1776

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the
thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty; Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Muslims Fail in Liberty and Courage

The Egyptian government, dominated by the Muslim religion, has once again failed to stand courageously for the democracy which it claims to possess.  This is evident in two recent cases, one regarding the restriction of religious liberty and the other in the failure to protect its Coptic citizens.  In Yemen, the the height of Islamist cowardice was demonstrated in the kidnapping and murder of unarmed female relief workers.

EGYPT – Kamilia Gaballah, a Coptic Christian, was granted custody of her 14-year-old twins, Andrew and Mario, by an Egyptian court on June 15.  The boys turned 15 on June 24.  Gaballah has fought with her ex-husband, Medhat Ramses Labib, for the custody of the boys in more than forty different cases since he converted to Islam and abandoned her in 1999.  In October 2008, the Appeal Court of Alexandria granted custody of the boys to their father despite the fact that Egyptian law grants custody of children to mothers until age 15.  The year prior, Labib changed the religious affiliation on the twins’ birth certificates from Christian to Muslim without their consent.  While the court granted Gaballah custody, it also ruled the boys must be identified as Muslims on their national identification cards.

The boys now face the legal challenge of attempting to obtain identification cards listing them as Christians.  When asked why they desired to remain Christian, Andrew replied, “I love Christ, and I believe in Him.”  Mario responded, “I am born Christian, and I believe in Christianity, and I am not going to change my faith.”  The twins’ elder brother, George, who is also a Christian, stated last year that the two have received encouragement from fellow Christians who have heard of their dilemma.  He noted, “Christians see them as Coptic heroes and martyrs who stood up in front of all and said they were Christians and held on to it.  All of them say they they see the greatness of their ancestors and Christian heroes of long ago in them. . . .  they carry a lot of respect and love for what they have done.”

U.S. Citizens concerned about religious liberty in Egypt are urged to contact the embassy in Washington, D.C., at 202.895.5400, in order to vocalize their support for the twins in being identified by their religion of choice.

EGYPT – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has expressed concern over reports of attacks targeting Coptic Christians in the small Egyptian village of Ezbet Boshra-East.  On June 21, a group of Christians from Cairo visiting a pastor in the village when a mob of Muslim residents began attacking and looting the church building, Christian homes, and destroying crops owned by Christians.  Several people were injured.  Felice Gaer, chair of the USCIRF, noted in a news release, “This latest incident is another example of the upsurge of violence against Coptic Christians we have seen in the last few years.  The commission has long expressed concern that the Egyptian government does not do enough to protect Christians and their property in Egypt, nor does the government adequately bring perpetrators of such violence to justice.”  Egypt is a nation on the USCIRF “Watch List” due its serious violations of religious liberty.

YEMEN – Nine international relief workers, all Christians, were abducted on June 12.  Three of those kidnapped, all women, were murdered a short time later.  The bodies of two German nurses in training, Rita Stumpp and Anita Gruenwald, and a South Korean, Eom Young-sun, were discovered in Noshour Valley.  The remaining hostages, German physician Johannes Hentschel, his wife Sabine, their three children, and an unidentified British engineer, are reportedly still alive.

Please pray for Muslims in Egyptian government to stand courageously for the democracy they claim to possess and desire.  Please pray for the safe return of the relief workers who were abducted, and for the families of the ladies who were murdered.

Theology on Thursday

One of my all-time favorite movies is the 1981 Paramount feature, Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The hero of the film, Indiana Jones, is an adventurer and professor of archaeology.  While lecturing, he quips to his students, “Archaeology is about facts, not truth.  If it’s truth you’re interested in, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is down the hall.” There exists a contemporary myth which asserts scientists are concerned only with facts while philosophers and theologians are preoccupied with meaning.  As a theologian, I am obviously a theist – one who believes in the existence of a transcendent, eternal divine being who is the ultimate origin of the universe.  As such, I am decidedly not a naturalist – one who believes that blind chance and natural causes alone are sufficient to explain everything that exists.  Theism and naturalism are competing worldviews which are unable to concede any ground to the other.  As science historian William B. Provine of Cornell University, an avowed atheist and staunch evolutionist, has rightly observed, if naturalism (e.g., Darwinism) is true as he contends, then there is absolutely no ground for theism, no absolute foundation for morality, no ultimate meaning of life, and no free will [“Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics” in Science, Technology, and Social Progress (Research in Technology Studies), ed. Steven L. Goldman (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1989), 253-67].

