Basic Issues: An Example

by    T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                             Vol. III, No. 4, May 1990

Computers are increasingly common these days. So many people deal with computers it is perhaps inevitable that computer terminology has begun to affect our language. For example, one computer term is "GIGO" which stands for "garbage in, garbage out," meaning that the answer the computer gives can be no better than the quality of the information the operator enters.

Though the term GIGO is too crass to apply to heavenly matters, the principle does apply as Southern Baptists wrestle with the controversy in our convention. If we are to arrive at correct understandings of and solutions to our problems, it is essential that we correctly identify the basic issue. If we fail to do so and instead focus on secondary or even false issues, our answers will certainly be wrong.

Various people offer a number of different perceptions of just what the primary issue is. Some claim that it is simply a matter of power, of control and prestige. Others say the basic issue is the priesthood of the believer, or the authority of the pastor, or academic freedom, or inclusiveness, or viability of the Cooperative Program. There are so many conflicting claims it is no wonder many pastors and laymen are confused or misled about what the actual critical issue is.

Adding to the likelihood of confusion is that there is an element of truth in each of these claims. To take just one example, the priesthood of the believer is an extremely important Baptist principle. Historically one aspect of this principle has meant that each Christian has the privilege of approaching God with no mediator except Jesus. (The other aspect, the servant-ministry role of each Christian will not be addressed here, though certainly of at least equal importance.) We need the intercession of no saint, no priest, no heavenly being other than Christ Himself. It grew out of reaction to the Roman Catholic insistence that Christians could only approach the Father through the ministrations of the Church as usually personified in the local priest.

Thus the priesthood of the believer has never defined what Christians believe but rather how we approach the throne of grace. Yet today there seems to be a broad effort to erect a superstructure upon this important principle which would pervert it into a rationalization for believing whatever one might wish. The new twist redefines priesthood of the believer to mean that one person's beliefs are just as valid as anyone else's, REGARDLESS OF CONTENT.

Perhaps this idea finds a ready acceptance among Americans because of our democratic, "all men are created equal" approach to government. We may tend to misapply a principle true for legal human relationships to the relationship between man and God. We may sometimes forget that the Lord God does not run for election and that we do not live in a spiritual democracy.