Well at least the SBC now has something else to worry about and can briefly stop all the infighting over Calvinism and Arminianism.
Ah, but that's not predestined to be!
But the same jockeying and exaggerating will occur as, for instance, with the Episcopal diocese I read about only recently that has taken to including the numbers of children attending obligatory chapel services in private, church-related schools as part of their ASA, simply to keep those totals up.
I was married at my UMC which I attended in middle, high, and a little during summer in college. They automatically converted me to membership at my new address once married. I think I was finally purged last year almost 6 years later, while I was also a member at a Baptist church. It's normal for churches to have people who have moved or simply ceased attending on the books. Some churches (including SBCs) often don't check up with old churches when members transfer.
To get back to the topic at hand - I notice we all are guilty of using terminology that can dance around things a little, but one thing I will point out about the SBC is that an SBC church can hold a rather wide range of views. For example, we all know the Calvinistic Baptists (or even Reformed Baptists) vs Arminian Baptists, but at an association meeting one SBC minister preached on kenosis (ironically apparently the product of a Lutheran pastor) which
could be tied to larger heresy. For the record, there is no push to kick that church/pastor out or any retribution.
While I do not agree with the poster that the SBC is not a denomination, I do agree that what passes as the SBC is not exactly a unified body in doctrine. That said, you can at least find some agreement in believer's baptism with few exceptions, though I have noted in past studies that the
amount of very young baptisms is creeping up. So SBC's may even lose that final distinction.
I don't dislike the Baptists because I are one
for now, but I wish there would be a return to understanding what made us Southern Baptist is more than voting Republican and saying "ya'll." Baptists can't draw on their age (which, IMHO is a bad argument anyway because the Orthodox stand over to side waving "Hi!" when you start talking about the age of churches.), but we can draw on some Anabaptist tradition (like it or not) which mainly deals with the separation of church (and how to suffer righteously) and state which is very valuable for the looming times. We can also draw on the Particular Baptist side of the house which recognizes God's great holiness, wisdom, righteousness, and power.
For the record, I do think the harvest metaphors and refiner's fire metaphors are in full swing these days. That said, I cannot find any satisfaction in the numbers bound to hell: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
That's a heckuva mission statement, but I think it captures the heart of God. And by the way, he was a bit Calvinist.
