No. 67 OFFICIAL NEWS ORGAN OF THE DEAN BURGON SOCIETY August 2002 - March 2003

"The Words of the Lord are pure Words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." (Psalm 12:6-7)

DBS In Newington, CT, July 23-24, 2003

• The Place

This coming July 23-34, 2003 our Dean Burgon Society (DBS) has been invited to the Emmanuel Baptist Church and Theological Seminary in Newington, CT.  The Pastor is Dr. J. Michael Bates.  Dr. Bates has been newly elected to the DBS Advisory Council.  The Dean of the Seminary is Dr. Thomas Strouse who has been on our DBS Executive Committee for a number of years.  We are very happy to be able to be with these brethren.  The address of the church is 296 New Britain Avenue, in Newington, CT 06111.  The phone is 860-667-6208.  The FAX is 860-666-0146.

• 25 DBS Years

This year, 2003, will be the completion of 25 years of our Dean Burgon Society.  The DBS began in 1978.  It is to the glory of the Lord that we are still in existence and making an impact in our world IN DEFENSE OF TRADITIONAL BIBLE TEXTS.  Our Articles of Faith have remained the same throughout our 25 year history.  The personnel have changed.  Some have left.  Some have gone home to be with the Lord.  Some are new to our Society.  Some are still with us from the beginning.  On this occasion of the 25th Anniversary, and at the request of the DBS men, the DBS President, Dr. D. A. Waite, will give a history of the 25 years he has been leading the Society on the first evening of the meetings this year.  This will be in a Power-Point presentation in color, giving some of the major events that took place during these 25 years.

• The Events

If you are able to come to our DBS 25th Anniversary meeting, please plan to arrive in Newington, CT on Tuesday, July 22nd, so you can attend the meetings in the morning of Wednesday, July 23rd.  All the men are invited to the DBS Executive Committee meeting from 9:00 to 12 noon.  All the ladies are invited to the DBS Women's meeting from 10:00 to 12 noon.

• Hawthorne Inn   

The Emmanuel Baptist Church secretary, Mrs. Yvonne Kauppinen, has reserved 20 rooms for our DBS people from July 22 through July 24.  She was able to get a special price of $75 per day for the 15 queen size bedrooms and $85 per day for the 5 king size bedrooms.  The address of the Hawthorne Inn is 2387 Wilbur Cross Highway, Berlin, CT 06037. The phone is 860-828-4181.  The FAX is 860-828-1634.  A complimentary breakfast is included in these prices.  Reservations must be made by Wednesday, July 2nd.  The Hartford area is booked solid because of the Greater Hartford Open Golf Tournament, so if you plan to come, I suggest you get your reservations in when you receive this paper.

• Meals at Church

This year, there will be meals at church for those who would like to eat there, provided $18.00  for reservations is sent to the church by July 5th.  This will give the church time enough to make arrangements.  There will be no meals at the church for Wednesday noon.  The Wednesday evening meal will be without charge.  Thursday noon will be $8.00 and Thursday evening will be $10.00.

• Tentative Schedule
   

Names & titles in the next issue.

• Exec. Committee

The 17 men who are fully qualified to be on the DBS Executive Committee for this new year of 2003 are as follows:  (1) Dr. Robert J. Barnett, Grayling, MI; (2) Dr. David C. Bennett, Australia; (3) Dr. Clinton Branine, Greenwood, IN; (4) Dr. David Brown, Oak Creek, WI; (5) Dr. Kirk DiVietro, Franklin, MA; (6) Dr. Robert Doom, Ashville, NC; (7) Leroy Ehredt, Pearl City, IL; (8) Pastor Denis Gibson, St. Marys, Ontario; (9) Dr. M. James Hollowood, New Holland, PA; (10) Pastor J. David Hollowood, New Holland, PA; (11) Dr. Gary E. La More, Ontario, Canada; (12) Dr. Jack A. Moorman, London, England; (13) Pastor J. Paul Reno, Hagerstown, MD 21740; (14) Walter A. Schmidt, St. Paul, MN; (15) Dr. Thomas M. Strouse, Middletown, CT; (16) Dr. D. A. Waite, Collingsowood, NJ; (17)  D. A. Waite, Jr., Chesapeake Beach, MD.
 

