Southern Baptist Membership Declines for 7th Year.

[Joykins]

No.

That theory has remarkable explanatory power, though, as sociological studies show us that the majority of new members in churches are people who move from one church to another. How many people in the SBC came there from some 'liberal' church?

Oh, I remember the day my husband told me his family left the SBC because they were getting too liberal. Right before the fundamentalists took over, that was, when they were actually ordaining women and stuff.

 

[SaphireOwl]

I recall reading some blatantly anti-Semitic quotes from some prominent SBC leaders a few years back. They'd be wise to heed Paul's warning:

[bless and do not curse]"If some of the branches have been broken off,[bless and do not curse]and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others[bless and do not curse]and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,[bless and do not curse]do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.[bless and do not curse]You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith.[bless and do not curse]Do not be arrogant,[bless and do not curse]but tremble.[bless and do not curse]For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either."

There's something very wrong when the vBulletin censor edits scripture here .

Romans 11:17-24

 

[Marius27]

There's something very wrong when the vBulletin censor edits scripture here .

Romans 11:17-24

Or maybe some scripture is overly obscene? There are certainly Bible verses that I would never let children read.

 

[Joykins]

I think they might be unicode characters that are misidentified by the regex.

 

[JGL53]

They still have a huge membership, and I expect that they're very popular throughout the South and will continue to be so for some time. My church currently is Baptist (not Southern Baptist, as I'm English), but I'm the sort who'd go to any church service, so long as it was amiable and was preaching a good Word.

I don't think anyone images the S.B denomination will just disappear in the next 5 to 10 years. I am thinking more so on the order of 50 - 75 years. Like a long slow excruciating decline. Just a little bit every year. Like a trickling stream.

Basically it will be the actuarial tables doing their thing.

That and fewer and fewer people being into the O.T. christian god.

Plus people are all socially connected worldwide now and there are many more options available.

Plus most of us do not live in villages but in cities now. Many more children when growing up move AWAY from their parents, hundreds of miles or even thousands of miles, so the social pressure to stay in your childhood dogmatic/reactionary religion is just not there much any more.

And, as some one mentioned, organized religion in general is becoming less and less popular - more people are choosing to be independent of any herd and conversely only believing in whatever makes sense to them as individuals - i.e., the pressure to conform grows less each year.

OF COURSE dogmatists/literalists/reactionaries in the religious community are going to gripe and complain and whine like its the end of the world or something, be they S.B. or something similar. That is only human nature and is to expected. People always become drama queens - hand wringing, complaining and whining and even threatening others - when things don't go their way.

I for one am not impressed.

 

[SaphireOwl]

Or maybe some scripture is overly obscene? There are certainly Bible verses that I would never let children read.

Oh? What parts of the Christian Bible would you be referring to?

 

[JGL53]

Oh? What parts of the Christian Bible would you be referring to?

Do you really want to know? Really? I think you just think you want to know. But if you knew you wouldn't want to know.


But if you really do want to know then these guys have looked up all the verses and listed them for your convenience. Please enjoy:

Bible Vulgarities & Obscenities

(Why don't you jump right in and start with Ezekial 23:20-21. And 2 Kings 18:27.)

 

[iluvatar5150]

Speaking of SBC legalism:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2014/06/02/professor-gets-canned-for-appearing-on-beer-label/

Professor claims he was fired by Christian college for appearing on beer can

 

[Shane R]

I think this ongoing hemorrhage is due to the waning of cultural Christianity. People can get ahead and society and find friends and do the things that our culture defines as success without being church members. And as the views of the churches have become less popular in society at large the cultural Christian has dropped out.

 

[Supreme]

Speaking of SBC legalism:
Professor Gets Canned For Appearing on Beer Label

Professor claims he was fired by Christian college for appearing on beer can

Now THAT is ridiculous. Poor guy.

 

[cow451]

Speaking of SBC legalism:
Professor Gets Canned For Appearing on Beer Label

Professor claims he was fired by Christian college for appearing on beer can

The are legalities here that are irrelevant as to the school's affiliation with the SBC. It is a contractural matter, which include whether the company had legal sanction to use this man's likeness.

