One of great Christian books of all time is Henry Scougal's classic work "The Life of God in the Soul of Man." Many of our forefathers began their religious journey believing Christianity was a standard of moral purity or a behavioral ethic, but came to see through this penetrating work of Scougal that Christianity, at its very heart, is God's life in man's soul. A Christian is different from the natural man because of the change that has come to his heart and soul, not because of his outward "moral" behavior.
If you struggled reading and understanding that last sentence you might want to read it again. The danger of judging a Christian by outward behavior is that certain behaviors considered "sins" in one culture, are considered "norms" in another culture (i.e. "the eating of meat," "the drinking of wine or beer," "the use of certain words or gestures" etc . . .). In one particular culture on the mission field it is considered "evil" for a man to touch another woman in water, therefore, if a "man" baptizes a woman in that culture, an evil action has just occured. When we as Southern Baptists start defining Christianity by our "cultural standards of behavior" we have lost sight of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and the esssence of true Christianity --- the change in a person's heart.
A great example of the dangers Southern Baptists face when putting too much emphasis on outward behaviors comes to us from 1934 and a meeting in Germany with the Baptist World Alliance. Dr. William Allen has written about this meeting in an article entitled How Baptists Assessed Adolph Hitler.
In this very interesting article Dr. Allen quotes several Southern Baptists who wrote of their impressions of Adolph Hitler at the time. The following are excerpts from the article:
(As Baptists entered the hallway where Hitler had recently convened a gathering of his party in Germany they saw) a huge painting of historic Baptist figures William Carey, J. G. Oncken and Charles H. Spurgeon standing at the foot of a cross. Alongside this trinity hung an equally imposing flag of the Third Reich -- a vivid reminder of the bloody June purge of many of Hitler’s former friends and the repression of the Jews.
Most Baptists in Berlin spoke boldly against the racism, nationalism and militarism so prevalent in the Germany of 1934. Unfortunately, not all Baptist delegates to Berlin interpreted the tragedy of the German situation the same. “Quite a number of correspondents of our Southern Baptist papers writing about the BWA seemed to have a kindly feeling and a good word for Hitler and his regime,” wrote R. H. Pitt in Religious Herald, singling out one variety of Baptists who seemed particularly vulnerable to German propaganda. Victor I. Masters of the Western Recorder went even further, writing, “Most of the testimony we have from our brethren who went to the Baptist World Alliance in Berlin has seemed with great spontaneity and readiness to accept the opinion that all is well in Germany -- especially in regard to religious liberty.” Even Dr. Bradbury, the Boston pastor who dreaded crossing the German border, changed his mind about the Nazis.
Knowing now the depth of the violence which was beginning to grip Berlin in 1934, we wonder why some Baptists, particularly Americans, were susceptible to Hitler’s propaganda. What in their appraisal of foreign affairs allowed them to be seduced by Nazism? How could they support a regime so incompatible with peace and justice?
For one thing, Baptist delegates tended to assess larger social issues through the narrow gauge of a simplistic personal ethic. The Alliance noted, “It is reported that Chancellor Adolf Hitler gives to the temperance movement the prestige of his personal example since he neither uses intoxicants nor smokes” (Official Report of the Fifth Baptist World Congress). Even Dr. Sampey, wary of the Nazis, cautioned against too-hasty judgment of a leader who had stopped German women from smoking cigarettes and wearing red lipstick in public. After being so afraid to enter Germany, Dr. Bradbury, once there, found himself delighted with the forced morality of the fascists. He wrote:
It was a great relief to be in a country where salacious sex literature cannot be sold; where putrid motion pictures and gangster films cannot be shown. The new Germany has burned great masses of corrupting books and magazines along with its bonfires of Jewish and communistic libraries (Watchman-Examiner XXII 37 (September 13, 1934).
Surely a leader who does not smoke or drink, who wants women to be modest, and who is against pornography cannot be all bad, or so the reasoning went. As M. E. Aubrey of England observed in the Baptist Times, Hitler had “brought almost a new Puritanism, which makes its appeal to our Baptist friends, and for the sake of which they can overlook much that cuts across their natural desires.” Baptists from the United States ignored the fact that interpreters were barred from even rendering the word “democracy” in Aubrey’s speech. Priority was placed on personal habits, to the detriment of larger, more vital issues.
May God prevent us as Southern Baptists from losing sight, again, of larger, more vital issues. The spread of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is our mission, and by placing too much emphasis on those issues that have nothing to do with our mission we are in danger of repeating our error of 1934.
Every trustee of the IMB, every pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention, every missionary on the field, every person who gives to the Cooperative Program needs to understand something very, very clearly. We are NOT starting Southern Baptist churches on the mission field. There is NO SUCH THING AS A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH ON THE MISSION FIELD. A Southern Baptist church is a cultural phenomena in America. On the mission field we are taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to people in need of a Saviour. We are praying for God to call out people (the ekklesia) to Himself and deposit His life into their souls. These are the churches (ekklesia gatherings) being started. This is missions. This is what the IMB is all about.
Let's keep the main thing the main thing.
In His Grace,