Posted on 06/13/2014 8:46:38 AM PDT by Mr Rogers
Disciplining a church
Former SBC vice president Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., stepped forward at the first opportunity to make a motion requesting convention officers to represent convention messengers in visiting discipline on the church for violating a constitutional ban on congregations which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.
An order of business committee determined Drakes motion was not in order, and the matter wasnt reintroduced in subsequent business sessions.
Toward the end of the convention, Drake approached a microphone during a report by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary seeking advice about the proper method for convention messengers to discipline a wayward church.
Seminary President Danny Akin replied that discipline is a matter for the local church, but Southern Baptists can rest assured graduates coming out of their six seminaries are committed to the traditional view of marriage as the union of a husband and wife.
(Excerpt) Read more at baptiststandard.com ...
And it looks like the SBC-E has ducked its responsibility to rid the Convention of open cancer.
Since I have defended the SBC on charges of being lax on homosexuality as recently as 10 Jun 2014 on this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3165756/posts
I now publicly apologize. While it is one congregation of 45,000, there was no reason whatsoever for the annual convention to turn a blind eye to an open acceptance of sin.
Ping to a very disappointing outcome of the SBC Convention.
This is why they're called the Southern Baptist Convention and not the Southern Baptist Denomination. The SBC has no disciplinary oversight re local member churches. IIRC it's up to the other local churches to decide whether to allow them renewed membership in the convention at the next vote.
caving faster than the Anglican church. PATHETIC
You owe no apology. They do. I hear so many voices carp about Church! Church! Church! and decry “private faith”. You know what? In these terrible times we’d BETTER have a private faith! A faith that let’s “God be true and every man a liar”...when no one is looking.
“Gay marriage” is a glaringly obvious lie to believers taught in the Word. Clearly a delusion is being sent on those who do not love the Truth. Clinton—during her NPR interview—flatly said the changes in this regard have been “sweeping”. Poor reprobate woman, she meant it in a positive way.
I hope that they won’t allow the church to retain membership at the next vote. We don’t need any more Protestant churches caving into the rampant moral heresies of modern times.
If you believe that you don’t really understand historic Baptist distinctives and the way the SBC works. As a group Southern Baptists remain overwhelmingly united against the homosexual agenda.
Now. the Southern Baptists have embarked down the same path.
What a tragedy.
What fools.
Actually, it is a matter for the SBC Annual Convention.
“Fermin Whittaker, Executive Director of the California Southern Baptist Convention, told me that media outlets havent accurately reported all the facts on the matter...But more significantly, he does not consider it a traditional congregation.
This is a mission church, we think, Whittaker said. It is not an organized congregation, and the parent church had no knowledge of the changes happening there.
He says that Baptist polity does not allow him or the California arm of the SBC he leads to revoke a congregations membership. Unless the denomination acts at their national gathering this week, New Heart will remain a participating Southern Baptist congregation until at least next Summer.”
In 2009:
“With no discussion, Southern Baptist Convention messengers Tuesday approved a recommendation to cease the denomination’s relationship with Broadway Baptist Church, a Fort Worth, Texas, congregation that has been the source of controversy over its stance on homosexuality.
The recommendation from the Executive Committee passed on the floor nearly unanimously, capping a focus on the church that began last year when a messenger made a motion asking that the convention declare Broadway Baptist as not “in friendly cooperation” with the denomination.
At issue was whether the church was in violation of Article III of the SBC constitution, which states that churches “which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior” are not in friendly cooperation.”
I’m a lifelong Southern Baptist, have a degree from a Southern Baptist university, and I have been rather involved in SBC “politics” and controversies since the 80’s. I have plenty of concerns about the state of the SBC today, but this isn’t one of them. Southern Baptists remain overwhelmingly united against the homosexual agenda. I can promise you this situation is nothing like the UCC, Episcopals or PUSA. If that congregation remains unrepentant, they will not remain in fellowship with the SBC indefinitely. It will be handled with as much grace as possible in due time. If they were allowed to remain Southern Baptist, it would split the Convention.
This has been my prediction for several years, since the SBC president agreed to meet with radical homo-Gestapo members at their convention several years ago. I saw the quick softening then, and I knew that it was only a matter of time.
That had been my understanding of how SBC church affiliation works. Thank you for confirming it.
The SBC most CERTAINLY has the right and responsibility to disfellowship churches which violate basic doctrines of the group, as they have in the past (look up University Baptist in Austin, Texas and Broadway Baptist in Fort Worth, Texas).
This failure to act is a radical departure from previous practice.
The annual Southern Baptist Convention voted yesterday to oppose the 'moral validation' of transgender people, approving a proposal that affirms "God's original design to create two distinct and complementary sexes".
Drafted by Denny Burk, associate professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the resolution asserts that "gender identity should be determined by biological sex and not by one's self-perception a perception which is often influenced by fallen human nature in ways contrary to God's design".
It continues: "We affirm distinctions in masculine and feminine roles as ordained by God as part of the created order, and that those distinctions should find an echo in every human heart.
"We condemn efforts to alter one's bodily identity (eg cross-sex hormone therapy, gender reassignment surgery) to bring it into line with one's perceived gender identity...[and] we continue to oppose steadfastly all efforts by any court or state legislature to validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy."
This is not an altogether surprising move from a group known for its socially conservative views; theologian and President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, Albert Mohler, recently condemned suggestions that there can be a "third way" between acceptance and rejection of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
"There is no third way. A church will either believe and teach that same-sex behaviours and relationships are sinful, or it will affirm them. Eventually, every congregation in America will make a public declaration of its position on this issue. It is just a matter of time (and for most churches, not much time) before every congregation in the nation faces this test," he writes in a blog post.
"That moment of decision and public declaration will come to every Christian believer, individually. There will be no place to hide, and no place safe from eventual interrogation. The question will be asked, an invitation will be extended, a matter of policy must be decided, and there will be no refuge."
Similarly, this latest proposal, affirmed during yesterday's meeting, positions the Southern Baptist churches as firmly conservative on the issue of transgender; the resolution expresses a commitment "to pray for and support legislative and legal efforts to oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other legislation like it that would give gender identity the same legal protections as sex and race".
Progressive Christian blogger John Shore has condemned this stance, however, writing that the proposal suggests transgender people are "crazy" and "delusional", and if only they would "pray more they'd stop being transgender".
He also suggests that in doing so, the Convention has thrown "transgender people under the bus".
Following yesterday's announcement, Rachel Held Evans joined the debate, tweeting: "To those condemned by the Southern Baptists today: There are people & churches ready to welcome you with the open arms of Christ".
I agree. If not for cases such as this, what good does such a convention serve? Would they also turn a collective blind eye from a member congregation that started teaching a works-based salvation or which denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ? They are much more than a figurehead.
Amen!
Those who take Ms. Evans up on her offer should be aware that it will NOT be Jesus' arms that welcome them!
Putting ones trust in an organization is shaky at best. We are in the midst of a trend that will continue to illustrate that the organized churches are not to be relied on but that an individual relationship with Jesus the Christ is the only safe haven. God is revealing who is with Him and who will not stand firm. The assemblies of the New Testament were all local and people had better begin to find and meet with only those who stand firm on scripture with Jesus alone as their hope.
Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more.
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