You Can’t Apply The Gospel To Something You Don’t Understand.
I can look at four flat tires all day long while holding an air pump in my hand. If I don’t know how to apply the air in the pump to the flat tires, then having the air pump does me no good.
Perhaps the problem with the SBC and race is our white (Christian) siblings don’t understand the problem. I know that sounds a little naive, but out of love, I am attempting to believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. Perhaps the problem with the SBC and race is our white (Christian) siblings don’t want to understand the problem. So, they seek to presuppose that black people’s answer to racism is with a theory–Critical Race Theory (CRT). A theory by definition is a (1) plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena. (2) A hypothesis is assumed for the sake of argument or investigation. (3) An ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances—often used in the phrase in theory.
As Jesus Pursuers (Christians), we don’t operate in theory. We operate in reality and live by faith. Racism is not a theory. It isn’t a doctrine, as Dr. Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, stated in his letter to the NOBTS faculty. It is, in fact, a reality for black Americans.
Dr. Dew was part of six SBC seminary presidents, who took it upon themselves to speak for the entire denomination, or convention as it is called. At least that is the perception. This action was unprecedented. To show the carelessness and just how out of touch these homogeneous white male seminary presidents are, just look at how many of them had real conversations with black pastors or laypeople. Ask them how many black Jesus Pursuers (Christians) did they interview before they went on the record. The question that lingers in the air is: How many SBC black pastors did they speak with to get an understanding? The pain of their written responses is what you get when a homogenous unit is put together. They feed into one another’s ignorance, and that’s precarious.
Had Dr. Drew called me, I would have saved him the embarrassment and the need for another response or explanation about “what he meant.” I would have told him that I nor any black SBC preacher/pastor I know would even preach or teach CRT. We preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified on the CROSS, buried in a grave, and early, the third day morning, He got up with all power in His hand. Ok, asking him to call me maybe a stretch even though my DMin is from his Seminary. But, he could’ve called the pastor of one of the largest congregations in the state of Louisiana, and the first black SBC president, Rev. Fred Luter Jr. I mean, Rev. Luter is right there in his city. A coffee, breakfast, zoom, FaceTime, or Duo would have sufficed. I mentioned Rev. Luter because he was elected as the first Africa-American president during my first convention which was held in New Orleans. That convention renewed my hope that a brighter day was coming.
I want to make something clear to my white (Christian) siblings, our (black Jesus Pursuers) issue is not CRT, but your silence on racial injustice. Our issue is your lack of demonstration. You are quick to declare that you are against racism and inequality, but not many of you have denounced white supremacy. You are swift to put the proverbial pen to the pad to declare. Yet, you do absolutely nothing to demonstrate that you care about us, our pernicious history, and our plight in America. Look at the seminaries; not one black, brown, or any minority is in leadership. Their own white women aren’t in leadership. Let’s just keep this real. Since May 1845, only one black man has led the SBC, and to my knowledge, only one other minority has led the SBC. Other than those two, no other minority has led the SBC in 175 years.
CRT is a distractor for what is really going on. It has been used so that many white SBC leaders won’t have to face the horrible reality that has plagued the SBC since its inception. I’m going to tell you what all of this boils down to for the SBC seminary presidents. The appeasement of one group at the painful expense of another.
These guys know that they have to keep a certain group appeased. How do you do that? Talk about what they want to talk about. Be against what they are against. Dr. Dew said,
“each of the presidents has received a countless number of questions over the past 18 months about where our institutions stand on CRT. I have been asked by pastors, students, and trustees in recent months about our doctrinal fidelity in this area. . .As the President of an institution that exists to serve the churches of the SBC, I am accountable to answer those questions. I am also accountable to uphold and teach according to the BF&M 2000.”
One major supporter of the Seminaries is the cooperative program (22%). If you make the wrong pastor mad in the SBC, he can withhold and redirect the church’s funds to the cooperative program. Trust me, I have seen it happen. Those of you that are in the SBC know I am talking right. Some churches have withheld millions of coop funds because they didn’t like what Russel Moore said or didn’t say, and others have withheld for other reasons. Money rules and runs the SBC and some of her churches (especially the affluent ones). One of the reasons many SBC churches are dying is that the wrong people control the churches. They are controlling them with the “almighty dollar.”
My plea is to my white (Christian) siblings in the SBC. Please stop being silent on the plight of your black (Christian) siblings. Don’t talk about lamenting with us in word only (declaration). Sit at the table and weep bitterly over what is going on with your black (Christian) siblings (demonstration). Lead your churches to fight against racism and white supremacy. We are not doing well, especially in 2020. We can’t understand how you say and preach the love of Jesus and turn a blind eye while we are continuously being mistreated. We are trying to figure out why you have historically refused to do what God said to do in Micha 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
My plea is that you do what you said you are accountable for upholding and teaching according to the BF&M 2000. Article 15, “The Christian and the Social Order,” is clear about what the SBC believes in word (declaration) about racism–among other issues. Allow me to point out the hypocrisy. Article 15 says,
“. . .In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness. . .We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. . .Christians should be ready to work with all men of goodwill in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.”
I have been part of the SBC for ten years, and if this article is genuinely what we are supposed to be living up to, then I say it is no more than Pharisaical law.
SBC seminary presidents, you can’t apply the gospel to something you don’t understand. By your actions, you have shown that you don’t understand racism nor see that you are depraved in that area. You preach total depravity, and as my brother Rev. Joel Andrew Bowman, Sr. said on his Facebook post on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, “Many ‘Reformed’ theologians aggressively teach the “total depravity” of Man. Yet, they won’t admit that depraved humans can create racist systems that must be confronted? Such denial is evidence of their own depravity.” You have shown by your actions that you don’t really love us. You love the idea of having us around to make your numbers, and you appear to be diverse, but it is all an optical allusion.
As I have said so many times before, this is a discipleship issue. We can’t reconcile other image-bearers of God to Him if we don’t understand how to be reconciled to one another. Don’t tell me you are making disciples of “all” nations when you fail to empathize with people that look like me. In all your getting, get an understanding about what it truly means to be reconciled. Understanding the gospel means understanding the historical and perpetual sin of the SBC. What is that sin? Racism and white supremacy! Repent and be reconciled to God vertically and be reconciled horizontally with His image-bearers. May God never allow you to feel the pain you have sown. May He never allow you to reap what you have sowed.
I want to make sure that I am clear. This article is not a one size fit all. This article is primarily written in response to the SBC seminary presidents’ statement on CRT. Some white Jesus Pursuers in the SBC are applying the gospel to what they understand about racism and white supremacy in America and the SBC. I have led, worked alongside, and am very close to some of them. But they are few and far between. Most of them are Gen-Xers and millennials. Surprisingly, there are a few baby boomers scattered in that number.