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The SBC and the Nicene Creed Featuring Malcolm Yarnell & Steve McKinion along with Matt Emerson and Luke Stamps: A Brief Response

Four Baptist scholar-historians (two seminary professors and two university professors) plan to move at the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention that The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message be amended to include a brand new article of faith—Article XIX: The Creed. Many have wondered why now, and why this Creed. In the minds of those wondering why now, they undoubtedly are thinking about the confessional history of Southern Baptists themselves. For Southern Baptists, there appears to have always been a significant issue even if not very troubling issue that ultimately called for... Read more →

I Vote No: 2022 Southern Baptist Convention, Anaheim, California

The 2022 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) scheduled in Anaheim, California is about to be underway. I'm not going. But if I were, I would unequivocally vote No on the proposed recommendations by the Sex Abuse Task Force (SATF). Not that I would be opposed to any and all reform efforts to better inform and resource churches and entities associated with the SBC about sexual abuse. Being associated with and supportive of the SBC since I was converted in 1977, and having served SBC churches as volunteer, church planter, lead pastor,... Read more →

Does voter suppression in 2021 look like voter suppression in 1961? An Answer to Bill Leonard

Last week, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary research professor, Karen Swallow Prior, made a socio-cultural analogy between the systemic social consequences of the 1960s sexual revolution in the United States and the systemic racism in the United States we allegedly observe today according to Critical Race theorists. As I showed in my reply, Prior's analogy simply collapses in on itself making it far more difficult to accept her claim of systemic racism (via CRT) rather than easier. This week, a reputable Baptist historian makes yet another analogy from almost the same... Read more →

Systemic Racism & Sexual Revolution: Replying to Karen Swallow Prior

Formerly teaching English at Liberty University for over 20 years, Karen Swallow Prior presently serves as Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Prior is author of a number of books including Jane Eyre: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting; On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books; Heart of Darkness, and Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me not to mention her prolific online literary presence and numerous magazine articles published in Christianity Today and other major Christian publications. Prior's... Read more →

A. H. Newman on Calvinism and religious liberty

pic source The year 2017 marks the 500th year since the Protestant Reformation was launched by Martin Luther's legendary nailing of his 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. And while John Calvin was only 8 years old when Luther began the protestant religious revolution, Calvin's theology became the standard expression of Reformed theology. Some attribute to Calvin and Calvinism the development of our broad American liberties including "anti-statism, the belief in transcendent principles of law as the foundation of an ethical legal system, free... Read more →

Kehukee Baptist Association formed from stolen churches?

In 1765, the Kehukee Baptist Association met for the first time and was organized as an association. The Philadelphia Baptist Association had commissioned Peter Van Horn and Benjamin Miller as missionaries to go south into North Carolina to "visit the churches and preach the Gospel." Their mission was to churches, not to the masses moving into the southern Colonies. Specifically, the two missionaries visited General Baptist churches planted by Paul Palmer and other "Free-will" Baptists. According to Kehukee's historian, Through their instrumentality [Van Horn and Miller], many people were awakened;... Read more →

Esteemed Southern Baptist Historian, Thomas J. Nettles on the formation, decline, and comeback of the Southern Baptist Convention

source In 2014, Thomas J. Nettles retired as professor of historical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he had taught since 1997. Dr. Nettles' theological instruction spanned a full 38 years in the classroom of various theological institutions including Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Nettles is considered by many to be one of the foremost Baptist historians alive today. Beginning early in the 1980s, two of his books, one of which was co-authored by the late L. Russ Bush, ranked... Read more →

Is John MacArthur selling out his moral convictions? Has he given up every thing he's ever believed by voting for Donald Trump for POTUS?

