Posted on 07/07/2016 7:09:11 AM PDT by Cronos
J.D. Greear, who was a strong contender for president at the recent Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, says it's unfair to blame declining baptism numbers in the SBC on a resurgence of 5-point Calvinism in Southern Baptist life. Greear graciously stepped aside in a razor close race with Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis and a more moderate Calvinist — a contest that many say rested on how 5-point Calvinism affects church growth
In an interview with The Christian Post last Thursday, Greear, pastor of Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, said it doesn't matter how many "points" of Calvinism one holds because "Jesus gave every one of us the Great Commission, and if we're not carrying it out, that's just plain unfaithful."
At issue is the degree of evangelistic zeal and the theological orientation that underpins the historic Southern Baptist emphasis on sharing the Gospel with nonbelievers.
Are critics correct who say 5-point Calvinist theology produces a "frozen chosen" mindset and that stricter Calvinist views yield less outreach and altar calls?
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
...also Spurgeon.
And catfish.
?
And RC Sprout, John MacArthur, Dr. James Kennedy, etc. etc. Also, Martin Luther also subscribed to every tenant of what we call "Calvinism". In fact, the only place where Luther and Calvin's theology differed was on the nature of the Eucharist.
A Baptism doesn’t “save”.
A Church Membership doesn’t “save”.
An alter-call doesn’t “save”.
_______________________________________
True the thief on the cross had none of these and yet the LORD Jesus Christ told him that he would be with Jesus that day in Paradise...
the thief asked Jesus to “remember” him when He (Jesus) came into His Kingdom...
1. The thief acknowledged WHO Jesus was...that He was the King and had a Kingdom of Heaven..
2. He knew he was not worthy of God’s grace...He said to his friend “We are criminals worthy of death”..
3. He chose to BELIEVE that Jesus had the power and could do something to make a difference in his fate..
4. he spoke, he asked and he didn’t ask amiss..
5. Nobody told him what to say, he used his own words as he understood them..
6. He hadn’t met up with John the Baptist
7. He was not a member of a church nor did he attend the synagogue regularly..
8. Jesus had alter calls of a type but the thief never heard Him preach..
9. The thief called Jesus “Lord” and spoke with respect..
10. He was humble..
I’m not sure I understand your objection.
Jesus was baptized in a river.
Just saying...
In the Chickahominy River. Big ones.
“...women are eternally (even in heaven) subservient to men...”
Interesting. So they ignore Galatians 3?
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slaveg nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
“In the Chickahominy River. Big ones.”
Oh! Hahaha! Yep. Get baptized and noodle before you come out of the water!
It seems that this shouldn’t even be a debate.
“The social liberalism and compromise of people like Russell Moore is contributory as well.”
Tell me about Moore. I seem to recall having an issue with him years ago but don’t recall what about. The circle I hear seem to love Moore.
I blame CalvinBall.
Much thanks is due to people like Dr. Paul Pressler, Paige Patterson, Wm. Criswell and Dr. Adrian Rogers, who, beginning in the late 60's throughout the 70's contending that the liberal drift of its seminaries and church leadership, was forcing the church on a trajectory toward distinction! Rogers was elected to the office of President of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979 and served three terms.
Members of this conservative force in the Convention conducted surveys of beginning seminary students showing 87% of them believed "that Jesus Christ is the Divine Son of God," while only 64% held to that belief by graduation! The group reasoned that liberalism among the SBC faculty and leadership strongly affected the faith of their students and were convinced that a leadership purge of such institutions was necessary to preserve the institution of the entire convention. After a long concerted effort of doing just that, the SBC began being a vibrant group of faithful Followers of Christ!
Unfortunately, over time, (nearing 50 years) anything that isn't working hard to stay conservative, will drift left and we are seeing in fissures within the SBC.
I can see the same parallels in our country from the conservative direction to the evil and corruption throughout our leaders but also our people who are content to content to vote them into office, finding the only sins worth punishing are, "intolerance, homophobia, sexism and client deniers!"
Yes it’s pretty simple.
We shouldn’t have to have these debates, but yet we do unfortunately.
I was baptized in the Jordan River like Jesus was ...
its just a nice event that Christians do when they are in Israel...
But that’s all it is, a nice thing to do...
John the Baptist did that to the Jews so that they would be washed clean of their sins...
Now we have the shed Blood of the LORD Jesus Christ to “wash us white as snow”
Baptism by water at church or in a river is just a symbol of being washed clean of all sin..
the process does not save anyone...
I confessed I was a sinner, repented, asked God to forgive me and was completed saved at age 8, baptized in the Spirit by age 10 with a desire to speak in tongues (nobody else was there to lay hands on me), sprinkled and confirmed into the Anglican church at age 14..
Years later when I was submerged totally into the water in a baptismal bath I didn’t get anything added to my salvation..
That’s how they do it in Oklahoma!
John (Pied) Piper is bad news. He teaches out of both sides of his mouth. P.S. Piper actually plays second fiddle to Wayne Grudem’s tunes on Eternal Subordination. Grudem is the “brains” of the bunch and Piper spouts the poetry.
FWIW, i read what Tulip stands for. I am certainly no Calvinist.
Declining enrollment numbers are a poor indication of theological understanding. In fact, one may argue that the more theologically correct you are, the more people are apt to shy away from the truth. Our Lord Jesus is a perfect example of what happens when one holds a perfect theology.
Alter calls are not relly a Christian concept.
Nor are alters.
Nor is tithing.
i.e. i personally don’t fault your church for not doing alter calls. I’m sure that puts your mind at ease. :-)
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