For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
I am, at the same time as reading Romans, reading the book of Job. In this reading of Job, I saw where Scofield said of Job’s friends:
- Eliphaz rests on his experience
- Bildad on his traditions and
- Zophar in his dogmatism
It occurred to me that:
- Eliphaz was a Charismatic
- Bildad was a Protestant and
- Zophar was a Fundamentalist
But there is a fourth, the younger, Elihu.
I decided Elihu is like the Baptist or perhaps most like the Fundamental Baptist.[a]
He was last to speak, but when he did, he spoke the longest, and his words were the most cutting.
I don’t think it’s true of every Baptist. I am still convinced that Baptists have the only factual claim to Christ and His Church. But I’ve met some pretty mean-spirited Baptists.
The first Baptist church I attended after being saved was just ten people meeting in my pastor’s living room. They were just about the nicest people one could have ever met. They weren’t perfect, but they were easy to love. Upon traveling to Colorado to attend Bible college, I met some others. I attended a Mother’s Day church service in Mountain Home, ID, where the preacher scorched the moms in attendance. I visited a large independent Fundamental Baptist Church in Denver. I was visited the following Thursday by an elderly gentleman who spent the night telling my wife and me why that church was the only good Church in all of Denver.[1] Early on, I learned that the term “militant Baptist” was a thing, and a philosophy among many independent Baptists.
One group of Independent Fundamental Baptists was well known for coming into other Baptist churches and fighting to remove them from either the conventions or the fellowships they belonged to. That bunch made heroes of the guys who successfully pulled churches from their former roots. Today we have the New Independent Fundamental Baptist movement that has made a name for itself for its obnoxious expressions.[2]
None of this is consistent with the character of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered on behalf of those who disagreed with Him. He silently, willingly, carried in His own body the reproaches deservedly leveled at others.
God grant us a fresh wave of Baptist conviction not to be obnoxious, militant, and mean-spirited, but to humbly bear in our bodies whatever reproach is necessary that we might win those who are lost, and to lead believers to know Jesus Christ more fully.
[a] I see a huge difference between an Independent Baptist and a Fundamental Baptist. In my observation Fundamental Baptists are more like the old fashioned Bob Jones type Methodists. The Baptist conviction of individual soul liberty ought to preclude being overbearing in disposition or argumentative in spirit. 2 Timothy 2:24 (KJV) And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
[1] We joined a very kind and loving independent Baptist Church in Boulder, CO. First Bible Baptist Church, Pastor Jim Duncan. They are now in Erie, CO.
[2] They do have some glaring doctrinal errors – their position on repentance, their position on Israel, and their timing of the rapture of the believers, but it’s not their position that is wrong as much as their disposition.
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