Southern Baptist Convention messengers made history last week, adopting a first-ever resolution in support of capital punishment.
Despite some debate, messengers easily approved a resolution that supports the death penalty as “a legitimate form of punishment for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts that result in death.”
Southern Baptist Convention
messengers made history last week, adopting a first-ever resolution in support
of capital punishment.
Despite some debate, messengers easily approved a
resolution that supports the death penalty as “a legitimate form of punishment
for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts that result in death.”
The capital punishment resolution was one of only
two that generated discussion.
Altogether, messengers approved 10 resolutions on
a range of topics at last week’s convention.
The resolution on capital punishment comes amid growing
public debate to re-evaluate capital punishment guidelines.
It affirms the sacredness of life and notes God authorized
capital punishment for murder in Genesis 9:6, validating its legitimacy.
Indeed, God has set capital punishment “as a
just and appropriate means by which the civil magistrate may punish those guilty
of capital crimes,” the resolution notes.
It urges that capital punishment be administered
only with “clear and overwhelming evidence of guilt” and calls for
it to be carried out “as justly and as fairly as possible without undue
delay, without reference to the race, class or status of the guilty.”
The resolution also calls on officials to use “humane
means” of capital punishment and cites the need for “vigilance, justice
and equity in the criminal justice system.”
It commits Southern Baptists “to love, to pray
for and to minister the gospel to victims and perpetrators of crimes, realizing
that only in Christ is there forgiveness of sin, reconciliation, emotional and
spiritual healing and the gift of eternal life.”
David Crosby urged defeat of the resolution, invoking
the name of Karla Faye Tucker, a murderer who reportedly repented of her crime
and became a Christian before she was executed. Crosby is pastor at First Baptist
Church of New Orleans.
Noting that Jesus was executed under an unjust system,
Crosby said he wonders “why the church of Jesus Christ wants to stand up
and favor capital punishment. …
“There are better ways we can witness to the
testimony of Christ than this.”
Resolutions Committee Chair Hayes Wicker of Naples,
Fla., said the statement was proposed after struggle and prayer. “We believe
there must be great pains taken in the entire process of carrying out a capital
sentence. … (But) God’s Word has spoken clearly on the issue of capital
punishment. We believe it is time to speak since the world is saying so much
about it.”
Greg Titus of Lafayette, Ga., countered: “The
Bible teaches that every human life has sacred value. … We are a people
who value life, and we should vote against this.”
However, Lee Taylor of Parrish, Ala., noted: “We
are saved from the penalty of sin but not from the consequences of sin. When
people commit crimes, punishment must follow or we will live in a society that
does not follow the commands of Jesus Christ.”
Yet another messenger pointed out that God declared
his creation of human beings as very good. “Who are we to take away what
God gave us and told us was very good?” he asked. “We are not God.”
But a Resolutions Committee member argued that support
of capital punishment is in line with sanctity of human life beliefs. “We
believe the life of the victim is just as important as the life of the murderer.”
During a press conference after the overwhelming
vote for the statement, Wicker said endorsing capital punishment does not compromise
the denomination’s traditional pro-life views at all. “We feel like
we are pro-life in every sense of the word.”
Wicker said the wording of the statement is very
precise. “Everything we stand for is based on the infallible Word of God.”
Southern Baptists have always spoken at crucial times
on vital issues, Wicker said. “And because there’s so much debate
and so much talk swirling around, … we feel that we … must speak out.”
Wicker insisted the heart of the resolution concerns
the authority of the Bible. “We don’t operate according to sentiment
but (Scripture). Baptists believe in speaking when the Bible speaks.”
A review finds only one other approved proposal on
capital punishment. In 1964, messengers urged legislation to clear up abuses
of the death penalty — but declined to call for the practice to be abolished.
Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
President Richard Land noted the resolution recognizes the death penalty has
not been carried out fairly. “(But) We’re much more comfortable with
capital punishment as an option available to the civil magistrate than we are
with all the ways in which it has been applied.”
