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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 →

Are Baptist bloggers the true “Baptist Press”?

Iowa pastor and blogger, Dave Miller, claimed in a rancorous blog he directed toward the personal credibility of veteran, award-winning journalist, Joni Hannigan, that Baptist bloggers like himself and those at SBC Voices constitute the real Baptist news agency of Southern Baptist Convention. "We are the true 'Baptist Press,'" he claimed, "exposing what needs to be exposed, discussing what needs to be discussed, and keeping people informed about what is really going on." Miller's comrade in online arms, JD Hall, mirrors similar sentiments about the significance of their self-praised blogging... Read more →

No difference between strict Calvinism and "Mahometanism" in viewing sovereignty?

Below are two descriptive selections from two 19th century sources, one selection of which describes Calvinism's view of sovereignty and the other Mahometanism's view (or, in today's term, Islam's view). The first is from an essay in Review & Expositor by famed Southern Baptist historian, A.H. Newman, entitled "The Calvinism of Calvin." The selection to be compared is from an entry entitled "Mahometanism" in Buck's Theological Dictionary (1838). A.H. Newman on Calvinism: "Before the first man was created God had established (statuerat) what he willed should take place (fieri) concerning... 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 →

W.J. McGlothin-- "doubtful" whether The New Hampshire Confession of Faith "ought to be called Calvinistic"

William Joseph McGlothlin (1876-1933) was longtime Professor of Church History at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before becoming President of Furman University in Greenville, SC in 1919.1 Educated at several institutions, including Southern seminary, studying theology under James P. Boyce's successor, F.H. Kerfoot, McGlothlin finally earned a PhD from the University of Berlin in 1902. He remains among Southern Baptists' most esteemed historians. Below is an excerpt from his text on Baptist confessions of faith, an excerpt containing his description of the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, the confession used in... 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 →

Is every issue a gospel issue?

Below is a sampling from a young but obviously erudite theologian from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Blake Newsom. In pursuing the question, What is the Gospel?, Newsom cuts through the literary wasteland in evangelical circles that tends to see all issues as "gospel issues" by flatly concluding "If everything is the gospel, then nothing is the gospel." Here's the entire contextual snippet: Of concern to this writer is that the gospel has become a buzzword in Evangelicalism. As is often the case with buzzwords, they lose their core... Read more →

SBC Tomorrow: A Quick Update

Some hefty events have taken place since I last posted. In fact, I've only posted six times this year, one piece being the thoughts of a guest contributor. Nonetheless, I've forged some fairly strong conclusions about some of the more significant happenings in and around the Southern Baptist Convention, including but not limited to, my own place of employment. A lot of people have tried to "pick my brain" about Brewton-Parker College and the criticism surrounding the events of the last two months. And at times, I confess, it's the... Read more →

'Southern seminary founded to combat the great Arminian heresy'

"The founder of this seminary, whose portrait sits behind you, identified Arminianism as one of the three great heresies this institution was established to combat.” --President Al Mohler to Barry Hankins in interview-- "Oral Memoirs of R. Albert Mohler, Jr." 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 →

Does overseas missions strategy need reform? At least one SBC professor says it does

A piece by Will Hall in the Christian Examiner rehearses a journal article published in The Southwestern Journal of Theology by Midwestern professor of missions, Robin Dale Hadaway. Hall's article entitled "Prof calls for SBC overseas missions reform: Does drastic drop in IMB baptisms merit major remake?" lists among the changes Hadaway proposes: 1. Drop the two percent "reachedness" threshold and return to the original 20 percent or at least adopt a 10 percent baseline. "Exiting a people group that is more than two-percent evangelical," he said, "is the historical... 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 →

Did Jesus tell Nicodemus he must be born again so he can believe the gospel?

I recently posted F.H. Kerfoot's editorial correction to James P. Boyce's teaching that regeneration precedes faith in the Ordo salutis published in Boyce's first edition of the Abstract of Systematic Theology (1887). Kerfoot was recommended to the trustees by Boyce himself to take over the theology chair at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. At first, Kerfoot became co-professor of theology alongside Boyce. However, that lasted only a short time due to Boyce's declining health. Thus, Kerfoot became the head of the theology department and served the chair of theology upon Boyce's... 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 →

Looking Back:Southern Baptist seminaries desegregated before desegregation

Not until the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969) was racial segregation put to a complete end "now and hereafter."1 Below, however, is a short headline piece in The Christian Centtury concerning Southern Baptists' progressive action favoring racial desegration in 1950. Our seminaries apparently were the first institutions of higher theological education to tear down the racial divide. Southern Baptists Open Seminaries to Negroes* The boards of three Southern Baptist theological seminaries have opened the way for the admission of Negro students next... Read more →

