The Horsehead Nebula + .#NASA #JPL #ESA #DarkEnergy #DarkMatter
“Comfort can be a dangerous thing. You stick around home all the time where it’s safe and nothing ever changes, and before you know it, you get set in your ways, and you quit learning, you quit changing, you don’t grow anymore.” Frank Peretti
Nasua Baptist Church in Nashua, New Hampshire, is a member church of the SBC. I am becoming more and more concerned that the SBC has not established a directory of pastors who have been accused, or even convicted, of sexual crimes. Will it ever happen? I’m not so sure.
Christa Brown gets a discouraging email from one task force member.
Christa Brown recently wrote a post for Baptist News: It was futile … nothing will change.’ She received an email from a member (whose name is withheld) of the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force.
“Christa, I want to personally apologize to you if anything I did ever gave you hope for change in the SBC. I see now it was futile, and short of a miracle of God, nothing will change. The system as designed will not allow it.”
…I recalled something Jen Lyell told Bob Smietana of Religion News Service in 2022. The SBC is “inherently flawed,” she said. It’s “a billion-dollar operation, overseen mostly by volunteer trustees and with almost no accountability. There’s too much money from too many people flowing into the hands of a few … who are overseen by volunteers. That cannot be fixed.”
She recounts the recent story of the “survivor-hostile amicus brief” as proof that there are forces within the SBC that are working at cross purposes to the abuse task force. In my opinion, that task force group has been relatively quiet of late, making me think that things are not going all that well behind the scenes. I hope something happens that proves me wrong.
The suicide of an SBC child predator
The New York Post wrote that a New Hampshire youth pastor killed himself two days after church fired him for ‘credible’ child sex assault allegations.
Jarrett Booker, 37, had served as the Pastor of Worship and Youth Ministry at Nashua Baptist Church for nearly a decade when his alleged victims came forward last month.
…Officials at Nashua Baptist Church said they became aware of a criminal investigation into the alleged sexual assault just five days before Booker’s suicide.
…A swift internal probe “revealed further evidence of misconduct,” religious leadership said, slamming the accused pervert’s actions as “inexcusable.” The church is cooperating with the criminal investigation and “had encouraged Jarrett to do the same.”
…The church is cooperating with the criminal investigation and “had encouraged Jarrett to do the same.”
The Daily Mail reported on this story in A swift internal probe “revealed further evidence of misconduct,” religious leadership said, slamming the accused pervert’s actions as “inexcusable.”
Booker was a graduate of Liberty University.
Booker’s employment was terminated on November 25 after church officials learned of an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the pastor.
…On November 27 – just two days after his termination – Booker took his own life. The pastor recently celebrated his 11-year-anniversary with his wife Rachel – with whom he shared a son, Eddie.
Here is a statement from Nashua Baptist Church. It appears that the church responded quickly to the allegations.
A heartfelt and transparent response from his wife.
Rachel, his wife, posted her thoughts on Facebook.
The last two weeks have been a blender of emotions, one that is still spinning violently at every turn.Eddie and I are eternally grateful for every prayer and words of encouragement as we are starting to build a life as a team of two.Sin is dark, and it destroys. We hate it, we are grieved by it, and we continue to pray for all of those who have been hurt. JB had his demons, I won’t pretend that he didn’t. His choices caused harm. The hard truth I am learning is that there are questions for him that will go without answers in my lifetime. But I will hold fast to the hope of the Gospel and press in to the church, family, and friends who have not left our side throughout any of this.Eph 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,“
My heart goes out to this young mother with a little child. Imagine the pain she is experiencing. It is beyond comprehension. They were victims of Booker as well.
Finally,
This leaves me with so many questions.
- What is it about churches that attract predators?
- What is it about the SBC that attracts predators?
- Will the SBC find the strength and honor to find a way to follow through with their promises to care for victims in the SBC?
The SBC appears to be appalled that they are in the crosshairs of the abuse crisis in churches. They share that position with the Catholic Church. Like it or not, they have a crisis on their hands, and it behooves them, as well as the Catholic Church, to be at the forefront of exploring why predators come to their churches. I remember when people in my former SBC church said that Catholics attracted abuse because “priests couldn’t marry.” They didn’t understand that predators would continue to molest children even when they were married. That’s what predators do.
There are lots of Reformed Baptists in the SBC. They talk a lot about how God is sovereign. Yet, they seem to want to brush off their leading role in the sex abuse crisis. Like it or not, it continues. They love to talk about being the largest Protestant denomination with lots of money coming into their coffers. They brag about their worldwide missionary program. Yet, as they look at their sex abuse crisis, they appear to stomp their feet, loudly proclaiming, “It’s not fair.” SBC-it is what it is. God is sovereign, and He has handed this opportunity to you. Deal with what is in front of you.
Here is a missionary thought for you. Many people abused in the SBC will walk away from the church and faith. Maybe it’s time to be missionaries to your people in pain. However, as the email to Christa Brown said, “Nothing will change.” Can you live with this?
I was watching the process used to try and fix the abuse problem in a denomination of 44,000 autonomous churches. I predicted it would end up being a cluster and so it has. It’s a complex problem and there is no simple fix. The people who brought up their “fix” were very naive in my opinion.
For instance, do I want my autonomous church to pay for the inevitable lawsuit against Nassau Baptist? Of course not.
______
Finally, can we fix sin? It’s like trying to fix the gun problem in the USA. It doesn’t matter what laws you might conceive of; there is about 500 million guns in the United States and there is actually no way to fix that. So shooting will continue to take place and sexual assaults will never end until the Lord returns.
So let us comfort the victims where we can and point them towards their loving Creator who mourns for His children and would cover them over under his wing and who alone can truly heal at the deepest level.
