Biblical Sources of Phrases in Common Use: A House Divided

In Alabama, we take our football very seriously.  An Auburn fan who marries an Alabama fan usually will remain an Auburn fan, and vice versa.  Most people make the most of the situation and express their school loyalties with good humor toward one another .  Of course, there are always a few who do not.

Other similar university rivalries include: Ohio State and Ohio, Louisville and Kentucky,  Michigan and Michigan State,  Purdue and Indiana, Idaho and Boise State, and many others.

“A house divided” is sometimes also used for familial differences in political philosophy or religion.  A  famous use of the phrase was during the American Civil War in United States President Abraham Lincoln’s House Divided Speech.

The origin of the phrase is in Matthew 12:25, where Jesus says, “... Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:”

  

Southern Baptists Elect First Black President

On 19 June 2012 the Southern Baptist Convention unanimously elected the extremely popular Pastor Fred Luter (b. 1956, Louisiana, USA) as its president.  This had national significance because Pastor Luter is black. 

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the world’s largest Baptist group and is the largest Protestant body in the United States. The SBC is evangelical, congregational, and  insists on only believer’s baptism (they are anti-pedobaptists). The Convention was founded in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia (USA) during a dispute with Northern Baptists over slave ownership.  The Northerners refused to allow the appointment of slaveholders to positions of authority.

After the United States Civil War , most of the black Baptists in the American South withdrew to form their own organizations, culminating in 1895 with the National Baptist Convention.

Though the majority of Southern Baptists have long since left behind their embarrassing origins, it was not until 1995 that the group officially renounced and apologized for its racist origins.  By 2008, the SBC had over one million black members.

General Robert E. Lee on the Bible

"There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible Word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit."  Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870), Commanding general of the Confederate Army of Virginia during the American Civil War.