Posted on 05/22/2007 7:38:57 AM PDT by NYer
If the Rev. Jerry Falwell personified the Christian right in the past, then the Rev. Frank S. Page may represent its future.
From his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where his funeral will be held Tuesday, Falwell gave evangelicals a strong political voice. But it was often the voice of a sure and angry prophet, as when he blamed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in part on "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians," or described warnings about global warming as "Satan's attempt" to turn the church's attention from evangelism to environmentalism.
Page, 54, was chosen last year as president of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, Falwell's denomination and the country's largest evangelical one, in an election that he saw as a mandate for change.
"I would not use the word 'moderate,' because in our milieu that often means liberal. But it's a shift toward a more centrist, kinder, less harsh style of leadership," Page said. "In the past, Baptists were very well known for what we're against. . . . Instead of the caricature of an angry, narrow-minded, Bible-beating preacher, we wanted someone who could speak to normal people."
With members of an older generation of evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Billy Graham, the Rev. Pat Robertson, psychologist James C. Dobson and the Rev. D. James Kennedy, ailing or nearing retirement, Page is one of many pastors and political activists tugging conservative Christians in various directions.
Others include the Rev. Rick Warren and the Rev. William Hybels, megachurch pastors who are championing the fight against AIDS in Africa. David Barton, head of a Texas-based group called WallBuilders, stumps the nation decrying the "myth" that the Constitution requires separation of church and state.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Not to be too picky, but my personal belief is that Jerry Falwell was not an evangelical in the sense that most people think of today. When reporters report on “evangelicals,” they are usually referring to non-denominational churches such as Rick Warren’s and the like. Falwell had a denoimination, Baptist, and they have a defined orthodoxy, as opposed to non-denominational evangelicals, who seem to invent their own orthodoxy on a church by church basis (I know, since I belong to one).
Of course, in the traditional sense, Falwell was an evangelist (someone who is spreading the Word), but I don’t think he was a typical non-denominational evangelist a la Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, and other megachurch founder,as well as my own current quasi-denomination, The Vineyard.
Of course, it is too much to expect the media to get anything right regarding religion, but I think they miss the point when they classify him as an evangelical along the lines of Rick Warren and the like. I have seen several websites from the Baptists who are quite opposed to Warren, and even argue that these types of churches are not “authentic Christians,” in that they do not follow the core message of sin and salvation through grace.
The problem is too many people love entertainment more than they love their own children. So if they lose the kids hearts to the world, well, they had a good laugh doing it. And don’t just blame busy or lazy parents. Youth pastors are only too eager to contribute and even to lead the way. I think many of them wanted to be film critics but were not talented or bright enough, so they became youth pastors and now spend their weeks in front of the television in preparation for sunday school or other youth group events.
Acceptance of homosexuality is also greater among young evangelicals. One in three under 30 favors same-sex marriage, compared with one in 10 of their elders.Redeem the Vote, a group formed in 2004 to register young evangelicals to vote, is campaigning with black churches in Alabama for capping the interest charges on short-term "payday" loans, which can hit 400 percent a year. The group's founder, physician Randy Brinson, said he finds that young evangelicals are intensely interested in practical ways to help their communities and are little swayed by issues such as same-sex marriage.
"These kids have gone to school with people who happen to be gay, and they don't see them as a direct threat. They may think that lifestyle is wrong, but they don't see it as something that really affects their daily lives," Brinson said. "The groups that focus only on a narrow agenda, especially gay marriage and abortion, are going to decline."
How many agree that this is true of younger evangelicals?
If so, it means some terrible things for my denomination, in particular, and for historic Christianity in general.
While I agree that morality preaching is not the sum total of what Christianity is all about, I do not think that means doctrines of Christian morality are optional.
Well said. I look at it like this (crude language warning!): if two men want to get together in private and touch each other’s privates, I don’t think the law should crminalize it, though it most certainly is a sin. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that that’s what the debate is about. It isn’t about the right to engage in consensual conduct, it is about having the state sanction it, the church bless it, and both promote it, and in doing so overturn millenia old social institutions because a small percentage of emotionally disturbed men want to get together and touch each other’s privates.
I, as a Southern Baptist, Don’t blame Frank Page for the results of this pole. I blame the liberal/moderate pastors of the last 30 to 40 years, who never preached against sin, and Made Jesus out to be some all accepting God that will take you whether you accept him or not.
The Church I currently attend has many in it that accept abortion, homosexuality and other sins. These are the people that sat under the last 3 pastors the church has had, all of which (the former pastors) now Serve with the very liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. It is these wolves in sheep’s clothing that got us into the situation we are in now.
Fortunately we have a new conservative pastor starting June 3.
I am all for preaching against sin. (abortion, homosexuality, or otherwise) But I don’t believe in doing it in a “God hates fags” sort of way.
The Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is sufficient for all, but it is only efficient for those who accept Him. Without Him, we are all doomed to Hell.
If reporters think that, they are sadly mistaken. On the other hand, I wouldn't expect a reporter to understand what an Evangelical is! The term "Evangelical" merely identifies a person as endorsing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All organized "born-again" churches are Evangelicals.
MSNBC wants us to think that but I seriously doubt that’s the case.
The main problem is that the “evangelicals” tend to take a “by any means necessary” approach to outreach. It’s all a numbers game to them.
The Bible says the way is narrow and few will find it. Few will find it because few will preach it.
a big problem with evangelicalism is that it is damned near impossible to define. Personally, I have no idea if I am an evangelical or not. I do know that all the right people dislike them. It’s almost enough to make me want to be one whether I fit the definition or not.
PROBLEM IS THE TRUE DEFINITION:
Evangelical Christian
evangelical Baptist, sola scriptura, non-denominational, independent fundamentalist Bible believers, etc.
IS MIXED WITH ALL CHRISTIANS,RE CHARISMATIC,LUKE-WARM,LIBERAL,ETC. BY THE MEDIA.
Thanks. Good news indeed!
There, fixed it.
Not going to happen anytime soon...
“I have seen several websites from the Baptists who are quite opposed to Warren, and even argue that these types of churches are not “authentic Christians,” in that they do not follow the core message of sin and salvation through grace.”
1) Those Baptist would be wrong about Rick Warren.
2) Rick Warren (while he doesn’t use the baptist moniker) is a Baptist. He was trained as a Southern Baptist, and his methods are widely Taught in Southern Baptist Seminaries, especially in their missions classes. I know because I am such a student.
3) Rick Warren uses a different method to present salvation through grace, and repentance of sin, that do traditional churches, but it is the salvation message the bible gives.
Now I realize Rick Warren is not a 5 point Calvinist, but then anyone who actually knows any Greek can’t be and be honest, just means he knows his bible.
I don’t agree with everything Rick Warren does, but I am not going to malign someone who is getting the word out.
Evangelical isn’t a Denomination, but being in a Denomination doesn’t preclude you from being evangelical.
To be called an evangelical you need to Preach This:
1Co 15:1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,
1Co 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received — that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
1Co 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,
1Co 15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1Co 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
1Co 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
1Co 15:11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.
If that is your message of salvation you are evangelical, denomination or not.
Not all baptists are southern, I am a conservative baptist and we will not be giving up our bibles.
You quoted, He follows people like Dr. Stanley
You must be a professional journalist. The way you pulled the statement out of it's context was just masterful. You wouldn't even have had a post if you had included the very next word after the comma, "but."
I wonder how many of those are married and have children?
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