Naturalists (e.g., Darwinists) claim all scientists of their bent are purely objective, simply collecting evidence from the natural world and comparing theories an on ongoing basis without bias.  They declare religious explanations for the order of the universe are not science because they are based subjectively upon faith and are not subject to objective analysis.  While it is true that religion is based upon faith, it is untrue that faith remains untouched by evidence or reason, or that Naturalists themselves are purely objective in their approach.  With claims of neutrality and absolute scientific proof, naturalism holds sway over the thinking of contemporary culture.  This was evidenced by the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Edwards v. Aguillard) which claimed views affirming divine creation are not science and therefore cannot be taught in public schools as an alternative theory to naturalistic evolution.  Views related to creation were said to belong to the realms of religion, philosophy, and history.  More recently, in 2005, District Judge John E. Jones III ruled in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that intelligent design is not science and “cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.”  He claimed the school district’s promotion of intelligent design therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  In 2007, the Council of Europe’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education issued a report entitled, “The Dangers of Creationism in Education”, which states, “Creationism in any of its forms, such as ‘intelligent design’, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning and its contents are pathetically inadequate for science classes.’”  The report describes intelligent design as “anti-science” involving “blatant scientific fraud.”  The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution declaring schools should “resist presentation of creationist ideas in any discipline other than religion”, including intelligent design.  It is disturbing that leaders in the realms of government have failed to comprehend a major factor in their determinations, namely, that naturalism is not strictly science, but the Weltanschauung of Darwinists.

One’s Weltanschauung, or worldview, is the overall perspective from which an individual or group views and interprets life in this world and which directs that individual’s or group’s daily decisions and actions.  The elements of one’s worldview, one’s fundamental beliefs about certain aspects of reality, are:

epistemology – beliefs regarding the nature and sources of knowledge;
cosmology – beliefs regarding the origins and nature of the universe, life, and humanity;
teleology – beliefs regarding the meaning and purpose of the universe, its inanimate elements, and its inhabitants;
metaphysics – beliefs regarding the nature of reality;
anthropology – beliefs regarding the nature and purpose of humanity in general and oneself in particular;
theology – beliefs regarding the existence and nature of God;
axiology – beliefs regarding the nature of value, what is good and bad, right and wrong.

Bringing these elements to bear, every worldview can be analyzed by its answers to three essential questions:

1) What is the origin (and therefore meaning) of life?
2) Why is there moral chaos in the world?
3) How can, and why should, moral chaos be remedied?

Christianity answers these questions by affirming that God created the world, that life is meant to be lived in subjection to His will; that there is moral chaos in this world as a result of humanity’s rebellion against God’s will; and that the only remedy for moral chaos is the redemptive work of the triune God through Christ Jesus.  The basis for this worldview is divine revelation – Holy Scripture (the Bible).

Naturalism asserts the world is a closed, autonomous system with no supernatural intervention.  Life exists as a result of blind chance, therefore there is no real meaning of life.  Any meaning of life is simply arbitrary.  Human life, according to the Darwinist, is no qualitatively different than animal life.  Because of this, there is no basis for distinguishing between human life and animals.  This means, practically, that “superior” human beings, who have evolved through rigid determinism, have the right to treat non-human animals and “inferior” human beings with indifference or even cruelty.  Naturalism perceives humanity’s problem as simply having too much influence retained from his animal past (e.g., aggression, violence).  The solution to solving animal retention within human beings is to simply provide education or behavioral alteration in some other form.  For the consistent naturalist, there is absolutely no basis for morality.  Emphasis is placed on survival of the fittest.  What is not fit may be destroyed to make way for that which is superior.  It was this worldview which led to the murder of millions in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Naturalism, which dominates secular society, has long distinguished between fact and truth, science and religion, objective knowledge and subjective feeling.  Evangelicals have largely fallen prey to this worldview, erroneously subjecting themselves to thinking Christianity is little more than a subjective experience – emphasizing personal decision and religious commitment – rather than comprehending that Christianity is itself a worldview.  Everything which exists has come into being as a result of divine action.  This means every sphere of thought and activity, not just the religious and spiritual, is to be brought under the Lordship of Christ.  Ethics, economics, ecology, philosophy, logic, the arts and sciences, are all subject to Him.  Genuine knowledge within these realms means investigating and discerning the ways and God has ordered these matters and utilizing them for His glory.  The Christian faith cannot be reduced to a simple formula and restricted to a mere portion of our lives.  Our faith must touch everything we see, hear, touch, think, and do, because  God is our ultimate reality.

