Dr. Paige Patterson says he is concerned about Reformed theology wherever it is being taught in Southern Baptist life. While Patterson says he has the utmost respect for Reformed theologians and churchmen, Baptists should reject covenant theology and the notion that one can baptize infants and consider them a part of the covenant family.

"Generally speaking, the vast majority of Baptists have rejected the idea that the doctrine of election means that God, in eternity past, made some people to damn them, to show his judgment -- and in justice he made others to save them, to show His mercy," Patterson says.

"That has been a doctrine held by some Baptists, but not by the majority," he says. "The majority have always believed there's no man in the world for whom Christ did not die and who could not come to Christ."

Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, believes many Reformed theologians have made a great contribution to the general cause of Christianity, but have taken a wrong view of the doctrine of election. He notes that twice in the Bible, election is linked to God's foreknowledge.

"I believe that God's predestination or election is based on the fact that he does know everything, unlike the openness theologians would try to tell us," Patterson says.

"[God] knows before we were ever born who will and who will not respond to the gospel message," he says, "and it is on the basis of his foreknowledge that election takes place -- not on the basis of some arbitrary decision on God's part to create some to damn them."

Patterson believes evangelism is hindered when churches teach that Jesus Christ died only for the elect.
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By Jim Brown, a staff writer for AgapePress

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