Al Mohler, Russell Moore, and Denny Burk among other leading evangelical voices have persistently presented a #NeverTrump agenda to the American public. Evangelicals have been accused of losing their soul; giving up everything they've ever believed; being so in love with political power that they are willing to lose their gospel testimony; and embracing a cheap version of moral relativism all just to rationalize their vote for Donald Trump as president of the United States. Below is John MacArthur's answer to a question he was asked about voting for Donald... Read more →

John Gano--an alternate description of an early American Calvinist missionary

John Gano (1727-1804) remains a hero among Baptist Calvinists for his role in evangelizing the heathen in mid-18th century. picture source For example, Baptist pastor and historian, Tom Ascol, highlights Gano's role as a gospel preacher commissioned by the Charleston Association to show how Regular (Particular) Baptists were "thoroughly evangelistic:" ...the [Charleston] association commissioned John Gano to preach the gospel at the Jersey Settlement on the banks of the Yadkin River—not far from Sandy Creek—in what is now North Carolina. Far from being a dividing point, Sandy Creek actually became... Read more →

Zwingli on the fate of Baptists--"Drown the dippers!"

source Melancthon smiled when Servetus was put to death by Calvin. When the magistrates of Zurich consulted Zuinglius on the fate of some poor Baptists, " Drown the dippers" —said the Reformer. --"Historical Sketch of the Baptist Denomination" Midland Association, England, 1832 Save Save Read more →

Religious Liberty, Islamic Terrorism, and Balthasar Hubmaier

Gerald Harris, Editor of Georgia's Christian Index, recently published an editorial which proved to be quite provocative. Entitled "Do Muslims Really Qualify for Religious Liberty Benefits?" Harris questioned whether modern terrorist Islam is more a "geo-political movement" engaged in a violent aggressive goal to invade American borders and kill American infidels rather than a peaceful religion protected by first amendment rights. Harris was clear he was not questioning the historic Baptist notion of universal religious liberty—that is, religious liberty is not limited to Christian believers, but religious liberty is inclusive... Read more →

Nineteenth Century Mississippi Baptists not strictly Calvinistic

According to Mississippi Baptist historians, Z. T. Leavell and T. J. Bailey, the first attempt by Mississippi Baptists to form a statewide convention failed.1 In 1823, three Baptist associations—Pearl River, Union, and Mississippi—proposed a meeting for all Mississippi Baptists for "preserving and continuing the ties of brotherly love"; for "union between sister associations; for "the propagation of the pure doctrines of the gospel"; and finally to prevent "innovations in practice and heresies in doctrine'" (p. 1321). After five to six years of ups and downs, the initial convention appeared to... Read more →

Gregory A. Wills: "Arminianism did not prosper in the Netherlands"

Gregory A. Wills summarily writes about the Synod of Dort's response to the Remonstrants, followers of Jacob Arminius. 'The Arminian Remonstrants summed up their doubts [i.e. concerning the purported teachings of John Calvin by Theodore Beza, et al] in five points. The Dutch church hosted the Synod of Dort, a gathering of the leaders of Europe's Reformed churches, which answered each point…These became known as the "five points of Calvinism."'1 Wills then writes, "Arminianism did not prosper in the Netherlands but attracted many followers in England and America." So far... Read more →

Heretic began Louisiana Baptist state paper

Louisiana Baptists' first denominational paper began in 1855 at Mount Lebanon, LA. Named Louisiana Baptist with Hanson Lee as its first editor, the paper was reportedly "ranked with the ablest religious journals of the south." Nonetheless, the paper suffered fatal ups and downs over the next two decades, changing owners several times, until it was sold to J.R. Graves in 1869 and subsequently discontinued. Almost ten years passed when Louisiana pastor, S.C. Lee heeded the call of Louisiana Baptists the state over of the need for a weekly newspaper to... Read more →

"A soteriology without Calvinism is a path to bad religion and compromised churches." --Tom Nettles

