My fellow Southern Baptists, I’m not speaking to you today just as the pastor of a church. I am the great-great-grandson of two men who fought in the confederate army. One is buried in the confederate cemetery in Litchfield, Virginia. One fought in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. ….
All the confederate flags in the world are not worth one soul of any race.
I remain in awe of the courage Dr. Merritt exhibited on the floor of the convention. I hope the rest of us pastors will exhibit courage in our churches when we must stand for Biblical righteousness and do not give in to cultural norms. Thank you again SBC 2016, for being faithful witnesses to reach our deeply divided nation and for making a bold decision for such a time as this.
Yes
Yes Eli.
“…and do not give in to cultural norms.” Isn’t that exactly what we just did?
No, that’s what we did 150 years ago when we went with the cultural norms that saw people of color as less than human and thus threw support behind systems that enslaved instead of valued.
“A reed shaken by the wind.”
…the politically correct wind.
I thought it was interesting when the committee was asked to say something, they couldn’t. They were speechless. 🙂
*Note, I am ignoring all naysayers. This resolution overwhelmingly passed and debate about it is over. I will not participate in any trolling or debate. I am too busy dancing. 🙂
Besides no one said it better than James Merritt. So if you want a response play the above video over and over and over again. Hiding behind one name or no name is not courage btw.
Very moving and extremely proud of the SBC for approving.
It was even more powerful in the convention hall than the video conveys.
This is not the first time Dr. Merritt and his son have courageously spoken out on issues that would not have been considered politically correct by some of our SBC leadership. May his tribe increase.
Amen Ron. I think the tribe increased considerably yesterday. I would also say may Bart, Dave, Dr. McKissic , Alan Cross and Marty Duren and Wade Burleson’s tribe increase as again, I think they have into a few thousand as demonstrated yesterday.
Thanks Dwight and James. And to the many others who are also surrounded by the arms of the Savior that stood to make their voices heard in response to this issue. May we all seek to meet Dr. Merritt’s challenge of causing no soul to be turned away from the level ground at the foot of the Cross by our individual or collective action or inaction.
All you happy people just be ready to apologize to the next bunch of whiners that jump on this bandwagon.
Red: Go away. The Convention has spoken, we will no longer tolerate those such as yourselves speaking as you have for so many years. I will pray for you, but I will not tolerate that kind of speech. Go away.
And yes I am happy, very happy this passed, deal with it.
I think I WILL take your advice and go away, and quit involving myself in these dimwit debates. All this political correctness is making me sick. But let me tell you who will NOT go away…the whiners and complainers. They’ve won their first battle with the SBC, and they have you on the run, so get ready to live with their harassment from now on. Maybe the Muslims will be next, complaining about the crosses on our church buildings, or the trans-genders, offended because we still think there’s a really easy way to know whether you’re a boy or a girl—God only knows what else they have in store for the Convention and our churches to apologize for. Now that your bleeding hearts have opened the door and they know you will cave in to any kind of complaint their depraved minds can come up with, be ready for anything. Enjoy it if you can. I’m out of here (are you happy now?).
One more thing: I have a Mexican son-in-law and a black son-in-law and I love ’em both. Don’t call me prejudiced! The funniest jokes I’ve ever heard making fun of Mexicans (in fact, the ONLY ones) have come from my Hispanic son-in-law. My black son-in-law won’t let you call him “AFRICAN-American.” He says he is just an American who happens to be black, and he was NOT born in Africa. These men are living in the present instead of whining about the past.
FINIS
The resolution was the right thing to do. Period. It doesn’t matter when it SHOULD have been done, it doesn’t matter the social circumstances surrounding it. As he said, “All the confederate flags in the world are not worth the loss of a single soul.” If one person stumbles, then “woe to him who causes one of these little children to stumble.”
As in all discussions of Christian liberty, the question becomes one of flaunting your freedom in front of “the weaker brother”. Ask most people staunchly committed to maintaining displays of Confederate items, it becomes one of pride. See now the reaction we get for passing this resolution. All opposition, in the end, comes down to stubborn pride. “I can do what I want and other people need to get over it.” Anything else, e.g. “It’s too late” or “It’s only political correctness”, are simply distractions from the real issue.
And Red, one last thing and I’ll not address you again. I am glad you are unhappy this passed. It shows we did the right thing. So thank you for showing your displeasure. I knew it was the right thing, but you and people like you being so miserable about it solidifies it.
“are you happy now?”
Ecstatically.
And thank you, Debbie, for your loving spirit, telling me you “will not tolerate” me any more. Do you not realize you are acting just like the whiners? They don’t want to SEE anything that offends them; you don’t want to HEAR anything that offends you.
