There have been a few within the SBC who have a hard time understanding that any current discussion in the SBC is not over the nature of Scripture, but rather, the interpretation of the sacred text.
This next week, beginning Monday, I will offer five messages on this blog site that will deal with five major doctrines of the Christian faith based upon either individuals or events recorded in Genesis. I realize that the next few posts may not generate much discussion, for which I am glad :).
My intention in posting these messages over the next few days is to help us refocus on what is important --- the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Recently I received this quote via email:
"Christian conservative voters, believing the GOP-led Congress and President Bush have failed to push strongly on so-called values issues like marriage,may stay away from the voting booth in November or possibly vote Democratic.It has not escaped our notice that they waited until just a few months from the November elections to address our agenda, said Kenyn Cureton, vicepresident for convention relations with the executive committee of theSouthern Baptist Convention."
Kenyn is a great guy, and I know that he speaks for all of us who have a concern for the direction of the politics in our land, but I would propose that our truest agenda is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's who we are as Southern Baptists and I will offer the following the next few days as my small attempt to refocus on the gospel through this blog.
The Gospel in Genesis
Adam --- The Doctrine of Representation
Abel --- The Doctrine of Propitiation
Abram -- The Doctrine of Justification
"The Angel" -- The Doctrine of Sanctification
"The Ark" ---- The Doctrine of Glorification
I hope you have a wonderful Lord's Day tomorrow.
Blessings to all,
Wade Burleson
24 comments:
Wade,
Sure looking forward to sharing what God's Word says. Les had a post this past week and even Bro Ben Cole joined in. I sure do enjoy it when Brothers and Sisters join in and share the Gifts Gods Word is Teaching us. We are able to correct each other or shed some Light on misunderstandings we may have. Iron Sharpens Iron.
Ecc 10:10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.
None of us are perfect and never will be able to know it all.
In His Name
Wayne Smith
Wade,
Ah, interpreting Scripture. Sounds like a job for “teachers of religion” who Jesus warned about in Mark 12:38 and Luke 11:52. 1 Corinthians 11:18-19 should be a warning also: “Everyone keeps telling me about the arguing that goes on…but I suppose you feel this is necessary so that you who are always right will become known and recognized.”
We should approach “interpretation” with fear and trembling and I realize when I point the finger, three are in my direction.
Are there any rules on what Bible translation is to be used or not used? For instance, (easy to see the ax I’m grinding) King James states in Romans 14:14 “…there is nothing unclean of itself…” while the old Living Bible states “…there is nothing really wrong with eating meat that has been offered to idols…”
Rex Ray
I believe we have been too consumed with helping God with His agenda. God is in charge and He doesn't need our help. I look forward to your series.
Rex.
Thought I might meet you the other night at the association meeting at your church, but thing didn't work out that way because of illness in the family. Pretend this is a Bible Study in your Church. Be nice as these are your Christian Brothers and Sisters. No agenda just sharing God's Word.
In His Name
Wayne Smith
Kevin,
You said, "God is in charge and He doesn't need our help." That sounds a lot like what a hyper-calvinist told William Carey before he went to the mission field. It is reported that William Carey was told, "If God wants the heathen saved, He'll do it without help from you and me." A true missions-killer attitude.
God is sovereign and in control, but He chooses to work through His people to accomplish His purposes. I'm certainly believe that you agree with that and your earlier remark may have been misspoken. :)
Regards,
Les
Wade,
I look forward to your posts.
Regards,
Les
Les,
I wasn't talking about missions or evanagelism. I was referring to politics. Too many people think they can help God by making legislation. God's word, evangelism and discipleship will change the world not politics.
This is another example of how we all see things differently. I'm not a Calvanist- at least not a 5 pointer.
THE NEXT RUMOR:
Wade is a political moderate or liberal.
Wade, I am looking forward to the next several messages!
ps.
I'm with Rex, I'm not into these new Bibles. Give me the choice of Jesus and Paul, give me the AV 1611.
Kevin:
God does choose to use us, which indicates (if true) that He could also choose not to use us. I believe that is true.
If He can choose not to use us, and being omnipotent (and all them other things too), then He could accomplish His purposes without us if He chose to.
Therefore, He does not need us. He chooses to use us. That makes it even more humbling, to me.
I Fox,
What version of the Bible do you use? I know Rex uses the KJ version. I use them all, but trust the NASB, ESV and sometimes the NKJ.
Wade hasn't started class yet and already Rex and Kevin are misbehaving.
We need Dorcas or Bro Jeff Young to maintain order in this class.