F.H. Kerfoot's rejection of James P. Boyce's Federal Theology: "The reviser has always felt constrained to differ with the author"

In my last piece, I recorded the dissent F.H. Kerfoot noted concerning James Boyce's "regeneration precedes faith" doctrine almost universally proclaimed now by Southern Baptist Calvinists. Whether it's the young, restless, and reformed community or traditional "Founders" Calvinists, they routinely and almost invariably proclaim what R.C. Sproul famously calls the "cardinal point of Reformed theology." "When speaking of the order of salvation (ordo salutis), Reformed theology always and everywhere insists that regeneration precedes faith."1 In itself, this particular doctrine oozing from the neo-Calvinism resurgence accounts for a large part of... 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 →

Spurgeon on Limited Atonement

We've recently mentioned Dr. David Allen's series of reviews on chapters from From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, the most recent defense of Limited Atonement published by Crossway. Below are some quotes about Limited Atonement from one of the greatest and most popular Baptist preachers of all time, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The first quotes are taken from a sermon in 1858 at Royal Surrey Gardens on Isaiah 53:10 entitled "The Death of Christ." Two lengthy paragraphs from his sermon make... Read more →

B.H. Carroll's commentary on James P. Boyce's systematic theology

When I graduated from Boyce in 1981, I received my brand new Abstract of Theology by James Petigru Boyce (1827-1888) compliments of Founders Ministries. And, while I've since moved on from the printed edition Founders gave me as a gift (and, as most know, I've also moved on from Founders), I nonetheless often consult Boyce digitally either through Kindle or Logos. The historic significance of Boyce's theological-intellectual contribution to early Southern Baptists cannot be overestimated. A slightly lesser light among towering figures of early Southern Baptists stands the magnificent Texan,... Read more →

David Allen on John Piper and Definite Atonement

I've had many opportunities over the last several years to log the stunning lack of biblical, theological, and historical evidences weighing in favor of Calvinism's most vulnerable petal on its well-nigh universal symbol--the tulip--an acronym representing the five core doctrines Calvinists insist accurately summarizes the gospel teaching on salvation. The petal most at risk in T.U.L.I.P. is the centerpiece, the L as in Limited Atonement. Unfortunately for Calvinists, among the greatest critics historically, and perhaps it's not too much to suggest among the most effective critics of Limited Atonement (i.e.... Read more →

Calvinism: what's ahead for the Southern Baptist Convention

Below is an experiment I completed on a nifty new cloud-based presentation software I'm testing. For those who've stayed safe with Powerpoint, there are some really cool services out there which offer a lot more bang for the buck than Microsoft gives you in the box. Know the content in the presentation represents part of a conference session I did for a south Georgia Baptist association. Believe it or not, the Calvinist debate in the SBC is only now trickling down into grassroots churches. They are concerned. They want to... Read more →

Oliver Crisp stands as a vindication of David Allen's work on limited atonement

Just finished scanning my copy of Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology by Fuller Theological Seminary Professor of Systematic Theology, Oliver Crisp. The short work (192 pages) promises to be an excellent resource for what's theologically happening in Reformed circles today. In passing, Crisp vindicates the tireless research on Christ's atonement by Dr. David Allen at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Allen's resourceful work has effectively challenged Southern Baptist Calvinists who insist on embracing Limited Atonement arguing in many respects Limited Atonement is detrimental to Calvinism per se, consequently insisting on Limited... Read more →

Tennessee Pastor writes an open letter on cyber-bullying

Knoxville, Tennessee pastor, Tim Guthrie, writes an open letter pleading with Southern Basptist pastors to put an end to internet bullying. Speaking of their tactics, Guthrie writes: They bully people using social media and web sites. Ironically, their main approach finds them using anonymous twitter accounts and websites to bring about their desired action, usually "repentance" of their targets. Pastor Guthrie goes on to call for action: Good men must rise and say enough is enough! James White, JD Hall, and their thugs must be told ENOUGH! Ministry is not... Read more →

Brenda B. Colijn on A Parable of Calvinism

Dr. Brenda B. Colijn is Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Theology at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. Dr. Colijn offered an interesting parable in her paper "A Parable of Calvinism"1 wherein she challenges the Calvinistic understanding of the well-meant offer of the gospel to all human beings. Coming from an Anabaptistic theological framework, I think she makes a valid point in critiquing standard Calvinistic explanations given and accepted by Reformed believers. Below is Colijn's "parable of a cruise ship." Consider: The kingdom of God is like a cruise ship... Read more →

