The Problem of Systematic Theology

More and more I am driven to the conclusion that systematic theology is one of the major impediments to authentic Christian faith today.

Systematic theology seeks to organize knowledge about God in such a way that we have encompassed God within our own understanding.  God becomes reasonable.  God is defined.  God is comprehended.  God is under control.

However, God in His wisdom did not provide us with a theological text book. He gave us the Bible, a compilation of stories and poetry.  That is because authentic theology is acquired by osmosis rather than by reason and logic. We come to know God by repeatedly encountering Him in the stories of the Bible and the stories of our own lives.  We come to know God separately from, maybe even before, our coming to know about God.

An example of the problem:  In my youth Southern Baptists were aware of the difference between a personal relationship with God and an objective understanding about God.  That awareness affected Baptist practices. Baptists insisted that a personal experience with Jesus was the prerequisite for baptism and church membership, not rote recitation of an approved creed.  For that reason, Baptists were uncomfortable with and even suspicious of those who practiced confirmation, insisting upon a personal confession of faith rather than knowledge of a catechism.

In recent decades things have changed among Southern Baptists.  A person's personal faith and relationship with God is now decried as emotional subjectivism, lacking the substance and validity of intellectual acceptance  of systematic theological statements concerning the nature of God. Commitment to correct propositional statements about God is now seen as what defines a Christian.  The result is that the emphasis has come to be centered upon an intellectual affirmation of theological pronouncements formulated by a few and voted upon and approved by a majority of the representatives from local congregations, a majority of whom have limited understanding of the implications of the actions they have taken. Propositional statements have superseded personal relationships.

The sad result is that now Southern Baptists are more confident in their knowledge about God while knowing God, Himself, less and less.

Where we once looked to God to define who we are to be, we now look to systematic theology, and it's derivative Baptist Faith and Message, to define who God must be.

The servant seeks to rule the Master.

Sadly, this rebellion is not limited to Southern Baptists.

Baptist Group to Boycott

Here is a bit of satire, a spoof, that sounds so plausible that someone is bound to report it as true. If it used a denomination other than baptist, I'm sure SBC folks would be circulating it in chain e-mails.

Read and laugh: Baptist Group to Boycott

Criswell’s cupids, Roman gods make waves at legendary auction house

Associated Baptist Press carries this article: Criswell’s cupids, Roman gods make waves at legendary auction house

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Scantily clad nymphs attended by flower-bearing maidens. Strapping young gallants gently bending over lovers’ bosoms. Frolicking cupids surrounded by doves and gilt-edged arrows.

The mythological figurines are not exactly the kind of art you’d expect a legendary Baptist pastor to collect.

But at least one did -- W.A. Criswell. And his collection of 19th century Meissen porcelain was grand enough to earn an estimated half a million dollars Oct. 25 at Christie’s art auction house in New York City.

Criswell, the renowned pastor who led First Baptist Church in Dallas for more than 50 years, first developed an interest in Meissen during a post-World War II mission visit to Germany. For decades after that trip, Criswell and his wife, Betty, studied and collected the figurines, Schneeballen, and flower-applied serving and toilette sets made in the region.

The culmination of the Texan’s collecting years comprised the 200-plus lots expected to take in more than $500,000 at auction. Proceeds will benefit the W.A. Criswell Foundation and Criswell College, the Dallas-based college he founded in 1971.

Christie’s international head Jody Wilkie described the collection as “fabulous.”

These verses came to mind as I read this article:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ^ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
NIV Mt. 19:23, 24

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
NIV Mt. 6:24

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
NIV 1 Ti 6:10

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ^without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ^treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ^having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
NIV 2 Ti 3:2-5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

NIV Heb 13:5

^Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; ^not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

NIV 1 Pe 5:2, 3

We do not need to go so far as the joke about the deacon who prayed, "Lord, if you'll keep our pastor humble, we'll keep him poor." However, there is something inconsistent with one, who claims to be leading others to follow a Master who had no place even to lay his head, amassing such wealth. Perhaps Criswell's estate is belatedly trying to obey the command of Jesus to another rich young ruler: “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (NIV Lk 18:22) However, the wealth is not going to help the poor, but to glorify the giver.

May I quote again the Quote for the Day for 31 October 2007:

"Success is one of the dirtiest temptations of the devil."

-- Madeleine L'Engle
Walking on Water

And also the quote heading this blog:

"For us let it be enough to know ourselves to be in the place where God wants us, and carry on our work, even though it be no more than the work of an ant, infinitesimally small, and with unforeseeable results."