You have gone over to the other side and don’t even realize it. But that’s normal for people who can’t think logically.
No, I do not want to see or hear anything that demeans and debases another human being. I want respect and dignity shown to minorities no matter the color of their skin or no matter their religious beliefs, as long as they are not murders, or despite their geographical location. That is what “offends” me and I will stand against it. I can’t stomach it, I hate it with a passion, and it sickens me to the depth of my soul. It is poison. And praise the God that I serve, the Convention stood against it today. And that is something that you are obviously not getting.
Red: You know it amazes me that people such as yourselves come on here or on social media, say the dumb things that you say and then complain that I as a Christian do not show Christian love. I don’t respond, and you and Tom and others just keep coming with remarks.
Now I am a human being. I am not superhuman and I am not Christ. I do want your heart toward this subject to change and if you do not have Christ, I first and foremost want this for you. But I do not stomach the kind of speech you, Tom and others are using. I will be the first to admit it. Love is not something I have for this kind of thinking. And that includes your “the funniest jokes I have heard” line. It turns my stomach in ways that others like Dr. Merritt or Dr. Moore or even Dr. McKissic are able to convey better than I. It is the worst form of racism. It’s kind of like “My wife” jokes or the “I believe women should be behind the pulpit ……cleaning” jokes. They are horrible and demeaning. It is not ok.
And one last thing Red, if you allow your son n’ laws to tell these kind of jokes about themselves, stereotype themselves ,that is not love, it is abuse. You are simply allowing them to speak down to a heritage they should be proud of and if you truly love them as you say, you would not allow them to do this to themselves.
WOW, Debbie! You have a higher standard of righteousness than God himself. You make me think of the little plaque my wife has in the kitchen: “I’m not bossy. I just know what you should be doing,” or in your case, believing. It seems you even have the Godlike ability to know other people’s hearts, because you arrogantly question my salvation. As Job told his so-called friends, “No doubt wisdom will die with you.” At the same time you are totally unable to answer any of my challenges to this terrible strategic mistake with anything but your own feelings. For instance, you do not understand that one of the best ways to discredit and destroy something such as racism is to make fun of it, mock it, laugh at it, which is what I have done with my sons-in-law. All this makes you the second genuine Pharisee I have met in my entire life. The first was an army veteran 2 years ahead of me when I went to college as a ministerial student. He already had his own little Sanhedrin of younger aspiring preachers who followed his example of doing the only kind of preaching we heard or knew about in those days….a laundry list of sins, such as going to movies, girls wearing shorts, smoking, dancing, mixed swimming, even going to the skating rink….with which he accused and denounced everyone in the student body who could be trapped into listening to him. Funny thing is, he went into fulltime evangelism and found church after church that wanted that kind of preaching….until he got saved under one of his own sermons. Our paths crossed several years after college, and he was a different, and very humble, man.
How sad for you, though. You have all the qualifications for the Sanhedrin, but you’ll never get in because you’re a woman.
Now I AM done wasting my time with this kind of endless…and useless…debate. I will unsubscribe from SBC Voices, so anything you write you and your friends can enjoy alone. My reason will be found at Proverbs 26:4-5. It looks like I”ve disobeyed verse 4, because verse 5 definitely isn’t working.
The “bee” stings again!
http://babylonbee.com/news/confederate-flag-cant-believe-got-ousted-sbc-ed-young/
One of these years, we’ll have a convention that handles those issues, too…I think we (collective “we,” as in “we Southern Baptists as a whole”) tend to underestimate how badly the teaching/preaching of some of these folks (Ed Young, Jr, for example) really is. We don’t listen to it and probably mistakenly assume that most folks outside of the churches involved don’t listen to it.
We’re wrong, but it’s like a hole in the other side of the boat. Right now, we’re all excited to plug the starboard bow. We may sink from the aft, though.
Agreed. There is certainly a clear and present danger that is not currently being addressed.
(how many “presidential” movie references can we use over the next year?
“Dave” will make a good President, I think. 😉
Remember its not all about Dave now…We have to remember all the presidents men who will be helping him out this year.
Just pointing out that President Miller can be seen in the background of this video.
Cool, has the secret service detail given him a nickname yet?
Might we offer suggestions?
I think the Secret Service has nicknamed him “Chandango,” which is African for “Hippo; well, bigger than other hippo’s.”
🙂
David
Does this mean President Miller is one who has to be in the “lime” light?
Yes, Dave is the one we elected and even though he has a team behind him, he will be the one everyone will be looking to — pray for him
Yes, and we have a year of even more lime jokes to look forward too! 😀