Some might call me a skeptic, and that’s perfectly fine with me. But folks, do you really believe that Southern Baptists (rednecks) are open-minded, freethinking people who really and truly care about Mexicans (who they “lovingly” refer to as ‘wetbacks’) and other Hispanic minorities, as well as Blacks (superlative omitted)? Who are they kidding? This is all about mixing religion and politics; sucking up to particular minorities in order to obtain their “support,” which means money and political clout down the road. You see, in the end, it isn’t about God, Jesus Christ, or the Gospels. As with most all religions, it’s about the almighty dollar. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Southern Baptist Convention approved a new resolution at its meeting in Arizona this week advocating a path to legal status for illegal immigrants, in a move that policy leader Richard Land described as “a really classic illustration of gospel love and gospel witness.”
The resolution passed Wednesday also calls on Southern Baptists to minister to all people and to reject bigotry and harassment toward all people, regardless of their country of origin or immigration status.
“I think Southern Baptists understand it’s just not politically viable to send an estimated 12 to 15 million undocumented immigrants back where they came from,” said the Rev. Paul Jimenez, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., and chairman of the SBC’s resolutions committee. “It’s not humane either.”
A motion to strike the reference to a path to legal status was narrowly defeated by a vote of 766 to 723, according to the SBC’s Baptist Press.
When the resolution was amended to say that it was “not to be construed as support for amnesty for any undocumented immigrant,” it passed by a wide margin with a show of raised ballots.
The resolution calls for “appropriate restitutionary measures” from any immigrants seeking legal status. It also calls on the government to prioritize border security and hold businesses accountable for their hiring.
Many attending the SBC’s annual meeting in Phoenix where the resolution was adopted may not have known that it echoes the denomination’s official position on immigration as outlined by the SBC’s public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
“I’ve been saying for a couple of years now that this is where a majority of Southern Baptists are at,” said Land, the president of the ERLC. “Some people in the media have been somewhat doubtful. …Then this year we voted 80-20 supporting it.”
Land said the fact that the resolution only got broad approval after the addition of language denouncing amnesty showed that many people don’t understand what amnesty is.
“Restitution is not amnesty,” Land said.
All Southern Baptist churches are independent, so the resolution is not binding on them, but it does represent the will of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest protestant denomination, with over 16 million members.
The resolution was one of several signs at this year’s meeting that the SBC, which has been declining in membership and baptisms in recent years, sees ethnic diversity as one of the keys to a turnaround.
Delegates at this year’s meeting also passed a resolution that seeks greater participation among what it sometimes calls its “non-Anglo” members in the life of the convention, particularly in leadership roles. And they elected an African-American to the position of first vice-president for the first time, possibly setting up the Rev. Fred Luter Jr. to be elected president at next year’s convention in his hometown of New Orleans.
Jimenez said the two resolutions were not coordinated but both stemmed from the same impulse.
“I think what it does say is that we are now thinking of our convention’s reach beyond just … white Southern churches,” he said.
The fact that the convention was held in Arizona, a state that many groups boycotted after it passed a tough immigration law last year, was part of the impetus for the resolution, but not the main part, Jimenez said.
“The most important reason of all is that we see these individuals as people who so desperately need to hear the gospel.”
No doubt that when someone in the year 3056 or 4056, is reading up on the history and evolution of mankind and experiences amazement at the tales of his behavior and seemingly primitive consciousness, he will be reading of my universe, of my generations, of my consciousness, of me. I, along with the other 7 billion or so souls that were born and live stuck and stranded on this planet at this time, am exactly what makes humanity both ugly and beautiful. I belong in a universe where homo sapiens have a higher evolved state of consciousness, hundreds, thousands of years from now, as much as you do, as much as anybody living today. As much as a Neanderthal Man belongs in this world. As far as I’m concerned, I created this universe exactly how it is today, created my self exactly as I am today from either actions on my part, or lack therefore of them.
Very enlightening… NOT!
Again, too many words and nothing said, although you did manage to squeeze in the term ‘consciousness’ three times in a single paragraph. No surprise there…
Yes. I will call you a skeptic and I understand why. However, I know Paul Jimenez well and I know his heart. There is nothing about this resolution that has anything to do with money. It has everything to do with love and compassion.
If you say so, I’ll take your word for it.
@furmanpals… There are a couple of reasons why I will buy what you’re saying. First of all, I am free of the skepticism virus. Being that I feel that the basic human nature is one of love and compassion it’s not much of a stretch. Not being a skeptic allows me to be a free-thinker, a person who has succeeded, by virtue of not succumbing to all the programming that that is responsible that creates prejudice, prejudgments, assumptions made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to be able to do so with our basic free-thinking abilities. Secondly, humanity’s consciousness is evolving which is no surprise as it is only proceeding with Darwin’s laws of evolution, albeit much, much, slower than all the other aspects of homo sapiens. As science continues it’s studies on human consciousness, I do not have the slightest doubt the pace will increase unbelievably. I can see a couple reading on man’s history and one says to the other, “Wow, can you believe that in the past there were haters. How sad it must have been to be living then. — Go on believing the best of humanity, my friend, if you’re wrong, oh well!
GhostRider, GhostRider; you’re so very predictable… I could almost dictate to you the very things that you were about to write. You’re always trying to find the angle that people are susceptible to; looking to “charm” strangers with your sales pitch of open-mindedness, and “free thought,” not to mention your efforts to portray yourself as someone who is “cool.” Yet you forgot one thing, those of us who know you have witnessed how you snap at a moment’s notice, for no reason whatsoever other than being asked simple questions. When this happens, under the most innocent and benevolent of situations, your “coolness” meter explodes, and you go off (not with perfect strangers, but with people who have befriended you; even in their homes). So please, spare us (me) the horse manure. I’m quite adept at reading people, and am well acquainted with your rhetoric and tactics. Yet, fortunately for you, the vast majority of people in this world are really, really gullible, and so they fall for all of the peace and love gibberish, even though neither they, nor you, practice what you preach. But, all’s well, it’s all good, people have their shortcomings, and if they feel better about themselves by believing their own concocted ideas, then I suppose in the end that’s all that matters.
By the way, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!