Ok folks...we'll give this a shot and see how it goes. This blog was created for Southern Baptists of all stripes to come and discuss the important issues facing our own church families, the SBC, and evangelicalism at large. Please keep comments in a Christ-honoring form. No foul language will be allowed, and please be careful not to make any unsubstantiated claims or accusations.
This is what the LORD says: " Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16
ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda
"Brethren, we must preach the doctrines; we must emphasize the doctrines; we must go back to the doctrines. I fear that the new generation does not know the doctrines as our fathers knew them."
--John Broadus (1827-1895)
12 comments:
Thank you for the new space! Can you tell me what church you attend. It looks like we are in the market.
mom38134@yahoo.com
mom4,
I attend Bellevue. I hope you will at least stay long enough to wait upon the Lord to bring all these things to their proper conclusion. He is bigger than our hearts...and certainly bigger than all our problems and issues. However, if you feel the Lord is leading you elsewhere, I certainly would not want to deter you from that. I wish I could give you the name of a church to visit...but I haven't visited any since coming to Bellevue 4 yrs ago. As a side note...thank you for all your comments on BBC Open Forum...I feel I have met more folks at Bellevue there than I have in the 4 yrs I've been a member. I will pray for you and your family as you ponder where the Lord would have you go. Please feel free to continue to post here...I know that there's a New BBC Open Forum up now if you'd like to post there as well. Blessings to you and yours..and I hope to hear from you again soon.
Hi allofgrace,
As you're aware, the New BBC Open Forum is up and running. I've placed a link to this blog on that site and would appreciate the same on yours if you're so inclined.
The link is http://newbbcopenforum.blogspot.com/.
Looks like you've got this blogging stuff down already. For some reason I can't log out and log back in as NASS. I seem to be stuck with posting as NBBCOF now, so I'm trying to be careful to distinguish between the two IDs when "moderating" the forum vs. expressing my personal opinion.
I've skimmed through the first part of your personal blog, and I must say I'm as concerned as you about this PDC movement. And just to think, other than knowing about the PDL book, until a month or so ago I had no idea this was such a huge and organized movement. Several friends highly recommended reading PDL, but I've always shied away from it. There was always that "something" about it that didn't seem quite right. Sort of that old "check in my spirit" thing. Now I truly believe that this is the Holy Spirit telling me that this is a place I shouldn't go. And the fact that Bellevue went through the 40 Days thing, and several BF classes are in the midst of it right now, is cause for even more concern to me.
To me this is nothing more than fulfillment of prophecy and the "one world church" the Bible tells us will emerge in the latter days. What shocks and distresses me greatly is that Southern Baptists seem to be leading the charge. The issues at Bellevue right now, while in some ways related, pale in comparison to this purpose driven "cult" we're now seeing.
I look forward to more discussion about this!
notastepfordsheep
nbbcof,
I'd be happy to add a link. I was up late trying to make some adjustments on the blog, but I'm sure you were aware, blogger was experiencing technical difficulties last nite.
I was just as checked in my spirit over the PDL study as you and some others..I was roundly criticized by a few for not taking part...but I guess I'm used to swimming against the tide lol. I'm hoping we'll all get into some good discussion...as I stated on the old bbcof..anytime the people of God are talking and discussing important issues...it's a good thing..Blessings
Hey allofgrace,
I appreciate your viewpoint and
I look forward to more interesting debates. I will be checking in regularly. Keep up the good work.
I have restarted my blog after a several month hiatus. I haven't reposted all the old posts yet, but I am working on it. It can be found at www.cafekudzu.com.
WTB
allofgrace,
It's of course up to you, but I'd turn off the ability for "anonymous" posters to comment. The above is an example of what happens. Just a suggestion...
notastepfordsheep
I don't know whether that other post is a computer error or someone else using WTB. Either way, it wasn't me. I haven't written a word on repudiation of war.
I am now in possession of a copy of the 13-page "Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts & Temperaments" booklet that is currently being used in the Bellevue new members Discovery class. A poster (screen name "iwtk") on the "Mark Sharpe Interview Comments" forum recently stated that they're dropping these "tests" from the class, but that isn't true, at least not yet. If anything, they've expanded them. If you compare the written tests to the online versions on www.bellevue.org, they are identical except they've added one question to the spiritual gifts survey (for a total of 42 questions) and three sections to the temperament survey (for a total of 18 sections).
It literally made cold chills run down my spine reading the psychobabble contained in this booklet. First of all, I'm sure many people reading it would have to use a dictionary to look up some of the terms they use. Words like impetuous, tenacious, particular (in this context), sanguine, phlegmatic (I had to look up that one), melancholy, and choleric (NASS reaches for the dictionary again). My mother read through it and promptly characterized it as "a bunch of baloney." I must concur.
I think new member classes are fine for those who are interested. I do not think it's right to require completion of these classes for church membership, especially when one is simply moving one's letter from a sister SB church. They give people the opportunity to learn about the church and the many opportunities to serve, and that's great for those who desire such information. However, these kinds of tests serve no purpose that I can see but to drag the secular world into the church. If you've read the "Discovery 301" class from the PDC folks, the similarities are striking.
I've always hated these types of tests anyway. Think of the MMPI from college. (I always think of that question from that test -- you're supposed to answer that you agree or disagree -- which states, "I like tall women." I mean, how is anyone, male or female, supposed to answer a question like that? Depending on which word in that sentence you emphasize, it could say just about anything about you. LOL!) I've always thought of those kinds of tests in the same sort of term(s) my mother used. (I can think of even more descriptive terms but will refrain from using any of those here!) I've never discovered anything about myself from taking one of these tests that I didn't already know, and it's always irked me for someone to try to pigeonhole people like that. If by now I don't know where my interests, strengths, and weaknesses lie, I never will.
The last page of the booklet describes people who are a combination of two of the personality types measured in the temperament survey. Having read through those I think I must be of the "Choleric-Phlegmatic" persuasion. Among the characteristics listed for that type is this: "He may have little tolerance for things that he feels are 'purely drama or emotional hype.'" Hmmm... things like this test? Well, amen! Except I'd have used the term "thinks," not "feels." There's entirely too much "feeling" goin' on these days.
notastepfordsheep
WTB, NBBCOF,
I've taken care of the problem..thanks for the heads up. WTB, I look forward to sharing viewpoints with you...iron sharpens iron brother. NBBCOF, I agree about the tests..I took a couple of different spiritual gift inventories some years back...they may help get the ball rolling..but I'm of the conviction that spiritual gifts are discovered by process more than testing of this sort. The Bible instructs us to "practice all the gifts"..I think it's in that process that we discover our gifts. As for temperament...well like all our other faculties...it's been marred by sin and therefore is always in need of improvement and Holy Spirit control, so trying to "pigeon-hole" people into ministries according to temperament is bad practice. In the Bible we see many different men and women of God who fulfilled the same roles...but with different temperaments...having one temperament type doesn't qualify or disqualify one for a particular calling or ministry. Just further evidence of how the world system has crept into the thinking and practice of the church. Feelings come and feelings go...and feelings are deceiving...truth...never changes.
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