• Advisory Council

The 17 men who are fully qualified to be on the DBS Advisory Council for this new year of 2003 are as follows:  (1) Dr. J. Michael Bates, Newington, CT; (2) Pastor Edward E. DeWitt, Galesburg, IL; (3) Ted Grasser, South Milwaukee, WI; (4) Charles Griggs, Swannanoa, NC; (5) Pastor Danny Hardin, Burnsville, NC; (6) Pastor William Hendricks, Grafton, IL; (7) Dr. Donald Jasmin, West Branch, MI; (8) Pastor St. Solomon Joah, Liberia, West Africa; (9) Douglas O. Nielsen, Shoreview, MN; (10) Dr. Tom Rose, Sioux Falls, SD; (11) Dr. David Sorenson, Deluth, MN; (12) Dr. Ron Tottingham, Sioux Falls, SD; (13) Dr. S. H. Tow, Singapore; (14) Daniel S. Waite, Collingswood, NJ; (15) Dr. Gary Webb, Carboro, NC, and (16) Dr. H. D. Will-iams, Cleveland, GA.

• Inspiration Settled

Our Dean Burgon Society from the 1978 in the very beginning, 25 years ago, in its Articles of Faith, has never stated or believed that the King James Bible (or any translation) was either "inspired," "given by inspiration of God," or "God-breathed" (all of which mean the same thing).  There has been some confusion on this throughout our DBS history.  The leaders of the DBS, at their 2002 Executive Committee meeting, by an overwhelming ballot vote, decided to re-affirm and clarify our DBS position in this  area.  Our Articles of Faith clearly limit "inspiration" or "inspired" or "God-breathed" to the Words of the Old Testament Hebrew or Aramaic and the New Testament Words of Greek that the Lord, caused the writers to put down in writing.  There is no reference whatsoever that any translation, whether in English, French, German, Italian, or in any other language should properly be termed either "inspired," "given by inspiration of God," or "God-breathed" (all terms meaning the same thing).

• DBS Articles

Here is a quotation from a portion of the DBS Articles of Faith (1978) as to what we believe about the Bible:

A.  THE BIBLE.

We believe in the plenary, verbal, Divine inspiration of the sixty‑six canonical books of the Old and the New Testaments (from Genesis to Revelation) in the original languages, and in their consequent infallibility and inerrancy in all matters of which they speak (2 Timothy 3:16‑17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). The books known as the Apocrypha, however, are not the inspired Word of God in any sense whatsoever. As the Bible uses it, the term "inspiration" refers to the writings, not the writers (2 Timothy 3:16‑17); the writers are spoken of as being "holy men of God" who were "moved," "carried" or "borne" along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally, plenarily, and verbally inspired, free from any error, infallible, and inerrant, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be inspired. . . .

We, believe that the King James Version (or Authorized Version) of the English Bible is a true, faithful, and accurate translation of  these two providentially preserved Texts, which in our time has no equal among all of the other English Translations. The translators did such a fine job in their translation task that we can without apology hold up the Authorized Version of 1611 and say "This is the WORD OF GOD!" . . .

We believe that all the verses in the King James Version belong in the Old and the New Testaments because they represent words we believe were in the original texts, . . ."

No "Inspired" KJB

If you read the above statements of our DBS Articles of Faith, you must conclude that the only Words that were "inspired by God," "given by inspiration of God," and "God-breathed" were the Words that God caused to be written down in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  The DBS does not believe that any translation in any language (including English) should be referred to in any of these above terms.  Our DBS leaders--all 33 of them--are united in this position.  2 Timothy 3:16 is the central verse for things that are "inspired by God," "given by inspiration of God," and "God-breathed."  It does not refer to translations, no matter how accurate they are.