Challenging my mind?
I read a blog a little while ago about challenging your mind by reading things by people you might not agree with. Lately, one person I have been reading is Albert Mohler (his blog). I have read his stance on abortion, feminism, and contraception. Now, Albert Mohler is very right wing, and of those three things, the only thing I agreed with him on is abortion – we are both against it. Feminism and contraception I’m all for. Reading his stance, at times I was wondering if we were on the same planet!
Albert Mohler is the president of Southern Seminary. I know that his way of thinking is in line with other convention leaders. I myself am a Southern Baptist, and I did start to go into a thought pattern of “why am I in this denomination when I disagree with promenant leaders?” I chewed on that for a little while, and then I realized two things. I am in this denomination because: 1) Our churches are autonomous, and I have found a church where I fit in and feel comfortable; and 2) Although politically I am at odds with some denominational leadership, I do agree with the basic theology in the denomination. And politics can change. For awhile the denomination was moderate; now it’s right wing. I was reading a blog from a pastor recently in which he said one thing that drives him crazy is when he goes to an SBC convention meeting and he can not tell it from the Republican national convention! So I know that even though a lot of Southern Baptists are very conservative, a lot are also moderate, both politically. And eventually, if history from not only the SBC but also other groups of people is a predictor, the pendulum will probably start swinging back to the moderate side.
But even if it doesn’t swing back, churches in the denomination will be the way they want to be. Conservative, fundamentalist, moderate, traditional, contemporary, large, small, defies any explaination whatsoever; we have them all.