-- Abbé Monchanin

May God deliver us, one and all.

California slated as new home for Missouri Baptist Convention

This headline is hilarious! No, the Missouri Baptist Convention isn't moving west. California is a town in Missouri. (Did you know that, Arnold?)

Baptists in the kitchen

Martin Marty continues to observe through astute eyes and speak with a prophetic voice. His commentary Baptists in the kitchen puts things in perspective. How do we respond to the questions he asks? (Better yet, how do Patterson, Mohler and their ilk respond?)

I especially appreciate this sentence:

'Back when Southern Baptists were still Baptist, I was invited to Southwestern Seminary, the "largest seminary in the world," and was impressed by its worship, classes and faculty.'

Would that Southern Baptists were still Baptist!

In a nutshell

Larry Wilson says it as concisely as possible:

"The church in the United States seems more concerned with success than faithfulness."

He discusses the problem in more detail in Preachers Are What's Wrong With the World at EthicsDaily.com

Who's Inadequate?

The headline reads: SBC Leader Says Males Lack 'Equipment' for Child Care.

I would suggest that this is Mohler's personal confession of inadequacy rather than a factual observation on God's creation.

Blessed are the peacemakers

This cartoon is from Church Mice. Although cartoonist Karl Zorowski is a Methodist, his cartoon reminds me of Southern Baptists. This is about as close to peace making as many Southern Baptist pastors of this era will ever come. Still, a good nap is better than another brawl.

The Master's Touch Goes to Prison

Six-time Na Hoku Hanohano Award (the Hawaiian Grammy) winning duo Randy and Gay Hongo and the The Master's Touch, the hula halau of Olivet Baptist Church, tour Kentucky and Indiana with a special visit to the Otter Creek Correctional Center to perform for and visit with women prisoners from Hawaii.

"I was in prison and you visited me" -- Matthew 25:36

For the inspiring story behind the pictures visit: www.masterstouch-obc.blogspot.com

Southern Baptist Convention Group at GodTube

"About this group: The source for video information regarding the Southern Baptist Convention at Godtube.com. Thanks for posting your videos and welcome to the Southern Baptist Convention group!!!!!"

That's how the "Southern Baptist Convention" group at GodTube.com describes itself. And the number one video post is the one above. A true reflection of modern Southern Baptist church polity. Not at LifeWay yet, but sure to be coming soon.

(Note the not so subtle attack on Herschel Hobbs. The deacon's actions show him to be a disciple of Patterson and Pressler, not the irenic Hobbs. Obviously he "looks but does not see, listens but does not hear, reads but does not understand.")

Christian/Christ-follower

Actually, the one on the left is a modern Southern Baptist and the one on the right is a true Baptist (of whatever flavour). Thanks to cccmedia at GodTube.com

Senior Ohana -- Tour of Chinatown

The Senior Ohana of Olivet Baptist Church has regular monthly outings. Here is a video of a walking tour of Chinatown. In addition to seeing this historic part of Honolulu, we learned something of Chinese culture and history from our guide who grew up in Chinatown.

As well as being a ministry to seniors, giving them the tourist experience at home, this outing provided an opportunity to see a mission field in our midst.

Bringing the Hula To Off-Island Inmates

Not all baptists are preoccupied with building bigger buildings and programs. Olivet Baptist Church in Honoluou, Hawaii is reaching out to minister to "the least of these" lost in a strange culture. "I was in prison and you visited me," Jesus said. Here is a "literal interpretation" that is not simply rhetoric.

The Master's Touch is a christian hula group, a ministry of Olivet Baptist Church. Read what KHNL TV had to say about this ministry and view the TV news report about the trip using the link on the web page.

Follow along at The Master's Touch Blog.

It IS possible to be a Southern Baptist and a Christian at the same time!

In Case You Missed It

New Baptist Covenant Introduction

Faith or Politics?

Former Arkansas governor/Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee has withdrawn from attendance at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. He's unhappy with Jimmy Carter's comments about Bush's foreign policy. It seems that for Huckabee, politics trumps faith.

Can't we celebrate our common faith and Lord even if our politics differ? (Not if you're SBC/GOP it seems.)

Tortured Theology

Brian Kaylor's article, Tortured Theology, at Welcome to Ethics Daily says in part:

Psychologist Carl Jung once argued, "The healthy man does not torture others--generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."

