Posted on 04/22/2008 11:48:48 AM PDT by Between the Lines
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Defining the identity of Southern Baptists isn't an easy task, but the latest film in the Forged by Faith DVD series seeks to do just that.
"Forged by Faith: A Character of Commitment" tells the story of Southern Baptists around the world and provides six examples of what makes them who they are. Just over 17 minutes, the DVD is the third film in a series to help Southern Baptists better understand and appreciate their heritage and beliefs. Designed particularly for use in small groups, Sunday School classes, new member orientation and special programs, the DVDs are produced by the SBC Executive Committee. Segments of each DVD also can be used for sermon illustrations and in worship services.
The first DVD in the series, "Forged by Faith: The Early Years," told the story of Southern Baptists' early history, while the second DVD, "Forged by Faith: One Sacred Effort," focused on the Cooperative Program. Other titles are in the works, including a forthcoming one looking at the Baptist Faith and Message. Previews of the films can be viewed online here.
"The film series is an updated way to supply information Southern Baptists once regularly received through the Training Union curriculum," said Morris H. Chapman, president and CEO of the Executive Committee. "When the idea surfaced in one of our executive leadership team meetings, I immediately approved the development of a prototype and eagerly looked forward to its production. When that first film was finished, we telecast it during an annual meeting in the convention hotel. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and a series was born."
D. August Boto, who has written and produced much of the series, said he hopes the resource will continue to gain recognition as a useful training tool.
"I have heard of some churches which have incorporated the films into their new member training," said Boto, executive vice president of the Executive Committee.
One pastor using the films is David Hill, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, and this year's chairman of the convention's Committee on Nominations.
The DVDs are "extremely well done," Hill said. "In fact, I showed them to my Wednesday night Bible study adult group, and they were so thrilled that they want me to do a sermon series on them. They want everyone to see them.
"We're going to use them for the whole church somehow," Hill said. "Since we no longer do discipleship training here, we've really lost a lot in teaching our history and the way the convention works....I had people [who watched the DVD] saying, 'We didn't know this. We've never heard this.'"
The narration of the latest DVD, "A Character of Commitment," acknowledges that defining the Southern Baptist identity "is a challenge of significant proportion" due to "their broad range of diversity." But, it notes, there are six key characteristics that give Southern Baptists their identity.
Southern Baptists are:
-- Christians whose first loyalty is to Jesus.
"They do not believe that being Southern Baptist makes one a Christian," the narrator says. "They believe the only way to be a Christian is through an individual relationship with Jesus. They do not claim to be the only Christians or the only true Christian denomination or group. Southern Baptists identify with and pray for their brothers and sisters in Christ who work to advance the cause of Christ under another denominational or descriptive banner or as independent fellowships."
-- a people of the Book.
"They view God's Word as indispensable. This stems from their belief that sound doctrine can only come from the Bible, which they also believe to be entirely reliable and authoritative. They credit their growth in ranks and ministry -- at a time when other Christian groups have suffered decline -- to their staunch adherence to this high view of Scripture which they hold openly and unashamedly and often in spite of contrary popular opinion."
The narrator references the Baptist Faith and Message's article on the Bible and says it is based on the Apostle Paul's definition of Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16.
"A strong characteristic displayed by most Southern Baptists is their individual and collective conviction that the value of any religious belief rises or falls in direct proportion to its biblical underpinning."
-- evangelical.
"Basically this means that they believe they have good news to share -- that good news being the Gospel message of the New Testament. They see the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:19-20, as an assignment to all Christians.... Southern Baptists are enthusiastically mission-minded in their beliefs and practices, supporting an extremely large missionary personnel force both domestically and overseas. Southern Baptists are known for sharing the Gospel as a part of every ministry they offer or perform."
-- cooperative, resilient and adaptive.
"They're not uncomfortable with diversity and welcome open and heartfelt debate about matters affecting church practice and doctrine. They recognize the Holy Spirit at work through the wide variety of giftedness possessed by their members and often distribute ministry assignments accordingly."
A tour of various Southern Baptist churches, the narrator says, would show a "full range of worship styles," including formal and expressive. Additionally, Southern Baptist churches "include both multi-cultural and specific nationality types."
-- independent.
