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January 2006
Tom Nettles speaks like a proud father watching
his son follow in his footsteps. The Southern Baptist Convention has
become just what he wanted.
And just what is it that Tom Nettles so long
desired for the SBC?
Inerrancy.
You know, the controversial view of the Bible
that claims the original written biblical text is textually perfect in
every manner, including in matters of science, geography, astronomy,
and all other areas of human knowledge.
Listen to Tom Nettles’ joyful
claims regarding Southern Baptists: “Inerrancy now rules the
consciences of a vast majority of local church pastors, and in a much
better informed way, and inerrantists seem well-entrenched in
leadership positions at seminaries, mission boards, and other
strategic agencies and organizations. Inerrantists are everywhere.”
No wonder Tom Nettles is beaming from ear to ear.
But wait a minute. Something is amiss.
The truth is that not a single Baptist has ever
preached from an inerrant biblical text; not a single Baptist has ever
held an inerrant biblical text; and not a single Baptist has ever even
seen an inerrant biblical text.
In addition, the Bible itself says not a single
word about inerrancy.
Inerrancy, in fact, is a modern theory of
biblical inspiration built upon the modern scientific understanding of
“truth” as empirical data that can be systematically analyzed and
quantified.
Why is Tom Nettles rejoicing that Southern
Baptists have moved away from the Bible itself to a modern, humanistic
view about the Bible? It is a question that our Baptist
forefathers, who consistently and repeatedly asserted that the Bible
is “infallible” only in “matters of faith and practice” (a view
consistent with 2 Timothy 3:16), would doubtlessly like to ask if they
were yet alive.
Nettles' celebration of the demotion of the Bible
in Southern Baptist life seems rather bizarre … unless the agenda of
the inerrantist leaders of the SBC is something other than the Bible.
Indeed,
Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
asserts that the new official SBC Bible (Broadman & Holman translation)
is a Bible “we
can control.”
Now that inerrantists control both the SBC and
the Bible, what is next on their agenda? God? (It’s been tried
before; remember the Pharisees?)
Which brings us to the question of
who is Tom Nettles? He is none other than a professor at Al
Mohler’s seminary, and a leading apologist for the fundamentalist-inerrantist
takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention.
You may want to invite Nettles to your church to
explain why he is so excited that a modern, humanistic, non-biblical
view of the Bible “rules the consciences” of pastors and is
“well-entrenched” among SBC leadership, seminaries and mission
boards. His email is
tnettles@sbts.edu, or he can be reached by phone at
1-800-626-5525.
If you do consider inviting Nettles to your
church, make certain the invitation is extended with one condition:
that he bring with him the inerrant biblical text. And if he agrees
to do so, please invite me, all the other Christian congregations in
your city, your local news stations and all the nationally syndicated
news shows, for we all want to be among the first to view the original
written, perfect biblical text.
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