"A soteriology without Calvinism is a path to bad religion and compromised churches." --Tom Nettles Claims like the above from aggressive Calvinists among Southern Baptists is precisely why I began this blog in 2006 posting non-Calvinist sources throughout the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, sources that High Calvinists like Nettles routinely ignore. For Nettles, the chief causal reason for the theological compromise on Scripture addressed by the Conservative Resurgence beginning in 1979 appears to be the loss of High Calvinism (i.e. T.U.L.I.P.) in the convention. And, too, according to... Read more →

Six to 800 missionaries must come home apparently due to apathy of Southern Baptists

source Recently, International Mission Board (IMB) leaders announced a plan to scale back Southern Baptists' global mission effort by cutting personnel by approximately 15%. The plan was presented by President David Platt and his senior leadership team during an Aug. 27 "town hall" meeting, a meeting which included missionaries and staff and was available both on and off site (i.e. digitally). According to Baptist Press "Platt said the urgency of the plan is based in the reality that while Southern Baptist giving through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon... Read more →

J.B. Nicholson, Jr.: 'Confessions of a Zero-Point Calvinist'

Undoubtedly, one of the most well-known Brethren believers remains the late Dave Hunt (1926-2013) who founded The Berean Call. Hunt's specialty was in the area of sectarian Christianity (i.e. "cults"), broadly establishing himself as an expert in the field and often debating "cult" leaders of almost every theological stripe.1 Sometime in the early 2000s, Hunt entered the theological battleground outside his studied specialty of Christian "cults" and began to critique a movement making waves across the evangelical landscape, including causing quite a stir among Brethren believers.2 The theological movement was... Read more →

Charleston tradition loses influence at Brown Creek Baptist Association

In the Fall of 1854, several churches from North Carolina's Moriah Baptist Association—an association birthed by The Charleston Association in 1815--decided to organize another association. Meeting at the Wilson Chambers School House (school located across the road from Mt. Olive Baptist Church), the Brown Creek Baptist Association was constituted.1 The association may have taken its name from Brown Creek Baptist Church (1773). In 1884, the name changed from the Brown Creek Baptist Association to Union Baptist Association.2 The minutes of the meeting reveal the mindset the churches possessed toward the... Read more →

North Carolina’s Friendship Baptist Association organized in 1861 as non-Calvinistic

On Oct. 25-26, 1861, a group of Baptist delegates from several churches met with the Valley Town Baptist Church on Valley River in North Carolina and organized the Friendship Baptist Association.1 Among the first orders of business was adoption of a confession of faith which all the churches forming the alliance could embrace. Below is the Confession of Faith originally adopted by the Friendship Baptist Association in 1861. 1. We believe in one only living and true God, and that there are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the... Read more →

Baptist Association birthed over election and predestination

Named after the French Broad River flowing 210 miles from Western North Carolina to East Tennessee, the French Broad Baptist Association organized in 1807 with six churches, three each from two existing associations—Holston Association and Broad River Association.1 The organizers immediately prepared for adoption both a Covenant and Rules of Decorum for the newly established association. The Covenant or confession of faith contained twelve articles, the first four of which are provided below: Article 1. We believe in the only living and true God, and that there are three persons... Read more →

1807 Abington Baptist Association Confession of Faith: Will history finally vindicate Southern Baptist Traditionalists?

After frequently corresponding with one another, a convention of messengers from three Pennsylvania Baptist churches was held on Saturday, December 26, 1807, at the Abington log cabin home of Rev. John Miller for the purpose of forming a new Baptist association.1 Quite interesting to us is the confession of faith the Abington churches chose as their charter document of belief. The churches oddly but apparently sought little, if any, assistance in forming their association from what's now the oldest Baptist association in America, The Philadelphia Baptist Association, an association a... Read more →

Sandy Creek Baptists viewed Reformed doctrine of election "troubling"

Emir Caner, President of Truett-McConnell College, writes an informative piece on the Sandy Creek tradition in the latest volume of the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry published by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Contra the view of many Southern Baptist Calvinists who dismiss virtually all theological distinctions between the Sandy Creek Baptist tradition and the so-called Charleston Baptist tradition, Dr. Caner suggests that "The Reformed definition of election was particularly troubling to those birthed out of a Sandy Creek (Separatist) heritage." He then quotes from famed Baptist historian, George... Read more →

Inerrancy: Will the battle over biblical inspiration never be settled even among evangelicals?

