Baptists teetotally—but not unanimously—against alcohol

Posted: 6/23/06

Baptists teetotally—but not
unanimously—against alcohol

By Trennis Henderson

Western Recorder

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Southern Baptist Convention messengers declared “total opposition to the … consuming of alcoholic beverages,” in a strongly worded resolution on the issue at their annual meeting.

Messengers adopted 15 resolutions presented by the SBC Resolutions Committee on issues ranging from genocide in Darfur, Sudan, to “human species-altering technologies.” But the resolution on alcohol was the only one to spark extended debate.

Benjamin Cole of Arlington cautioned that abstinence is “not an essential for unity and not an essential for the proclamation of the gospel.” Cole, one of the more prolific Internet bloggers among younger pastors, insisted abstinence “is not a matter to die on.” His views echoed previous online posts by fellow blogger Wade Burleson of Oklahoma.

In a June 14 blog entry after the resolution was adopted, Burleson wrote that “some of my blogging friends believe the resolution on alcohol use in America … is an attempt to embarrass me, or possibly remove me” as an International Mission Board trustee.

“I wholeheartedly support all believers who have an abstinence conviction,” Burleson noted, adding, “However, I believe the authoritative, inspired word of God forbids drunkenness, not necessarily the drinking of an alcoholic beverage.”

Committee member Dwayne Mercer insisted Southern Baptists “have always stood for total abstinence.”

Warning that some believers advocate drinking alcohol “under the guise of freedom in Christ,” Mercer added that committee members “feel that the SBC ought to address this and be aware of what is going on all across America.”

Jim Richards, executive director of the fundamentalist Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, proposed an amendment urging no one be elected as a Southern Baptist entity trustee or committee member who “is a user of alcoholic beverages.”

Citing the need to “stand for holiness and purity in our walk,” Richards said, “The use of alcohol as a beverage can and does impede our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our leaders should take the high road in our walk with the Lord Jesus.”

Tom Ascol of Fort Myers, Fla., spoke against the amendment. “I do not think that we can be more holy than Jesus Christ,” he said, adding that “Christ turned water into wine.”

After approving Richards’ amendment on a show of ballots, messengers continued to debate the amended resolution. They approved the measure on a show of ballots.

Messengers also adopted resolutions that:

• Voiced concern about public schools and urged churches to solicit members to seek election to their local school boards and exert “their godly influence upon these school systems.”

• Urged the U.S. House of Representa-tives “to vote affirmatively on the Marriage Protection Amendment at the earliest possible moment and to represent the convictions of the vast majority of Americans, who believe that marriage should be only the union of one man and one woman.”

• Encouraged President Bush “to continue nominating strict constructionist judges” and called on the U.S. Senate “to vote without delay” on current and future judicial nominees.

• Decried China’s treatment of North Korean refugees. Chinese officials return the refugees to North Korea “where they face certain imprisonment, beatings and even death,” the resolution said.

• Affirmed the U.S. government for steadfastly pursing a resolution to a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. It also urged the president and government of Sudan to disband the Janjaweed militia and allow the United Nations peacekeeping force unlimited access to the Darfur region.

• Urged the U.S. government to “enforce all immigration laws, including the laws directed at employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.” The resolution also called on Christians to “follow the biblical mandate of caring for the foreigners among us.” It also encourages churches to “meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all immigrants.”

• Repudiated “in strongest possible terms human species-altering technologies.” The measure called on Congress “to pass as soon as possible a comprehensive ban on all human species-altering technologies.”

• Pledged to “resist alliances with extreme environmental groups whose positions contradict biblical principles.” The resolution urged “all Southern Baptists toward the conservation and preservation of our natural resources for future generations while respecting ownership and property rights.”

• Called on “all boards of education in all school districts to recognize and accommodate those parents, churches and faith-based organizations that wish to provide off-campus biblical education during the school day.”

• Affirmed bivocational or volunteer ministers as “servants (who) function faithfully in the model of Christ the carpenter and Paul the tentmaker.”

Messengers also adopted resolutions expressing appreciation for Southern Baptist disaster relief workers in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, pledging to pray for President Bush and the U.S. military, and recognizing LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center’s 100th anniversary next year.

In other action, messengers rejected an appeal by Tom Ascol to consider his proposed resolution on integrity in church membership. The vote came after the Resolutions Committee declined to act on his proposal, which affirmed the practice of church discipline.

Messengers also rejected a request to consider a resolution on prayer for and support of Israel.

The committee also declined to recommend proposed resolutions addressing Baptist dissent, support for “the unjust war in Iraq,” a call for an external financial audit of the International Mission Board’s Central Asia region, the IMB’s adopted policies on baptism and private prayer language, doctrinal parameters of cooperation, and the exercise of religious freedom and freedom of speech.