Dane Ortlund, back in 2011 asked several pastors and scholars this question, "What's the message of the Bible in one sentence?" In other words, "What's the metanarrative of the Bible?" The metanarrative of Scripture is what redemptive-historical preachers are concerned with, since we believe the grand story of Scripture, as organized by God, is what He's concerned with as well. Here are a few answers to Ortlund's question (more answers here):

Dan Block:

God was so covenantally committed to the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him may have eternal life!

Craig Blomberg:

God is in the process of recreating the universe which has been corrupted by sin and has made it possible for all those and only those who follow Jesus to be a part of the magnificent, eternal community that will result.

Darrell Bock:

Mark Dever:

God has made promises to bring His people to Himself and He is fulfilling them all through Christ.

Kevin DeYoung:

John Frame:

God glorifies himself in the redemption of sinners.

Scott Hafemann:

The Triune God is the beginning, middle, and end of everything, 'for from him (as Creator) and through him (as Sustainer and Redeemer) and to him (as Judge) are all things' (Rom 11:36).

Paul House:

The movement in history from creation to new creation through the redemptive work of Father, Son, and Spirit who saves and changes corrupted people and places for his glory and their good.

Kent Hughes:

God is redeeming his creation by bringing it under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Andreas Kostenberger:

'God so loved the world that the gave his one and only Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16).

Phil Long:

God, who made us and everything else, loves us and gave himself for us that we might live forever with him as new creatures in a new creation—the news is good!

Ray Ortlund:

The Lover of our souls won't let the romance die, but is rekindling it forever.

Leland Ryken:

The message of the Bible is twofold: to show how people can be saved from their sins through faith in Christ's atonement AND how to live all of life as a follower of God.

Tom Schreiner:

God reigns over all things for his glory, but we will only enjoy his saving reign in the new heavens and the new earth if we repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the crucified and risen Lord and who gave himself on the cross for our salvation.

Erik Thoennes:

Doug Wilson:

Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City.

In light of these answers, here are some pitfalls to avoid in redemptive-historical preaching:

1. Redemptive-historical preaching often does not emphasize the metanarrative.

The metanarrative, the grand story of Scripture, is the emphasis of redemptive-historical preaching, but these preachers often stop short of the metanarrative. Scripture doesn't just detail God's plan of redemption for sinners. It also includes: 1) God's triune relationship with Himself prior to creation (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1), 2) God's sinless creation and His relationship with sinless humanity (Gen. 1-2), and 3) God's coming relationship with sinless creation and sinless humanity (Rev. 21).

2. Redemptive-historical preaching often details a very small portion of history.

The history detailed in Scripture begins with God's Triune relationship between the three Persons prior to the existence of anything else (eternity past) and proceeds into eternity future in a New Heavens and New Earth. Redemptive-historical preaching details the few thousand years between eternity past and eternity future, even though the Bible speaks of both eternity past and eternity future. I realize most of Scripture details this small portion of history known as redemption history, but what does the redemptive-historical preacher do with the Scripture that details non-redemptive history? We can't just ignore it, but instead must adjust our redemptive-historical emphasis, the metanarrative, based on this other history.

3. Redemptive-historical preaching often does not explain the purpose of entities who need no redemption.

The angels that did not rebel against God need no redemption, yet they are mentioned numerous times in Scripture. How do they fit into redemptive-historical preaching?  What is their purpose in the redemption of sinners? They serve a real purpose prior to redemption, during redemption, and they will after redemption is fully realized, but redemptive-historical preaching may miss their function due to not accounting for these entities who need no redemption.

4. Redemptive-historical preaching can encourage a lack of application.  

If redemptive-historical preachers aren't careful, they'll emphasize Christ's redeeming work without ever answering the question, "How shall we live?" The Bible doesn't just describe redemption, but also details how Christians who are citizens of the New Jerusalem should live while still present in this evil world. Whether it's Old Testament saints living in response to trusting in God's promise and coming fulfillment, or it's New Testament saints living in response to Christ's finished work and the coming completion of redemption, God's people are still expected to live holy lives. This fact must not be ignored, neglected, or collapsed into the gospel. The gospel makes God's people positionally holy and progressively holy. In other words, the fruit of the gospel is not only the further sharing of the gospel, but also lives transformed by the gospel. Of course, we never grow beyond our need for the gospel, and the gospel alone saves us.

