Chapter Overview
The Southern Baptist Convention — A Case Study
Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
— Luke 6:39
Origin: Founded on Slavery
The Southern Baptist Convention was organized May 8–12, 1845 in Augusta, Georgia.
Its founding cause was not a theological revelation. It was not a restoration of truth. It was not a calling from God.
It was a political and economic dispute over the right to own human beings.
In 1844, a group of Alabama Baptists demanded that the Triennial Convention declare slave-holders eligible for missionary appointments. When the Convention declined, Southern Baptists withdrew and formed their own organization. The founding of the SBC was an explicit endorsement of the institution of slavery.
At the SBC’s annual convention in 1861, the denomination pledged its support to the Confederacy, substituting “Southern States of North America” for “United States” in its constitution.
In 1995 — 150 years later — the SBC formally apologized for its role in supporting slavery and segregation.
The Chain of Authority
The SBC’s chain of authority traces as follows:
- Christ’s Original Church
- Great Apostasy (authority lost)
- Catholic Church (claimed authority, documented corruption)
- Protestant Reformation(Luther — no restored authority)
- Anglican Church(Henry VIII — founded over a divorce)
- English Baptist Movement (adult baptism debate, 17th century)
- American Baptist Convention (1814)
- Southern Baptist Convention(1845 — founded over slavery)
- Internal splits over liberalism, inerrancy, race
- Further fragmentation continues
At no point in this chain is there a direct divine calling, angelic ministration, or restoration of priesthood authority. Each step is a human decision — often driven by politics, culture, or theological disagreement.
Their Claim to Authority
The SBC’s primary authority claim rests on Sola Scriptura— the Bible alone. Their governing document, the Baptist Faith and Message, describes the Bible as “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.”
Why This Is Logically Insufficient
1. Who compiled the Bible?The Catholic Church — the very institution the Baptists reject — made the canonical decisions about which books belong in the Bible. If the institution is corrupt, why trust its editorial decisions?
2. The Bible cannot interpret itself.
No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
— 2 Peter 1:20
Yet Sola Scripturarequires exactly that — private interpretation by each reader.
3. 45,000 denominations read the same Bible. If scripture alone were sufficient and clear, you would expect unity. You get the opposite.
4. Christ established living authority, not a book. He ordained apostles. He gave keys. He promised that revelation would continue. Reducing that to a text document is a fundamental departure from His design.
Anti-Mormon Curriculum
Some Baptist institutions include formal curriculum designed to attack The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This deserves examination.
What It Reveals About Institutional Confidence
A church that possesses truth does not need to spend resources attacking another church. Truth stands on its own. If your authority, your ordinances, and your revelation are genuine — you simply demonstrate them. You do not need to undermine a competitor.
What It Reveals About Scriptural Compliance
Christ taught:
Love your enemies.
— Matthew 5:44
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
— Matthew 7:1
By their fruits ye shall know them.
— Matthew 7:20
Organizing institutional attacks on a fellow Christian movement is not a fruit of the Spirit. It is a fruit of institutional fear.
The Question It Answers
Consider This
A church that dedicates curriculum to attacking the LDS faith has, by that very act, demonstrated something important about its own confidence in its claims.