“For the time that is past suffices…”

This has certainly been an interesting week in the ever evolving, ever angry world of the SBC. Some how, by some supreme irony (or should I say providence), in this one week we got to witness the two possible futures for the SBC played out in two of its seminaries.

The first future is the future of an SBC where the SBC does not admit “anybody who could not look anybody in the world in the eyes and say, ‘Christ died for your sins.’” Those are the words of Dr. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX. This comment might sound appealing to you at first, but read between the lines, maybe, say, with the help of this quote from Southwestern’s Dean of Theology, Dr. David Allen:

A consistent five-point Calvinist cannot look a congregation in the eyes or even a single sinner in the eye and say: “Christ died for you.” What they have to say to be consistent with their own theology is “Christ died for sinners.” Since Christ did not die for the non-elect, and since the five-point Calvinist does not know who the elect are, it is simply not possible in a preaching or witnessing situation to say to them directly “Christ died for you.”

So, what Dr. Patterson appears to be telling us is that he looks forward to a future in which 5-point Calvinists are excluded from SBC life, or at least from his little corner of it there in the Lone Star State.

Of course, why wait for the future since, as Wade Burleson has been earnestly reporting, it appears that Dr. Patterson is already well on his way towards booting many 4- and 5-point Calvinist faculty members out the door of SWBTS in the name of “budget cuts.” Keep in mind, this is not an official announcement, but it is something that is scary enough to take notice of, particularly in light of that administrations well-documented hubris against Calvinism. Read more here and here.

The second future we have to look toward is the one where the SBC is thriving with fresh, young faces eager to go out into the world and make a difference in the name of their savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the picture we got from last weekend’s 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (with major respect to Danny Akin for having the vision/stones to organize it). Over Friday night and all day Saturday, 1400 college-aged and young adult believers packed into (and actually flowed out of) the chapel at SEBTS to listen to Mark Driscoll and CJ Mahaney present on the conference topic of “The Gospel Comes to Life.”

For those of you who may not know, Driscoll and Mahaney share two interesting things in common. First, neither is a Southern Baptist. Second, both are fully committed Calvinists. (As a third strike, I think both believe in private prayer languages). However, these mens affiliations and beliefs did not hinder them from rocking the crowds with their piercing testimonies, challenging words, and utter devotion to God’s Word. This was an incredible weekend and showed that there are still young people in the SBC who love God, even if they like wearing blue jeans and ball caps while thanking God for his unconditionally electing them and irresistibly calling them to faith in him; a sight that would make many SBCer’s today run (further) for the hills. The messages from SEBTS can be found here (listed with the prefix ’20/20 2009′).

So, which future do you want?