Religious Liberty Still Restricted in China

The Taochuan Village Christian Church in Shaanxi Province, China, has been targeted by communist authorities for advocating justice for peasants in the village.  On June 5, authorities issued a public notice declaring the church had been abolished.  Three members of the congregation – Ms. Xu Fenying, Ms. Liu Caili, and Mr. Huang Shumin – were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses by officers on June 14 for “engaging in illegal religious activities.”  Their personal property (books) were also confiscated and they were fined.  The three were shown on Luonan County television being escorted in handcuffs to the police station.  On June 18, three officers went to the home of Zhang Mialo, where they interrogated her and then summoned her to the police station.  The following day, when she went to the station as ordered, she was given a five-day sentence.

Xu Fenying was relased on June 19 after being detained for five days.  Ms. Liu Caili and Mr. Huang Shumin were released on June 24 after being detained for ten days.  All three leaders, together with their families and members of the Taochuan Church, thank those who prayed for them and spoke on their behalf.  The trio has filed an administrative lawsuit against the Luonan County Public Security Bureau of Shaanxi Province on the grounds that the detentions, fines and confiscation of property have no legal basis.  In the lawsuit, the Christians maintain:

1. The charge was not based on fact because they gathered spontaneously to study the Bible, not in the name of a social organization;
2. The administrative penalty had no legal basis because the Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of belief;
3. The authorities violated legal procedures because they did not present identification or summons papers.

Please pray for Taochuan village and the members of the local village church there.

HT: Voice of the Martyrs / China Aid Association

Nepal Defense Fund Attacks Religious Liberty

The Nepal Defense Fund (NDF), a militant Hindu group, has threatened to bomb ten Christian homes in Nepal if all Christians do not leave the nation by July 10.  R. P. Manali, the supreme commander of the NDF, has demanded for Nepal to be declared a Hindu state.  He has also declared that Christians should not be permitted to worship in the land and that the NDF and other Hindu groups will “fight the government” if foreign missionaries are permitted into the nation.  NDF was responsible for the bombing of a Roman Catholic Church building in Kathmandu on May 23, which took the life of three people and wounded fifteen others.  Last year, NDF mutilated and murdered a Roman Catholic priest.  The group has also claimed responsibility for other church bombings in the past.  Please pray for Christians in Nepal who face increased persecution, especially with the date for the threatened bombings looming.

Theology on Thursday

Praise and worship music should be theologically sound.  Keith & Kristyn Getty, along with Stuart Townend, are superb contemporary Christian musicians.  Here is theology set to music.

“In Christ Alone”
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.

SBC: The Year Ahead?

Many Southern Baptists are quite optimistic about the future of the denomination following this year’s annual meeting.  Messengers to the yearly convention overwhelmingly approved authorization for SBC president Johnny Hunt to appoint a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to determine how “Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”  The task force will present its findings and recommendation next year at the convention in Orlando.  The GCR approval has produced a great deal of optimism.

Alan Cross, who has been cynical towards and frustrated with the SBC in recent years, believes “something significant has happened.”  He believes the significance is that the future belongs to the Great Commission Resurgence camp, led by the likes of Al Mohler, Danny Akin, Ed Stetzer, and Johnny Hunt, and that the “days of culture war” and “days of denial over our current situation” are finished.

Michael Spencer (iMonk) is also percolating with optimism, stating, “The younger leaders of the SBC are taking on power in a denomination that has been, for the most part, attempting to lock the doors and hope they would go away. Well, they didn’t. They came to the convention and voted in a mechanism to take an urgent look at what we are doing for the one thing that holds us together: a commitment to carry out the Great Commission. What you saw today was a serious changing of the power grid in the SBC. The vast numbers of obedient old-guard messengers are never again going to show up and make the SBC into a wholly owned subsidiary of the culture war or the Jerry Vines version of the SBC. This is now a denomination that has given itself clear and simple instructions: Get to the task of world missions, not the task of building a denominational culture.”