Suggested Remedies

The remedy for the first three pitfalls is to begin with God's Triune relationship, and then to fit all of creation and redemptive history under this umbrella. I call this the "history of existence theme."

God enjoyed perfect fellowship with Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, continually before time and creation existed [History of Existence Theme] (Gen. 1:1, John 1:1). He sought to continue enjoying Himself through freely revealing His Trinitarian holiness and love to and through creation (Gen. 1:26-28). He thus created all things, and allowed sin to temporally hide His holiness and love from sinners. God however set His redemptive plan in motion as detailed in Gen. 3:15. Satan would bruise Christ’s heal, but Jesus would crush his head. As a result of God seeking to continue enjoying Himself, He revealed His holiness and love to sinners by sending His Son to live a perfect life, to die for sins He did not commit, and to rise from the dead to reconcile sinners to Himself [Redemptive History Theme].  One day when Christ completes the redemption of His people we will enjoy God, His  Trinitarian holiness and love, forevermore.

It must be noted that I realize there's danger is reducing God's various attributes to "love" and "holiness." For those who think this is too reductionistic, you could be less specific by not mentioning God's holiness and love, and instead saying, "He sought to continue enjoying Himself through freely revealing His Trinitarian identity to and through creation."

I believe this remedy will help redemptive-historical preachers avoid the various pitfalls mentioned above. First, God revealing Himself to and through creation is the metanarrative, and redemption history fits within this metanarrative. Second, God revealing Himself includes His Trinitarian relationship since God is Trinity, thus this small addition includes all of history, from eternity past to eternity future. Third, this remedy answers the issue concerning the purpose of those angels who need no redemption. They serve as part of the creation God is revealing Himself to and through. They serve this purpose now and will forevermore.

Finally, the remedy for a lack of application is to emphasize how Christians should live as a result of the gospel. They must pursue perfection while pleading the blood of Christ alone for their salvation. Due to God revealing Himself to and through creation as evidenced by the crucifixion and resurrection of His Son to forgive me of my sins, I will live a holy life while depending on Christ's holiness in my stead alone.

What are your thoughts?

Lecrae's new CD Church Clothes has been released, and you can download it here for free.

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Just click the link provided below, and participate in the Q & A through the chat function.  Also, Stetzer will be giving away a copy of Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation every minute.  Enjoy.

  Subversive Kingdom Chat: The Exchange w/ Ed Stetzer

  Join the Chat here.

Scott Oakland recently interviewed me about my book The Harry Potter Bible Study: Enjoying God Through the Final Four Harry Potter Movies. The interview is about 45 minutes in length. You can find it here.

If you're interested in purchasing The Harry Potter Bible Study, you can find it here for $8.99 in paperback, or $1.99 for your e-reader. 

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I thought this video was funny.

A big "Thank you" to Terry Felton for emailing me this video.

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Mitt Romney, the potential Republican Candidate for the 2012 Presidential Election, is scheduled to speak at the graduation of Liberty University on Saturday, May 12, 2012. Romney is an outspoken Mormon. Concerning this decision, Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. Said,

We are delighted that Governor Romney will join us to celebrate Commencement with Liberty’s 2012 graduates. This will be a historic event for Liberty University reminiscent of the visits of Governor, and then presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan to Liberty’s campus in 1980 and of President George H.W. Bush who spoke at Liberty’s 1990 Commencement ceremony.

The difference, of course, between Reagan and Bush and Romney is that Reagan and Bush were both professed Christians, but Romney is a Mormon. The announcement comes as no surprise since Glen Beck, also an outspoken Mormon, spoke at the Liberty graduation in 2010. What should Christians think about Liberty's decision to invite Mormons to speak at their graduations? The answer is not cut and dry. Let's look at Liberty's own foundational documents.

First, their doctrinal statement begins,

We affirm our belief in one God, infinite Spirit, creator, and sustainer of all things, who exists eternally in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one in essence but distinct in person and function.

Mormons do not affirm the Trinity. Thus, Romney does not agree with Liberty's doctrinal statement. He actually believes the opposite of it.

