Former BLOGS critiqued Morris Chapman’s article in the August 2007 edition of SBC LIFE. He said this: “The Baptist Faith and Message agrees that both the work of grace and the responsibility of man are necessary elements in the salvation experience.” There are other statements that are of great concern. “If we are swept up in a Convention-wide debate between those who believe in five-point Calvinism and those who don’t, especially so soon on the heels of the Conservative Resurgence, we will do irreparable harm to the Kingdom of God and our Convention.” The issue has moved beyond Morris Chapman’s statement as such to looking at other things. For example, can it be that the real issue is not between those who believe in five-point Calvinism and those who don’t? It could be that the issues between Calvinists and Arminians are actually hiding the real problems.
The stated concern in the above article seems to be about not harming the Kingdom of God and “our Convention.” If God is not at the center now, the harm has already been done regardless of what theology one holds. The real question is whether God will restore it to a focus on Him in reality. It appears that many in the SBC have baptized a man-centered theology and practice with a few verses. This is true in professing Calvinists and Arminian churches alike. In operating on business principles numbers and offerings are the real focus though termed with other names. If numbers or offerings are down, we come up with a program to pump that up. Of course we will find a few verses and Christian phrases to tack on, but the real heart of the issue is numbers and offerings. Why do we want to start churches? Apart from some pious terminology, the reasons could be many. It is, after all, how the great machine continues on. But where is God? Where are the broken hearts seeking God? Oh sure we have a few prayer meetings where we offer up a few “prayers” asking God to bless our plans, but why have we not truly sought His wisdom to begin with? Perhaps we even offered up something we call “prayers” before we started even though we knew what we wanted to do before. But where is God? If He did withdraw Himself, would we notice? Could it be that He has withdrawn and that is the real problem? The Arminians think the answer is in evangelism and the Calvinists think the answer is in theology. In reality the answer is God Himself. If the churches do not do what they do with God at the center, whether Arminian or Calvinist, they are not being a true church in truth. If our theology is not truly centered on God we have a wrong theology and wrong practice.
Let us be blatantly and brutally honest. If we took out the word “God” from many of the programs would they continue on as if nothing had happened? If we did not tell the name of many of the SBC churches and had people watch services by video of some sort, would they be able to tell much difference between those and many of the nice but secular self-help talks? What has happened to biblical preaching these days? One could search for a long time to find God in the midst of many sermons than an occasional mention of His name. We would rather offend God than people and would rather exalt man and diminish God in the name of God. Where is God? We even have well constructed expositional sermons that we think is a sign of a return of biblical preaching but in fact man is still the center of it rather than God. We can even speak of God in man-centered ways. This is also true in Calvinistic churches. We use Calvinism in a man-centered way and as such are guilty of idolatry in the Calvinistic doctrines.
Those who are true believers in the churches are starving to hear of the glory of God, yet we continue on with our self-help and self-esteem messages in order to fill the pews. Some Calvinists teach Calvinism in a way where they expect people to come hear their orthodoxy. It almost seems as if doctrinal orthodoxy is thought to be a magical formula for church growth. Meanwhile, true believers are starving for God while many stand firm with doctrinal Calvinism instead of feeding the people with the glory of God. Where is God in reality in what Calvinists and Arminians are doing other than the use of His name at a few points? The doctrinal distinctions are seen as intellectual distinctions alone without being important distinctions until they are applied to the soul in a God-centered way. People will spiritually starve under Arminian and Calvinistic teaching alike unless God is declared to them in His glory through Christ. Without God at the center of all that is preached, taught and done in a local church the doctrine will make no real difference. Intellectual Calvinism will kill a church as effectively as the Pelagianism that is so alive in the professing Arminian congregations. In reality, there is a lot in common between a dead Calvinism and practical Pelagianism. Neither position acts like it believes that the depravity of man is in the heart and that man must be made alive by the Spirit of God. It is also true that many Arminians are in truth practical Pelagians and many Calvinists don’t really believe in depravity despite their protestations to the contrary. We can see how peace can happen between the two camps when there is a difference between the stated doctrines but the practices are the same. The leaders talk peace and the people don’t hear the glory of God in truth.
God Loves... Himself 
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