In His Name
Wayne Smith
Kevin,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. :)
Regards,
Les
Wade,
I just did a read of irreverent-fox's Blog and I think he should not be able to be in your class. It seem he mistreated a angle named Flurry and needs to repent. I would suggest you take a look and maybe have some other witnesses.
In His Name
Wayne Smith
Wayne Smith,
I just read the dog story on the blog of Gary Fox.
I agree with you. He has a problem and so do those that think the story is funny. It has been my experience that if a man does not like dogs or kids or if kids and dogs do not like a man there is a problem.
I wonder what would happen if we rubbed Gary down with pork chop grease and put him in a room with my bulldogs:-) Just joking, Gary. I know what would happen even if we didn't rub you down with pork chop grease.
Gary,
Clean up the dog act before PETA reads your blog. They take this stuff just too seriously.
Glad you found your dog. I guess I am just a little strange about dogs. They saved my life on three separate occasions. Also, I have never had a dog to lie to me or, most importantly, about me.
cb
CB,
I also love Dogs and was raised with them always being part of the family. We always name them after a family clan member. My current dog is name Blu.
Now that we have exposed this FOX guy, what would you recomend we do or shall we just blame Wade?
In His Name
Wayne Smith
Wayne,
I am still blaming Wade for the war in Iraq and for the increase in oil company profits so we should let him slide on this one. As for Fox I think his wife will deal with him so let's let it go at that:-)
cb
So, true... our allegience is to Christ, not an elephant or a donkey. We will never win this country to Christ through politics. We will only see this happen when the church starts acting like the church. I once posted about this during the November elections of 2004. Here is a sample of what I wrote:
(Wade, feel free to edit this to be shorter, or feel free not to post it at all)
Republican Party ≠ Christianity
Ok... so we had elections in this country not too long ago. All the rhetoric, debates, scandals, and bad TV ads are all over now. President Bush won the election, and not with the nuisance of hanging chads or Supreme Court Decisions. This was a solid victory. With the victory came word across the world that the one factor that made the difference was the importance of moral values. Strangely enough, that was never brought up by the news before the election (at least as I can recall, and I watched a LOT of election news). It would seem that the country's press thought that "moral values" had gone the way of the 1950s.
So, suddenly, all attention was drawn worldwide to the voting power of the conservative Christian. I heard report after report that gave the win for Bush from the hands of this demographic in America. Like clockwork, within hours of the election, the Democratic Party was trying to stake it's claim in the hill of moral values... perhaps a little too late? Ugh... politics (of any form) makes me sick to my stomach.
---
And here I am with a HUGE concern for our nation... While many Christians in America rejoice that their man won the election, I am afraid that their success will be one more nail in the coffin for Christianity in America. Why?
---
Now, two generations removed from church attendance being the norm in America (X and Y being the first two post-Christian generations here in the US), anyone that is not a Christian and is perhaps more liberal in their thinking of how government should work is now equating Christianity with the Republican Party. :( What a sad day for Christianity, even in the wake of a victory in the eyes of many.
Historically speaking, when the church has harbored itself with any organization or aligned itself with a government entity (throughout the ages) for a gain of power, it has paid for that with blood. Religion and politics are a bad mix; it is a deadly elixir. For that reason, I am proud of my baptist heritage that fought for the freedom that our founding fathers did not have in England: the freedom of government control of religion or the control of religion on government.
But the mixing of religion with politics is not only bad for that reason, though that's a good one. The mixing is bad because the lines can be confusing... what does it really mean to be a Christian in America? Now, the whole world (due to massive ignorance and perpetuated stereotypes of Christians from religious leaders like Falwell, Dobson, and Robertson), believes the USA is a Christian nation because we elected a Christian president. Nothing could be further from the truth. According to the North American Mission Board in 1999, North America is the ONLY continent in the world where Christianity is not growing. Gaining a Christian president will not make this nation a Christian one.
So, are political lines and checks on litmus tests what makes one a Christian? Absolutely not! But, that's the perception. Anyone else see this HUGE disconnect?
True power in this world comes by loving your neighbor as yourself and loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And it takes the later to do the former. Political power is nothing. True power comes in love and humility. The power of change takes place when we start doing what we were told to do already: walk as Christ walked... live as Christ lived. How many Christians do you know that do this? Show of hands?... ok... now, when the number of hands begin to increase in this nation and the world around... then, and only then, will we be even CLOSE to being a Christian nation/world.
Yet, now, as it stands we are the scourge of the earth... and not because we "stand up for Jesus." We are the scourge because we do not live as our Lord did, and that is simply unacceptable.
DCCowan: November 2004
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For newer blog entries, see my new site: http://www.lowercasechurch.com
God's Peace
Wayne Smith,
I only trust the Bible Jesus and Paul trusted, the only AUTHORIZED Version of the Bible by God Himself and the ONLY one without a copyright!
