“I used past tense; you used past tense; now you want to use present tense. The SBC supported abortion and slowly changed its mind and pulled back from it with a succession of resolutions, fully rescinding their 1971 and 1974 resolutions in 2003.”
Actually, they passed a differing resolution in 1976, not waiting until 2003. It occurred at the same time the SBC faced a split between conservatives and ‘moderates’...and the moderates lost, big time. By 1979, they had lost essentially all of their influence in the SBC, and it has been kept out for the last 35 years.
“You had written The SBC did not support abortion and that is simply not true.”
What I wrote, and what you choose to distort, is this:
“The SBC did not support abortion. They were caught by surprise by Roe v Wade, and took a few years to get 45,000 congregations to build a consensus on how to respond.”
Anyone who knows anything about the SBC knows that the “SBC leadership” has limited authority, and that resolutions are typically voted on by 1-2,000 delegates, and thus often misrepresent the views of the 45,000 member churches.
“I brought this up because I thought your characterization of Baptists not using the KJV was skewed toward modern Baptists. The Independent Fundamental Baptists have clung to the KJV...”
Really? Do y’all have Bishops? Do you all have a hierarchical church? Do you have Priests?
The KJV is not hideous, but it is also not a faithful translation. Read the instructions King James gave to the translating committee, and how he forbade them from using congregation or elder:
“3. The Old Ecclesiastical Words to be kept, viz. the Word Church not to be translated Congregation &c.
4. When a Word hath divers Significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the Ancient Fathers, being agreeable to the Propriety of the Place, and the Analogy of the Faith.”
When you allow a King to determine your translation, you are not being faithful to the text.
They began to change their doctrine in 1976 but did not rescind it fully until 2003. The 1976 resolution resolved to try to change attitudes and conditions that led people to use abortion as a form of birth control but also still permitted the decision about abortion to be between a woman and her doctor. "Be it further RESOLVED, that we also affirm our conviction about the limited role of government in dealing with matters relating to abortion, and support the right of expectant mothers to the full range of medical services and personal counseling for the preservation of life and health."
“You had written The SBC did not support abortion and that is simply not true.” What I wrote, and what you choose to distort, is this: “The SBC did not support abortion. They were caught by surprise by Roe v Wade, and took a few years to get 45,000 congregations to build a consensus on how to respond.”
The only distortion I see is a denial that the SBC supported abortion. In 1973, while the 1971 resolution supporting abortion was in force, WA Criswell (who AFAIK was not in the moderate faction/sect of the SBC), the twice elected President of the SBC (1968) Affirmed the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision permitting abortion. Religious News Service quoted Criswell as saying, "I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had life separate from the mother that it became an individual person, and it always has, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed." Criswell later changed his position on abortion, becoming a staunch opponent of the procedure.
Anyone who knows anything about the SBC knows that the “SBC leadership” has limited authority, and that resolutions are typically voted on by 1-2,000 delegates, and thus often misrepresent the views of the 45,000 member churches.
Yes, I understand it took many years for them to figure out what they should believe and to rescind their resolutions supporting abortion.
The KJV is not hideous, but it is also not a faithful translation.
Independent Fundamental Baptists do not agree with that position at all. One group of Baptists which took years to figure out that abortion was murder and discounts the KJV as an unfaithful translation. Another group of Baptists knew abortion was murder from the start and clings to their guns, religion, and the KJV.