Resolutions passed on citizenship, stem cells, holiness
By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer
November 9, 2004
RAYTOWN – A resolution on Christian citizenship, adapted from a resolution passed this year by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), passed the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) overwhelmingly as messengers voted their values Oct. 27 at First Baptist Church, Raytown.
Kerry Messer, lobbyist, MBC Christian Life Commission, said that there was plenty of evidence that Missouri Baptists followed through on the spirit of this resolution Nov. 2 when they helped elect several evangelical candidates to state office.
“The culture is maturing,” Messer said.
The resolution encouraged all Christians to fulfill their God-given responsibility to engage in the public life of the nation. Christians are to learn about the platforms of all candidates in elections and vote in accordance with biblical values rather than according to party lines, personalities or candidate rhetoric. In addition, Christian men and women are to pursue positions of public leadership and service within the government at the local, state and federal levels.
On Nov. 2, Missouri Baptists who voted in step with the spirit of this resolution helped elect Matt Blunt, who attends Second Baptist Church, Springfield, as governor. Blunt is pro-life and pro-biblical marriage.
Other resolutions adopted at the annual meeting were:
To express appreciation to First Raytown for hosting the convention;
To communicate appreciation and strong support for the American military serving all around the world and to encourage prayer for these men and women;
To stand against gambling as an evil and a deterrent to the spiritual welfare of Missouri to the point where Missourians would limit and even diminish the amount of gambling opportunities in the state;
To pray for and work toward passage and ratification of the Federal Marriage Amendment to defend the biblical model of the family;
To oppose embryonic stem cell research which unnecessarily and immorally destroys human life and to educate Americans that the best hope for the cure of many diseases is in adult stem cell research;
To affirm the Legal Task Force of the MBC for its work staying the course as it seeks restoration of five breakaway agencies to their formal legal relationship to the MBC;
To promote holiness as the primary means to empower kingdom growth and to successfully address a growing disconnect within evangelical Christianity between that which we profess to believe and the lives we so often live by giving serious consideration to the importance of sound doctrine, the seriousness of sin and the requirement of repentance.