 

[iluvatar5150]

The are legalities here that are irrelevant as to the school's affiliation with the SBC. It is a contractural matter, which include whether the company had legal sanction to use this man's likeness.

Even if that they did have his permission (and I don't know that they did), it's a stupid, legalistic move.

 

[cow451]

Even if that they did have his permission (and I don't know that they did), it's a stupid, legalistic move.

You can argue that. But this was the decision of the college, not the SBC.

As I noted in another thread, there are secular organizations that would not care for an employee's likeness being displayed on a can of beer.

 

[ThisBrotherOfHis]

Do you really want to know? Really? I think you just think you want to know. But if you knew you wouldn't want to know.

Translation: "I don't know. I made it up. So I posted a web link and have no clue what it says."

And when are you going to respond to post #14?

 

[JGL53]

Speaking of beer:

Back in my childhood S.B. days, in the 1960s, a guy who was in seminary school in New Orleans was interviewed for the job of minister at our church.

He told the deacons he had a part time job stacking beer in a warehouse in N.O., since he needed the money. He said the beer was going to get stacked with or without him, thus he didn't see anything wrong with it but wanted the deacons to know. They voted him in and the congregation rubber-stamped. He was the preacher at our church for about five years before he moved on to another church.

When it comes to the S.B. church and how they have changed over the decades the anecdotal stories all seem to follow a pattern. It is a pattern that leads to the dustbin of religious history.

 

[JGL53]

Translation: "I don't know. I made it up. So I posted a web link and have no clue what it says."... And when are you going to respond to post #14?

Say Whaaaa?

What IS your major malfunction, Dude?

1. Are you implying I have not read the entire website? How do you know this? What is your evidence of this? I have read every word on that website. Instead of posting a string of obscenities straight from the bible - which would probably get me banned from christianforums for violating their obscenity clause, I gave a reference to a website that definitively answers the question "What obscenities, if any, are in the bible?".

All you have to do is spend just a few minutes reading the lists of obscenities from the bible listed on that website to know the answer to the question. Why don't YOU do just that and leave off bothering people with asinine posts that are nothing more than a conglomeration of non sequiturs.

2. There is no answer to a person who thinks the sexism expressed in the bible is A-OK. If you think so then you better pray to god your wife agrees. lol.

I can't waste my time in long debates with someone who is bound and determined to define the worse kind of sexism. Take up your argument with the women folk, especially those under 30, especially those who are divorced with children.

After you get all the womens on board with your "special" viewpoint regarding what the proper relationship should be between women and men - THEN come and argue with me. As a man I don't have the same stake in this. Leave me to last.

lol.

 

[ThisBrotherOfHis]

Say Whaaaa?

What IS your major malfunction, Dude?

1. Are you implying I have not read the entire website?

Yeah, pretty much. I don't think you looked at it all.

How do you know this? What is your evidence of this? I have read every word on that website.

I looked at your website. There is nothing there that could not be shared here.

2. There is no answer to a person who thinks the sexism expressed in the bible is A-OK. If you think so then you better pray to god your wife agrees. lol.

She prays with me regarding the biblical command for me to be the spiritual leader of the household, that her promise to submit to me is matched by my godly and biblical response to her and to our needs as a couple.

You ignorantly assume that "submission" and "headship" means I'm the slavemaster and she's the slave. She'd laugh in your face if she saw you write that. God's directive is for the man to head the household. That doesn't mean dictatorship, it means leadership by servanthood. I serve my wife. That is how I lead. The sad thing is, you believe that is best described thusly:

I can't waste my time in long debates with someone who is bound and determined to define the worse kind of sexism.

This simply proves, as I said in Post #14, that you're clueless as to what God's word actually says.

 

[JGL53]

> ThisBrotherOfHis


Ezekial 23:20-21.


2 Kings 18:27.

Explain how these two verses are not obscene by normal standards and also not utter superfluous.

When you finish then I have a few hundred more verses for you to "explain away".

lol.