Second, Liberty's Statement of Mission and Purpose reads,

Maintaining the vision of the founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Liberty University develops Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact the world.

Through its residential and online programs, the University educates men and women who will make important contributions to their workplaces and communities, follow their chosen vocations as callings to glorify God, and fulfill the Great Commission.

Liberty University will:

1. Emphasize excellence in teaching and learning.

2. Foster university-level competencies in communication, critical thinking, information literacy, and mathematics in all undergraduate programs.

3. Ensure competency in scholarship, research, and professional communication in all graduate programs.

4. Promote the synthesis of academic knowledge and Christian worldview in order that there might be a maturing of spiritual, intellectual, social and physical value-driven behavior.

5. Enable students to engage in a major field of study in career-focused disciplines built on a solid foundation in the liberal arts.

6. Promote an understanding of the Western tradition and the diverse elements of American cultural history, especially the importance of the individual in maintaining democratic and free market processes.

7. Contribute to a knowledge and understanding of other cultures and of international events.

8. Encourage a commitment to the Christian life, one of personal integrity, sensitivity to the needs of others, social responsibility and active communication of the Christian faith, and, as it is lived out, a life that leads people to Jesus Christ as the Lord of the universe and their own personal Savior.

Romney speaking at Liberty University's graduation fulfills points 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 (I'm being gracious here), but violates points 4 and 8. Also, since the Mormon god is non-Trinitarian, when Liberty speaks of "God" in its mission statement, they're necessarily speaking about a different God than Mitt Romney serves. Romney serves a god who doesn't exist.

Now, let's move to the 4th distinctive of the "Ten Liberty University Distinctives No Other University can Claim":

4. An uncompromising doctrinal statement, based upon an inerrant Bible, a Christian worldview beginning with belief in biblical Creationism, an eschatological belief in the pre-millennial, pre-tribulational coming of Christ for all of His Church, dedication to world evangelization, an absolute repudiation of “political correctness,” a strong commitment to political conservatism, total rejection of socialism, and firm support for America’s economic system of free enterprise.

Liberty University believes that asking Romney to speak at their graduation doesn't compromise their doctrinal statement. Falwell doesn't think the commencement speaker needs to be aligned theologically with the University: 

The baccalaureate ceremony always includes a gospel message brought by someone who is in complete theological alignment with the university. Commencement, however, has always featured leaders from all walks of life and all faiths who share the university’s social values and traditional family values. Commencement speakers have included representatives from the following faiths: Roman Catholicism, Judaism, mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, and even some speakers with no religious affiliation at all.

Liberty believes they're "the finest [Christian University] for training champions for Christ." One would think, though, at a distinctly Christian University that believes it's set apart from other Christian Universities, they would at least invite a Christian to speak at their graduation. If only evangelical Christians are allowed to teach at Liberty University and their emphasis is on helping students gain and exercise a Christian worldview, then shouldn't this mission and purpose continue from the beginning of the student's education to the end of the student's education? If not, then why?

I wouldn't have a problem with Mitt Romney speaking at a political rally held on the Liberty University Campus, but I do have a problem with Liberty inviting Romney to speak at their graduation. Liberty's graduation should be where the doctrinal statement, purpose and mission, and distinctives of Liberty University come together to offer a final charge to students and parents concerning the essential nature of Christians living a Christ-centered life in an evil world. Instead, Liberty spends 4 years training students to possess and exercise a Christian worldview, only to abandon their own Christian worldview in the apex teaching moment, the final teaching moment for these students. This decision makes no sense to me.

To help clarify Liberty's reasoning for inviting Romney, Chancellor and President Jerry Falwell, Jr. emailed a letter to students. Near the end of the letter, Falwell makes this statement:

The ultimate purpose of having a prominent Commencement speaker is not to promote the speaker or his views but rather to inspire and challenge the graduates and showcase Liberty and its mission.  My prayer is that having the presumptive Republican nominee as our speaker will cause many who have never heard of Liberty to take notice of what Liberty is doing to train a generation of Champions for Christ.  Perhaps, many of them will consider a Christian education over the secular alternative.