After the National Association of Evangelicals recently endorsed a statement by Evangelicals for Human Rights that condemns torture, many conservative Christians attacked both the NAE and the statement.

In doing so, these Christians--including some Southern Baptist leaders--proved that Jung's statement is true when it comes to theology. For it is not the theologically healthy that condone the torture of those created in God's image, but those with tortured and perverted theology.

Kaylor is correct to find the roots of the un-Christian conduct and teaching of current Southern Baptist leaders in a "tortured and perverted theology." Somehow in the zeal to gain converts and produce "effective" leaders during the era of their spiritual formation, good baptists failed to disciple these future (now current) leaders and ground them in a biblical and personal relationship with the one we call Lord, Jesus, the Christ. Their theology is perverted.

Anti-biblical Southern Baptists

Once again the SBC leadership has shown itself to be in opposition to biblical teaching. EthicsDaily reports that

Daniel Heimbach, professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, last week in Baptist Press termed an NAE-ndorsed anti-torture statement "a moral travesty managing not only to confuse but to harm genuine evangelical witness in the culture." . . . Heimbach has long argued against an outright ban on torture, saying the United States should instead base interrogation of prisoners on "just war" principles guiding use of force in military conflict.

Now, the Bible I read says

Never pay back evil for evil. Let your aims be such as all men count honourable. If possible, so far as it lies with you, live at peace with all men. My dear friends, do not seek revenge, but leave a place for divine retribution; for there is a text which reads, 'Justice is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.' But there is another text: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; by doing this you will heap live coals on his head.; Do not let evil conquer you, but use good to defeat evil.
-- Romans 12:17-21 NEB

I notice that the passage begins with the word 'never.' No exception for interrogations. It says "If your enemy is hungry, feed him." It does not say, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him unless he is being deprived of food as part of an interrogation process."

Finally, the passage says, "Do not let evil conquer you, but use good to defeat evil." When we return evil for evil, we have been defeated by the evil we are trying to oppose. We have become evil ourselves.

When one supports torture or "aggressive interrogation," one denies the authority of Holy Scripture. How ironic that those who seized power in the Southern Baptist Convention under the guise of defending the authority of the Bible should so blatently act and teach in opposition to it.

Reaping the Harvest -- A Parable

A certain farmer made an amazing discovery. He discovered that at any given time, somewhere in the world, crops were being harvested. He knew that the goal of all farmers was to reap an abundant harvest. So he decided that it would be best if he quit expending energy and resources cultivating, planting, fertilizing, irrigating and weeding. He would get the best return for his investment if he would concentrate upon going to where the harvest was.

The farmer put his plan into action. He was overjoyed with the results. No longer did he have to spend his limited financial resources on plows and tractors, on fertilizers and irrigation equipment. He only needed harvesting equipment and transportation. He no longer had to wait from the time of planting until the time of harvest to reap the rewards of his labour. Every day was harvest day. His only wasted time was when he traveled, and with a sound strategy, that could be minimized.

The farmer was so successful in his new approach to farming that all his fellow farmers decided to follow his example. Soon the land was filled with harvesters. Plows lay idle. Irrigation equipment rusted. Fertilizer remained unsold in the warehouses. Except for harvest time the fields were empty. Everyone was focused on their primary task of reaping the harvest.

Then someone noticed that the bumper crops that they had previously experienced were beginning to be fewer and fewer. Some places produced so little that transport costs could not be recovered, let alone any profit. No crops were being planted. No fertilizer was being applied. Irrigation had ceased. Only weeds were growing.

Soon, there was nothing left to harvest. 

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers;
(I Cor. 3:6-9a NIV)

PRAY THAT IN OUR RESULTS-ORIENTED EVANGELISTIC ZEAL WE WILL NOT FORGET TO PLANT, WATER, AND FERTILIZE FOR CONTINUED HARVESTS.

MAY WE ALWAYS GIVE GOD THE CREDIT FOR THE HARVEST.

Fundamentalism or Peripheralism? -- Conclusion

Fundamentalism or Peripheralism?

So, are those commonly labeled as “fundamentalists” really defining themselves according to the three fundamentals from which spring the rest of our Christian doctrines, or are they rather founding their faith and practice upon peripheral issues even when they may be contrary to one or more of these fundamentals?

