Why I'm not CBF

A few years ago, a number of churches dissatisfied with the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention formed a de facto denomination called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. While some churches are dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF, I predict this will become less and less the case. If anyone needs evidence as to why no Southern Baptist Church (or any evangelical church for that matter) should associate with the CBF, just look at their decision to allow John Killinger to hold a workshop yesterday during their general assembly in Memphis Tennessee.

In one single event, John Killinger stated that Daniel intentionally lied in his prophecies, the gospel of John should not be publicly preached, Jesus never claimed to be the Savior, he had no idea that he would be sacrificed until the crucifixion, and we should not claim that Jesus is God or that he always existed. All in a day's work!

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship can't claim ignorance about Killinger's views. In the spring of 1995-1996, I was a student of Killinger's at Samford University. I personally heard him say in a Theological Perspectives of Modern Literature class that Jesus would have never said "I am the way, the truth and the life," insisting that John 14:6 got it wrong. He argued that Jesus was not the only way, but the best way. He also wrote in a book on the beatitudes that Jesus is merely "superior" to other religions. In his book Jesse, he wrote the fictional story of what Jesus would have been like in the late twentieth century. Let's just say that Killinger's "Jesus" said some naughty things about Baptists that I won't repeat on this blog. (As a side note, I had to do a book review of Jesse for the aforementioned class at Samford. Yes...I reviewed the book while the author of that book, Dr. Killinger, was the professor who was grading my review! I can proudly say I told the truth about this lousy book and Dr. Killinger gave me an "A", probably for fear of appearing biased if he didn't!)

When I chose to attend Samford, I was an ignorant seventeen year old who didn't know that heretical theology would be taught. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, on the other hand, knew good and well what they were getting when they invited him to speak. And that's why not a single red penny of any church I pastor will ever go to the CBF.