I don't understand How an unbeliever can "help inspire and challenge" Liberty students? The purpose of the University is to prepare students to possess and apply a consistent Biblical worldview. How can Romney help do this if he's an unbeliever? Furthermore, How can an unbeliever "showcase Liberty and its mission" since their mission is the opposite of Romney's mission? How can an unbeliever help other unbelievers see that Liberty University is training "a generation of Champions for Christ?" The invitation for Romney to speak seems to communicate the opposite of Falwell's and Liberty's goals.

To summarize, as a graduate of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (M.A.R. in Biblical Studies), which is part of Liberty University, I want to publicly say that I just don't understand Liberty's decision to invite unbelievers to speak at their graduation(s). If they hope to train up Christians who consistently possess and exercise a Biblical worldview, shouldn't they lead by example? The only argument I can understand is that they don't believe their graduation is a teaching moment, but I don't see how anyone can argue this convincingly.

What are your thoughts? Be kind.

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1. Entertainment-based Sermons

Pastors/elders/teachers want to be liked. Some want to be liked so much that they’re willing to entertain their hearers while preaching the Bible. They wrongly assume that because people enjoy their sermons, they enjoy Jesus as well. The problem is that if we’re seeking to entertain our hearers, then we don’t believe God or Scripture can hold the attention of God’s people. In other words, you may say “the Bible is worthy of your attention,” but if you’re using entertainment to communicate this, then you’re undercutting your message with your methods. If the Bible is worthy to be heard because God is its Author, then you shouldn’t have to use entertainment to get Christians to listen to it. You just might be entertaining your hearers to death.

2. Bribes

Easter Sunday was just a few weeks ago. With the heightened cultural interest in the resurrection of Christ, churches pulled out all the stops to persuade attendees. Churches gave away cars, money, ipads, food, etc. Should churches bribe sinners to attend worship services? Here are four realities about bribing sinners: 1) Bribing people to hear the gospel is absent from Scripture. 2) Bribing people to attend a worship service encourages them to attend worship for sinful reasons. 3) Bribing people to attend a worship service communicates the opposite of the gospel. 4) Bribing people to attend worship does not make disciples. Due to these reasons, I think Christians bribe sinners to hear the gospel because they’ve reversed the order of the two greatest commandments: First, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and second, to love your neighbor as yourself. Bribing people exalts loving one’s neighbor above loving God, because the purpose of evangelism is to glorify God, not to glorify sinners or Christians.

3. Revivalistic Quotas

Numbers, numbers, numbers, that’s what’s emphasized throughout evangelicalism. Is there anywhere in Scripture where Israel’s strength or the church’s strength were in numbers? No. Is there anywhere in Scripture where God evaluated His church or their ministry based on numbers? No. So, why is there a huge emphasis on numbers today? The answer is because in the Western part of the world, bigger is better. Some also argue that numbers are important because souls are important, but if you really care about souls, you’ll labor to make disciples, not to merely baptize unrepentant, salvation-ignorant people who do not understand the lifelong commitment they’re making. The Great Commission has been redefined today as baptizing those who confess Christ as Lord, with the Great Omission being the command to “teach these Christians everything that Christ has commanded” (Matt. 28:18-20). Repentance and faith in Christ is the beginning of Christianity.  When a believer is baptized, he or she has just begun his or her public identification with Christ. In order to truly fulfill the Great Commission, the local church must take these baptized believers and teach them everything Christ has commanded.

4. Selfish Motives in Worship

Have you ever heard another believer say about worship, “I didn’t get anything out of that.” Next time you hear this, say, “It’s not about you.” God alone deserves to be glorified in worship. The only time we shouldn’t get anything out of worship is when God isn’t glorified. If the word of God was sung, prayed, and preached faithfully, and you didn’t get anything out of worship, then repent and worship because God is worthy of worship. Worship is not about us. God is the center of worship, not us.

5. Atmosphere-induced Nostalgia

The goal of worship is to glorify God, not to feel good. Have you ever read the Psalms, the hymnal of God’s people for thousands of years? They’re not always happy or joyful. In other words, they’re not nostalgia-inducing. Today’s worship in the local church is largely about an atmosphere that encourages worship. The test of “true” worship is often how good one feels when he or she leaves the worship service. Specific lighting, styles of music, sentimentality, singing phrases over and over, etc. serve to create a euphoric feeling that hearers will long for for the rest of their lives. The problem is that the feeling, the nostalgia, becomes the god the believer longs for instead of the true God who is worthy of worship when believers feel like it and when they don’t.