While newbies in the Southern Baptist Convention might not remember the denominational explosion in 1979 when Adrian Rogers was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the senior generation of Southern Baptists surely does. A cataclysmic shift took place within the infrastructure of power in the convention ultimately leading to the “takeover” of America’s largest evangelical denomination by theologically conservative representatives. The theological notion at stake—according to most grassroots Southern Baptists at the time—was the full inspiration and total truthfulness of Scripture, a notion captured by the single word inerrancy.... Read more →

Lewis Duncan, Missouri Baptists, and General Atonement

1Lewis Duncan (1806-1852) was a native of Virginia, and born in Culpepper County, March 1st, 1806. Duncan grew up in moderate circumstances but nonetheless only received a partial common-school education. However, he managed to acquire a sufficient knowledge of the English branches to teach school. He professed conversion and was baptized in the spring of 1828. After his ordination to the ministry, Duncan quit teaching school. On October 16th, 1828, Duncan's family started for Missouri arriving about the middle of the following December and settling in Lincoln County where Lewis... Read more →

Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill, and planting churches

Question: Is a church a real church if it disbands when the pastor resigns? Set. Go! Read more →

F.H. Kerfoot on the Limited Atonement teaching of James P. Boyce: 'constant tendency of strong Calvinists is laying too much emphasis on the limitations’

The most obvious dissent F.H. Kerfoot recorded in his editorial work of James P. Boyce's Abstract of Systematic Theology seems to be his explicit rejection of strict Calvinism's insistence upon the doctrine of Limited Atonement. Whatever other theological qualms Kerfoot possessed concerning what Boyce had absorbed and embraced while at Princeton, all of them appear to take second place to Kerfoot's understanding of the atonement. So far as the future of Southern seminary and the seminary's student body were concerned, Kerfoot seemed convictionally fixed on teaching what he deemed the... Read more →

Redux: Southern Baptists Move Away from Rigid Calvinism: The Influence of F.H. Kerfoot

Below is a biographical piece on F. H. Kerfoot I forgot I originally posted almost eight years ago. I think it's vital info about Kerfoot relevant to the series of footnotes I'm presently posting from Kerfoot's editorial work on Boyce's Abstract of Systematic Theology republished in 1899. Note in the body of the piece my obvious unawareness that Kerfoot both challenged Boyce's position at several junctures and changed his wording at other key junctures to soften the strong Calvinism Boyce embraced in his textbook for future students at Southern seminary.... Read more →

F.H. Kerfoot says James P. Boyce "mistaken" concerning regeneration preceding faith

I recently ran across an essay Beeson Divinity School dean and professor, Timothy George, wrote in 1985 entitled "Systematic Theology at Southern Seminary." In the essay, George mentioned that perhaps the greatest accomplishment of James P. Boyce's chair of theology successor, F.H. Kerfoot, would be his editorial work on Boyce's magnum opus republished in 1899, Abstract of Systematic Theology. George also indicated some of the editorial comments Kerfoot included distanced himself from Boyce's strict Calvinism. I found George's claim facinating.3 Not having Kerfoot's edition nor any fortune in finding a... Read more →

F. H. Kerfoot softened James P. Boyce's strict Calvinism in first major edit

James P. Boyce is considered by many to be the "father" of historic Baptist Calvinism in America, especially Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. Boyce's name is never far from those who speak of the theological "founders" of Southern Baptists. The president of Beeson Divinity School, Timothy George, wrote an essay in 1985 entitled "Systematic Theology at Southern Seminary" and published in Southern seminary's elder brother journal, Review and Expositor. In the section where he mentions the accomplishments of F.H. Kerfoot, Dr. George writes: Upon his death in 1888 Boyce... Read more →

