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The Kingdom of God and the Church: A Baptist Reappraisal
But what if our church membership rosters have everything to do with the business of the Kingdom? The Kingdom of God is everywhere across the pages of the Bible. Some of us would even argue that God's establishment of the Kingdom of Christ is the central theme of the Scripture itself. So why sometimes do Baptists act as though the Kingdom is a denominational program or an individual devotional exercise rather than as the invasion force forming the church itself? My friend Robert Sagers and I have written an article together on the ways in which Kingdom theology informs a Baptist understanding of the church, and vice-versa. We think our vision of the Kingdom of God has much to do with some of our contemporary debates over worship, the ordinances, preaching, and regenerate church membership.
Southern Baptist Sexual Revolutionaries
What if Southern Baptists are just slow-train sexual revolutionaries? The forthcoming issue of the Southwestern Journal of Theology contains an article I wrote, entitled "Southern Baptist Sexual Revolutionaries: Cultural Accomodation, Spiritual Conflict, and the Baptist Vision of the Family," that explores this question. The journal is dated Fall 2006 because the serial is catching up on its volume sequence, but it will be released this Spring. In the meantime, you can access this article here. The central point of the article is that Southern Baptists accomodate ourselves quite easily to the ambient culture's redefinitions of the family, just twenty or thirty years behind everybody else. We rail against a decadent culture, but only those aspects of the culture that we haven't yet adopted. Just look at the difference between the way we speak of gender reassignment surgery versus the way we speak of divorce. Could it be that the difference between the two modes of discourse is because we have fewer transgendered deacons and Sunday school teachers than divorced ones? Or, worse, could it be because divorce now seems "normal" to us? There are several ways we've adapted to the culture mentioned in the article, but the most tragic and burdensome in my view is divorce. This is, I firmly believe, the most significant theological issue facing Southern Baptists right now.
Serpent-Sensitive Worship  About ten years ago now, I was impressed by a "seeker-sensitive" worship service at Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago. That morning's service featured an "open mic" question and answer opportunity for those gathered to direct queries at a panel of pastors and church leaders. I will never forget being surprised that the questions were not at all representative of the kind of stereotype many had of the congregants there at Willow Creek. They were not asking about superficial "life principles," but instead were asking real and pressing questions about theology and discipleship.
One question, particularly, weighed on my mind. I don't know if the questioner was a believer or a seeker, but she asked about the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. "If God knew that Eve would be deceived," she asked, "then why did he let the Serpent into the Garden?" The panelists responded with an appeal to the free will of Adam and Eve and God's refusal to coerce them into obedience. The woman clarified her question to make clear that she wasn't questioning the free will of the primeval pair. Why though, she wanted to know, did God allow the snake to go in to the Garden, if God knew what would result? I remember thinking that her question was perceptive and sophisticated. After all, it would not violate the man and the woman's freedom for God to place a "force field" around the Garden, preventing the old Dragon from ever offering them the tree. Isn't that what we pray: "Lead us not into temptation; deliver us from the Evil One"? I thought about that lady, and her question, this week. Willow Creek hosted a conference on youth ministry, and featured author Brian McLaren as a speaker. At the conference, McLaren called on his hearers to rethink some doctrines of the faith, to decrease their focus on eternity in favor of social justice in the here and now.
In Cod They Trust?
Or so he thought. Adam and I had a lot to talk about, given my lifelong love for country music. He once sheepishly approached me after class to say that he had attended a Country Music Association awards show in Nashville, and that his primary goal was to get an personalized autograph for his Dean from one of the artists whose music I love: Charley Pride, maybe, or George Jones, or Loretta Lynn. Adam was embarrassed to say that the only musician he could get close enough to was a newcomer to the world of Hank and Willie. Adam handed me the autograph, which reads, "To Dr. Moore, Livin' on a Prayer, Jon Bon Jovi." I was shot through the heart. And Adam demonstrated that maybe his days of influence on Music Row were coming to an end. Since then, though, Adam's found a new kind of influence. Not long ago Adam and his family moved to Newfoundland in Canada to plant a new Baptist congregation there. This economically-distressed part of Canada could not seem more distant from the sequins and lights of the Grand Ole Opry.
You're a Lost Soul, Charlie Brown  Very early in my ministry, I found myself in a bitterly divided congregation. I saw things I wished I'd never seen and heard things I wished I'd never heard. More depressingly, I thought things I wish I'd never thought.
Finally, I did the best thing I knew to do for my family and for me, and resigned my position. While the church voted to accept my resignation, I sat at home wondering if I really wanted to serve in church ministry--or even to go to church--knowing what I knew about human depravity. I turned on the television for some background noise to quiet my mind, to see the opening credits of A Charlie Brown Christmas. As a child of the 1970s, I had seen this thing a thousand times, with all of its maudlin sentimentalism about commercialism and the "real meaning of Christmas." But then the cartoon figure of Linus, dressed as a shepherd complete with blanket headdress, recited Luke 2, a text I had heard thousands of times before. This time was different, though, and I wept violently, shaking in the chair. "And the glory of the Lord shown round about them, and they were sore afraid." The gospel was true, and it was beautiful, and nothing else mattered. I thought about that television special as I opened the cover of the promised definitive biography of Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. It appears that the Charlie Brown Christmas special plays a revealing role in the Schulz story--a story that should speak sadly to any Christian, whether or not he has ever opened the Sunday funny pages.
