"Individuals of the [Conservative Baptist] Network's steering council noted in 2020 increasing concern among Baptists in the pew with what many have described as a progressive direction of the Southern Baptist Convention, citing more specifically a departure from long-held Baptist distinctives, capitulation to culture, and a functional embrace of worldly ideals and practices."--Sharayah Colter, CBN Press, February 14, 2022.
The marriage of parts of the white, Evangelical Christian culture in the United States with extremist Trumpian right wing politics has changed the character of many churches and denominations, orienting them in a much more political fashion and away from characteristics that once distinguished them as Christian movements, rooted in Biblical theology and widely accepted Christian practice. Recent events inside the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) are an indication that things have changed considerably, though not in exactly the way they would describe them.
This paragraph, cited at the top in italics from a "news journal" published by a group that calls themselves the "Conservative Baptist Network," characterizes some of those changes using language that describes their perceptions. I'll use some of the same language as a reference point, but it will mean something quite different than most of those involved with this group can see from their perspective. The Conservative Baptist Network is an organization that claims, contrary to any evidence, there is an "establishment" in the SBC which embraces Critical Race Theory and promotes theological "liberalism." You can discern, from the attack blogs and tweets of its supporters, that it is more of a Trumpian political faction aimed at linking the SBC to Trump politics and values.
A Functional Embrace of Worldly Ideals and Practices
I would suggest that the CBN steering committee look in the mirror before accusing SBC leadership of a "functional embrace of worldly ideals and practices." Trump Junior recently addressed a youth gathering in Arizona, telling the participants that while Evangelical Christians are nice people and all that, their values and practices--things that Jesus taught like being meek and turning the other cheek--will not bring them the kind of worldly success after which they are seeking.
"We've turned the other cheek and I understand--sort of--the Biblical reference--I understand the mentality," he said. "But it's gotten us nothing."
CBN has apparently determined that Trump Junior was right. After last year's election of Alabama pastor Ed Litton to the SBC Presidency, on the second ballot, against Georgia pastor Mike Stone, who was the endorsed CBN candidate, Litton was bombarded with an avalanche of vicious attacks on his character. Litton had used sermon material from the previous SBC President, J.D. Greear, who is a personal friend of his, with Greear's permission, but failed to give actual attribution in the sermons he preached while using the material.
CBN's leadership maintained that the caustic and vicious attacks, which amounted to character assassination, were not coming from them, but it was pretty clear from the avalanche of tweets and attacks on blogs, along with insinuated accusations in CBN's blog and publicity, that they wanted to force him to step down. The attacks were modeled after Trumpian political methodology, digging into the online database of Litton's Alabama congregation, claiming that multiple sermons were "plagiarized" without a shred of evidence. They put short clips of sermons up where Litton quoted other pastors, authors and evangelists, deliberately leaving out the verbal attributions or the citation on the screen behind him.
Litton followed Biblical directives when the critics attacked. He acknowledged that he had not properly attributed credit to the original author, though he had been given permission to use it as he saw fit. He apologized for the offense and asked for forgiveness. Most of his critics, however, chose the worldly practice of continuing to assassinate his character and failed to follow Biblical practice and principle (Matthew 18:15-35).
The ulterior motive behind these attacks, which dripped with ungodly sinfulness, was political power, just like the blatant lies and character assassination common to Trumpian politics. If Litton had been forced to step down, one of the CBN steering committee members, Lee Brand, an administrator at Mid-America Seminary, which has become "CBN Central", who was elected first vice president of the SBC, would get the SBC presidency and all of its appointive power. While Litton determined not to put himself or his church through another round of false accusations, character assassination and attacks, and has decided not to run for a second term, the damage to the denomination's reputation has already been done.
Worldly Ideologies and Practice in Attacks on the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
And if that wasn't enough ungodliness and sinful behavior, emulating Trump as a role model, the CBN candidate for SBC president, Mike Stone, decided to go one further in violating Biblical principle and the instructions of an apostle by filing a lawsuit against former ERLC Executive Director Russell Moore, because two letters Moore wrote that described Stone's actions when he was chair of the executive committee were leaked. Stone felt that the information contained in the leaked letters, which he did not contest or deny, may have caused his defeat at the convention.
Moore was under enormous pressure at the ERLC because he is a never-Trumper, openly opposed to the former President because of his worldly ideologies and practices, and the debauchery and immorality on which he proudly built his public image. Stone, as president of the SBC's executive committee, launched investigations into the ERLC, based on unfounded and unproven accusations, a.k.a., "lies," with the intention of responding to pressure to try and force Moore out. Now it's not really difficult for me to figure out here which side represents a Christian, Biblical approach and who is siding with the worldly ideology and practice.
The Apostle Paul warns Christians against the use of the secular courts to settle disputes in his first epistle to the Corinthian church, 6:1-11, but there was a cataract of tweets, social media and blog posts explaining why Paul's words did not apply to Stone's lawsuit. This is proof that even those who claim to believe in the Bible's inerrancy and infallibility can twist its words and make it fit with any worldly ideology or practice in which they desire to engage.
Stone did eventually drop the lawsuit, whether by conviction, or because of mounting criticism for doing it which more than likely removed him as a possible candidate for SBC president again this June. It may also still be a lingering reminder for messengers to avoid voting for CBN endorsees when Southern Baptists gather in Anaheim, California to elect new officers.
A Clear Choice for Southern Baptists
Embracing Trump because he occasionally tosses some scraps to his white, Evangelical supporters is to embrace his lifestyle, the means by which he built his reputation and fame, and by which he still operates. That includes multiple adulterous affairs on all three of his wives, along with two divorces. fraudulent business dealings, incessant, pathological lying, his boasts about being able to grab women by the genitals because he's famous, owning and operating strip clubs and other vice-promoting businesses including casinos, and his open, public denial of needing to be forgiven for anything. The Apostle Paul warns Christians not to embrace such a person, "Do not even eat with such a one." And yes, that would apply to Trump, because he has been embraced and supported by many white, Evangelical leaders and even though he denies having a conversion experience, they claim him as one of their own. They own his debauchery and by their support, they are endorsing it.
It seems pretty clear that Southern Baptists who want to avoid embracing "worldly ideologies and practices" should first of all avoid Trump and Trumpism. And in their own convention, that means avoiding candidates endorsed by CBN. Their brand of "conservatism" involves embracing secular political practices that are clearly worldly, denying any Christian influences. Already plagued by a massive sexual abuse scandal involving pastors, church staff members and even the SBC's executive committee, the SBC can ill afford picking up the Trump baggage, especially after having lost two million members of its churches in less than a decade.
The "liberalism" and "wokeness" that CBN claims is now the reason why the SBC is declining doesn't really exist. The SBC is as far away from being "woke" as Pluto is from the sun. And the "liberalism" cited by CBN has nothing to do with theology or doctrine. It is as conservative as it has ever been, in some aspects, to its own detriment. The fact of the matter is that its churches need to figure out how to preach the gospel in a more effective and relevant way to reach people that they haven't been able to reach, even in the Southern heartland where most of their churches are found. Aligning with a corrupt politician or trying to do spiritual work with worldly power isn't going to arrest the decline.
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