Comments on: Please Let It Be True: In All Things Charity, Even When It Comes To Calvinists in the Southern Baptist Convention

By: Southern Baptists, Calvinism, Church Discipline, Alcohol & Numa Numa | Said at Southern Seminary

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:02:58 +0000

[...] Brent Thomas issues a call for charity in the ongoing discussion of Calvinism in the SBC. [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:48:17 +0000

I agree. I was just baiting you to see what you had to say. My problem is that most of these ‘evangelists’ seem to function outside of the church proper in their own ‘parachurch’ ministries.

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:02:37 +0000

Others might have more insight on this, and I have not had a chance to look at it in-depth, but my first thought is two-fold: we are all to be evangelists, especially “Pastors,” and, this charge to Timothy does not necessarily dictate the content of the Body’s gathering together.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:11:29 +0000

What was Paul talking about, then, when he tells Timothy to ‘do the work of an Evangelist?’ Surely he’s not exhorting him to buy Aqua Net and a hair dryer?

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:04:06 +0000

According to the Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology by Erickson, evangelism is:

The presentation of the Gospel with the goal of bringing the hearer to faith in Jesus Christ and thus to salvation (61).

According to the same resource, the church is defined as:

Those who are true believers in Christ. The term is used in the New Testament both in a universal sense (all such believers) and in a restricted sense (a particular group of believers gathered in one place) (35).

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:41:01 +0000

That is, of course, the point Brent. I think we’ve got a bad definition of evangelism. Have you ever looked it up?

By: Gabe Martini

Gabe Martini — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:21:57 +0000

Precisely, Brent. The Church gathers on the Lord’s Day as a unified body to enter into the presence of YHWH and draw near to him through worship, share a meal with him and be fed by his word, be blessed by him, and be sent by him back out into the world to spread forth the good news of his Lordship over all creation. It is not a service to “reach out” to others; that is a novelty of indulgent, American, individualism. Worship is always about dealing with sin, drawing near to God, and being both sanctified and blessed by him in his word and sacraments.

Peace,
Gabe M.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:59:02 +0000

And it’s interesting that nowhere in the article is the question asked as to whether or not church is the appropriate place for “evangelism” in the first place.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:04:29 +0000

Theres not as much flow through in an SBC church with this type of doctrine either. You’re not producing a decision card filled out during an emotional response. It shuts the back door. They don’t leave while they’re still wet from the baptistry and never come back. Not as much turn over, not as much dependence on numbers.

If I recall correctly, they’re more worried about their ‘jobs’ as itinerant preachers than anything else. Finney-ites and Calvinists don’t get along too well.

By: silas

silas — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:28:28 +0000

Let me preface my comment by stating that I am a primitive baptist, but grew up as a Southern Baptist. I am glad that some SB’s are coming back to the Doctrine we all shared 200 years ago. The doctrine of particlular election and predistination are doctrines that have long been forgotten by too many.
That being said, the split in the baptist church in the early 19th century came due to the role of missions (evangelism) and doctrine. The 2 do go hand in hand. Although the PB doctrine is not Calvinism, the general idea is the same.

Every denomination has it’s own battles to face, but as a former SB it is good to know that this important doctrine is being accepted.