Yale lecturer on The Great Calvinist Reawakening

Briallen Hopper is English Lecturer at Yale University, Faculty Fellow at the University Church in Yale, and frequent contributor on religious topics in many prestigious media venues. She has written about religion for The Huffington Post, Killing the Buddha, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. In her latest piece entitled "The Great Calvinist Reawakening" published in Religion & Politics, Hopper profiles the rise of Neo-Calvinism and the impact it's having in contemporary culture. Citing the proof of Reformed revitalization as entirely persuasive, she goes on to contrast Neo-Calvinism with... Read more →

Spurgeon indicts slavery, Baptists in the south abandon support

"The North and the South were in antagonism and slavery was a burning question, although the great Civil War was not to come for some years yet. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in the course of his sermons, felt bound to pass strictures [moral criticism] upon the whole system of slavery, and at once the sale of his sermons in the Southern States fell almost to nothing, while scores of insulting and threatening letters were sent to the preacher." Charles Ray in A Marvelous Ministry: The Story of C.H. Spurgeon's Sermons: 1855-1905.... Read more →

Scholarly skepticism continues toward the "Jesus' Wife Fragment" even as Smithsonian plans to air positive documentary May 5

In the latest edition of The Weekly Standard, Charlotte Allen, author of The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus, queries whether the investigation into the so-called "Jesus' Wife Fragment" has after all raised more questions concerning the fragment's authenticity than it's answered. Entitled "The Wife of Jesus Tale," Allen writes of the scientific tests on the papyrus itself: [T]he scientific results have raised more questions than they’ve answered, especially within the cohort of scholars who were already convinced that the fragment was a modern forgery. For one thing,... Read more →

Spurgeon on preachers becoming obstacles for sinners coming to Christ

Methinks I see several ministers standing in the way. They are of such high doctrine that they dare not invite a sinner, and they therefore clog the gospel with so many conditions. They will have it that the sinner must feel a certain quantity of experience before he is invited to come, and so they put their sermons up and say, "You are not invited, you are a dead sinner, you must not come; you are not invited; you are a hardened rebel." "Stand back," says Christ, "every one of... Read more →

Hassell & Hassell: Primitive Baptist historians on Calvin's murder of Servetus

Christ and His Apostles did not persecute; neither does the true church of Christ. The Protestant persecutions of each other, and of Catholics, and of “Anabaptists,” were derived from Rome, and were in direct and horrid contradiction of the Protestant principle of freedom of conscience. Calvin’s condemnation and execution of the almost “Anabaptist” and the AntiTrinitarian, Michael Servetus (1553), though then approved by his brother Protestants, is a sad and ineffaceable blot upon his character — the bloody deed producing only evil, utterly condemned by the entire spirit of the... Read more →

Bullseye: Perceptive Reflections on a Collapsing Culture: Free Church Press New Release

Click on image to enlarge Free Church Press is excited to announce a new title by William F. Harrell: Bullseye: Perceptive Reflections on a Collapsing Culture. Dr. Harrell is Pastor Emeritus of the historic Abilene Baptist Church, Martinez, Georgia. Bullseye is Harrell's second book. In Bullseye, Dr. Harrell aims his bead for cultural issues facing the church today. Those who purchased Harrell's first volume--Straight Shooting: Pastoral Reflections for Today's Church--will note in Bullseye the very same folksy literary style Dr. Harrell commands. Below are a few of the targets onto... Read more →

James White and Historical Hooey (Part 2)