"They follow a congregational approach where each local church is autonomous or self-governing. Southern Baptists consider the highest authority to be God, with the next highest to be their own local church. An institution known as 'The Baptist Church' does not exist, but rather only local Baptist churches. For this reason Southern Baptists do not recognize religious authorities outside or above the local church.... A result of this mindset is that the various organizations with which the local churches choose to affiliate -- such as associations, state conventions and even the national Southern Baptist Convention -- have no authority over any church."
-- advocates of religious liberty who historically have been its guardian.
"In fact, most Americans are unaware that their Constitution's statement protecting freedom of religion is the direct result of political involvement by Colonial Baptists in the South. This is an illustration of the Baptist ability to navigate a healthy tension -- in that while Southern Baptists believe that government should not intrude into matters of faith, they also believe that an active faith should cause Christian involvement in government and public life. Southern Baptists maintain that keeping the identities and functions of church and state completely separate is best for both -- for when one has controlled the other down through history, corruption has resulted, and Christian work and reputation suffered."
Southern Baptists, the narrator says, "are as varied as God is creative."
"No two are alike," he says. "What draws them together is ... their joint and cooperative commitment to a common goal. Defining that goal goes a long way toward understanding who Southern Baptists are. So what is that goal? Simply stated, it is to reflect God's character as accurately as possible and to be at His service doing what He wants."
As a non-Baptist, I found this both interesting and informative.
One question that I hope will be taken in the honest spirit of inquiry that is asked...
“They view God’s Word as indispensable. This stems from their belief that sound doctrine can only come from the Bible, which they also believe to be entirely reliable and authoritative. They credit their growth in ranks and ministry — at a time when other Christian groups have suffered decline — to their staunch adherence to this high view of Scripture which they hold openly and unashamedly and often in spite of contrary popular opinion”
Would not this view require the reader to be able to understand the Bible in its original language, rather than through a translated text? It seems that calling the English version of the Bible authoritative is placing some degree of faith in the translator. Shouldn’t the Word of God be important enough to be understood in the language of the scribes He chose to write it down?
“Shouldn’t the Word of God be important enough to be understood in the language of the scribes He chose to write it down?”
Many do, especially those that take Greek and Hebrew in college or seminary. The average layperson can investigate on their own or use many of the texts written to explain the translation from Greek or Hebrew into English.
This goes across denominational lines.
I know that religious threads can sometimes get a little combative. I hope anyone reading my posts realizes that I’m not trying to question anyone’s belief, I’m just trying to understand.
“If the different flavors are more a matter of style than of substance, then it makes sense to this outsider. If the different flavors are a matter of substance, then there seems to be a contradiction (at least to me) in the above.”
Most divides in the Baptist church are the first. Unfortunately we’re seeing more and more of the second as the “world” is allowed to have sway in the church.
Thanks for the post.
Ping to read later
English-language translation of the Bible is pretty prevalent across all Christian denominations... So, I’m not sure why that’s puzzling about Baptists in particular. Do Catholics read the Bible in the original Greek and Hebrew?
If we wanted to be real sticklers about it, it would seem that unless we could go back into time and look over the shoulders of Moses, Paul and the others as they wrote the books and letters that comprise the Holy Bible, then we’re all “flying blind”. Those texts were hand-copied countless times, and then eventually translated into other languages.
As with many things spiritual, we must have Faith here. In this case, Faith that the Almighty Creator of the universe can see to it that (through whatever messy process was involved) His children will receive an accurate reflection of His word.
Fletcher J
Yep, the differences in Baptist churches are primarily about the style of worship, not the substance of core beliefs.
That being said, not every Baptist church will have a uniform theological viewpoint - but it wouldn’t be correct to label it a contradiction in the church, since there is no Baptist hierarchy. Independence of the individual church is the governing principle.
Fletcher J
Knowing Greek and Hebrew is not a really easy task—I should know, I’m in seminary now. Baptist seminaries, like most all conservative evangelical protestant seminaries require one or both languages to be studied—just so ministers can read to some extent in the original languages as you said. Fortunately today, there are a multitude of reliable English translations, as well as many (many) study tools—so a minister need not be an expert in Greek and Hebrew to be able to double-check on the reliability of the translations he uses.
