Expert: Dr Don Howe - 11/26/2008

Question
Are most Baptists denominations liberal in theology?  Many Baptist churches seem open to homosexuality, abortion, and other things that I think are sinful.  What does a church do with those who hold to the Baptist view that a Baptist is a Baptist?  In other words, people don't understand the Baptist history and think all Baptists believe the same things.  This seems confusing to me.  Do you become creedal?  People in younger generations can confess the conservative theology and think it is 'one way' and sign statements of church membership.  How do we wade through the confusion?  

Answer
  Thank you JJ for your questions. Most traditional Baptist denominations are not liberal in fact they are conservative and some or even considered fundamental by some. Baptist like any other denominations; you are going to find just about any flavor you want and still call themselves Baptist. But Baptist traditionally are conservative and very Evangelical.
     What makes some Baptist liberal and others conservative?  The liberal Baptist do not know how to read and they are disobedient to God’s Holy Word. Liberal Baptist do not believe in the inerrancy of God’s Holy Word and think they can make it better by putting their own interpretation to it. They like to twist the Scriptures to fit their own evil ways and not follow the way of God’s word. JJ look what Apostle Peter says about this in 2 Pet. 3:16 “As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” The word wrest in the Greek is strebloō which means to twist, to torture or to pervert, of one who wrests or tortures language in a false sense. Peter is saying men who are unlearned and unstable twist, torture the Scriptures unto their own destruction. But they also can be very well educated with numerous degrees behind their name but they are Liberal in theology and they  strebloō, twist, or wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction which makes them in God’s eye and according to 2 Peter 3:16 as unlearned. God’s Word is literal and common sense because God is literal in his thinking when he wants to communicate with man through the Word of God. Reading God’s Word is just a literal as reading directions on how to put a piece of equipment together. If you were reading the directions on how to put a toy together you would take the instructions literally and do everything it says to do so the toy works. You would not wrest or twist the directions in a different way just because you wanted to or the toy would not work.
   So is it with God’s Word. We are not to twist His Word in the way we want it to fit our evil desires and immorality (call it disobedience and Liberal theology), but we are to take His Word literally and obey His commandments and he will bless us. God’s word is sufficient for all things in our lives and God does not need Liberal Baptist theologians, who think they know more about God’s Word than God does, and can give a better interpretation than God Himself. This is called disobedience, pride, and they torture the Scriptures to their own destruction. Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 3:16 “All scripture [is] given by inspiration (this means God Breathed) of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” All of Scriptures are God breathed or inspired, and profitable for doctrine (means instructions or precepts), reproof (evidence or proof), and correction for INSTRUCTIONS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS; whereas the liberal guys, who twist the Scriptures, are destined for DESTRUCTION according to 2 Peter. 3:16.
  JJ, the reasons why the Liberal Baptist are liberal is many but for the most part it is about THE INTERPRETATION OF THE WORD OF GOD and they do not want to follow what God’s word says. And there is another reason and Jesus tells what that is in Matt. 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Jesus said go out and teach and preach the Gospel to all nations and baptizing which means the Church is suppose go out and change the culture and our world. The Liberal Baptist have let the WORLD come in and change the CHURCH by allowing humanism, relativism, post-modernism, feminism, sexism, racism, counterfeit preachers/teachers, false teaching, counterfeit faith movements like the emergent Church of today, New Agism (real biggy), secular psychology, self-esteemism, self-acutalization (another biggy), and false doctrine come into the Church.
  Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” Paul is saying the “time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine (teaching)” and that time is RIGHT THIS PRESENT TIME. That is why the Liberal Baptist have let all this garbage into the church, i.e. the things I listed above, because they will not endure sound doctrine (by choice) but because of their own lusts (JJ there is your homosexuality) will find teachers or teaching that are ungodly and these teachers will teach ungodly things so they can have their ears scratched. See JJ, what Paul telling us in 2 Tim. 4:3 is coming to pass right now around us, and the Church is coming closer to the end of this church age (we call this the dispensation of Grace). Get ready JJ the Rapture is coming according to God’s Word. You better be prayed up, loved up, reconciled up in relationships, packed up, look up,  because WE ARE GOING TO BE MOVING ON UP. It is only a time that God knows when he will tell the Lord Jesus “go get my church.” According to the events of the World, the prophecies in God’s Word that are being fulfilled as we breath, the ungodliness that is present in the world is increasing, the persecution of the Church today (which is only going to get exponentially worse), taking God out of Government Buildings/Schools/Church House, killing babies by infanticide and feticide and calling it okay to do such under the disgrace of abortion, the increase in disasters/earthquakes/hurricanes/other violent weather changes,  increase in violence because of false religions, the one world economy that is pushed by the European Union is almost in place, and push for one world religion is marching forward called Islam. All show the end of this Church age is coming and Liberal theology among Baptist is just another example of that.
   JJ, I know this is more than you have asked, but I want you have a good handle on why we have Liberal theology, which there are many more reasons that I did not mention.  And this answer the other question you had “Many Baptist churches seem open to homosexuality, abortion, and other things that I think are sinful.”