6. Relevant Sermons

There is such a large emphasis on preaching “relevant” sermons today, which often translates to sermons that “meet people’s needs,” regardless how selfish, narcissistic, and godless these needs may be. The preacher’s goal is not to make the Bible relevant, but to help his hearers see how relevant the Bible is! The Bible is the Word of God and is timelessly relevant! The Bible transcends all societies, cultures, fads, etc. If you’re “making the Bible relevant,” then change your name to “the Holy Spirit.”

7. Relativistic Interpretation

There’s an emphasis in our culture on being tolerant of other individuals and their ideas. This mentality has infiltrated the church as well. Various interpretations of Scripture are tolerated, often based on the perceived sincerity of an individual instead of the intrinsic social, historical, and grammatical properties of the text itself. The text does not have multiple meanings, but one meaning that has multiple applications. We cannot act like interpreters have more authority than the author who originally penned the words. It doesn’t matter what we “think” or “feel” about the text. What matters is what the author meant, what his recipients understood, what the Holy Spirit intended, and how all these truths apply to our daily lives. Don’t jump authorial intent to make yourself the “new author” by applying the text beyond the meaning of the text.

8. Parenting and Ministering for Man’s Applause instead of God’s Glory

Something that’s interesting about much of children’s ministry and youth ministry is that ministers are terribly concerned with being liked by these immature Christians or unbelievers. They’re desperately concerned with their hearers enjoying their songs, prayers, and sermons. Furthermore, parents are very concerned with whether or not their children enjoy going to worship at a local church. What happened to truth? What about God?  What happened to “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”? Ministers and parents everywhere, for sake of hearing the applause of children and youth, are compromising the truth on the altar of being liked or possessing an easy life. I realize if a child hates church that every worhsip service you attend will be a battle, but that doesn’t free you to give your child another reason other than God to attend worship. Furthermore, if you’re a minister, don’t believe children and youth love Jesus because they love entertainment, and you’re trying to communicate the gospel through entertainment. How can you get a selfish person to see the value of Jesus and their need for Him by appealing to their selfishness? If children and teenagers are saying, “I don’t care if God has spoken or not, I won’t listen to Him unless you entertain me,” then they neither love God, Jesus, His Word, or the local church.

9. Unchristian Love

Love has been radically redefined in the local church as being “accepting of all, while holding no one accountable to Biblical faithfulness.” How many churches consistently practice Biblical discipline? Very few. Even though God has always held His people accountable to His Word, and even though Biblical discipline is commanded in Scripture, local churches have redefined Christian love to include “tolerance of unrepentant sin,” while excluding “loving accountability to God’s Word.”

10. Demigod Evaluations

If you and I evaluate our ministries, defining them as “successful” or “unsuccessful” based on our own arbitrary observations, then we’re making demigod evaluations. A demigod is a deified mortal. In order to truly evaluate our ministries as successful or unsuccessful, we must have God’s all-knowing evaluating ability.  In most conferences and denominations, those who are held up as examples are those who have large churches. They’re often held up as examples because of demigod evaluations carried out by those in various leadership positions. These ministers may be more successful or they may not be. The truth of the matter is that we cannot accurately evaluate our ministries or other people’s ministries beyond the Word of God, as if we know the hearts of everyone who attends these churches. In other words, faithfulness to Scripture should govern and motivate your ministry, not a demigod evaluation made by you or others. Pursue faithfulness to Scripture in light of Christ’s redeeming work, not arbitrary ego-boosting or “calling of God” destroying submission to demigod evaluations.

What are your thoughts?

My wife and I have two children; one is four years of age and the other is about to turn three. Here are three videos from youtube that we use during the singing portion of our family worship.

1. "Grace, greater than all our sin"

2. "There is a Fountain"

3. "Rock of Ages"

Are there any other videos you would recommend for family worship?

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From observing our own Southern Baptist denomination, I believe there are five primary issues we must answer. Please comment if you agree or disagree or want to add or take away some.

