tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post116769418443529004..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Jacob Vernet - Lessons in LatitudinarianismRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-1168008152801794882007-01-05T09:42:00.000-05:002007-01-05T09:42:00.000-05:00Re: THE key Baptist principle [is] a regenerate c...<B>Re: <I>THE key Baptist principle [is] a regenerate church membership[.]</I></B><BR/><BR/>Thanks for that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-1167781483479463862007-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:002007-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:00Let me phrase it like this...It's one thing to hav...Let me phrase it like this...<BR/><BR/>It's one thing to have a lobbying group on Capitol Hill. It is quite another for that group to lend its support to one party over another or for it's leadership to so wed itself to a particular political party that it castigates those within the denomination who do not share their convictions over, let's say, the sitting president (whoever that may be, whatever party that might be) as somehow sub-Christian, and, yes, I've heard that argument from the leaders of more than one group on Capitol Hill, and I've heard it in a local church context. Then you have certain nationally known pastors that were accusing Clinton of murder on their television ministries, and then you have the mailings that we get from to time that say that a good Christian will get behind proposition x. Now, all of that might be, but, what about those who feel that there are more important concerns than the latest hotbutton social issue at stake in the next election. There are those in the SBC at present, remember, who rationalize not purging their rolls with "they are our best prospects for evangelism." In other words, it seems the SBC is having a problem with THE key Baptist principle, a regenerate church membership, and it has no real business insinuating itself into politics when it can't get Baptist ecclesiology straight. Why should anybody listen to what we have to say about these issues if our own house is out of control? But, folks will sit in these churches, and I've seen this myself, and pass around a petition against gay marriage and then move their church out of the neighborhood, a large "gay" neighborhood in a large US city (I have a particular well known SBC church in GA in mind here). They're willing to lobby their state capitol but not willing to evangelize the people that were marching outside their doors the last Sunday of the month.<BR/><BR/>I'm also reminded, for example, of the level of corruption in my own state government where I now live. Our Speaker of the House is probably going to be up on federal corruption charges if the Feds have their way, and I hope they do get him, but then what's left? Corruption is just as bad in the other party. So, while I think abortion and gay rights, et.al. are important, I'm much more concerned about corruption in my state government. If that means I vote out a graft ridden representative on the take from the Gambling Industry (which is precisely one of the problems where I live) to replace him with somebody from the opposite party, what this means is that I'm going to vote for the replacement. If s/he is, say, prochoice, then what I need to do is pull up my britches and do what I can to oppose abortion in my own backyard. I'd also add that my church is the only Baptist church in the whole area that goes to the clinic two Saturdays a month and shares the gospel with the people going in and out. There are TWO associations here, and not one church comes to help.GeneMBridgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10504383610477532374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-1167775617386245002007-01-02T17:06:00.000-05:002007-01-02T17:06:00.000-05:00Gene,Thanks for the interesting piece. I'm intere...Gene,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the interesting piece. <BR/><BR/>I'm interested in exploring one thing you said in the beginning of your article, <BR/><BR/>"just as they seem to ignore the portion of the section on Religious Liberty that states clearly that the church should not resort to the state’s power in order to do its work."<BR/><BR/>Would groups like the ERLC fall into this category? Sometimes it seems they would. Or would you be more refering to certain preachers like the famous one who hails from WV?<BR/><BR/>Thanks,<BR/>MarkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com