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What Divides Us?
By Howard Moody, Pastor Emeritus, Judson Memorial Church, New York
In the present divisiveness of our ABC family it is important to bear in mind that all of us who want to see our denomination continue in all its glorious multiformity must not make the mistake that was made in the political world, namely to divide ourselves into “red states” and “blue states”. We must be careful not to wrongly label what our division is all about. The struggle in our ABC world is not between, “Those who believe that the Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin and abomination in the eyes of God” and “those who don’t believe the Bible.” The debate is as old as our denominational history. It is between those, who believe that the Bible is the inerrant, indisputable Word of God and allow no interpretation other than what it says” (or rather what I say it says) and “those who believe that the Holy Scriptures were inspired by God and each of us interprets its meaning led by the Holy Spirit.” The former make of the Bible a “paper Pope” and their interpretation an infallible edict that all of us must believe. The later believe that the Bible is not the Word of God but Jesus Christ is Word of God.
We Baptists must not be led astray by the false assertion that the argument we are in is about “the status of homosexuals in the eyes of God”. This controversy is about God’s freedom given to us, and it is the precious heritage of Baptist people – free from the state, free from creeds, free from hierarchical control, free from absolute pastoral authority. The theme of freedom in our Baptist tribe is what set us apart in the Christian enterprise. For the individual it meant the freedom to arrive at the truth about God, the nature of His world, and what it meant to be a follower of Jesus in that world – and the truth that one arrives at is invisible to each of us not subject to censure by a higher religious authority, a divine despot, or political potentate. This “soul freedom” is saved from unbridled individualism by two factors: that vision of truth is continuously checked and corrected by a congregation of people, faithful to same God and disciples of the same Jesus. This congregation is not a “higher authority” but another view of the truth by which one’s own is tested and tried.
The other saving factor is that the sons and daughters of liberty are nourished by a deep humility. It is the conviction that all of us “see through a glass darkly” and every point of view has value. There is no voice or point of view so insignificant or so troublesome that it should be stamped out. Our emphasis on the freedom of the individual in the interpretation of scripture and the liberty of the local congregation in its own worship and ministry is at the core of our Baptist heritage. We will forsake their centrality at peril to our denominational life and our witness to the world.