Known for its objections

Example 1:  My college, Baptist Bible College and Seminary of Clark Summit, Pa., had an outstanding raison d'être. As proclaimed in BBC's hymn, the school is there to train young people in the task of "Holding Fast the Faithful Word."

Example 2:  When Martin Luther was called to the Diet of Worms, he proffered his defense by proclamation of the truths he saw in scripture. His closing argument was concluded with:

Unless I am convinced of error by the testimony of Scripture or ... by manifest reasoning, I stand convinced by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God's word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.

Example 3:  Aaron Tippin sang a song titled, You've Got to Stand for Something Or You'll Fall for Anything.

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Great heroes of history have always stood for something. Of course, their stands positioned them against the stands of others, but typically the great heroes of the past have stood for something, not against something.

Unfortunately, our society has fallen to the other side of this equation and the fall seems to increase with greater velocity each passing day. We now take pride in standing against things rather than for things. It seems easier, apparently, to demonize and marginalize our opponents rather than to argue the scriptural basis that prompts us to a different position on the issue.

The Southern Baptist Convention, after making a solid conservative comeback from the jaws of liberalism, has taken on a new enemy to oppose—Calvinism. But as the years have passed, the anti-Calvinists have had great difficulty in defending their position from scripture. So they have turned to demonizing and marginalizing the perceived enemy—those who believe in the sovereign God of scripture.

At the outstanding blog Grace and Truth to You, Wade Burleson has posted an article that deals with this sad state of affairs. From Wade's post:

I told a few people privately ... that if people didn't start drawing a line in the sand over attempts to narrow and constrict the doctrinal parameters of Southern Baptist cooperation, then we would eventually get to the place that Calvinists would be told they are no longer welcome in the SBC....

Bottom line, I knew that if a line in the sand was not drawn at some point, those who hold to Calvinism would be targeted next. Three years later, that which I feared has come upon us....

It is my prayer that the ability to cooperate with Southern Baptists who disagree on doctrinal issues didn't die with him. We cannot let the spirit and temperament that demands doctrinal conformity prevail in the SBC. I would much rather build bridges of understanding with those who disagree with me than allow those who disagree with me declare that people on the other side of them are not "orthodox" Southern Baptists and should be removed.

I cannot, I will not, be silent about the need for cooperation among Southern Baptists. Cooperation in the midst of doctrinal diversity is the fabric of who we are as Southern Baptists. It is, if you will, true Southern Baptist identity.

Read the full blog post

May God grant mercy and grace to the Evangelicals in America. May he moves us back to defending and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than finding myriad things to oppose.