Thursday, June 14, 2012

Endorsements, Part 2

Dwight McKissic's Resolution on Mormon Racism

I'm giving an entire post just to this resolution. We need to support this resolution. Here's why.

  1. It puts secular politics into its proper place.

    It took me a few years to escape the Democrat upbringing that I received in Northeast Arkansas, but since the Democrats succeeded in convincing me that they were making no place for a pro-life Christian in their party (during the Bill Clinton administration), I have never voted for any kind of presidential candidates other than Republican presidential candidates. I want Mitt Romney to win Barack Obama to lose in November. That really needs to happen.

    But, doggone it, if we won't say something negative about Mormonism just because the Republican presidential hopeful is a Mormon, then we've sold our souls and God help us! This resolution will not affect the electoral outcome in November one tenth of a percentage point. We need to speak the critical truth about this lethal cult right now—precisely when it is embarrassing to a GOP candidate—just to prove to ourselves, to the watching world, and to the GOP that we're committed enough to the truth over politics to do so.

  2. It puts denominational politics into its proper place.

    Dwight McKissic and I have squared off against one another in denominational politics. More than once. But, brothers and sisters, Dwight McKissic is not my enemy. He's just wrong in public more than his fair share. ;-) But I manage to wind up in the same situation with some frequency, so I suppose I'm the pot calling the kettle black here.

    And so, it's important to note it, folks, that even if you've generally fallen on the other side of things from Dwight McKissic with some regularity, an idea is not bad just because Dwight McKissic was its originator. Whatever feelings of denominational politics Dwight's resolution might engender in you, his resolution about Mormonism is a good idea. The committee should expand it, I think, and make it a full-fledged resolution against the many offenses and errors of Mormonism. Certainly there is no denominational dust-up we've ever had that is as important as telling the truth about this insidious, damning heresy called Mormonism.

  3. McKissic has his facts straight and the resolution is historically solid.

  4. Playing kissy-kissy, nice-nice with Mormonism is idiotic as an evangelistic and apologetic strategy. The Mormon strategy is to try to build respectability and to try to keep people from knowing about Mormon racism and Kolob and the fact that Mormonism is built upon a fraudulent book telling tales about a fictional civilization that obviously never inhabited this hemisphere. If one would advance the idea that our apologetic strategy should center around being sure not to be so unkind as to get in the way of the Mormon proselytization strategy, then everybody associated with drafting and implementing that strategy needs to be demoted to some department where the most harm they can do is in the area of teaching children what crayon to use to color Moses' hair.

So, if Dwight's resolution doesn't come out of committee either pretty much intact or strengthened, then I hope that he'll try to bring it out from the floor. Either way, we need to be sure to vote to adopt it or something like it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I am a bit confused. How come we did not have a resolution about Marxist liberation theology 4 years back when we have a president who listened to Jeremiah Wright for 20 years rail against whitey and promote witholding help from born alive aborted babies?

But now 4 years later, how about a parallel resolution concerning Obama and his "Christian" beliefs that brought him to endorse same sex marriage?

See, once we go down this road in this manner we are actually endorsing someone by default.

How about we just not say anything at all about politics? I am not electing an elder to oversee the Body of Christ.

I do wonder if we would turn down a great bid concerning business if the CEO were Mormon?

In a similar situation the early Christians would have had a choice of say, Caligula or Nero.

Lydia

Frank T. said...

Now here is an SBC document that I WILL sign. I want to go on record as one who is solidly against lost people acting like lost people. Further, I am also against saved people acting like lost people.

Anonymous said...

Right idea; wrong time.
It gives 'Yellow Dog Dems' an excuse- it should not; but, we know that it does.
And it at least implies endorsement of the GREATER of two evils. gag
2013/2015 are not political years- go for it then.
Dale

Chief Kataie said...

Count me out. If Dwight wants to take on the denominational wrongs of others, then perhaps I didn't sign on to be a God fearin' Baptist, but a politician. Will he take on the Episcopals for their egregious stand on gay marriage? How about the Catholics for preaching another gospel? While we are at it, let's just take on every bit of wrong doing in all of Christendom. We can point to the Church of Christ (of course we'll have to make some kind statement regarding Jeremiah Wright), those Oneness Pentecostals, the Rastafarians and both tribes of Islam. I'm sure I have left out other outsiders. Should we form a committee to take on one denomination and faith group at a time?

I always respect your work Bart, but on this, I think you haven't thought this through. The floor of the convention is not the place to criticize other faiths. It reduces us to the likes of the Westboro Vipers. We are more than people who condemn others, are we not?

We lose people because we spend all our time condemning other groups instead of positively proclaiming the gospel.

Mormonism is not another Christian denomination. It is not however, up to us, to discuss their ills on our Convention floor.

It's wrong, wrong, wrong.

Tim G said...

Bart,
Amen and amen!

Dwight McKissic said...

Bart,

Given your credentials as a historian and biblicist, your endorsement of this resolution is weighty to me.Mormon promotions in print and television often include people of color. Many of them identify themselves as professionals. In Island countries and in Africa the Mormon religion is rapidly growing. Over the past 25 years I've noticed them making inroads in the Black community, particularly among professionals.They have knocked on my door several times, and I wish that I had been armed with this information then.

While researching for a sermon on Mormonism, I discovered this information and thought it would be important to share it. Again, I appreciate your thoughts and affirmation of this resolution.

See you in NOLA.We were blessed to get a room at the headquarters hotel.

Dwight

Anonymous said...

No need for this resolution. The only reason Mormonism is being singled out is because we have a Mormon candidate for President. The timing is pathetic. The venue in which this is being done is pathetic. Once more we choose to define ourselves by what we are against. This is not the time and I view this as purely political and opportunistic in a wrong way.

Austin

Bart Barber said...

I agree that the Romney candidacy has given rise to this resolution. However, I think that is a good reason. Romney's candidacy has vaulted Mormonism into center-stage in American discourse. Now, more than ever, we have a duty to make people aware of the dangers of this system of belief.