Others aren’t looking at the approval to appoint the GCR task force in the same light.  For example, Peter Lumpkins, who voted for the committee formation, rebuked the iMonk’s assessment of the situation.  Lumpkins stated the SBC merely “voted to ‘study’ ourselves” and then took the opportunity in his post to provide another of his scathing assessments of the Calvinists associated with Founders Ministries (along with criticism of Ed Stetzer).

While I’m somewhat hopeful for the direction of the SBC at this point, I’m not overly optimistic.  Next year’s meeting will be, I believe, much more indicative of the state of the denomination than this year’s convention.  I expect executive directors from the majority of the state conventions to buck against the Great Commission Resurgence as an attempt by agency directors to gain direct CP gifts for their institutions (and thereby cutting funding to the states).  I also believe many within the Baptist Identity camp will speak glowingly of the Great Commission Resurgence, yet labor frenetically to ensure greater doctrinal conformity within the SBC.  This doctrinal conformity will include an assault against Calvinism and Calvinists.  Jerry Nash, a pastor from Florida, was a messenger to the convention this past week.  Speaking of the motion to appoint a GCR task force, Nash called it “a waste of time, funding and other resources.”  He argued Southern Baptists are no longer agreed on the “heart of the gospel,” pointing out that thirty percent of SBC seminary graduates are Calvinists and that “Calvinists and Calvinist sympathizers are in positions of leadership throughout our Convention.”  He argued that “Calvinist theology” is incompatible with “Traditional Baptist theology,” and that “Calvinists will kill or split the Southern Baptist Convention.”  He maintained “Traditional Baptists” are unable to cooperate with “Calvinists” because the two “cannot agree that God loves everyone and that Jesus died that everyone.”  He asked, “If we cannot agree on God’s plan of salvation how can we cooperate?”  I fully expect leaders such as Morris Chapman, Paige Patterson, Malcolm Yarnell, Steve Lemke, Jerry Vines, and others to become more vocal in their opposition to Calvinism within the convention in the upcoming months.  I believe this issue will dominate denominational discussion in the days ahead and there will be a drive to expel “Calvinists and Calvinist sympathizers” from the SBC.  I hope I’m wrong, and that all within the SBC who love the Lord Jesus will be able to go forward for the cause of Christ.  Whatever the future holds for the Southern Baptist Convention, boredom will not be part of the equation.

Chapman’s Oversight

Morris Chapman, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, gave his report this morning (June 23).  The report, entitled, “The Great Commission Resurgence”, contained two great pearls of wisdom which were unstrung by a rant denouncing Calvinism (and in highly ignorant fashion).  The pair of powerful points made by Chapman, in my opinion, were these:

• “We must NEVER subvert the changeless Gospel to an inordinate fascination with changing cultural forms and sociological trends.  To hide the lamp of the Gospel under the bushel of cultural compromise is a grievous sin against the Spirit.  Some of the church-growth methodologies that masquerade under the guise of Bible exposition are increasingly known for the crude themes and the vulgar language of their strongest advocates.  The sacred desk is no place for the carnal, the sensual, and the sensational.”
• “Too often, we are jealous of how the Lord is blessing one of the brethren.  We look at the enrollment of the other seminary, the endowment of the other institution, the building or the budget of the other church.  We count the numbers and we wonder why God is doing more for them than He is for us.  To those of us who are always pressing for a higher profile in convention life or climbing the ladder of ambition, the LORD would tell us that the greatest place is the place of service.  It is the lowly floor of the basin and the towel, not the throne of power and authority.  We must prefer to kneel at another’s feet in service, than to stand in the synagogues and street corners. And when God chooses to bless one of His servants for their faithfulness, we must avoid watching with benign interest – and often a critical spirit.  We must follow the example of Christ himself, and seek to be the servant of all.”

