Henderson Hills BC of Edmond, OK was set to vote over the weekend on removing the requirement of immersion baptism for church membership. See the BP article. The Elders in this SBC church did generate a lot of theological/exegetical work on the subject. See the HHBC baptism documents. This proposal has met with opposition from their fellow SBCers in OK. See Pastor Rick Thompson's reponse in the Baptist Messenger. See also the satirical piece by Jeff Young on "Mr. and Mrs. Sprinkled Prospect." HHBC has obviously been influenced by John Piper who has made a similar proposal, now in in limbo, to his church. See my audio response to Piper. HHBC also seems influenced by Wayne Grudem and they hold a non-cessationist position on charismatic gifts (see the position paper from their elders).
All the points I made to Piper apply here. How can we separate the requirement of Biblical (for believers and by immersion) baptism from church membership?
JTR
No comments:
Post a Comment