EDITORIAL:
Inerrancy fuse needs to be snuffed
___The dynamite that blew apart the Southern Baptist Convention has been lighted in Texas.
___As the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board prepared to close its meeting last week, a member asked the board to affirm biblical inerrancy.
___Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, proposed that the board approve this statement: "We believe in the divine inspiration of the whole Bible and the inerrancy of the original manuscripts" and attach it to the 1963 version of the Baptist Faith & Message.
___The proposal sent shivers down the spines of people who watched the dissolution of the SBC in the 1980s. Not because they do not absolutely believe the Bible. Not because they cannot or will not affirm the complete trustworthiness and reliability of Scripture. But because the banner of inerrancy flew over forces who divided the SBC, captured control of its organizations and disenfranchised all who would not bow down to the image of this ideology.
___"Inerrancy" became the buzzword for the "I-believe-the-Bible-more-than-you-do" forces who struck fear into the hearts of Bible-believing Baptists in the '80s. "Inerrancy" formed the litmus test for fundamentalists examining the purity of denominational workers as well as rank-and-file Baptists who were considered for service on denominational boards. "Inerrancy" sprang from the lips of inquisitors who deemed themselves worthy to judge the faithfulness of other Baptists, women and men who had devoted their lives to the Lord's service. "Inerrancy" flew over the battlefields of Southern Baptists' civil war.
___Ironically, "inerrancy" evolved into a political shibboleth instead of a theological statement. Two examples:
___First, the vast range of theological meanings of "inerrancy" was put on display at the Conferences on Biblical Inerrancy, sponsored by the SBC in 1987 and 1988. These conferences featured a pantheon of conservative theologians of impeccable credentials. Thoughtful participants at the conferences soon realized there are as many definitions of "inerrancy" as there are inerrantists. These world-class Bible scholars each described a variant definition of the term. These Christians of goodwill expressed little difficulty in affirming each others' attempts at definition. But fundamentalists on SBC seminary boards, looking for a measure by which to try professors, sought a single, rigid definition. The good biblicists of other denominations seemed perplexed by it all.
___Second, the SBC rendered the inerrancy debate moot last year. A panel of the SBC's fundamentalist elite drafted a new version of the Baptist Faith & Message. If inerrancy were as important as political fundamentalists claimed for the past 20 years, this would have been the perfect time to include it as a description of the Bible. But no, the word never was used in the new faith statement. Why was it so important for former seminary professors to affirm this single word if the SBC leadership did not endorse it in their confession of faith?
___No one has successfully accused the BGCT and its leadership of failing to believe the Bible. We are a biblically conservative people, people of the book, people who take the Bible seriously and grieve most when we realize how far short we fall from its perfect principles. Biblical authority, call it inerrancy, is not the issue. As one pastor said last week, "That's all smoke and mirrors. The issue is control--control of our convention and control of our churches."
___Unfortunately, you can expect supporters of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, with which Cornerstone Church recently dually aligned, to make much of this proposal. It placed the BGCT in a lose/lose situation, and the SBTC is the only organization that has anything to gain from another inerrancy controversy. Texas Baptists who reject the political abuse of the term "inerrancy" would reject efforts to impose such a creedal statement upon them. And people who want to believe the worst about others would question the faithfulness of anyone or any convention that refuses to bow down to inerrancy. Both actions would hurt the BGCT.
___The Executive Board tabled the proposal and asked BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade to help resolve the issue.
___He already has spoken words that can give us guidance. Last year, shortly after the SBC approved a new Baptist Faith & Message, Wade affirmed he would sign his name to every page of the Bible but would not sign any "man-made creed."
___"No creed but the Bible" has been Baptists' watchword, he insisted. "We have been confident that truth is always God's truth and that truth will win out. And if men and women will faithfully live the Scripture, proclaim the truth of the Bible, proclaim the truth the Bible presents, then all will be well."
___And the dynamite will be de-fused.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
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