April 16, 2001

TOGETHER:
Baptists protect both their 'children': truth & liberty
___Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., recently described the controversy in Southern Baptist life as a division between two camps--the "truth party" and the "liberty party."
___Baptist Press quotes Mohler as saying the "truth party" emphasizes "the authority of

CHARLES WADE Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

Scripture and its inerrancy, while the liberty party focuses on personal autonomy."
___The clear accusation is that those who have resisted authoritarian, fundamentalist control of Southern Baptist life reject truth for the sake of liberty. He goes on to suggest the debate is between those who believe in the supernatural origin and content of the Scripture and those who would strip from our Christian faith all elements of God's supernatural power.
___A fine Texas pastor asked me recently, "Do you believe in the supernatural origin and content of the Bible?" I was shocked that there would be the need for such a question.
___Like every other Texas Baptist I know, I believe in the divine, supernatural origin of Scripture. The Holy Spirit of God worked directly on the mind and spirit of men to produce an understanding of what they saw and heard. What they wrote was what God wanted said about the events of revelation, such as the Exodus and the Resurrection.
___Many Texas Baptists feel pain over divisions within the Baptist family. We pray fervently that others will cease trying to make it seem this controversy is between those who believe the Bible and those who don't. Texas Baptists across the board agree on the truth of the Scriptures. We are not divided about the trustworthiness and the faithfulness of the Bible.
___But we also maintain a vigorous commitment to liberty of conscience and freedom from religious authoritarianism. Baptists have believed that both the "truth party" and the "liberty party" belong in Baptist life.
___We do not have to sacrifice liberty in order to be faithful to the truth of God. This attempt to distance us from either of these great Baptist convictions is wrong-headed and unworthy of any Baptist.
___Fred Craddock tells a story that helps. He describes the experiences of a schoolmate, Glen Adsett, who ministered in China. Adsett was under house arrest in China when the soldiers came one day and said: "You can return to America. You can take 200 pounds with you."
___"Well, they'd been there for years," Craddock says. "Two hundred pounds. They got the scales and started the family argument--two children, wife, husband. Must have this vase. Well, this is a new typewriter. What about my books? What about this? And they weighed everything and took it off and weighed this and took it off and weighed this and, finally, right on the dot--200 pounds."
___A soldier asked Adsett if he and his family were ready to go. Adsett replied, "Yes," indicating they had weighed everything. Then the soldier asked if Adsett had weighed his children. Indicating that he had not, the soldier commanded him to do so.
___"And in a moment," Craddock says, "typewriter and vase and all became trash. Trash."
___We don't have to take everything along in our Baptist bags, but we do have to take truth and liberty. No Baptist will go anywhere without both our children. God has given them both to us, and there can be no leaving either behind.
___We are loved.

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