the almost Daily Dunker

Falwell, The Southern
 Baptist, Trouble?
by monty keeling
CStation 6/25/04

So Jerry Falwell has joined the Southern Baptist Convention. Can things get any worse for real Bible believing Christians?

Of course they can but for right now the continuing decline of the nation’s largest protestant denomination from a bible-based group into a dogma dominated institution is a sad reminder that bigger, when it comes to the Christian faith, is never better.

Falwell, Pastor of the ultra conservative Liberty Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va, actually moved his tent into the Southern Baptist camp several years ago. Last week he was invited to give the opening prayer for the 25-year "Conservative Resurgence Reunion" that took place in Indianapolis as part of the denomination’s larger annual meeting.

That the SBC has cuddled someone as biblically challenged as Falwell, while dropping support the same week for the World Baptist Alliance, says a lot about the state of fundamentalism in America.

Back when Ronald Reagan was advocating one of the largest military buildups in U.S. history to fight Russian Communism, Falwell went on television in support of Reagan’s plans. I can remember sitting in the summer parsonage of the Mt. Joy Church of the Brethren and watching in disbelief as Falwell preached that it was the Christian thing to do. He noted that when Jesus taught to turn the other cheek the Lord meant those instructions only for how Christians were to treat other Christians. And Dr. Falwell went on to assert that this teaching could not apply to the Russians because they were not Christian.

Both of Falwell’s points were radically wrong. The Christian faith was being practiced underground by millions of Russians, including members of the Communist party. And no scholar that I have ever come across, and I’ve come across quite a few, ever claimed that Jesus’ "turn the other cheek teaching" was only for other Christians. Christians did not, after all, even exist at the time. Jesus was giving advice to Jews.

Many fine people practice their faith in Southern Baptist churches, and when it comes to faith on the personal level and spirituality, well, the conservatives and fundamentalists often, in my opinion, have a better feel for their faith than many liberals. The problems start when these folks try to move their faith into the larger political arena. In large part they are making the same mistake now, that Christian liberals made in mass before World War I. Placing too much faith in the worldly power of the American government.

You see the American government really knows only one way to handle international problems, by the military and by war. Neither of which can be justified in the New Testament or the teachings of Jesus. So to have their cake and eat it also, Christians turn to the war theology of the Old Testament and junk Jesus’ peace teachings. Because the unsolvable problem for those who take the whole Bible literally is that large chunks of the Old Testament do not fit into the faith of Jesus. And the distortion required to make the Old completely agree with the New Testament opens all kinds of doors for other distortions of faith to find their way into the thinking of Christian leaders.

Which is not to say that the Old Testament doesn’t offer many valuable lessons for Christian faith. But only to point out that there a lot more points of view and different ways of thinking about God in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, than in the New. Even Jesus only taught and quoted certain parts of what we consider the Old Testament. Dwelling on the prophets and wisdom literature and leaving "war books" like Joshua and Judges untouched. Why do you think that was?

It seems the ultra conservative leadership of the SBC has decided to resort to name calling (saying some of their fellow Baptist groups were advancing "un-American ideas" and expressing acceptance of homosexuals), rather than dealing with the issues of what the New Testament really says about the Christian faith. The SBC leadership deplores the use of modern textual criticism and scientific evaluation of the Scriptures. But even taking the New Testament just at face value as read lends anything but support to their movement.

Of course, fringe faiths have always expressed extreme views and their own brand of Christianity throughout American history. But when the leadership of 16-million Christians advocates such behavior, all Christians should be concerned.

Fortunately, the faith of most of the SBC members depends little on the political sojourns of some of their leaders. And there is good evidence that increasing numbers of the SBC itself are growing concerned about the direction the denomination has taken over the last quarter century.

Those who would like to add their thoughts on this subject are invited to visit CStation's Towne Hall section.