Beyond the Burning in the Bosom: Why Mormonism Spreads  Evangelicals often wonder why Mormons believe such an incredible system: golden tablets translated with "magic glasses," an advanced society of ancient American Indian Israelites who left behind no archaeological evidence at all, a "revelation" of polygamy that was reversed when Utah needed to do so for statehood, a "revelation" barring black Mormons from the priesthood that was reversed after the triumph of the civil rights movement, an eternity of godhood producing spirit babies, and special protective underwear.
What we must understand is that Latter-day Saints (LDS) believe these things for the same reason that people everywhere believe the things they do: they want to believe them. Very few Mormon converts become convinced by rational arguments of the prophetic office of Joseph Smith. Indeed, Mormon missionaries don't ask one to do so; instead relying on a "burning in the bosom" that the claims of Smith are true.
To understand the draw of Mormonism, evangelicals should read the works of Latter-day Saints who explain why they love their religion.
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Some Baptists are debating right now whether or not our church rolls ought to contain the names only of those who are actually worshippers of the Lord Jesus. Some see this as a minor issue, one we ought to avoid so that we can get back to "Kingdom business." 
Southern Baptists like to think of ourselves as evangelistic, but we're 
You may never have seen Adam Dorsey, but chances are you've heard him. Adam was a country music songwriter with a successful career in the industry. He penned the words to the song, "That's What I Love about Sundays," a chart-topping song recorded by Craig Morgan. Adam left his musical career behind him when he followed a call to ministry here in the School of Theology at Southern Seminary. | Rapid Fire | |
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Tue, May 13, 2008
C U L8R, Intelligence? David Robinson of The Wall Street Journal reviews today a new book entitled, The Dumbest Generation, about the dumbing down of America's youth through modern technology and Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace. From the review of the book: "The kids are using their technological advantage to immerse themselves in a trivial, solipsistic, distracting online world at the expense of more enriching activities–like opening a book or writing complete sentences." (RES) Bell Shoals Tragedy The Tampa Tribune is reporting that the bodies of Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., and his 13-year old son, Preston, were found in a wooded area outside of Asheville, N.C., having died in a plane crash. Please pray for the Pollock family and for his church during this time of unimaginable grief. (RES) Mon, May 12, 2008 It's All About the Hamiltons, Baby Dr. Jim Hamilton responds to the good news. Anyone looking to read some articles from Southern Seminary's newest biblical theologian can start here. Dr. Hamilton also wrote an excellent book a couple of years ago entitled, God's Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments, and Rapid Fire readers can read Dr. Moore's review of the book here. (RES) McCain Courting Conservatives, Christians John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, has recently been doing his best to "court" conservatives, even aiming to alleviate what has been called his "Christian problem." What issue or issues are most important to you in deciding for whom you will vote for president? (RES) UPDATE: Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee responds to the Robert D. Novak article referenced above. (RES) Jim Hamilton Joins Southern Seminary School of Theology Faculty It's official. Dr. Jim Hamilton is the newest addition to our faculty here in Southern Seminary's School of Theology. Professor Hamilton will be associate professor of biblical theology, as of August 1st. You can read about it here. As I mention in the article, I think Jim is one of the most prolific and perceptive young scholars in Southern Baptist and evangelical life. (RDM) Mohler on " An Evangelical Manifesto" Dr. Mohler offers his perspective on the recently released "An Evangelical Manifesto": "In the end, I must judge "An Evangelical Manifesto" to be too expansive in terms of public relations and too thin in terms of theology. I admire so much of what this document states and represents, but I cannot accept it as a whole." (PRB) Fri, May 09, 2008 More Response to Evangelical Manifesto The Washington Times today quotes from several evangelical leaders who did not sign the Evangelical Manifesto, and their thoughts on the newly released document. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Seminary, had this to say: "How specifically do those who are framing this document wish to define evangelicalism with reference to some crucial questions, such as abortion and gay marriage? They appear to be calling for civility, but how do they suggest discussing these issues in the public square and be as civil as they think themselves to be?" (RES) New Creation in Christ Donald S. Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently wrote an incisive review of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. Read Dr. Whitney's review, and the next time you speak with someone who is enthralled with A New Earth, be sure to tell them of your own daily longing for a new heaven and a new earth--and the good news of its King, Jesus of Nazareth. HT: Challies. (RES) Thu, May 08, 2008 Fundamentalism Is in the Eye of the Beholder? Alan Jacobs of Wheaton College has written a response to the Evangelical Manifesto, released and mentioned here yesterday. From the article: "[I]t turns out that the heart of the document is a kind of urgent appeal: Please don't call us fundamentalists or confuse us with them. This strikes me as a regrettable tack, for two reasons. First, it is defensive, and manifestos should never be defensive. Second, it suggests a concern for labels and public perception that is not attractive in Christians. Besides, people who make the kinds of theological statements found in this document--for instance, 'We believe that the only ground for our acceptance by God is our trust in Jesus Christ'--are going to be called fundamentalists no matter what else they say." HT: Denny Burk. (RES) Jesus of America and the Christ of Flag Matthew Hall, an M.Div. and Th.M. graduate from Southern Seminary and the producer of the Albert Mohler Program, has written a fine, succinct review of Stephen J. Nichols's new book, Jesus Made in America. (RES) |
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• SBTS prof: McLaren 'Serpent-sensitive' • More Pick Cremation Over Casket • Should We Miss Our Church Graveyards? • Obama: Sermon on the Mount supports gay civil unions • SBTS Collegiate Conference Sets Attendance Record • Global Warming is not Avenue to Evangelical Vote |
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