   There are some Baptist groups that do believe in Liberal theology such at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist, Baptist General Convention of Texas etc. Then there are Baptist who are Bible believing conservative evangelical believers such as the SBC, Bible Fellowship Churches, and many, many, non-denominational churches who are Baptist by conservative tradition, and beliefs, but leave the name of Baptist off their church because they have decided that it offends or has a negative connotation using the name “Baptist” in their church name.  Just another example of Political Correctness gone to the extreme. If you are ashamed of the name, then I would question on what you claim.
   There are  many Baptist Churches that have gone way to the right and are apostate fundamentalist churches. For example, the Independent Primitive Baptist Churches, Seventh Day Baptist, etc. There are fundamental KJV only Baptist Churches which are ultra conservative. And then there is the Westboro Baptist Church (which is not associated with any Baptist entity just has Baptist in its name) in  Topeka, KS which is a cult. So there are many different kinds of Baptist Churches.
 JJ, you asked “What does a church do with those who hold to the Baptist view that a Baptist is a Baptist?  In other words, people don't understand the Baptist history and think all Baptists believe the same things.  This seems confusing to me.” I have explained some of that for you above. And it is confusing about what each different Baptist church believes, and that is why you visit a church many times before joining. You do not join a church because of the pastor, the deacons, based if you  have relative or friends in a particular church etc. But  what  they preach and teach is based on the Word of God, preach about what the Lord Jesus and what He did on the Cross for the remission of sins,  are they mission minded, do they help the poor, and do they have a biblical worldview. Again, not all Baptist churches believe the same thing.
   But this is the  same thing in  that not all Pentecostal churches believe the same. Not all Episcopal Churches believe the same. Not all Lutheran or Catholic churches believe the same. But they there still are differences due to their interpretation of the Word of God.
   You asked “Do you become creedal?” Baptist by traditional ARE NOT CREEDAL, but your liturgical churches are very creedal in nature. Some have said that the SBC Statement of Faith is a creed and this is totally wrong. The SBC Statement of Faith is just as it says; it is a statement of what the SBC doctrinally believe. A creed is something like the Nicene Creed or Apostles Creed that is spoken in a rote mundane way every Sunday as part of the Church service. This  is done in liturgical churches.
      JJ, you asked “People in younger generations can confess the conservative theology and think it is 'one way' and sign statements of church membership.  How do we wade through the confusion?” Good question. The younger generation have been bombarded by the nonsense they hear in their tv shows, rock music, by their gay-friendly school teachers and administrators, by the liberal theology given out by media on tv and their friends, by the secular pop psychology society that we live in now, political correctness gone crazy, the pop psychology preached in their churches  etc, and the this generation has bought into all of this, they are not CONSERVATIVE. Young people today are so BIBLICALLY IGNORANT AND ILLITERATE it is not funny, which is one of the main problems. They do not know what the Word of God says and do not know how to apply God’s precepts to their lives. They would not know the difference between liberal or conservative even it jumped up and bit them. Why? Because our churches have bought into the same lies that their culture has taught them. Remember, I said that Jesus said for the church to go out and change the culture, but the church has allowed the culture into the church and changed them. No wonder younger generation is confused.
    You can not believe everything you hear or see. Apostle Paul tells us this in Col. 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” JJ, notice what God is saying through Paul here. He is saying do not let NO ONE, absolutely no one, take you captive. The word captive is sylagōgeō in the Greek and it means to lead away from the truth and subject to one's sway. God is saying do not let anyone lead you away from the truth through philosophy or empty deception. Being swayed away from the truth through philosophy would like letting all the ‘isms’ (humanism, relativism, etc)  that I mentioned affect your thinking and take you away from the truth of God’s Word or Christ. Empty deception would be falling for false teaching or preaching given by some famous preacher, actor, or actress which would lead you away from the truth of God’s Word or Christ. Example, look how screwed up Tom Cruise, Whoopie Goldberg, and many more famous people are because of their belief in Scientology. They are deceived by a cult (Scientology) and false teaching because they were swayed from the truth of God’s Word by the elementary principles of this world and not on Christ.  
    Paul is saying to not be swayed from the truth by philosophy, empty deception, or tradition of men according to the elementary principles of this world, rather than Christ. Tradition of men is saying to do not believe some false teaching just because my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father taught this same thing. Also tradition of men could also be false teachings done by churches, religions, and denominations passed down from one generation to another. One example of this would be, how the Catholic church teaches the false doctrine of Mariology for the last hundreds of years.
    The way from being swayed from the truth is to take any of this and test against the truth of God’s Word.   
     Another thing the younger generation and the world does. It does  not recognize is the Sovereignty of God. God is in control of this world and no one else. There is nothing that goes on in this world that
God does not know about. Man is not in control of anything except what God has ALLOWED him to be in control of. God has been in control from the first day of creation to the present. Man does not believe this but that does not change a thing, God is still Sovereign over everything in Heaven and on Earth. Even though God is Sovereign over all things, He still loves us so much that He gave his own Son to die in our place and take our sins upon His Son, so that you and I have eternal life and be able to have a relationship with Him. This is type of love is beyond the comprehension of man.

