?
Absolutely. Dad and I used to watch 50s & 60s movies like that all the time. Great stuff. I think he was trying to make sure I never built any nuclear experiments in the backyard 🙂
So what of the OTHERS? . . . We ask the ancient question of Our Lord: ‘and who is my neighbor?’ Sometimes our good God will give you an opportunity to find out the answer to this ancient question, and, if you will respond to His gift of grace, you are forever blessed. “a New Commandment: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ “Love your enemies. Love those who hate and persecute you. Love those who have become outcast and those who are excluded from the group . . . Love not just those of your own tribe, your… Read more »
I don’t know about THEM, but at the last Convention, WE voted to adopt the following core values. I call on SBC bloggers to join US: CHRISTLIKENESS We depend on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and prayer to make us more like Jesus Christ. TRUTH We stand together in the truth of God’s inerrant Word, celebrating the faith once for all delivered to the saints. UNITY We work together in love for the sake of the Gospel. RELATIONSHIPS We consider others more important than ourselves. TRUST We tell one another the truth in love… Read more »
Dave, all I can say is:
“Thank God I’m not one of THEM!”
giant ant OR publican ?
Giant ant.
🙂
One side uses Scripture to start an argument; the other side finds another Scripture for rebuttal. Let’s just throw boxes of Bibles at each other since a better use can’t be found. And find a place to do it not associated with the ” SBC ” name so everybody can relax – even us ” finishers ” who still won’t bow down to intimidation.
I had a beloved uncle who tipped the bottle.
His usual diatribe went something like this when he was under the influence.
“There’s so much good in the worst of us
and so much bad in the best of us
that it hardly behooves any of us to
talk about the rest of us.”
I can honestly say that I have never been doctrinally mistreated by either Calvinists nor non-Calvinists.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/05/17/twitter-slander/
Sad. Wrong.
As one of those “hunted” Calvinists, I could not help but think of a certain song when reading this OP…
“They’re coming to take me away haha…
They’re coming to take me away hehe!
To the funny farm!…..”
great… haven’t heard that song in years and now it’s going to be in my head all day.
You are talking about me, aren’t you Dave.
I think so often we are a little narcissistic. I know I can be. I take things personally, get offended, write stuff that is defensive, and others respond in kind.
Add that my love of sarcasm, it makes people mad. My bad, sorry everyone.
I can honestly say I never thought of you a single time when I wrote this.
Call me, man. We should do that Starbucks thing some morning.
I totally agree, I need some coffee time! I’ll get ahold of you today sometime.
This is just like you, Dave, to be all reasonable and whatnot. How do you suggest that Baptist bloggers drive up their traffic on their sites if they aren’t instigating partisan debates? Fire a shot at Them and, suddenly, they have to fire back to the tune of a hundred comments and a few hundred more views. I’m not saying that these conversations can’t be passionate and civil, but nothing brings in people like a good fight. I just think you are being reckless with your core demographic of visitors to Baptist blogs: SBC church attenders who can type faster… Read more »
I attended the “Band of Bloggers” meeting at the Gospel Coalition in Chicago on the way out to Virginia recently to visit my grandson (who is incredibly cute, by the way).
They discussed that in one of the forums (in the context of the Rob Bell debate). There is no doubt that controversy pushes up blog traffic. On the other hand, if we stir up controversies to raise our stats, there is something crass about that.
Its a tough balance. We will try not to let our productive debate get in the way of your entertainment, Josh.
On the other hand, I am working on a post called, “Hyper-Calvinist, anti-patriotic, alcoholic elders who refuse to give invitations at public schools.”
Don’t blog just about me! 🙂
Those elders don’t give nearly enough to the Cooperative Program. Go get ’em.
I can’t believe I left CP giving out of that!
That sounds like a barnburner of a post! I can’t quite figure out which side you will come down on that, Dave. But, know this — I will defend your right to say it, even if you come down on the “wrong” side. 🙂
Sounds familiar:
Pete: Wait a minute. Who elected you leader of this outfit?
Ulysses: Well Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought. But if that ain’t the consensus view, then let’s put it to a vote.
Pete: Suits me. I’m voting for yours truly.
Ulysses: Well I’m voting for yours truly too.
Delmar: Okay… I’m with you fellas.
Considering Delmar thought Pete was turned into a toad, he’s hardly a good example 🙂
Who are “they” anyway? “They are doing such and such”; “They are doing this and that”; “They are making huge mistakes”; “They are … “. Are they the same they that say everything we say that they say?
They say that we only know what we have when its gone.
Dave,
I’ve been doing a lot of inspection of myself lately, and it is truly liberating! I’m sure people I don’t even know have prayed for me, and I just wanted to say that I LOVE this post! Clever but very articulate reasoning. You are a voice of reason and I’m one of your biggest “fans.” I just like reading material from humble hearts who share my “Big Tent Baptist” philosophy. Thanks, brother.
Love in Christ,
Ed Goodman
Eph. 4:29
Thanks, Ed.
Maybe this is why I don’t blog much anymore. Very little fruitful discussion actually occurs and I could honestly care less about what someone else said or did or didn’t do. As for the latest perceived insult by Caner, who cares? If I knew the man and he personally attacked me, then I might want to talk with him about it. But, why are we in these camps anyway? What rights are we fighting for? Isn’t there enough to do than to worry about how our group is treated, who gets to speak at the pastor’s conferences (its only like… Read more »
Wow. Tell us how you really feel, Alan.
I will quarrel with one thing you said, though. You need to blog more, not less!
I tried to see how long I could make that last sentence! 🙂
Yet still grammatically correct.
I think I want to put the line, “..voyeuristically participating in the train wreck that is our collective soul bashing up against the wall of irrelevancy..” on a t-shirt.
I’ll buy one for you and one for me.
Wow! I really laughed hard, several times. This post was a joy, a refreshing bit of helpful humor. The best commentary on it is the old comic strip where, was it Pogo? who said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us” And Doug Hibbard’s whining for a few days made my day as I have done as much too many times (as if who hasn’t?) This could have a very happy and helpful outcome. Who knows, perhaps, even a Third Great Awakening?
Jesus commands us to be united .. to have unity. Jesus told us the new commandment .. not the O/T commands the Pharisees asked about .. but from His own mouth .. we’re to love each other as He loves us. Jesus said if we don’t come to Him as little children, we don’t even get to see the Kingdom of God. SO: if we’re not showing love one for another, we’re sinning against Him. And if we’re uniting around anything other than Jesus .. who saved us from sin .. which is about all a little child can understand… Read more »
BOB, you see more clearly than many.
You understand a lot.
It’s a matter of trust: “They are sneaky, ungodly, unkind, manipulative, dishonest and mean. They are trying to ruin the SBC that I am trying to save! Those no-good, dirty-rotten scoundrels. It’s a good thing me and my side are here to protect the SBC from them their cronies.” This is speculating about the motives of others, calling them evil, as though we knew these things. Ironically, we fail to fully understand our own motives. If “they” fear “our” motives, whether “their” fear is reasonable or not, then each of us must ask what we can do to ameliorate their… Read more »
Yes, we do have friends with whom and for whom we pray, and they are on the opposite side of a theological issue. And adherents can switch poles. When I was doing my research and writing of my thesis for the M.A. in American Social & Intellectual History, it was truly insightful to get an understanding of how and why people switch poles in their belief systems. I think we really do need an undertanding of some of the techniques of counseling with an understanding of systems therapy and feedback loops. We also need a better grasp of synthetical methodology.… Read more »