Resolution on the Bible and Our Culture

• WHEREAS, Scripture did not come “by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21); and
• WHEREAS, in this way, God so directed the human writers of Scripture so that, without contravening their individual capabilities, they did indeed write the very words of God’s choosing; and
• WHEREAS, not only the concepts of Scripture came from God, but the actual words resulted from His creative breath, so that all Scripture, not just part of it, was “given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16); and
• WHEREAS, all Scripture is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16); and
• WHEREAS, God is the author of Scripture, and Scripture tells precisely what God intended to tell, and God, in keeping with His character, intended to tell only the truth, so that Scripture is both incapable of failing in its God-intended purpose and incapable of teaching deceit or error; and
• WHEREAS, increasingly there are those within our culture who deny the revelatory nature of Scripture, and who deny its concomitant authority, and who deny even the possibility of its objective truth and normative standards for behavior; and, instead, they have become “vain in their imaginations” (Romans 1:21) and have exalted their minds to the rank of “arbiter of truth”; and
• WHEREAS, increasingly there are those within our culture who consider the Bible to be merely human in its origin, qualified in its authority, limited in its truthfulness, consisting of myths, legends, fables, and insensitive, intolerant, and restrictive dictates; and
• WHEREAS, we now see the damage done to our culture by those who have “changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25), seeing how our society is “filled with all unrighteousness” (Romans 1:29), and considering how the world view espoused by so many is “without understanding” (Romans 1:31);

1. Solemnly reaffirm our unwavering belief in the verbal and plenary inspiration of Scripture in the original manuscript and reaffirm our unyielding commitment to the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture;
2. Re-confirm our trust in the Bible, submit ourselves anew to its divine and inherent authority, and consider afresh its sufficiency for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness; and
3. Determine to “shine as lights in the world” by “holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:15, 16);
4. Challenge our culture with the life-giving and life-transforming truth of Scripture and remember that the Bible is absolutely true, not only for fundamental Baptists but also for all peoples of all times and cultures;
5. Champion Biblical authority not only in our doctrinal formulations but also in our daily practice and commit ourselves to private and family devotions, to the work of Scripture memory and meditation, and we determine anew to give attention to the public reading of Scripture from our pulpits (1 Timothy 4:13);
6. Base our preaching, our teaching, our writing, our counseling, and our very lives upon the teachings of the Bible;
7. Describe periodically within our sermons, Sunday School lessons, Bible studies, Bible conferences, and other discipleship ministries the great doctrines of Bibliology: revelation, inspiration, canonicity, authority, preservation, illumination, interpretation, and sufficiency, so that not only we, but also those whom we teach, shall advocate Scripture as the point of challenge to our culture; and
8. Not trust in our methodologies in order to challenge our culture, but instead place our trust fully and solely in the sufficiency of Scripture, God’s Holy Word.