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Which Baptists Actually Believe the
Bible?
by Bruce
Gourley
Prior to the
Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church refused to allow laity to read
the Bible, believing that laity were incapable of understanding the
text, and were susceptible to heresy if they tried to read and
interpret the Bible for themselves. Baptists were birthed in
opposition to this belief, daring to declare that not only was God’s
intention that everyone read the Bible, but that no one and no creed
could tell the individual what he or she must believe. Reading and
interpreting the Bible was a matter between the individual and the
Holy Spirit working in that individual’s life to help the believer
understand the text and apply it to his or her life. This is called
the “Priesthood of all Believers,” a biblical concept found in 1 Peter
2:4-9. Clergy and laity have equal access to the Bible and are
equally empowered by God to read and interpret the Bible for
themselves.
However, by
the end of 20th century, fundamentalist Southern Baptists
arose to power within the Southern Baptist Convention. The new
fundamentalist SBC leadership rejected their Baptist heritage, instead
turning to the Roman Catholic Church model of a controlled-access,
censured Bible. In 1988, fundamentalists succeeded at the annual
convention meeting in passing a resolution redefining the “Priesthood
of all Believers” as coming under the authority of the believer’s
pastor. As in the Catholic Church of centuries ago, believers in the
pews were told that they could no longer think for themselves when it
came to the Bible, because if they tried to understand the Bible apart
from their pastor’s directives, they might fall into heresy.
The
fundamentalist leadership of the SBC was obviously afraid of the laity
reading the Bible for themselves. However, it soon became apparent
that the fundamentalists were also afraid of the Bible itself!
Al Mohler,
president of president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Louisville, succinctly summarized fundamentalists’ fear of the Bible
when he pronounced that the SBC’s new Holman Christian Standard Bible
was a “translation we can control.”[1]
To the fundamentalist leaders of the SBC, the Bible is only
acceptable if they can control it to further their ends: in
terms of translation, interpretation, and application.
The
betrayal of Baptist heritage, suppression of access to the Bible, and
newfound allegiance to the Roman Catholic model has found full
expression in the passage and enforcement of the Baptist Faith and
Message 2000. With the passage of the BF&M 2000 at the annual SBC
meeting that year, the Southern Baptist Convention fundamentalist
leadership finally had a document they could put their trust in. This
new “instrument of doctrinal accountability,” written largely by a
handful of fundamentalist mega-church pastors, seminary presidents and
their wives, and other fundamentalist elites, was designed to solve
the fundamentalists’ problem of not trusting the laity or the Bible.
Let’s
listen to fundamentalist leaders describe how belief in the Baptist
Faith and Message is more important than belief in the Bible:
“It is
not enough to believe every word of the Bible,” according to Jim
Richards, executive director of the fundamentalist Southern Baptists
of Texas Convention. “To say that we have no creeds is to say that we
have no beliefs.”[2]
Reiterating the primacy of the BF&M 2000 (rather than the Bible) as
the “instrument of doctrinal accountability” for the Southern Baptist
Convention, Convention President Jack Graham declared, “No one should
serve Southern Baptists without accountability” to the document.[3]
Arguing
that the BF&M 2000 is the only proper way for Baptists to approach the
Bible, Al Mohler declared of the document, “On these truths we take
our stand and we will not give an inch.”[4]
Lost in
fundamentalist’s insistence on placing the Baptist Faith and Message
2000 above the Bible is the very centrality and supremacy of Jesus
Christ as the author and director of one’s faith. Ken Hemphill,
president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, declared that
the supremacy of the BF&M 2000 is necessary because otherwise
believers could freely use the "experience of Jesus as the criterion
by which we judge the biblical text."[5]
God forbid that just any ol’ Baptist would dare to make Jesus the
author and sustainer of his or her faith!
As these
quotes reveal, the fundamentalist leadership is afraid of you, your
Bible and Jesus working freely in your life. They believe that they
alone hold the key to understanding the Bible. In order for you to
understand the Bible, you must promise not to question their beliefs
spelled out in their “instrument of doctrinal accountability.”
Otherwise, you are automatically suspected of being a heretic. If you
can’t affirm the BF&M 2000, you have no right to consider yourself a
“Bible-believer.”
The Roman
Catholic Church of centuries ago would be proud of today’s
fundamentalist SBC leadership. Back then, “heretics” who dared to
read and interpret the Bible for themselves were put to death by the
Church. But today you have a choice: you can choose to bow in
submission to the creeds of men which have supplanted the Bible and
restricted Jesus, or you can choose to put your trust in the Bible
itself and your faith in Jesus Christ.
Your Baptist
forefathers faced the same choices. They chose the Bible over creeds,
even when it meant physical persecution.
What will
you choose today?
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