Below I've embedded the video entitled "Calvin and Servetus: Dan Barker Twists History" uploaded and posted by Alpha & Omega Ministries. Calvinist apologist, James White, makes a series of historical assertions concerning the circumstances surrounding John Calvin and Michael Servetus in response to atheist, Dan Barker, implicating Barker in twisting history. About 4 minutes and 10 seconds into the video, White begins his criticism mainly as a series of rhetorical questions raised against Barker's commentary on the legendary trial of Servetus at Geneva in 1553, commentary played from an audio... Read more →

More Inspiration from John Calvin on this our Lord's Day

During John Calvin's reign in Geneva, reportedly it was considered a no-no to laugh during Calvin's preaching, and to do so was met with stiff consequences: "To laugh during a sermon was a matter which drew after it three days' imprisonment, and the necessity of publicly asking pardon." --"Lives of Calvin" The London Quarterly Review, American Edition, Volume XXXV No.1, p. 286 Read more →

James White and Historical Hooey: Interlude

In the first part of "James White and Historical Hooey," I showed two visible flaws in James White's argumentation methods. First, I demonstrated White's egregious habit of making his arguments into scornful contempt for his opponent rather than serious critique of the ideas under consideration. I put it this way: "I've never, in my sixty years on this earth, encountered another human being so coldly, consistently, and belligerently set on verbally and morally assaulting other people as liars, deceivers, frauds, imbeciles, idiots, and overall nincompoops as James White." White routinely... Read more →

Servetus' death a new Protestant policy

"The punishment of Servetus was a stroke of policy. Calvin gained in character with his contemporaries by it. He had justified his faith by his acts, and not left the Church of Rome the sole glory of taking vengeance on the enemies of Christ. All the Protestants approved; Melanchthon emphatically so. Calvin never repented it. Greatly as the Calvinistic Churches have served the cause of political liberty, they have contributed nothing to the progress of knowledge." --Mark Pattison, "Calvin at Geneva" in Essays by the Late Mark Pattison, Sometime Rector... Read more →

‘We’re the Lord’s elected few, let all the rest be damned’

On November 12, 1986, Beeson Divinity School Dean and Professor of Divinity, History and Doctrine, Dr. Timothy George, addressed the faculty at Southern Baptist Theology Seminary in a presentation entitled "Dogma Beyond Anathema: Historical Theology in the Service of the Church."1 A printed version of the address appeared in the Fall 1987 edition of Review and Expositor.2 In the address, George criticizes the pretense of exploiting biblical doctrine as a pretext to propagate "all kinds of evil and intolerance in Christianity." As an entertaining illustration in how Old English Particular... Read more →

Prayer of Thanksgiving from The Didache

picture source The Didache remains of the earliest descriptions of worship from the sub-apostolic church (circa AD 120). Apparently, The Didache was a manual of how Syrian churches were to be ordered in their various liturgical activities, activities especially including baptism, preaching, Lord's Supper, fasting, and prayer.1 Below is a thanksgiving prayer the church recited after partaking the sacred supper. The prayer may also be a suitable reflection on this our Thanksgiving Day. We give you thanks, holy Father, for your holy name which you have made to dwell in... Read more →

James Denney on the proper motive to missions

Below is an excerpt from a sermon entitled “Propitiation” preached at the annual meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society, April, 1911 by 19th century Scottish theologian, James Denney (1856-1917). Denney taught at Glasgow's United Free Church College, first as Professor of Systematic Theology and then from 1900, as Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, a post he held until his death in 1917. According to Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership lecturer, Jason Goroncy, it was during those final decades that Denney’s theology reached its full maturity – drawing... Read more →

Is God's saving love for all people a disputable claim? Tom Hicks and Founders Ministries apparently think so

Founders Ministries' writer, Tom Hicks, posted a critique of a statement Eric Hankins recently made in a chapel sermon at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The claim Hicks questioned had to do with Hankins speaking of the all-inclusiveness of God's saving love for the entire world. The specific statement Hankins made which Hicks challenges is "All means all and that’s all all means." Why Hicks would question Hankins concerning this particular statement seems odd. Does Hicks and/or Founders type Calvinists not embrace the all-inclusiveness of God's saving love for... Read more →