It does not take long to realize that these so-called “fundamentalists” are really more concerned with codifying their way of living out the implications of the biblical fundamentals described above. They forsake the absolute command to love and seek to substitute as an absolute their selective and subjective interpretation of Scripture. They refuse to obey the direct command of Jesus, thereby rejecting his Lordship. They refuse to live as he did, thereby denying that God raised him from the dead.

Many of the issues raised by the “fundamentalists” are valid. Many of their responses are widely accepted and, in fact, may appear self-evident to most of us. However, they are interpretations of the way Christian fundamentals should be lived out, and are not the fundamentals themselves. When these interpretations become the identity defining issues, those who find their identity in them can not be correctly regarded as “fundamentalists.” They are “peripheralists.”

I would suggest that true fundamentalism does not exist. We are all “peripheralists” to some degree. As we seek to understand and live out our confession and creed and to bear the mark of the Christian, we all drift into preoccupation with peripheral issues.

Unless –

Unless we have each other.

It is only as we tug and pull against those opposite us on the concentric circles of “peripherality” that we are held and drawn back to the centering fundamentals of our common faith. Old railway engines had a counterbalance on the wheel to which power was applied from the engine. Without such a counterbalance uneven application of power would destroy the wheel and axle. With a counterbalance opposite the point where power was applied, the force was centered on the axis preventing damage and loss of power.

When we isolate ourselves based upon conformity of belief and practice as defined by peripheral issues, we cut ourselves loose from the God-given, God-mandated fundamentals of our faith and cease to worship the Creator. We substitute ourselves and our understanding for God and His Wisdom.

In the interest of accuracy let us cease to use the terms “fundamentalism” and “fundamentalists.” Instead let us more correctly refer to ourselves and those opposite us as “peripheralists.”

And for God’s sake, as well as our own, let us hold firm to the confession that Jesus is Lord and the belief that God raised him from the dead even as we cling to one another in love.

Fundamentalism or Peripheralism? -- Part 4

The Fundamental Mark of the Christian - Love For One Another

By this all men will know that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.
John 13:35 (NIV)

Love for one another is the only biblical mark of the Christian. Orthodoxy does not identify the true disciple of Jesus. Orthopraxis does not identify the true disciple of Jesus. Love for one another is the only way the Christian is distinguishable from those who are not Jesus’ disciples.

Love is the dominant theme in the New Testament. It is the most explicitly enunciated commandment of Jesus for his disciples. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NIV) “This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:17)

The epistle of 1 John is accurately described as a “love letter:”

“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”
(I John 3:11 NIV)

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” (I John 3:14 NIV)

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (I John 4:8 NIV)

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (I John 4:11 NIV)

“And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (I John 4:21NIV)

Dorothy Day echoes I John 4:20 when she says, “I really only love God as much as I love this person I love least.”

The Apostle Paul makes it quite clear in I Corinthians 13 that apart from love, nothing in the Christian life really matters. If we fail to love, all of our right belief and right action amount to nothing.

In the messages to the churches in Revelation, the angel praises the church at Ephesus for their orthodoxy and orthopraxis. However, they are reprimanded for having “forsaken your first love.” (Rev. 2:1-6) They had lost the defining mark that distinguished them from those who were not true disciples of Jesus.

Madeline L’Engle recounts the story of a child in Sunday School who was asked, “Who are the pagans?” The child replied, “The pagans are the people who don’t quarrel about God.” L’Engle raises the question, “Why are Christians no longer known by how they love one another, but rather by how they vilify and sometimes hate each other?”

Unfortunately, lack of love largely characterizes the so-called “fundamentalist” wing of the Southern Baptist Convention. Public pronouncements regarding those who differ with them on convention governance often evidence more venom than love. Statements regarding those outside their fold are more often than not vicious and hateful. This also holds true for the “Religious Right.”

Philip Yancey has observed that “Grace dies when it becomes us versus them.” We may substitute “love” for “grace.” We cannot love one another while segregating ourselves on the basis of peripherals.

Loss of love for one another is a result of preoccupation with the “peripherals” rather than the “fundamentals” of the faith. Lack of love for one another is a denial of the lordship of Jesus, for it is a refusal to obey his direct command. Lack of love for one another is a denial of the resurrection of Jesus because it rejects his life as the standard by which his disciples live. Regardless of the words that come from our mouths, where there is no love, there is no Christian profession of faith or affirmation of the unical Christian creed of the Bible.

Love for one another is a non-negotiable fundamental of the Christian faith.

(to be continued)