November 18, 2002
Texas Baptists 'believe the Bible,' BGCT president asserts
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___WACO--Texas Baptists believe the Bible is their "sole authority" for faith and practice but are becoming a minority in a world of pluralists and "neo-Baptists," the president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas declared Nov. 11.
___"We Believe in the Authority of Scripture" was the title of the president's message delivered by Bob Campbell at the BGCT annual session in Waco.
___Campbell, pastor of Westbury Baptist Church in Houston, addressed criticism of the BGCT by leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention and Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, who contend BGCT leaders don't believe in full biblical authority.
___Adherents of many non-Christian religions do not give full allegiance to the Bible as God's holy word, Campbell noted. And some who call themselves Christians believe only portions of the Bible are true.
___What's more disturbing,Campbell said, is "neo-Baptists" who "do not believe the Bible is sufficient in all matters of faith and practice" and demand adherence to man-made statements about the Bible.
___"For the first time in all of Baptist history, they have devised an 'instrument of doctrinal accountability,'" Campbell said. "They use the old terminology Baptists always have used. They call it a 'statement of faith.' Actual
___"Never before in the history of Baptists has the term 'instrument of doctrinal accountability' been used in reference to a Baptist statement of faith. Never. And never in the history of Baptists has a statement of faith been used like this one is being used."
___To illustrate, Campbell cited recent articles written by Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and James Smith, editor of the Florida Baptist Witness.
___In the April 2002 issue of the Southern Baptist Texan, the SBTC's magazine, Richards declared: "It is not enough to say we believe every word of the Bible to be true to be a Baptist."
___"What?" Campbell demanded. "Since when?
___"All my life, I have been taught, and I believe, that the Bible is our only guide in matters of faith and practice."
___Smith, who frequently writes editorials in defense of SBC positions, wrote in a September 2002 editorial that the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 is in fact a creed and that is not against Baptist history. Smith argues in the editorial that the word "creed" simply means "I believe" and does not imply forced conformity.
___Campbell countered that the word "creed" also means "a brief authoritative formula of religious belief." That means it is "not a guideline," Campbell asserted. "For those denominations that use creeds, the word means 'this is our standard; you either agree with it or leave us.'"
___Campbell expressed dismay at what he called "huge, well-publicized ceremonies" in which SBC leaders, SBTC leaders and SBC seminary professors publicly sign their names to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___"They are not signing God's word. They are not even being asked to give allegiance to God's word. They are signing a creed. God help us."
___He added: "There was a time when missionaries were asked to write out their own personal set of Baptist beliefs, using the former statements of faith as guidelines. ... Today, they don't have a set of personal beliefs to write out. It is written out for them and must be accepted as it is. Our Baptist forefathers never believed this way."
___Campbell drew upon 2 Timothy 3 to illustrate what he called a proper understanding of the authority of Scripture alone as a rule for faith and practice. The passage says that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
___According to Scripture, Campbell said, "the Bible is our instrument of doctrinal accountability. ... Where does a creed fit in here? It appears from holy Scripture that one does not need some man-made document, which is not God-breathed. It is sheer arrogance on the part of any man or woman to think he or she could possibly write anything better than God's word."
___Campbell further took issue with Richards' published statement that those who cry "no creed but the Bible" are no different than Alexander Campbell. Campbell founded the Church of Christ in the 19th century, pulling many Baptists into his movement, which teaches that Christians must be baptized to be saved and then can lose that salvation.
___Richards, Campbell reported, "concludes that what is needed is a Baptist creed to distinguish Baptists from all these other denominations that also claim to believe every word of the Bible and would be happy to sign every page of it."
___Such a step is not necessary, Campbell insisted, noting that his grandfather, a Baptist pastor in rural Louisiana, never had trouble distinguishing between Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic or Methodists from Baptists. He was able to tell the difference, even before Southern Baptists adopted their first statement of faith in 1925, Campbell said.
___"Mankind can always make up do's and don't's, write up statements of faith and revise their constitutions and bylaws, but they will never, never, never be better than the Bible itself."
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