;^)
since my blog has been mentioned several times and since I have never attempted a shameless plug before and since I am Wades favorite commentor, hands down, you can read for youself what the craze on the blogosphere is all about at www.emergingreformer.blogspot.com
this story is already being translated into 27592 different languages and dialects by the IMB to use in world missions...oh yeah..it's that good.
while you are there make me a favorite and check back...if I thought people were actually reading my stuff I'd write more often! lol, leave comments! lol, throw me a bone! ok...enough with the puns...
No more shameless plugs Wade...not unless the masses continue to demand more information about my blog...
Wayne Smith,
Sorry for the illness—would have liked to have met. One vote at our 120th county association meeting (40 churches—about 175 people attending) reminds me of the knowledge churches had of voting on the BFM 2000. (Am I allowed to misbehave just a little?)
“Turn to page 33 for our amended by-laws. Words that are the same are standard lettering. Words deleted are standard lettering with a line through them. Words added are in italics. Is there any discussion before we vote?”
“In keeping with Baptist tradition, may we read this before we vote?” (You can guess who said that.)
“Yes, we will vote in ten minutes. Everyone stand and sing.”
Conversation in the hall: “Did you see anything you didn’t like?” (Out of five pages: 67 lines same. 49 lines deleted. 56 lines added.)
“Yes. It indicates the meetings of the Executive Board (changed to Administrative Team) has changed from being open to the public to closed doors.”
“That’s not supposed to be that way.”
“Will you add to the motion to fix it?”
“Yes.”
I’d never met this preacher before, but the vote was taken while we were in the hall. We agreed—better luck next year. I’m still waiting for the year the BFM will change.
The message was great, but an eye-opener—takes 44 Southern Baptists to win 1 to the Lord.
Rex Ray
Come on you guys,
How come you have me rooting for King James? You know everything Fox says is backwards in that funny way of his. His dog story is a scream—makes me wish we hadn’t got cross-ways a while back.
It’s in the minutes of our church that I made a motion for our new pew bibles NOT to be King James. (The motion died for lack of a second.) I feel sorry for the little kids trying to memorize Scripture in Awanas. I’ll ask, “Do you know what that word means?” They say no—the same answer I would tell my SS teacher too many years ago.
Missionaries in Japan have told me they used the Living Bible to avoid confusing a different English to people trying to learn English. I fell in love with the Living over 40 years ago. One visiting professor from SWBTS preached a sermon using King James. He chased words all through the Greek and Hebrew over and over. I was following in the Living and thought his sermon would only be half as long if he had used it.
I’m like Wayne Smith in using six Bibles to compare, but King James is usually on the bottom.
For instance: 1 Corinthians 7:14 “For the unbelieving husband IS sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife IS sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean: but now are they holy.”
Older manuscripts than the one King James used, have “COULD BE sanctified.” Rather than admitting this, Criswell’s Study Bible’s notes say that “sanctified” referred to the marriage.
On a lighter note, I wonder what our association thought of our bulletin board. It had: “SS attendance 54”, “Offering “833”, and “Offering last week” was blank but under it was “41345”. Wednesday night, I asked if the $41,345 was our building fund. The clerk said that was the numbers stored that was left over.
Rex Ray
sorry Rex,
I thought you were a Ruckmanite.
I'm glad you liked my story! Naomi just thrilled when I posted it and now she is even MORE thrilled that it is being talked about here AND on SBC Outpost! Lol. Actually, she picked her little angel from Jesus up and said, "Your mommies famous angel from Jesus now..."
Good grief, Lord give me strength...
Fox,
How can you think I’m something that’s not in the dictionary? “Ruckmanite”? What does that mean? I don’t know whether to be mad, glad, or sad. Of course I should know that’s the way you like to leave people guessing. Your “Give me strength” made me laugh out loud.
Hey! Since tomorrow we know Wade is going to post on “Adam --- The Doctrine of Representation”, why don’t we get ahead of him and comment BEFORE he puts the post up? That would be different. I know you could come up with something.
Wade,
What does :) mean? WOW! Somehow I typed that and a ‘smiley face’ came up. After all this time of seeing that , I didn’t know what it meant. I was just fixing to give you a lecture on lack of appreciation for the people that have spent hours—no, DAYS of pouring their hearts out trying to have an understanding of the Bible, the people, the convention, and how to reach the lost for Christ and for you to say, “I realize that the next few post may not generate much discussion, for which I am glad ” Well, it just burnt me up. I hope there is no one else with the thinking I had.
Rex Ray
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