The Baptist General Tract Society (1835)-- 'infants dying in infancy saved by the blood of Jesus’

In 1835, the Baptist General Tract Society compiled various pamphlets it had published into a single volume entitled The Baptist Manual: A selection from the Series of Publications of the Baptist General Tract Society.1 In tract number 45, “The Scripture Guide to Baptism,” a series of questions are posed concerning infant baptism to which the tract gives its Baptist answer. Question number 8 asks, “But if you refuse to bring children to baptism, do you not keep them away from Christ, and in case of their dying in infancy, endanger... Read more →

Former Swedish Lutheran Divine turned American Baptist- 'all infants dying in infancy covered by the blood'

Swedish Baptists can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century in America. According to Baptist historian C. Douglas Weaver, the first Swedish Baptist church started in the United States was in 1852 at Rock Island, Illinois organized by a Swedish immigrant named Gustaf Palmquist.1 Palmquist came to America presumably a Lutheran but after attending a Baptist revival, became a Baptist. Afterwards, he organized the first Swedish Baptist Church, an organization of which, according to Weaver, marks the founding date of the Swedish Baptist General Convention in America—at least until 1945... Read more →

English Baptist Charles Spurgeon on Wine at the Lord's Table--'We use unfermented wine at the Tabernacle'

I was looking for something else and stumbled across the little gem below I first posted in 2008. At that time, a lot of guys were ridiculing my moral reluctance toward imbibing intoxicating beverages for either recreation or worship, a reluctance based on moral principles derived from my understanding of biblical teaching and sound moral reasoning. After I posted several pieces on wine and the Bible amongst Southern Baptists I was pointed to a piece written by Trevin Wax on Spurgeon's practice as well as others who claimed Spurgeon loved... Read more →

19th century Baptist scholars Albert Arnold and David Ford on infants dying in infancy--'grace in Christ secures salvation of all with no personal sins to answer for'

In their commentary on Romans 5:18, 19th century Baptist New Testament scholars Albert Arnold and D.B. Ford write: “A few words in regard to the future condition of those dying in infancy. We scarcely need an apostle to tell us that a condemnation and death has been visited upon them on account of sin not their own; hence on account of Adam's transgression. A part of this penalty they, in common with us all, must suffer. The great trouble respecting their case has reference to the evil that is in... Read more →

Baptist theologian Alvah Hovey -- 'all infants dying in infancy regenerated'

“At this point it may be proper to notice the relation of the propitiatory death of Christ to children who die in infancy. So far as now appears, such children are put in no practical relation to the atonement, unless it be by the secret and renewing work of the Spirit. Assuming, as we must, that this life is the only period of grace for mankind as sinners, and that the death of Christ was in some way for all our race, it follows that dying infants are regenerated by... Read more →

Baptist theologian E. H. Johnson--'Scripture does not state dying infants are saved but justifies such an inference'

E. H. Johnson was a well-known Baptist pastor and theologian in the latter quarter of the 19th century. According to one archived newspaper report, Johnson pastored churches in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. He also served successfully as interim pastor, once following his friend and colleague, James M. Pendleton at the historic Upland Baptist Church in Upland, Pa. In 1882, Johnson became professor of systematic theology at Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa. While teaching at Crozer, he wrote his An Outline of Systematic Theology which went through five editions (1895).... Read more →

19th Century Southern Baptist theologian James Petigru Boyce--'infants dying in infancy are regenerate'

“It follows from the facts in these last two statements, that a corrupt nature makes a condition as truly sinful, and guilty, and liable to punishment, as actual transgressions. Consequently, at the very moment of birth, the presence and possession of such a nature shows that even the infant sons of Adam are born under all the penalties which befell their ancestor in the day of his sin. Actual transgression subsequently adds new guilt to guilt already existing, but does not substitute a state of guilt for one of innocence”... Read more →