Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Calvinism Conference Questions, Part 2

This is the second post in this series.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention will host a Calvinism Conference in August. Speakers include David Dockery, Steve Lemke, Frank Page, and Hershael York. It looks FASCINATING to me. Color me intrigued.

Paul Chitwood, KBC's Executive Director, is the mastermind behind this conference. He has agreed to participate in a Q&A session here on my blog regarding this conference. His answers will post sometime next week, probably. In the meantime, before you see his answers, I've decided (with his permission) to post some of the more pertinent and vexing questions and let my readers have at them in advance of Chitwood's reply. I'll stretch this process out among multiple posts.

2. Southern Baptists have separated from other denominations over issues ranging from the authority of the pope to the proper day of worship. Is Calvinism an issue worthy of denominational division? If not, what is the difference between Calvinistic soteriology and, for example, the mode or meaning of baptism that makes one a rightful cause of division and the other not?

2 comments:

Jonathan Melton said...

I DO believe both matters of soteriology and proper authority in baptism (which is the point of contention among Baptists rather than mode)ARE reasons for division.

Bart Barber said...

Jonathan,

I believe that there are matters of soteriology that are worthy of division. I do not believe that all such matters need necessarily be cause for division. I am curious about your view of this. Would you think that a "3-pointer" would need to divide from a "2-pointer"? Or do you just think that a 0-pointer and a 5-pointer cannot coexist?