    HOW TO WADE THROUGH THE CONFUSION?

   The one thing JJ you need to be sure of is that you have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, have a personal relationship with Him, serve Him in a local congregation,  and follow what is in His Word.
    Wading through the confusion is simple. Read HIS WORD, FOLLOW WHAT His WORD SAYS, and test what you feel, hear, or think about what is said or goes on in the world against the Word of God. If it conforms to the Word of God then it is okay to believe it, but if does not conform to the Word of God than it is from the Devil. Bingo, your confusion is taken care of. If you hear your pastor  preach something on Sunday Morning do not believe it just because he said it, test what he said against the Word of God. Even Pastors can be wrong.
    If you hear some televangelist say something on tv, do not believe it just because Benny Hinn, David Jeremiah, Billy Graham, or Mickey Mouse has said something or preached something. Test what they have said against the Word of God.
     Paul tell us in 1 Cor. 13:5 that we are to examine ourselves and see if we are of Christ and see if  we fail the test. The text states “Test yourselves {to see} if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” Test means to examine, to assay, or to prove.

    Apostle John tells us in 1 Jn. 4:1 to test the spirits against the Word of God to see if someone is a false prophet. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Examine or test what your Pastor, actor, actress, or televangelist says against the Word of God to see if they are a false prophet.
    In Rev. 2:2, John tells us  “you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them {to be} false.”  

    So we wade through the confusion by testing everything against the
Word of God. If it does not match up then is probably false.

    JJ, I am also giving you the verses, interpretation including down to the Greek exposition, meaning of the verses, so you can look it up and test against God’s Word for yourself and know the truth and have freedom from false teaching and preaching. Jesus said in John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  
           

Blessing,

Dr. Don Howe, RN, PhD, ThD.