1. Lack of Historic Redemptive Expository Preaching

The Word of God demands to be approached in the way in which it was written. Each sentence in a letter builds on the previous… and likewise through most of the genres of the Bible. We must approach the text in the way in which it demands to be approached. Also, every ounce of God's Word is relevant for today. We must preach the full counsel of God's Word, and help apply it to our congregation's daily lives. We must not merely say what the text means in context, but we must also apply it to our hearers' contemporary context as well. Furthermore, we cannot preach any text as if Jesus Christ has not lived, died, and risen from the dead. We must preach the text in front of us, whether from the Old or New Testament, in light of the point in history in which we live: Jesus has already fulfilled the law through His life, death, and resurrection, and we're awaiting Him and His final fulfillment of all of Scripture. In other words, Jesus is the point of all of Scripture. To leave Him out, is to leave out the major point of the text, regardless what text you're preaching in the Bible.

2. Lack of Biblical Discipline

It amazes me how we stand up shouting Baptism by Immersion, but we leave Biblical Discipline undone, although there is just as much Scriptural demand for it. Many pastors leave this undone in the name of "love." Biblical love from a local church standpoint has been radically redefined. Let me ask you a question… does a shepherd genuinely love his flock whenever he loves the wolves as much as the sheep? To leave Biblical discipline undone is to lack Christ-like love.

If you don't love the person, who is unrepentantly sinning, enough to go to them as God's Word says, and restore them, then how can we be shepherding the flock?

If we don't love the true sheep enough to confront the wolves and kick them out of the sheep-fold, how can we say that we are shepherds? Does a shepherd who allows the wolves to "worship" with the sheep, really love the sheep? The answer is obviously an emphatic NO!, at least in the sense of shepherding them, which is what God commands.

Furthermore, it must be noted that since Biblical discipline has been left undone in most Southern Baptist churches, pastors cannot come in and Biblically discipline apart from the congregation's approval. The congregation must be involved in holding one another accountable or the church is not practicing Biblical discipline.  Pastors should be actively working in leading their local congregations to lovingly hold one another accountable to Scripture.

3. Biblical Ignorance

How many pastors teach their congregations how to study God's Word? From what I've seen growing up, churches that do this are few and far between. As a result of this, our churches have almost a "Roman Catholic Church" mentality; it's like they believe that only the preacher is capable of understanding God's Word (or worse yet, that every interpretation of Scripture is equally valid). We all know that this isn't true, but why don't churches teach their members how to study God's Word? Do we assume in a modern and postmodern culture where relativism reigns that our church members will somehow approach Scripture as absolute, objective truth without a shred of discipleship? Southern Baptists need some serious work in this area.

4. Lack of Personal Evangelism

Personal evangelism is lacking in most Southern Baptist churches. With the heavy emphasis on event evangelism in the past, along with the combination of a revivalistic mentality, many Southern Baptists live like sinners can only respond to the gospel in the church building. The bottom line is that we're largely not "taking the name of Jesus with us" when we leave the church building. If there is evangelism in Southern Baptist churches, it's not personal evangelism, but largely, corporate evangelism carried out by the pastor during his sermon. We must return to New Testament evangelism, where believers take the gospel to their neighbors on a daily basis.

5. Love of Nostalgia

Every Southern Baptist who loves the SBC, has their own nostalgic inducers they remember and love. If we're not careful we'll redefine the worldwide Southern Baptist denomination as "our SBC." This is easily recognized when one tries to change anything that a local church has done for years. The problem is that the concern of Southern Baptists should be with being Biblical instead of in trying to force over six million people to adopt our narrow Southern Baptist nostalgia. Baptists have always been confesisonal. Beyond our confession, we have freedom. If pot-luck meals, hymns, and prayer meetings are not Biblically or confessionally emphasized, then our fellow Southern Baptists are free to do what they want. In other words, just because another Southern Baptist's nostalgia may be different than mine, that does not mean they're not a true Southern Baptist. Read some Southern Baptist history, or worship with other Southern Baptists in a different local context than you, instead of forcing your nostalgic inducers on others. Nostalgia is fine, so long as we don't force our nostalgia on others to redefine what it means to be "Southern Baptist." We must love our neighbors more than our nostalgia.

In conclusion, I believe that all of the problems within the SBC as a denomination would be fixed if we would answer these issues with Scriptural obedience.

What are your thoughts?

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