Does God Desire All to Be Saved? Adam Harwood reviews John Piper's proposal

Among many interesting articles in the latest edition of the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry (JBTM, available free of charge at http://www.baptistcenter.net), Dr. Adam Harwood, Associate Professor of Theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, reviews John Piper's little volume, Does God Desire All to Be Saved? (John Piper. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013. 56 pages. Paperback, $9.99). After rehearsing the flow of Piper's volume, Professor Harwood concludes: The strength of this book is that it seeks to address an Achilles heel in Reformed theology, namely the charge that affirming unconditional... Read more →

'God helped me save myself essentially because I worked so hard'--Chuck Quarles on his pre-Calvinistic relationship with God

What does a typical non-Calvinist affirm or deny so far as the foundation of his or her relationship with God is concerned? Is the relationship based solely upon grace through faith as Paul reveals in Ephesians 2:8-9? Or does a typical non-Calvinist believe the basis of his or her salvation is essentially because he or she works so hard to be saved? Below is a hefty slice of what Dr. Charles Quarles testified to a congregation in Denham Springs, Louisiana during a sermon on 2 Thessalonians 2:13. He said: And... Read more →

Chuck Quarles on election--'Southern Baptists are in a really awkward position today'

Dr. Charles "Chuck" Quarles presently is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theology Seminary. In a sermon based upon 2 Thessalonians 2:13 he preached at the Riverside Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana in October, 2009, the professor said concerning election and Southern Baptists: Southern Baptists are in a really awkward position today in a lot of our churches because many want to deny the doctrine of election and yet they want to insist on "Once saved always saved." You can't do that. Those two doctrines rise... Read more →

Paige Patterson’s peculiar passion for practicing what Jesus preached

In 1991, "First Things" published a brief book note by Phillip E. Johnson on a documentary volume written by Mike Bryan entitled Chapter and Verse: A Skeptic Revisits Christianity. I picked this volume up at a used bookstore a few years back and after finishing it concluded what a revealing but fascinating read it was. I subsequently sold it for a few cents. I wish now I had my copy back. Why? Given the latest uprising(s) against Paige Patterson, the last of the first-generation Conservative Resurgence relics running out the... Read more →

Do Southern Baptist theologians confess simplistic theology or does James White offer simplistic criticism?

Bel0w is a recent video extreme Calvinist, James White, posted critiquing New Orleans professor, Adam Harwood, in a message Dr. Harwood preached entitled "The Gospel: a Message for Every Person." As the listener will note, White gets stuck on the term "simplistic" and just won't let go (by the way, if somebody will count the times White uses the term "simplistic" and log it below, I'll gladly send them a Starbucks gift card!). Thus, apparently suggesting as Harwood does that since God loves every person and wants every person to... Read more →

What Were the Early SBC Leaders’ View of Salvation? by Emir Caner, President, Truett-McConnell College Cleveland, Ga.

Below is an extended excerpt from an excellent essay written by Truett-McConnell president, Dr. Emir Caner, posted on SBC Today. In the essay, Caner shows how Baptists in the south, both preceding and following the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention, were hardly as strongly Calvinistic--not to mention virtually singularly Calvinistic as many Founders-type Calvinists insist today--as one might imagine given the theological sympathies gleaned from the Calvinistic influence swelling across the present evangelical landscape. Says Dr. Caner: The Sandy Creek movement began nearly forty years before Finney’s birth. Its... Read more →

Pre-Convention Bible Conference Reisterstown, Maryland June 6-8

Join us at The Whosoever Will Bible Conference in Reisterstown, Maryland preceding the 2014 Southern Baptist Convention to be held in Baltimore. Hosted by Northwest Baptist Church, speakers include popular preachers in the SBC like Paige Patterson and Fred Wolfe. Included also will be a special guest session by Dr. Norman Geisler and a debate on Calvinism between Paul Cooper and Braxton Hunter. We hope to fellowship with you there. 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 →

New Calvinism gets reviewed by young British Baptist Calvinist

Jeremy Walker, co-pastor of the Maidenbower Baptist Church in the United Kingdom has penned a well-balanced critique of the young, restless, and reformed movement in the evangelical church. Entitled The New Calvinism Considered: A Personal and Pastoral Assessment , the volume is available in the United States in both paperback and digital versions.1 Walker himself theologically identifies with Calvinism as a confessional, Particular Baptist assuring his readers his intentions are not to "mindlessly ignore, attack, or defend any particular group, but to deal fairly with the new Calvinism."2 In fact,... Read more →

From Heaven He Came And Sought Her: A Review by David Allen

I recently made note of a new book release by Crossway entitled From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective. The 700+ page volume is purported to be the definitive volume on T.U.L.I.P. Calvinism's most vulnerable petal, Limited Atonement. Some of neo-Calvinism's brightest theological lights are among the contributors, theological lights including Henri A. G. Blocher, Michael A.G. Haykin, Paul Helm, Robert Letham, Thomas R. Schreiner, Sinclair Ferguson, and Carl Trueman. Dr. David Allen, Dean of the School of Theology, Professor of... Read more →

Does Gender Egalitarianism reduce to a 'false gospel'?

