By Editor Bob Terry
What do Baptists believe?” asked our Israeli Ministry of Tourism host as nine editors of state Baptist papers sat around a table with him in a Tel Aviv restaurant aptly named Dixie. Our host explained the Ministry of Tourism likes to provide familiar food for guests on their first night in the country. Thus Dixie Restaurant complete with barbecue and steaks.
Gary Ledbetter, editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN and president-elect of the editor’s group, was the first to speak. He was sitting across the table from the host. Ledbetter shared the Baptist belief that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way for a right relationship between an individual and God. He explained that Baptists only baptize those who have made a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ and that those believers congregate themselves into local churches — each of which is autonomous.
He also mentioned the Baptist commitment to missions and evangelism — that every person should have opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Oh. You are not a tolerant group,” responded our host who then proceeded to explain the necessity of tolerance in societies like those of the Middle East where there are so many competing religions and where many groups claim their faith is the only absolute truth.
Ledbetter answered that Baptists also believe in religious liberty for all. He explained that religious liberty is important to Baptists because Baptists believe each individual is created in God’s image and is fully competent to stand before God without interference from any other human being or human institution.
Freedom emphasized
Each individual is free to believe as he or she chooses and that includes the freedom not to believe, Ledbetter explained. Baptists do not coerce belief, he said. About then, the discussion changed direction as the meal arrived.
The next day, as the editors met with Baptist representatives working in Israel, a spokesman told us, “It is important to emphasize that Baptists believe in freedom of religion.” The comment was made as the spokesman shared ways Baptists attempt to gain a hearing in Israel.
Perhaps the reason religious freedom is important in Israel is because Jews lived for centuries in situations where religious freedom did not exist. History is filled with sad stories in which the only option open to Jews was conversion or death. Jews have been abused and even banished from nations because of their religious beliefs.
Baptists have suffered at the hands of those who denied religious liberty as well. In Europe and even in America, Baptists have been beaten and martyred for their belief that freedom of worship comes from God and that man cannot invade that sacred space.
But Baptists do claim that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, that He was the long-promised Messiah. That is a claim of absolute truth. Jews reject that claim. To them, the absolute truth is that Jesus was a special person, but no more so than many of the great rabbis in their history.
To Muslims, the claims of Christians are heresy. On the square in Nazareth where Mary’s Well stands, Muslims hung a sign quoting the Quran, saying God has no begotten son and that God did not begot any son. To them, this statement is absolute truth.
Too often, the conflicts between these different claims to absolute truth have been fought with swords. People have physically perished and people continue to perish because of differing views of truth.
Even among the Jews in Israel, there are forces that do not believe in religious freedom. Israel is for the Jews, some argue — all others should leave. They argue that any attempt to share Christ is an attempt to destroy Judaism. Their commitments have been punctuated with firebombs that torched or vandalized Baptist churches and other churches in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
It is no wonder that in the maze of conflict around truth claims, some like our host that evening might be tempted to abandon all claims about absolute truth, to believe that all truth is relative and that toleration of all beliefs is the only way a peaceful society can exist.
That is a road Baptists can never travel. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus Himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). But the Bible never allows coercion in belief either. God desires all men to come to salvation (1 Tim. 2:4), but salvation requires belief and confession (Rom. 10:9–10).
A sacred place no one can invade
One might be forced to repeat some mantra, but one cannot be forced to believe. As said earlier, no human being or human institution can invade that sacred space between God and the heart of a human being.
No Christian or any other individual has to give up the claim of absolute truth in order to live peaceably with those who disagree. What makes a peaceful life possible for those who disagree is a commitment to religious freedom. This means that each person must be free to worship God according to the dictates of his or her heart. Religious groups must be free to practice and propagate their beliefs. Individuals must be free to receive or reject those beliefs.
God has made human beings free. Mankind must not attempt to rob humanity of its greatest gift.
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