'A Word Aptly Spoken . . .' Proverbs 25:11

It Is Time to Ask Some Serious Questions

by Victor Lee                                                                                                    Vol. XII, No. 4, April 1999

I would like to pose a few questions to the people who are members of churches that contribute to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Perhaps the many conservatives reading this column will pose these questions to their friends or family who may be in CBF churches.

My primary question is simple: Why are you a member of a CBF church? Is it because you have personally considered the stated and unstated purposes of the CBF and have determined they are compatible with your own purposes as a follower of Christ? Is it because you have examined the roots of the CBF and find that it grows from healthy soil?

Is it because you have examined its leadership -- past and present -- and the connections and activities of its leadership and find them wholesome and worthy of your support?

Is it because you have examined the doctrine, goals, and leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention and found them inadequate and thus have chosen the CBF as an alternative?

Or is it because someone -- perhaps a pastor or other leader you trust -- has said you ought to be in a CBF church? Are you following leadership without finding out for yourself what the CBF is all about? Where we worship is very serious business. I respectfully suggest that no one take anyone's word for it when it comes to determining whether to be a member of the CBF, the Southern Baptist Convention, or both.

Examine for yourself. Decide for yourself. There is much rhetoric on both sides of the liberal-conservative debate. The issue calls for your careful, prayerful consideration. On page 1 of this publication begins a story about links between the CBF and the homosexual agenda. Before moderates and liberals begin attacking the page 1 story, let me remind you what it does NOT report. The story does not report that the CBF officially supports the homosexual agenda. The page 1 story is simply a long list of facts. You decide if they are relevant. And if you decide they are, these questions might come to mind: Is there more of this type thing? What does the CBF leadership really believe? What are its goals? What do the actions of its leadership indicate that is not indicated by their official positions?

If you ask some questions, be sure to pose the same ones to SBC leadership. They are not afraid to give you straight answers. What the SBC stands for is clearly stated. Make sure you insist on straight answers from both groups.

Now let me help crystallize what the page 1 story DOES report: It reports how dangerously close to the slippery slope of the theological liberal abyss some of its past and present leadership play. We believe many members of CBF churches, and many CBF leaders, will be shocked by the facts reported in the page 1 story. That is not surprising, because many CBF members, even some leaders, are not really liberals or moderates; they are angry conservatives, far more upset over processes and personalities than theology. The point of sharing this information is to appeal to the theological conservatives who are part of the CBF: Return to the mainstream.

If you have a problem with someone in the conservative ranks who offended you, go see them. If you have a problem with one or more of the processes used in the conservative theological resurgence, deal forthrightly with those who put the processes in place (but you might want to be sure you had a better idea in the first place).

The real question, CBFers, is where does your heart lie? What do you believe? Is all of the Bible truthful, and if so, what does that have to do with the homosexual issue? With whom do you want to partner? What false rhetoric have you bought? In the conservative-liberal debate much branding has been done. True conservatives believe in the fundamentals of the faith, but we are not "Fundamentalists" with a capital "F." Those "Fundamentalists" are just to the right of God. They are creators of extra-biblical legislation. They walk tall (in pride), carry a big stick (of anger), and delight in swinging it. This does not describe the overwhelming majority of conservatives within the SBC. Yet, liberal rhetoric would have you believe it does.

Don't believe the rhetoric. Don't trust anything you read or hear that isn't fully substantiated. (And, for the record, the writer of the page 1 story has documentation to support everything he wrote.) The story on page 1 -- and this column -- is not designed to convince you to do anything except ask serious questions. If you prayerfully, sincerely, thoughtfully seek answers, you will find the truth.

[Victor Lee is editor of the conservative NC Baptist paper, The Conservative Record. Subscribe by writing Conservative Carolina Baptists, Inc., P.O. Box 3001, Boone, NC 28607. Visit their website at www.ncbaptist.com].