Historic Baptist Principles … or the Seed of Defeat in the Soil of Revival?

Makes sense. In 1921, believers all over the country in all kinds of churches were catching on that bishops and pastors were trying to pull the wool over their eyes and eliminate the Gospel. Hence churches that previously had “no creed but Christ” caught on that, as their “betters” practiced the old saw “If you can’t blind them with brilliance, you can baffle them with….”, they needed some shorthand to identify who was, and was not, with them.

Seems to be a need for today as well.

Thanks for the comments. I should have mentioned in the article that Anderson was the author of the “inclusive principle” for the mission board, another bone of contention in the Fundamentalist-Modernist fight. It was basically cover for the liberals on the mission field.

“The modern cry ‘less creed and more liberty’ is the degeneration from the vertebrate to the jelly fish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy.”

-B. H. Carroll, founding president of SWBTS.

David R. Brumbelow

[David R. Brumbelow]

“The modern cry ‘less creed and more liberty’ is the degeneration from the vertebrate to the jelly fish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy.”

-B. H. Carroll, founding president of SWBTS.

David R. Brumbelow

Do you have a source for that?

[Don Johnson]

David R. Brumbelow wrote:

“The modern cry ‘less creed and more liberty’ is the degeneration from the vertebrate to the jelly fish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy.”

-B. H. Carroll, founding president of SWBTS.

David R. Brumbelow

Do you have a source for that?

http://richmondgoolsby.blogspot.com/2011/11/voice-of-southern-baptist-p…

“A church with a little creed is a church with a little life. The more divine doctrines a church can agree on, the greater its power, and the wider its usefulness. The fewer its articles of faith, the fewer its bonds of union. The modern cry, ‘Less creed, more liberty’, is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy. Definitive truth does not create heresy - it only exposes and corrects it. Shut off the creeds and confessions and the Christian world would fill up with heresy unsuspected and uncorrected, but none the less deadly.”

B. H. Carroll An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jim and google are right, B. H. Carroll’s “Interpretation of the English Bible,” now free on the internet.

During the Conservative Resurgence (CR) in the Southern Baptist Convention this general issue came up.

I use the terms, Conservative and Moderate:

1. Conservative - believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and considers it a non-negotiable. Insists SBC leaders, professors, missionaries, employees believe that God’s Word is totally true and trustworthy. Our mission money should not go to support those who believe the Bible contains errors.
2. Moderate - someone who may or may not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. What contrasts him from conservatives, is that with him inerrancy is negotiable. A moderate will tolerate, accept, ignore, protect, maybe even welcome SBC leaders, professors, missionaries, employees who do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.

http://gulfcoastpastor.blogspot.com/2009/08/brief-history-of-sbc-conser…

David R. Brumbelow

…would be James Earl Carter, well, at least he used to be. Not a pastor, but fairly influential nonetheless. With some of his quite heterodox stands on various issues, he’s a great example of a guy for whom creeds are written.

Is that President Jimmy Carter to whom you refer?

He used to be Southern Baptist, but, according to him, has left the SBC, several times I think. He identifies with the more liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Although, technically, if you are a member of an SBC church, then you are a Southern Baptist.

I would consider President Carter in some ways a good, decent man, but alas, theologically a Moderate and a Liberal. The last I heard, he is now endorsing same-sex marriage.

David R. Brumbelow

I had to talk myself out of calling him “Jimmuh”, actually.

I can’t tell myself that Carter is that decent of a man. Habitat, yes, but on the flip side,see his stands on abortion, same sex mirage, and Communism. He’s more or less telling us “ignore those piles of bodies, watch my drive a nail!”. Again, textbook example of the reason we put creeds together.