November 24, 1999
EDITORIAL:
Fractured logic forces false choices
___A profound, yet flawed, assumption directs many Texas Baptists' thoughts regarding the future of their state convention.
___ The fallacious conundrum goes something like this: The Baptist General Convention of Texas must either reaffirm its loyalty to the Southern Baptist Convention, or else it will "move closer to" the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___Usually, the logic is expressed in foreboding tones. Like, "Charles Wade (the state convention's executive director-elect) will lead the BGCT closer to the Fellowship." Or, "Texas Baptists Committed is pushing the BGCT farther from the SBC."
___Anyone who looks empathetically at this position can understand it. Wade has been involved with the Fellowship in his role as a pastor. This connection seems to frighten some Baptists, who believe others should not cooperate with groups of which they disapprove. Moreover, Texas Baptists Committed leaders have expressed their displeasure with SBC leadership. Their statements anger some, who apparently believe Baptist identity and authority begin in the national sphere and channel "down" to states.
___However, such thinking misunderstands Texas Baptist polity and procedure. Affirming local-church autonomy, the BGCT has placed the power of relationships within control of individual congregations. Each church decides how it will channel its cooperative giving funds, where it will buy literature, with whom it will partner to do missions and where it will look for ministry resources.
___So, the BGCT only "moves" as its churches decide they will move. In fact, as it relates to other Baptist organizations, the BGCT is not a monolithic unit that can move. Only the churches, who determine their individual relationships with all Baptist organizations, actually move toward or away from the various conventions. Some BGCT-affiliated churches have indeed strengthened their identities with and ties to the Fellowship. Likewise, others have strengthened their bonds to the SBC. All of them do so with the blessing and aid of the BGCT, which channels funds and facilitates cooperation at the direction of the churches.
___All this begs a rather obvious question: Why can't we agree to disagree about national convention affairs and work together to lead our state to faith in Christ? We have a mandate to share the gospel, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit the prisoners, and we have built wonderful institutions and programs to do all that and more. We have much we can do together.
___For some, however, that is not enough. They only want to work with people with whom they absolutely agree. And that makes affiliation with the Fellowship the Texas Baptist bogeyman.
___For the most part, Texas Baptists who complain about the BGCT's "movement" do so because they dislike the Fellowship. That is their prerogative, of course. Baptists who favored the fundamental-conservative dominance of the SBC during the past 20 years see no reason for the Fellowship's creation and view it as a competitor.
___Sadly, many of them are hostile toward the Fellowship based on malicious guilt by association. Numerous Texas Baptist churches have conducted "studies" with information provided by the Texas Baptist Laymen's Association, which got its information from a similar Missouri group. Primarily, the material defames the BGCT because of some leaders' associations with the Fellowship.
___On the surface, some charges look horrendous. Closer examination reveals such offensive actions are far removed from the BGCT. For example, the BGCT has gone wrong because some leaders are members of the Fellowship, and another Fellowship member worked on a religious liberty issue with a member of the ACLU, which has some members who favor abortion. Fracturing logic, BGCT adversaries claim the state convention supports abortion. You know this is absurd, not to mention un-Christian.
___Applying the same logic, we could say the new SBC favors serial adultery because one of its new leaders has been married three times and is not a widower. Is this fair? Does the SBC favor serial adultery? No. But such logic has been used to lambaste the BGCT and its leaders.
___For the sake of justice and righteousness, not to mention God's kingdom, beware admonitions that you must choose between the BGCT and the SBC. And check all the facts when adversaries claim evil emanating from the state convention. God cares for truth.
___ --Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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