Over the last week a movement has come together on Twitter known as #the15. I won't go into all the details of what the group is or how it came together, but if you're interested you can read this Baptist News Global article that does a good job of explaining the origin.
The name #the15 came about due to a comment by Ed Stetzer, head of LifeWay Research. The primary objective of #the15 at this point is, at a very minimum, hearing an answer from Thom Rainer, Ed Stetzer, and the LifeWay trustees on why LifeWay sells books and materials that are not just outside of Southern Baptist beliefs, but clearly outside Christian orthodoxy. For years phone calls, e-mails, and Twitter questions have gone unanswered.
An acknowledgement that rank and file Southern Baptists have questions isn't really enough though. LifeWay needs to remove all books, music, and other materials coming from false teachers and false churches. Furthermore, they need to not offer to order books by Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and gay "Christians" that they don't carry in the store on the basis of doctrinal differences when those books are requested. The Biblical standard is to rebuke and have nothing to do with those who teach false doctrine, not sell their materials for profit.
Unsurprisingly, #the15 has gained critics. Some are criticizing things we haven't said. Some have a personal ax to grind with some of the more well known people who have joined the15. One common objection has been that reforming LifeWay won't prevent people from buying bad books. That's true. Unbelievers masquerading as Christians will find teachers who will tickle their itching ears and feed their carnal desires. Paul told us so in 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
Still, I am among those who will continue to call for LifeWay to reform. Here are three reasons why.
As a Southern Baptist I have both a right and a responsibility to demand doctrinal purity in Southern Baptist entities. I have an obligation to warn against false teaching wherever I see it, but I don't really have any right to appeal to Rome or cults like Bethel in Redding, CA to change what they sell in their bookstores. I'm an outsider. I do have a right to demand the leaders of my own denomination adhere to Biblical doctrine. I can't force them to change, but if I make my concerns known I can sleep at night knowing my hands are clean.
Weak and Immature believers are easily led astray. Imagine there's a woman named Becky. She's the typical Southern Baptist wife and mother. She faithfully attends her church with her family and serves where needed. She hears a steady diet of topical, a-doctrinal sermons with an emphasis on what she needs to do rather than hearing what Christ has done. One day she goes to LifeWay and sees a big display highlighting the book Jesus Calling. She reads that a woman heard from Jesus every day for a year! How exciting! Becky buys the book and begins reading every day. She feels so loved and encouraged by the words Sarah Young heard from "Jesus." She has no idea that she's probably reading the words of a demon. The Jesus of Jesus Calling is not the Jesus of the Bible, but Becky is clueless because she hasn't actually been taught the Bible. She begins to tell her friends about the wonderful book she discovered. Soon half the church is listening to the voice of a false Jesus.
The same scenario could unfold with any of the dangerous books Lifeway sells. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little false doctrine in one church member opens the door to more false doctrine in that person's life and in the life of the whole church. A person who wants to buy false teaching can find it, but when Lifeway sells false teaching they could inadvertently lead well-meaning people astray. As the operator of a Christian bookstore, the burden is on LifeWay to ensure that they are selling Christian rather than pagan books to people who don't know better.
People who are caught up in false doctrine generally don't realize they're caught up in false doctrine. In my home town LifeWay is the only Christian bookstore that I know of. So they're not just serving Baptists. People who are in Word of Faith/Prosperity churches will shop there alongside Roman Catholics next to hyper-legalistic Bible-belters. Someone who comes in looking for a book by a certain false teacher may not realize the author is a false teacher. As a supposedly mission-minded denomination, the Southern Baptist owned and operated LifeWay should not miss out on the opportunity to share the gospel with someone who has never actually heard it. Yes, the person may storm out in anger, but they may just listen to what the person speaking to them has to say. Either way, the LifeWay employees will have done what they're Biblicaly required to do rather than participating in the spiritual equivalent of selling crack to a junkie.
I don't know if #the15 will achieve anything in the end. We will rest in Christ knowing we've done what our King has commanded us to do. Please join with me in praying for LifeWay to reform, for the true gospel of Christ to be proclaimed and defended, and for the Southern Baptist Convention, and all denominations, to grow in purity and obedience to her Lord.
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