Letter to the Editor: The 21st-Century Difference

The Southern Baptist church of the 21st century seems, on its surface, to be much the same as the church from the latter days of the 20th century. It is still represented by good, hardworking, taxpaying Americans doing the best they know how, a hodgepodge of sinners saved by the unmerited favor of God.

But things are not the same at all. The difference is subtle but significant. The “great proclamation” of 20th-century Southern Baptists focused on the spiritual event of being “born again.” The 21st-century Baptist proclamation is different: It is of being conservative, committed and Bible-believing. The main emphasis no longer is on being born again. The change has modified how Southern Baptists present the gospel and expresses itself in an emphasis on the actions of man (repentance, commitment to the Lord), not on the work of God (expressed as a sacrifice on the cross). I believe Southern Baptists’ emphasis on being born again was the major reason for the denomination’s tremendous growth in the 20th century. The deemphasizing of the born-again work done by God has resulted in our stagnation today.

Another significant difference is baptism. The need for baptism is downplayed to such an extent today as to make it seem like an unnecessary ritual. The baptism experience can play a real and important role as a demarcation moment for the believer, marking the passing from one thing to another — as Jesus put it, a passing from “death into life.”

As one who loves the brethren and is eternally grateful to Southern Baptists, I hope and pray for a born-again revival and a return to the spirituality of Christ that is signified by baptism.

S. Craig White
Columbia