It is unfortunate that Rev. Chapman, who has long been a voice of reason within denominational life, made the following comments:

“The Southern Baptist Convention is experiencing a resurgence in the belief that divine sovereignty alone is at work in salvation without a faith response on the part of man.  Some are given to explain away the ‘whosoever will’ of John 3:16.  How can a Christian come to such a place when Ephesians says, ‘For by grace are you saved through faith’ (Eph. 2:8)?  I do not rise to become argumentative, or to change minds already convinced of one perspective or the other.  But I do rise to state the obvious.  Man is often tempted to design a theological theory in light of a biblical antinomy in order to clarify what God is trying to say.  Man’s system will be inferior to God’s system now and forever. Why is it so difficult to accept from God what we cannot fully explain? After all, He didn’t begin to tell us everything He knows, but what we need to know to be redeemed and live righteously.  The belief that sovereignty alone is at work in salvation is not what has emboldened our witness and elevated our concern for evangelism and missions through the ages.  This is not the doctrine that Southern Baptists have embraced in their desire to reach the world for Christ. If there is any doctrine of grace that drives men to argue and debate more than it drives them to pursue lost souls and persuade ALL MEN to be reconciled to God – then it is no doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man both are taught in the Bible. Both are necessary elements in the salvation experience. A healthy tension (an antinomy) exists in the Bible with regard to these two important biblical truths. Both are present in the salvation experience.”

To claim that ‘Calvinists’ teach that no faith is required to receive salvation is simply ludicrous.  ‘Calvinists’ maintain that the gospel is to be proclaimed indiscriminately to all, that all are commanded to repent and believe (exercise faith), and that God will (and must) act decisively to bring about salvation in the heart of rebellious sinners.  Chapman is entirely correct – Scripture teaches both divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  No ‘Calvinist’ denies this whatsoever.  Chapman went on to declare that when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church on the Day of Pentecost, believers did not “engage in idle arguments about the extent of the atonement, or the nature of election.”  He added:

“When the early church was baptized with God’s Spirit, they instead hurled themselves to the farthest corners of the earth to preach the soul-saving name of Jesus. From day one, they were steadfast in prayer, praise, and proclamation.  They were a missionary people before anything else.  We would do well to remember this.  Sure, there were struggles and hardships from the very beginning.  But they refused to lose their focus in the midst of the difficulties.”

This statement is absolutely true, yet what undergirded the Church as they went forward was faith in the absolute sovereignty of God.  Simply look at their prayer from Acts 4:24-29:

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, Your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against His Anointed’ — for truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness.”

There was no need for those early Christians to argue about what Scripture clearly teaches about predestination, particularly in relation to evangelism.  The Apostle Paul understood this as well when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).  Divine sovereignty (predestination and election) is inextricably intertwined with evangelism.  Chapman’s poor choice in stating such things led Dr. Danny Akin to denounce the presentation as “shameful,” and Dr. Albert Mohler claiming he wanted to start a recovery group for those who had to sit through the address.  Nonetheless, I have no doubt Drs. Akin and Mohler wholeheartedly affirmed Rev. Chapman’s affirmation that the SBC must not be deterred from carrying forward with the Great Commission.  I certainly affirm that, as do all ‘Calvinists’ within the SBC.  May we join hands as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, going forward for His sake to take the gospel to the nations.

Ergun’s Oversight

Over 700 people attended the Conference of Southern Baptists Evangelists meeting on June 21 in Louisville, Kentucky.  The meeting featured Johnny Hunt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.  Caner preached on “Engaging the Last Days’ Culture,” emphasizing the importance of theological education and the impact divinity graduates can have on secular culture.  Caner noted in the home locale of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, that if an individual toured any of the SBC’s seminaries or affiliated colleges, “You run into this great cadre, this fired-up army of kids who are ready to charge hell with a water gun. They have not yet learned to be cynical or skeptical or sarcastic. . . .  They’d crawl on their hands and knees on broken glass to tell someone about Jesus. . . .  We have an entire generation of kids who know more Bible, memorized more verses and are more fearless than any other generation in history.”  Ironically, he failed to mention that “those who are worse than Muslims” (e.g., Calvinists) are many of those making up this cadre of seminary and college students.  Caner also noted there “are more people interested in Christianity than ever in history” on secular campuses.  In this, he failed to mention that one of the reasons secular campuses are being impacted positively by the Christian message is due very largely to the ministries of Reformed stalwarts such as John Piper and Mark Driscoll, and student ministry groups such as Reformed University Fellowship.

Theology on Thursday

As a Christian, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…

…and I do not believe such belief is irrational, illogical, or unscientific.