For those of us in Texas, the Baptist controversy is quite prominent in the
local papers. If you check out
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/178350_baptists_26met.html
I think you'll find a good discussion of the issues and links to other
articles. The "wives, submit to your husbands" gets a lot of press, but as
far as I can tell the real issue for Baptists is the question of whether the
Bible is the only way to understand God or whether one's personal experience
with Jesus is also important in how one reads the Bible. Apparently, and
some one please correct this if I've got it wrong, but the latter view was
the original idea in Baptist thought is being replaced with the first one in
the new statements of faith. I gather there is also a concern that the new
faith statements establish a creed, which is something not done in the
Baptist tradition which has focused on the idea of independence of churches
and with independence of conscious?
As an outsider I can sit back and watch, but I know the turmoil has brought
real problems to people who take their faith and the historic Baptist
traditions seriously.
Janet Rice
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