Wicker added: “(And) We are saying that (civil
magistrates) may (use capital punishment), not that they must. Our resolution
is simply trying to underscore the biblical allowance, the civil right and the
divine creation of man in (God’s) image. We have to take every opportunity
to underscore the sanctity of human life.”
Southern Baptist Convention News
Sixth Article
June 22, 2000
Just preach Christ, Louisiana Baptist pastor urges
Christ must be at the
center of all that is preached and taught in the church, Fred Malone
said last week.
The church does not need to spend time concocting
new ways to attract people to Jesus, said Malone, pastor at First Baptist Church
of Clinton.
“We don’t have to beg people to come to
church when they are coming to worship a God who humbled himself to save them,”
Malone said at a Founder’s Breakfast held during last week’s Southern
Baptist Convention. The event was hosted by Founders Ministries, a group of
Southern Baptists who affirm the doctrines of Calvinism.
The key is to preach Christ – crucified, buried,
resurrected and ascended into heaven, Malone insisted. “I don’t mean
taking the text of Scripture and mentioning the name of Jesus every once in
a while,” he said. “I mean preaching Christ himself in all of Scripture.
There is no difference between the beginning of the
first millennium and today, Malone said. “Men are the same in nature. The
gospel of Jesus Christ is unchanged. And the method that God ordained for such
a millennium as the first is the same method he has ordained by the inspiration
of Scripture for this new millennium,” he said.
The gospel is more than a method of becoming right
with God, Malone continued. “We must preach the person of Christ and the
work of Christ as well as the method of salvation for man, or we have not preached
the gospel,” he said. “The gospel of Christ is the person and work
of Christ.”
A superb evangelistic model for a new millennium
is given plainly in the New Testament Book of Acts, Malone said.
“There is more to those messages of Peter and
Paul than Jesus is the only way to God. They preached Jesus Christ crucified
and risen, …” he explained.
“Jesus Christ is not a name we drop here or
there, not a method of salvation. Let us not follow the naysayers and the inventors
who leave the Scripture behind in a new millennium. Let us simply preach Christ.”
The need for that is great, Tom Elliff indicated
in a second address.
Indeed, most Southern Baptist pastors are serving
in unregenerate churches in an unregenerate denomination, said Jim Elliff, director
of the Center for Biblical Revival at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Kansas City, Mo.
Many Southern Baptist pastors do not know what a
true convert is, not as described in 1 Thessalonians by the Apostle Paul, Elliff
said. “We (Calvinists) are sometimes maligned because we are more careful
to have real converts than spurious converts so that our numbers are often smaller
than the church down the road,” he said.
However, in the end, the numbers balance out because
there is only a core of “true converts” in larger churches, he said.
“It is glaringly clear that when we are not
clear what a convert really is, it affects our evangelism,” Elliff said,
warning that many church attendees are deceived about their relationship with
Christ.
For the Apostle Paul, converts were changed people.
“These people had a faith that really did work. They had a love that labored
and they had a hope that endured in the middle of their afflictions.
Indeed, the Thessalonican believers lived such a
godly life that Paul said he did not need to add anything to their witness to
non-believers, Elliff noted. “They themselves were a testimony to everything
that had happened. How many people on the rolls of your church can you say that
about?”
Unfortunately, preachers are focusing less on the
Word and the spirit and more on “cleverness and technique” to draw
an audience for the gospel, Elliff said. “We have done something that never
occurs in Scripture: plotting and planning and strategizing about how to get
a crowd,” Elliff said.
In turn, the apostles always preached on someone
else’s turf instead of relying on marketing and entertainment, he said.
“When (those early Christians) went to the synagogue,
they refused to compromise their message. They brought the Word of God in a
very forthright manner even though they were often persecuted.”
And that is the key – purity of motive, purity of
message and purity of method in the lives of believers that causes people to
listen to the message of Christ, Elli
Southern Baptist Convention messengers made history last week, adopting a first-ever resolution in support of capital punishment.
