Things That Need Resolution – Part Two
Next on my list of things that need resolution may not receive as much attention, as the first one, but it is currently doing plenty of damage, especially within Southern Baptist churches. A hard line is being drawn in the sand in many SBC churches against Reformed theology, otherwise known pejoratively as Calvinism (a label which I will not be using in this article). But I’m not here to pick on the SBC. My beef right now is primarily at those who would part fellowship over this matter.
Let me be clear on this up front. I adhere to a Reformed theological view of Scripture. My perspective on this is coming from someone on the receiving end of the anger towards Reformed beliefs. So I am welcoming someone to come into my life and shed some light on this matter for me.
The issue at hand is that within the Southern Baptists, within the Calvary Chapel denomination, and in my experience, generally speaking, there is a witch-hunt of sorts happening against people and ministers with Reformed beliefs. You basically have two or three lines of thought in the evangelical church today which believers and denominations fall into. There are Reformed churches, which tend to line up with the theological beliefs of the 16th century theologian, John Calvin. There are churches which line up more with a Wesleyan view of theology. Wesleyan churches branch off from the 18th century theologian John Wesley, who himself disagreed with John Calvin and adhered to the teachings of 16th century theologian Jacobus Arminius. Then there are churches which adhere to a mix of Reformed and Wesleyan theology.
Now that I’ve set up the main characters, let me describe the problem. I mentioned earlier that there is a witch-hunt of sorts happening among some evangelical churches to smoke out people and pastors with Reformed theology. Don’t believe me? Check out this blog entry: How to smoke out a Calvinist pastor in your church. Just go to Google and search the phrase “Calvary Chapel Calvinism” and take a look at what comes up. My question is “Why?”
Why does such hatred exist toward Reformed beliefs? As honestly as I can say this, I don’t know a person who believes in Reformed theology who is angry at Wesleyans or Arminians. But I know plenty of people who consider themselves Arminian or Wesleyan who get angry at Reformed theology and those who adhere to it. Please, please, please help me understand why this anger is so one-directional. Better than that, why does this anger exist at all?
The truth is that Reformed people and everyone else do ministry the same way. We preach the Gospel and ask the Lord to bring salvation. We share our faith the same way. We pray for people with the same urgency and passion. We do so many things the same way, yet this one theological question, which has so little to do with methodology has divided us. Our church, Emmanuel, is an SBC church. Our leadership is, for the most part, Reformed. We have elders and deacons. We believe in the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace. But our church’s doctrinal statement doesn’t require anyone to believe in Reformed theology. The Southern Baptist Faith and Message is not Reformed. We have been vocal about our insistence that you DO NOT have to believe in reformed theology to be a member or attend our church. We have not forced anyone or twisted anyone’s arm to become Reformed in their beliefs. But people still get angry, people still leave, people still mischaracterize our church’s beliefs even though we have been so careful to explain them.
This needs to stop. We must stop letting this doctrinal issue divide us. The vicious attacks against people and pastors of Reformed beliefs must come to an end. This is a dividing wall of hatred that is really built on misinformation and an unwillingness to walk humbly before the Lord. Reformed people have their issues too; see Thabiti Anyabwile’s blog entry about this. However, the larger issue on the scene is the witch-hunts against Reformed believers and pastors.
1 comment
Shane,
You are correct, this problem is getting worse and it is grievous to us who want unity in the body of Christ. Satan wants to divide God’s people, cause chaos and keep us from working as a loving body. Our effectiveness will suffer.
Candace