One point needs to be made though. The Christian understanding of “inspiration” is different than say what Islam teaches. God moved the original writers to write exactly what He wanted, but, using their personalities, emotions, circumstances, etc....making the bible a fully human, as well as fully divine book.
Moslems believe Mohammad memorized words directly from God, and that he dictated them to scribes. Hence the words are not (supposedly) simultaneously Mohammed’s word’s and God’s, ONLY God’s..... Hence, it is a requirement for a good Moslem to learn Arabic—as the Koran is considered NOT a Koran if it is in translation. Allah evidently is supposed to have Arabic as His language...
Christians on the other hand have always considered the ideas and concepts in God’s Word—as universal as they are—easily translatable into any language. Still of course it is helpful to know the original languages, but, unless you study them for many years, you will not be able to translate them as well as your typical translation already has.
I do agree however, at the ministerial level—NOT knowing the original languages and getting dogmatic about various points, can be quite dangerous. The word in Greek for “baptize” for example, while it includes immersion, can mean anything from dampen to dunk... And “going down into the water” in New Testament Greek doesn’t necessarily mean full immersion either....(as most Baptists are taught—and the English translation seems to suggest). This would suggest that one reason why baptists are dogmatic about immersive baptism, is that this doctrine was developed amidst people who didn’t know Greek all that well...but, this is a arguable matter, and a dangerous one to bring up in a baptist thread...
One of the problems in congregational (baptist) church government is no authority over the minister, other than his own congregation. If that minister is the best educated of his congregation—and his education is flawed, there is no one really—once he’s firmly established as a minister—to check him in his biblical interpretations. Now, of course the Baptist general conventions will keep aberrant preachers at bay, but only by threatening to throw whole congregations out of the convention. Other church governments can, in theory at least, monitor preachers teachings better, and avoid such radical actions like throwing congregations out.
And look who controls who in America as a result - who do we blame for Article 6, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution?
Hi chrisser, that’s interesting...
Thanks for the insight into the Catholic hierarchy.
Fletcher J
Thanks for the insight. Its very helpful.
Godspeed on pursuing your vocation as well.
Not to be the proverbial fly in the ointment, but what did Baptists in the antebellum South and/or Confederate States believe about slavery and the negro race in general? For that matter, my question would also include other evangelical churches in the antebellum/bellum era...
What about their views post-bellum? Jim Crow laws?
“I do agree however, at the ministerial level—NOT knowing the original languages and getting dogmatic about various points, can be quite dangerous. The word in Greek for “baptize” for example, while it includes immersion, can mean anything from dampen to dunk... And “going down into the water” in New Testament Greek doesn’t necessarily mean full immersion either”
****
But doesn’t the Greek Orthodox Church baptize by immersion? If so, one would think that if the Greek Church doesn’t know the meaning of the Greek word “baptizo”, then who does?
Prior to the Civil War Baptists seldom called for abstention from alcohol, but most did call for temperance. The Federal government's first tax on liquor and beer was imposed in 1862 at $.20 per gallon. After the war, the cash strapped government raised the tax almost monthly. This led to illegally production, stockpiling, fraud, and other criminal activities. Because of these illegal activities the Feds were not collecting enough taxes and thus raised the taxes again and again. By 1869 it was $2 a gallon but still their tax revenues did not go up.
During this decade manufactures, transporters, sellers and importers of alcoholic beverages became very corrupt and so did the government officials regulating the industry. They were viewed by all Americans pretty much in the same way as we see drug manufactures, smugglers and dealers today except that local state and federal officials were helping them. They were seen as lowlife criminals and respectable people did not associate with them.
This also is the time of the Whiskey Ring scandal that reached all the way up to Grant's administration. Republican politicians and government agents were caught siphoning off millions of dollars in federal taxes on liquor and permitting the criminal activities of the liquor industry. Even after the scandal was over and taxes reduced the liquor industry was still very corrupt for more than a decade.
I give all this information only to show that there is a logical reason that in 1896 the Southern Baptists messengers adopted the resolution to "reassert our truceless and uncompromising hostility to the manufacture, sale, importation and transportation of alcoholic beverages." Sounds very much like the 18th amendment doesn't it?
By what authority does a Baptist church prohibit alcohol? The power to bind and loose were given to the church. This is binding.
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