{"id":1863,"date":"2011-04-14T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1863"},"modified":"2011-04-14T05:00:35","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T11:00:35","slug":"sbc-calvinism-patriotic-worship-a-final-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1863","title":{"rendered":"SBC Calvinism & Patriotic Worship: A Final Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since my initial posts on the SBC’s New Calvinism & Patriotic Worship<\/em> (Part 1 <\/a>and Part 2<\/a>), I have gotten many responses — both positive and negative — both here at From Law to Grace<\/a> and at SBCVoices<\/a>.\u00a0 Based upon this admittedly limited response, I would conclude that one of the SBC fault lines —\u00a0\u201cmajority Baptist theology\u201d vs. \u201cReformed Baptist theology\u201d —\u00a0that Dr. Steve Lemke described in his recent post, “The Shot Heard ‘Round the SBC (Part B),”<\/a>\u00a0has great potential for growing wider.<\/p>\n

I did not grow up in a military family.\u00a0 My maternal grandfather served in the U.S. Army-Air Corps at the end of WWII (even spending some time at the now closed Roswell Army-Air Field in New Mexico, although prior to any alleged alien sightings), but that’s about as close to the military as I have been.\u00a0 Until 4 1\/2 years ago.\u00a0 That’s when I moved to Alamogordo, NM to begin serving as the Senior Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church.<\/p>\n

A few miles west of Alamogordo lies Holloman\u00a0Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range.\u00a0 Throughout the 1940s-60s, Holloman\u00a0was intrumental in conducting key tests for America’s space program.\u00a0 The first chimp in space — HAM,\u00a0an acronym for Holloman\u00a0Aero Medical\u00a0— was trained at Holloman<\/a>.\u00a0 Now home to the F-22 Raptors and\u00a0UAV\u00a0(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or Drones)\u00a0training, the men and women of Holloman\u00a0continue to serve our country with\u00a0honor and\u00a0distinction.<\/p>\n

Our church is comprised of\u00a0many active-duty and retired military (mostly Air Force) and their families.\u00a0 Many of these families\u00a0have\u00a0loved ones who are deployed for six months or a year in Iraq and Afghanistan.\u00a0 None of them have the assurance of another day, much less coming home safely.\u00a0 They are standing on the front lines of freedom, fighting for our right to\u00a0freely worship God back here in America.\u00a0 Any time that we can show our appreciation (i.e., honor) and thank God for their service and pray for them, we will unapologetically do it!<\/p>\n

This past July 4th, which fell on a Sunday, our corporate worship services could be described\u00a0by some as patriotic.\u00a0\u00a0At the beginning of the service, we had the Honor Guard from Holloman AFB present our nation’s colors.\u00a0 I led in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.\u00a0 The congregation sang the Star Spangled Banner <\/em>and the choir\u00a0sang\u00a0A Tribute to Our Armed Forces <\/em>where those who served in the various branches of the military stand and\u00a0are recognized.\u00a0 We prayed for our servicemen and\u00a0women and\u00a0sang some non-patriotic worship songs.\u00a0 I preached on\u00a0our freedoms, with the main emphasis being the freedom that we can have only in and through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0our patriotic worship service was not as much as\u00a0some, it was obviously too much for some.\u00a0 In fact, singing\u00a0a single patriotic song, even from the 2008 Baptist Hymnal<\/em>, causes some to start throwing around the\u00a0“I” word — idolatrous.\u00a0 I suppose I was blissfully unaware of the theology (Calvinist or otherwise) that not only shuns expressions of patriotism for their own churches, but also condemns any church which would include patriotic elements in their worship services.\u00a0 These same folks would likewise condemn any honoring (recognizing) of veterans,\u00a0mothers, fathers, children, etc. during a worship service.\u00a0 In fact, one\u00a0blogger\u00a0recently wrote in response to this issue<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Christians gather for worship to exalt the only God that exists for an hour or more, and often times they say the pledge of allegiance, honor soldiers, honor mothers and fathers, etc. during<\/em> a time that has been designated for God alone to be honored and emphasized.\u00a0 It is blatant idolatry!\u00a0 So, every time you see or hear about a \u201cpatriotic worship service,\u201d remember how foolish Aunt Bethany was\u2026 and look in the mirror.\u00a0 Corporate Worship is about God\u2019s glory alone; not anyone else\u2019s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to this SBC blogger, not only are churches that choose to include ANY expressions of patriotism or times of honoring soldiers or mothers and fathers guilty of blatant idolatry, but foolishness as well.\u00a0 As I wrote in my initial post and subsequently, I do not have a problem with those individuals and churches who have chosen, for whatever reason, to shun expressions of patriotism in their corporate worship services.\u00a0 You will get no argument from me against expressions of local church autonomy.<\/p>\n

However, when Christians, particularly those within the Southern Baptist Convention, start to castigate sister churches for supposed idolatrous worship practices simply because veterans are recognized, a patriotic hymn is sung (Lifeway<\/em>\u00a0needs to be informed immediately as they are aiding and abetting churches in their idolatry by including patriotic songs in the 2008 Baptist Hymnal)\u00a0or the flag is posted in the sanctuary, then I will — as Cosmo Kramer might say — have a mighty big problem with that!\u00a0 Indeed, I think most Southern Baptists would have a problem with that.<\/p>\n

I would venture to say that most Southern Baptists, who do not adhere to a “Reformed theology,” would see the use of the word “idolatry” to describe the patriotic worship that occurs in most SB churches — including Bellevue Baptist Church when Dr. Adrian Rogers was Pastor — as offensive.\u00a0 I would hope that most “Reformed” Southern Baptists would likewise reject the use of the term\u00a0“idolatry” when describing other churches who include patriotic expressions in their worship.\u00a0 However, since\u00a0almost\u00a0all opponents of patriotic worship who have commented at my blog and on SBCVoices have been\u00a0unwilling to so state, I must infer that there are some (perhaps many) within SBC’s Calvinist wing\u00a0whose theology — however and whenever derived — believe, either implicitly or explicitly, that any and all\u00a0expressions of patriotism in corporate worship are wrong.\u00a0 If I am\u00a0incorrect in my inference, then please clearly state that you have no problem with churches who include patriotic elements in their corporate worship services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an inconsistent Calvinist myself and as one who is a graduate of SBTS\u00a0(1997), I would gladly join hands to cooperate with my more Calvinistic brethren within the SBC, although being called an idolator doesn’t make for easy cooperation.\u00a0 Lastly, I would suggest to some of the more “aggressive Calvinists” that before you keep loading the ammo and shooting yourself in the foot, you better figure out if patriotic worship is really a hill on which to die.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since my initial posts on the SBC’s New Calvinism & Patriotic Worship (Part 1 and Part 2), I have gotten many responses — both positive and negative — both here at From Law to Grace and at SBCVoices.\u00a0 Based upon this admittedly limited response, I would conclude that one of the SBC fault lines —\u00a0\u201cmajority…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,21,35,37],"tags":[78,139,3369,224,494,505,506,574,657,659,764,825,3392,856,857,878,939,1013,1027],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calvinism","category-freedoms","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-alamogordo","tag-bethel-baptist-church-alamogordo","tag-calvinism","tag-christian-worship","tag-holloman-air-force-base","tag-idolatrous-worship","tag-idolatry","tag-july-4th","tag-military","tag-military-service","tag-patriotic-worship","tag-reformed-theology","tag-religion","tag-roswell","tag-roswell-army-air-base","tag-sbcvoices","tag-steve-lemke","tag-u-s-armed-forces","tag-veterans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-u3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}