I remain hopelessly convinced that a correct and consistent reading of biblical revelation inevitably leads one to embrace some form of gender complementarianism. Hence, I tend agree with the broad biblio-theological contours of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW). I say "broad" because just as there is hard Calvinism and soft Calvinism so there is hard complementarianism and soft complementarianism all of which have representatives in the Southern Baptist Convention. For at least the last decade or so, the CBMW has increasingly tilted toward the hard side of... Read more →

If the Top Men take over, who will ask the hard questions? - Reformed theologian and author Carl Trueman on Reformation21 Blog

The Mefferd-Driscoll controversy points to another aspect of celebrity culture: celebrities are routinely allowed to behave in ways which would not be tolerated in ordinary mortals. For example, being drunk on the job and hurling abuse at an employer would make one unemployable in the real world. Not for Charlie Sheen. A conviction for rape would be enough to have you characterized as a monster in the real world who had forfeited the right to sympathetic media exposure. Not for Mike Tyson or Roman Polanski (just ask that champion of... Read more →

Neo-Calvinism proposing the definitive statement on Limited Atonement

A new volume is scheduled for release on November 30, 2013: From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective (Crossway, $50.00). Edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson with the Foreword by evangelical icon, J.I. Packer, the 700+ page volume is purported to be the definitive volume on T.U.L.I.P. Calvinism's most vulnerable petal, Limited Atonement. While dissent within Reformed theology from Limited Atonement remains one of neo-Calvinism's widely held historio-theological secrets (or perhaps denials is a better term), From Heaven He Came... Read more →

Georgia Baptists adopt resolution on the sexual abuse of children, Kentucky and Alabama too

click for larger image The Georgia Baptist Convention met in Dacula, Georgia November 11-12. Without edit or opposition,1 Georgia Baptists passed the resolution I submitted to the resolutions committee for consideration in September of this year, a resolution almost identical to the resolution passed by the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention back in June.2 In addition, Kentucky Baptists adopted a very similar resolution submitted by Kentucky pastor, Jon Carter. Dr. Rick Patrick, pastor of First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, Alabama proposed a resolution on the sexual abuse of children which Alabama Baptists... Read more →

Earl Blackburn at 1845 Conference--'I can work with a flaming Arminian'

According to Louisiana Southern Baptist pastor, Earl Blackburn, Arminianism is not rampant in the Southern Baptist Convention. Rather Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism is and has crept into Southern Baptist churches and institutions. After rehearsing a brief historical sketch of the Pelagian controversy in the fifth century A.D. in which Pelagius's teaching on human depravity was condemned as being "outside the bounds" of orthodoxy, Blackburn laments in his sermon "A Historic Southern Baptist View of the Fall of Man" (beginning at the 54:50 mark): What is sad today...What is sad as I... 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 →

Janet Mefferd on Joe Carter's 'stop slandering Christ's bride' corrective--'an unwarranted scolding discouraging Christians from speaking on issues of neglect'

On Friday of last week, Joe Carter, Southern Baptists' new ERLC1 Director of Communications posted a piece entitled "Stop Slandering Christ's Bride" which sparked considerable fire in the comments section of Carter's post. Overwhelmingly, Carter's post logged negative responses toward his piece. In it Carter basically argued that since no one knows whether a particular issue is being addressed or not in the 350,000+ congregations in America, they need to stop suggesting they do by claiming the issue does matter and the church should speak up about it. Apparently according... 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 →

Popular 19th Century Baptist scholar George Clark on infant salvation

According to William Cathcart, George Whitefield Clark was born at South Orange, N.J., in 1831. He was converted and baptized at twelve years of age, joining the Northfield Baptist church. Graduating from Amherst College in 1853, Clark completed his theological course at Rochester in 1855 and was ordained pastor of the Baptist church at New Market in 1855. Four years later, Clark became pastor of the First Baptist church in Elizabeth until 1868 and then went to the Baptist church at Ballston, N.Y. In 1872 Rochester University conferred upon him... Read more →