Despite some debate, messengers easily approved a resolution that supports the death penalty as “a legitimate form of punishment for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts that result in death.”
Southern Baptist Convention
messengers made history last week, adopting a first-ever resolution in support
of capital punishment.
Despite some debate, messengers easily approved a
resolution that supports the death penalty as “a legitimate form of punishment
for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts that result in death.”
The capital punishment resolution was one of only
two that generated discussion.
Altogether, messengers approved 10 resolutions on
a range of topics at last week’s convention.
The resolution on capital punishment comes amid growing
public debate to re-evaluate capital punishment guidelines.
It affirms the sacredness of life and notes God authorized
capital punishment for murder in Genesis 9:6, validating its legitimacy.
Indeed, God has set capital punishment “as a
just and appropriate means by which the civil magistrate may punish those guilty
of capital crimes,” the resolution notes.
It urges that capital punishment be administered
only with “clear and overwhelming evidence of guilt” and calls for
it to be carried out “as justly and as fairly as possible without undue
delay, without reference to the race, class or status of the guilty.”
The resolution also calls on officials to use “humane
means” of capital punishment and cites the need for “vigilance, justice
and equity in the criminal justice system.”
It commits Southern Baptists “to love, to pray
for and to minister the gospel to victims and perpetrators of crimes, realizing
that only in Christ is there forgiveness of sin, reconciliation, emotional and
spiritual healing and the gift of eternal life.”
David Crosby urged defeat of the resolution, invoking
the name of Karla Faye Tucker, a murderer who reportedly repented of her crime
and became a Christian before she was executed. Crosby is pastor at First Baptist
Church of New Orleans.
Noting that Jesus was executed under an unjust system,
Crosby said he wonders “why the church of Jesus Christ wants to stand up
and favor capital punishment. …
“There are better ways we can witness to the
testimony of Christ than this.”
Resolutions Committee Chair Hayes Wicker of Naples,
Fla., said the statement was proposed after struggle and prayer. “We believe
there must be great pains taken in the entire process of carrying out a capital
sentence. … (But) God’s Word has spoken clearly on the issue of capital
punishment. We believe it is time to speak since the world is saying so much
about it.”
Greg Titus of Lafayette, Ga., countered: “The
Bible teaches that every human life has sacred value. … We are a people
who value life, and we should vote against this.”
However, Lee Taylor of Parrish, Ala., noted: “We
are saved from the penalty of sin but not from the consequences of sin. When
people commit crimes, punishment must follow or we will live in a society that
does not follow the commands of Jesus Christ.”
Yet another messenger pointed out that God declared
his creation of human beings as very good. “Who are we to take away what
God gave us and told us was very good?” he asked. “We are not God.”
But a Resolutions Committee member argued that support
of capital punishment is in line with sanctity of human life beliefs. “We
believe the life of the victim is just as important as the life of the murderer.”
During a press conference after the overwhelming
vote for the statement, Wicker said endorsing capital punishment does not compromise
the denomination’s traditional pro-life views at all. “We feel like
we are pro-life in every sense of the word.”
Wicker said the wording of the statement is very
precise. “Everything we stand for is based on the infallible Word of God.”
Southern Baptists have always spoken at crucial times
on vital issues, Wicker said. “And because there’s so much debate
and so much talk swirling around, … we feel that we … must speak out.”
Wicker insisted the heart of the resolution concerns
the authority of the Bible. “We don’t operate according to sentiment
but (Scripture). Baptists believe in speaking when the Bible speaks.”
A review finds only one other approved proposal on
capital punishment. In 1964, messengers urged legislation to clear up abuses
of the death penalty — but declined to call for the practice to be abolished.
Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
President Richard Land noted the resolution recognizes the death penalty has
not been carried out fairly. “(But) We’re much more comfortable with
capital punishment as an option available to the civil magistrate than we are
with all the ways in which it has been applied.”
