Analytical Tools

We are called to build our lives on the teachings of the Word of God, and to reject the ideas of this
world. In 1st Timothy 6, Paul writes to his young associate:
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge--
21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

There is a smorgasbord of worldly ideas from which we can choose, and we have to be careful that we are grounded in God's Word so that we are not led astray.  We have to guard against embracing worldly philosophies that contradict Scripture, so that the Word of God directs our steps and determines our worldview.  If not, we can become double-minded and find ourselves in a place where we are inconsistent in our pursuit and application of God's truth.

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We are encouraged to make sure that our lives are built on the foundation of Christ and devotion to His Word and to be aware of ideas and philosophies of this world that contrast with His teachings.  An article I will reference today made mention of a verse in Colossians 2.  Here is a passage from that chapter:
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

I have been providing you lately with some coverage of the formation of the Conservative Baptist Network, a consortium of Southern Baptists that are calling the Southern Baptist Convention to a high view of Scripture and a renewed commitment to evangelism.  As I reported to you, one of the stated reasons for forming this new initiative was the passage at last year's annual convention in Birmingham of what is simply known as Resolution 9, which referred to Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality as "analytical tools."  The implication is that these can be implemented, but only through submission to Scripture.  Resolution opponents say they should not even be used, and there is the rub.  The Conservative Baptist Network website states:

However, they are far more than just tools; they are ideologies that have their roots in Neo-Marxist, postmodern worldviews. While the committee may have meant well in presenting the resolution, many messengers left Birmingham confused about Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, and others left feeling that they had been misled or deceived.

There should actually be some definitions given here, since these philosophies, or the rejection of them, have become one of these bases for a new group or organization.

Founders Ministries produced a documentary film a few months ago called, By What Standard?  Megan Basham of WORLD Magazine provided a review, including comments from Founders President Tom Ascol; the review stated...

...the film fills in context for what critical race theory and intersectionality are, arguing all Christians should mourn their introduction into the Southern Baptist toolbox.

Ascol told me he and his team originally intended to produce an update and response to the well-known 1997 PBS documentary Battle for the Minds, about feminism in the SBC. But in their last half-hour of shooting, Resolution 9 came to the floor. It ironically illustrated Founders’ thesis that forces within the Church are using legitimate dialogue about racial division and sexual abuse to move it in a liberal direction, undermining its work and witness.

As the film successfully demonstrates, CRT/I touches on the most hotly contested topics in our culture, including white privilege, LGBT identity, and feminism. Their adoption by a denomination so traditionally minded as the SBC proves all Christians need to grapple with how the Bible expects us to respond.

A piece on the Founders' website provides this summary:

So, CRT assumes that “people of color” are inherently oppressed and marginalized by power structures that are rooted in white privilege and white supremacy. Furthermore, CRT does not merely make that observation, it is definitionally committed to transforming the perceived oppressions it identifies.

It goes on to relate:

CRT (along with every other Marxist ideology) cannot be reconciled with what the Bible teaches about sin and salvation. First, to view all relationships in terms of power dynamics requires that people be seen in terms of the powerful (privileged, oppressors) and the powerless (marginalized, oppressed). Apart from striking out against God-ordained hierarchies and authority structures (by evaluating them as oppressive power structures), this way of viewing the world fails to evaluate people in their primary relationship, which is as creatures made in the image of their Creator.

Regarding Intersectionality, the Founders Ministries website says:

Intersectionality describes the way that different types of discrimination overlap in a marginalized or oppressed person’s experience. It is the idea that a person’s true identity is measured by how many victim-statuses you can call their own. Like CRT, IS views the world through the lens of power dynamics with a person’s social position best understood in terms of discrimination and disadvantage. So, the more disadvantaged groups that you identify with the more oppressed you are.

Contrast this to the Biblical worldview of God, his relationship to humanity, and how we are called to related to one another:

Like CRT, the great problem with IS is the worldview that forged it and is necessarily embedded in it. Intersectionality operates on a sub-Christian worldview that makes no account for God’s sovereignty over His creation or His prerogative to order it however He chooses. Intersectionality emphasizes the ways that people differ from each other while ignoring, if not rejecting altogether, what the Bible says about the commonality of the human race.

The bottom line, as I see it: CRT and Intersectionality divide, the Scripture unites.

This debate, which has become quite contentious, can remind us of several things.  For one, we are to beware of worldly philosophies - the WORLD article makes reference to Colossians 2:8, to which I referred earlier.

And, we should be devoted to the practice of unity.  It is difficult for me to see how we can be reconciled along racial lines when some who champion that concept are using divisive language and denigrating those with whom they are seeking to be reconciled.  The Bible teaches mercy and forgiveness - yes, there have been past hurts, but through the love of Christ, we can pursue future harmony.

Love is the glue that holds us together as the body of Christ.  There is quite a bit of uncharitable language that is being expressed toward those who have formed this network that is devoted to calling their denomination to a more faithful expression of Scripture.  They are perceiving a drift, and rather than to be told there is not "liberal drift" and to face accusations of improper motives or outright lies, perhaps their claims should be responsibly addressed.