What now?

by Tom Nettles                                                                                                                                          Vol. XIX, No. 8, October 2006

... The good beginning [i.e., the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC] can come to a stumbling halt if we refuse to grant serious theological reflection and faithful remedies to a problem caused by years of carelessness.

Spirituality as expressed in many circles often is seen as experience of encounter that transcends doctrine. Doctrine, in fact, often appears to be something of a hindrance to meaningful experience. Such experientialism is a fast road to decline and apostasy. It is true that bare doctrine unconnected to the heart blows a cold wind on spiritual growth. At the same time, no spiritual growth or experiential fire can be true and transformative if it is not if it is not knowledgeably connected with some genuine aspect of revealed truth. Reformation must recapture the authentic characteristics of true spirituality.

The present challenge, therefore, is self-judgment. It is time to give attention to problems that continue to present a serious challenge to Baptist viability. While vigilance must endure in every area that was threatened by the insidious impact of the moderate contingency, many difficulties confront the church that have little or nothing to do with that influence. It has everything to do with personal carelessness, impatience, and loss of doctrinal nerve. Motivation for ministerial success comes often from surveys that determine pragmatically what is working; these observations then transfer into church theory. Though lip service is given to biblical authority, that which seems most dominant is the simple observation of success in terms of the immediate gratification of visible increase.

This practical pragmatism leads soon to theological minimalism. The theological problem is less obvious because it does not take the form of an ideological attack on biblical authority or historically received Baptist doctrine. The part of reformation that identified and gradually eliminated, mostly by attrition and resignation, the detractors from biblical inerrancy was easy compared to the next part. Can conservatives judge themselves? Can conservatives admit mistakes, and undertake serious reformation of their own destructive tendencies?

[Tom Nettles, Ready for Reformation? (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, 2005) pp. 129-130]