Wicker added: “(And) We are saying that (civil
magistrates) may (use capital punishment), not that they must. Our resolution
is simply trying to underscore the biblical allowance, the civil right and the
divine creation of man in (God’s) image. We have to take every opportunity
to underscore the sanctity of human life.”
Southern Baptist Convention News
Sixth Article
June 22, 2000
Just preach Christ, Louisiana Baptist pastor urges
Christ must be at the
center of all that is preached and taught in the church, Fred Malone
said last week.
The church does not need to spend time concocting
new ways to attract people to Jesus, said Malone, pastor at First Baptist Church
of Clinton.
“We don’t have to beg people to come to
church when they are coming to worship a God who humbled himself to save them,”
Malone said at a Founder’s Breakfast held during last week’s Southern
Baptist Convention. The event was hosted by Founders Ministries, a group of
Southern Baptists who affirm the doctrines of Calvinism.
The key is to preach Christ – crucified, buried,
resurrected and ascended into heaven, Malone insisted. “I don’t mean
taking the text of Scripture and mentioning the name of Jesus every once in
a while,” he said. “I mean preaching Christ himself in all of Scripture.
There is no difference between the beginning of the
first millennium and today, Malone said. “Men are the same in nature. The
gospel of Jesus Christ is unchanged. And the method that God ordained for such
a millennium as the first is the same method he has ordained by the inspiration
of Scripture for this new millennium,” he said.
The gospel is more than a method of becoming right
with God, Malone continued. “We must preach the person of Christ and the
work of Christ as well as the method of salvation for man, or we have not preached
the gospel,” he said. “The gospel of Christ is the person and work
of Christ.”
A superb evangelistic model for a new millennium
is given plainly in the New Testament Book of Acts, Malone said.
“There is more to those messages of Peter and
Paul than Jesus is the only way to God. They preached Jesus Christ crucified
and risen, …” he explained.
“Jesus Christ is not a name we drop here or
there, not a method of salvation. Let us not follow the naysayers and the inventors
who leave the Scripture behind in a new millennium. Let us simply preach Christ.”
The need for that is great, Tom Elliff indicated
in a second address.
Indeed, most Southern Baptist pastors are serving
in unregenerate churches in an unregenerate denomination, said Jim Elliff, director
of the Center for Biblical Revival at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Kansas City, Mo.
Many Southern Baptist pastors do not know what a
true convert is, not as described in 1 Thessalonians by the Apostle Paul, Elliff
said. “We (Calvinists) are sometimes maligned because we are more careful
to have real converts than spurious converts so that our numbers are often smaller
than the church down the road,” he said.
However, in the end, the numbers balance out because
there is only a core of “true converts” in larger churches, he said.
“It is glaringly clear that when we are not
clear what a convert really is, it affects our evangelism,” Elliff said,
warning that many church attendees are deceived about their relationship with
Christ.
For the Apostle Paul, converts were changed people.
“These people had a faith that really did work. They had a love that labored
and they had a hope that endured in the middle of their afflictions.
Indeed, the Thessalonican believers lived such a
godly life that Paul said he did not need to add anything to their witness to
non-believers, Elliff noted. “They themselves were a testimony to everything
that had happened. How many people on the rolls of your church can you say that
about?”
Unfortunately, preachers are focusing less on the
Word and the spirit and more on “cleverness and technique” to draw
an audience for the gospel, Elliff said. “We have done something that never
occurs in Scripture: plotting and planning and strategizing about how to get
a crowd,” Elliff said.
In turn, the apostles always preached on someone
else’s turf instead of relying on marketing and entertainment, he said.
“When (those early Christians) went to the synagogue,
they refused to compromise their message. They brought the Word of God in a
very forthright manner even though they were often persecuted.”
And that is the key – purity of motive, purity of
message and purity of method in the lives of believers that causes people to
listen to the message of Christ, Elli