SALT LAKE CITY (BP)–SBC Life, the journal of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, is biased, Bill Merrell, Executive Committee vice president for convention relations and journal editor, told messengers
to the Southern Baptist Convention June 9 in Salt Lake City.
“We are biased in favor of truth,” Merrell said in the denominational press report. “We write about and take positions on those things which affect the churches, their people and the culture by which God has commissioned us to minister.”
Christians believe truth does exist, originating from God and not man, and is applicable to all places and all times, Merrell said.
“I insist, as do many others, this is a battle for the very minds and souls of men,” Merrell said. “Make no mistake about it, if there is no truth, universal and transcendental truth, then we have no sure word from God and, as a consequence, no guidance, no gospel and no hope.”
SBC Life is mailed by the Executive Committee to Southern Baptist pastors, staff members, denominational leaders and missionaries. Its aim is to provide information, encouragement and inspiration, Merrell said.
Merrell offered four viewpoints he said are foundational to the publication.
“We believe the Bible is the Word of God. It is inerrant, a perfect treasure of divine instruction that has truth without any mixture of error for its matter,” Merrell said.
“We believe in the work and ministries of the church of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We believe in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to convert men and women and to give them peace and forgiveness and fit them for heaven.”
And SBC Life believes in the Southern Baptist Convention, Merrell said. “It is our delight to tell the good news of what God is doing through Southern Baptists here and around the world.”
“We believe in the Cooperative Program,” Merrell continued. “Its record since its adoption in 1925 is emphatically positive.” The Cooperative Program not only was best for the past, it is best for supporting God’s work today, he said.
“We announce to you today, here and now, this is what we believe, these are the things we value and these are the things you can expect to find in the pages of
SBC Life,” Merrell said.
Articles and features have been and will continue to be produced that will reflect these viewpoints, Merrell said, adding that the journal will be honest, straightforward and disciplined in the stewardship that has been assigned it.
In concluding the press report, Herb Hollinger, Executive Committee vice president for convention news, announced that the 1998 convention sessions, for the first time, are being transmitted live on the Internet at the Executive Committee website, www.sbc.net.
