I might not
consider myself a Southern Baptist after this week’s convention in
Houston. I really don’t like having a
denominational title anyway, but this week might be the proverbial straw that
breaks the camel’s back.
You might presume
that I am sick and tired of the hyper-Calvinists who are running the SBC. Nope.
I stand with both feet on the Reformed side of that argument. (Except
I won’t argue. Just like I won’t argue
about how the Trinity works. Some things
are for me to “see through a glass dimly” now and to look forward to full
knowledge when I sit at the Lord’s feet for eternity. ) My issue is with the leadership of the SBC
who have misused their pulpits. One even
called for all parents to “pull their children out of Boys Scouts.” (Ernest
Easley, in Baptist Press.)
Let me first say
this: I wholeheartedly opposed the Boy
Scouts of America’s change in their membership policy. I was praying that the vote would go the
other way. But it didn’t. However, as soon as the results were
announced, I began to see the issue in a completely different light. Not because the Boy Scouts changed, but
because the Church did. God’s people
were going crazy…knee-jerk reactions with all sorts of predictions about what
will happen in the future…doom and gloom about the moral decline of our nation
because one group said that "membership
could not be denied on the basis of sexual orientation alone."
Do
we really have that little faith in the sovereign God of the universe? Do we really think that He is not in control
of these things? Nothing that the Boy
Scouts of America does will cause the demise of the Church. Christ said that “the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Do
we believe our Savior or not? (See, I told you I was reformed.)
In his message
from the pulpit, Easley, chairman
of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee & senior pastor
of Roswell Street Baptist Church, said that his church is "…not
going to put our arms around organizations that openly oppose the moral
guidelines taught in God's Word." First
of all, that isn’t what the membership policy does. The BSA is not advocating the rightness or
wrongness of homosexuality. The
membership policy specifically states that “Any
sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is
contrary to the virtues of Scouting.” (Click here for specifics of membership policy.) You
have scouting. You have sexuality. Those two things are not overlapping. At all.
Keep them separate. While
involved in BSA actitivies, there should be no discussion of a sexual
nature. None. This isn’t the time to discuss the “hotness”
of your girlfriend. Take up the cell
phones, scoutmasters. If anything, I
believe this will make the adult leaders in our area more vigilant about developing
character and leadership qualities in boys and keeping the inappropriate topics
out.
Secondly,
does the pastor instruct the parents in his congregation to keep their children
out of team sports? Does he instruct
them to “pull their children out” of all public and private schools? Does he stand at the door of the youth group
at his church and ask each and every child about their sexual orientation? Surely not.
As Christians, we cannot live in our segregated Christian bubble. We are then just weird to the world and
ineffective for the Kingdom. We are to
be the hands and feet of Christ. Not
because He needs us, but because he has put us here “for such a time as this.”
As
to the SBC leaders’ arguments about protecting our children…I have watched the BSA
training video about recognizing abuse.
I assure you that the church would be better off if adult leaders were
required to undergo similar training. I
have had family members involved in three different Boy Scout troops with no
charges of sexual abuse. I have been a
member of four different Southern Baptist Churches in my life…three of which
have had staff members embroiled in sexual scandals. Please, please, please do not embarrass
our convention any further by going around the country using this as an
argument to disassociate from the BSA, especially with all of the current SGM
controversy.
Furthermore, the Boy Scouts of America develops character and
leadership qualities. End of
discussion. Scouts are leaders…astronauts,
congressmen, governors…after all, 16.3% of West Point Cadets are Eagle
Scouts with over 50% involved in scouting to some degree! SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page said that “To claim
that the Boys Scouts is the nation's foremost youth program of character
development and values-based leadership training suddenly rings hollow." Why?? 61%
of the voting delegates said that all boys are better off involved scouts than not. Young men who are homosexual are not
necessarily lacking in leadership qualities or in character. Give me a break. Even my fundamental, Southern Baptist
upbringing recognizes the flaws in that line of thinking.
Lastly, let me speak to my fellow parents: if you think that you can shelter your child
from the knowledge of homosexuality, you are living in a fairy tale. And it is a dangerous one. If you are upset because scouting was the “last
bastion of wholesomeness”, then you should be ashamed. There is nothing righteous outside of
Christ. It is our responsibility to
train our children in the truth of Scripture.
We cannot abdicate that responsibility…not to the church, not to
schools, not to scouts, not to sports.
We are to use all of these venues to bring us to teachable moments with
our children where we open Scripture, pray and communicate with them. Truth hasn’t changed. But times have
changed. We do not have the luxury of
keeping our children “innocent”. I
assure you that if we think we do, then we will look back in horror and wish we
had addressed hard issues with them earlier.
I do agree with Pastor Easley when he said, “for
us not to do everything we can to protect [our children], shame on us." Unfortunately, he was referring to isolating
them from the Boy Scouts of America, as if the scouts were the enemy. However, our battle is not with flesh and
blood, with institutions of this world or of this nation. My job is to teach my children to "be
self-controlled and alert” (1 Peter 5:8a) so that they can fight the real fight
against their real enemy. I pray that
this week the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention will fight the real
fight. Be a Great Commission
people. Be Gospel-minded, Christ-centered, Cross-focused. Don't lose the fight because you are focusing on the enemy. Focus on the King who is leading you into battle.
