EDITOR'S NOTE: Miles S. Mullin II, Ph.D., serves as acting president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Mullin joined the ERLC in 2023 after serving as a leadership development strategist in the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) church revitalization network, and previously as a professor and vice president at Hannibal-LaGrange University (HLGU). The last three days have reminded us, once again, of the frailty of human life in the … [Read more...]
FIRST-PERSON: 10 years after Obergefell
A decade ago, the United States crossed a threshold when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country in Obergefell v. Hodges. Looking back, it is clear that the Court’s decision effectively codified our cultural descent into a no-holds barred approach to sexuality, and, a bit later, gender. Grounded in what Carl Trueman terms “expressive individualism,” this mentality is divorced from biological realities, sociological data, common sense, and the clear testimony of … [Read more...]
‘Free liberty of their own consciences’
“The King is a mortal man, and not God. Therefore, he has no power over the souls of his subjects; he has no power to make laws for their souls; he has no power to set spiritual Lords over them. If the King did have such authority, then he would be an immortal God and not mortal man. O King, do not be seduced to sin against God nor against your poor subjects by making such laws.” So reads the inscription in the front of Thomas Helwys’ A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity … [Read more...]
Our Baptist heritage: freedom of conscience
“The King is a mortal man, and not God. Therefore, he has no power over the souls of his subjects; he has no power to make laws for their souls; he has no power to set spiritual Lords over them. If the King did have such authority, then he would be an immortal God and not mortal man. O King, do not be seduced to sin against God nor against your poor subjects by making such laws.” So reads the inscription in the front of Thomas Helwys’ A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity … [Read more...]
Our Baptist Heritage: Why does it matter?
“Several days past have been days of great labor, toil, and hurry, with me; and I have reason to fear that I have not taken time enough for private devotion.” So begins the diary entry of English Baptist pastor Dan Taylor on June 25, 1767. Theologically orthodox, Taylor effectively ministered to his congregation and his community each and every week. But that morning he confessed that the work of ministry of the last few days had pressed so hard upon him that he had neglected his … [Read more...]
Is the Reformation over?
JEFFERSON CITY – Having been warned that all Baptist campus ministries were not equally committed to the authority of Scripture and the necessity of evangelism, I joined Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) as a first year student at the University of Virginia. In Cru, I met students from a wide variety of denominational backgrounds: Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Episcopalians and, yes, Roman Catholics. Having grown up in a strongly Catholic area, I knew that doctrinal dissonance existed … [Read more...]