Dee, I agree that predators’ preference for using churches as their hunting ground has nothing to do with the married/unmarried status of a predator pastor or priest.
There will always be predators.
However, the fact that churches circle the wagons around their male leaders when behavior is questionable is the reason why predators prefer churches. Church community is a protective get-out-of-jail free card as they pass GO to collect $200.
1 John 1 says the exact opposite: Walk in the light, just as Jesus is in the light.
The previous post noted a beloved pastor of extramarital sex activity in a public park. He …
-did that
-lied
-hid it
-kept pastoring
-said cease & desist re: disclosure.
And supportive folks wrote in, wishing to put the whole thing under the rug regarding their Dear Leader.
So … “God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.” John 3.19.
A whole lot of hiding stuff going on in churches. Loving darkness and covering up while hating Light. Sorry to say it’s true.
Love Light or love Darkness. “Choose this day whom you will serve,” we are told.
From the main article up-top:
What is it about churches that attract predators?
Because it’s a lot easier to operate clandestinely in church environments than it is to pursue their sick desires out in regular society.
Sad, but it’s true.
I continue to believe narcissists, people tempted by power, people tempted to prey on children are a super small percentage of the population. But in small town America the people tempted by those things are always going to end up at the biggest church in town.
If you are tempted by power, in so much of America, the church is the most influential institution in town. If you are a narcissist or are tempted by power, the local church is the easiest place to attain the power or adulation you crave.
If you are someone tempted to prey on children, maybe you initially show up at church because you feel guilty. But of course, if that is your temptation you will eventually be tempted to volunteer in youth ministry.
Obviously churches can’t and shouldn’t treat all their congregants as suspicious, but at the same they need to be realistic about the fact that churches are full of sinners and people’s temptations to sin don’t just evaporate when they accept Christ. And not only that, humans are really, really good at hiding their particular temptations. Every church needs a system of accountability for every position of leadership. Eventually, every position of leadership will at some point be filled by someone who tries to take advantage of that position.
Would this sexual abuse in the SBC have been covered up had the FUNDAMENTALIST not taken total control of the SBC in the middle 1980s? I for one think not. The SBC voting that women were to be submissive at the 1998 SBC Convention the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, etc. The SBC leaders do not care about women and so far nothing has happened to change their minds. It breaks my heart!
The church is a culture of compliance. Compliance is baked in, the bible states that the Kingdom of God is not a constitutional monarchy.
It is a top down, authoritarian dictatorship.
Churches use that and some churches embrace that to the point where god and church and pastor or priest become indistinguishable to the point where no matter how heinous the crime, going against the church and it’s representatives is going against god.
Sure this happens in secular institutions, schools, sports teams, hospitals anywhere there’s authority. But god becomes the force multiplier, and he isn’t speaking so those who claim to be his mouthpiece feel they can do whatever they want.
Why churches attract predators, and all other types of persons that may present in a less than reasonable fashion?
Because “church” is the only place in public where you may go with your own theology and beliefs (both secret and public) and not be challenged. All you have to say is, “The Lord has laid ________ on my heart and has led me to say _________.” And it will go unchallenged.
Second, we are too “nice” in church environments. We don’t talk about “sex” or “abuse” or those who prey on others because we don’t talk about such things in church, except to say that these things are “sinful” by “those” who do those things, and of course, they are not in “our church.”
Third, in a complementarian, Neo-Cal culture, churches do not talk about “power dynamics.” God has ordained that those who have been given the “power” are supposed to have it, and if anyone in the congregation challenges that notion, they will be shown the door.
Two cases in point:
In my work as a psychotherapist, I currently see 4 female clients between the ages of 32 and 49 who are married and church goers. in each situation, when these vulnerable women opened themselves for “prayer and counsel” from a church “leader” each were groomed into a sexual relationship and are now working through the pain of having been taken advantage of during their own painful moment. In one case the church member was deemed guilty of “luring the elder into a trap.” No one is held accountable.
In the early 80’s, fresh out of Southeastern, I was interviewing for my first pastorate in Chapel Hill, NC. The committee chair was a nice man, but he said that “God laid two visions on my heart for our next pastor. I have to see a ‘halo’ around his head in a vision, and when he preaches for us in view of a call, someone has to accept Jesus as a result of his sermon.” It was apparent the other committee members thought he was wrong in his expectations, but no one would challenge him. Why? Because when this man stood in church and proclaimed his thoughts, everyone let it stand. In the end, five of the committtee members voted for me to become pastor and he voted against me because “I didn’t see a halo around your head and no one was saved when you preached.” This gentleman was a thorn in my flesh the entire time I served that church.
If you walk into your workplace and proclaim something odd and justify it by saying, “God laid this on my heart”, you will have a visit from HR. If you proclaim something odd to your family at Thankgiving and/or Christmas dinner, you will start family conflict. Stand on the street corner and get in other people’s faces with your proclamations, the police will ask you to desist.
But walk into almost any church meeting or Sunday school class and say, “God told me to say _______.” You will not be challenged. With that as a basic attitude, the church is open to abusive actions because we won’t question those who make “off center” remarks.
Admittedly this is not the only factor leading to abuse in the church, but from my experience as a pastor and mental health therapist it is an overlooked factor. When a predator knows they will not be challenged and know how to present themselves so they will not be questioned, it opens the church to those who wish to prey upon others, whether it be sexual or emotional.
When you put good ole boys in charge of an institution, anything can happen. Fundamentalist “Christians” have been the worst at breaking the most fundamental principles of living in the Kingdom of God. You will know them by their arrogance, not their love.
Luckyforward,
Sadly, the American church is just going to have to get over trusting everyone who calls himself “Pastor.” Churchgoers need to take heed to John’s warning: “Don’t trust every spirit, dear friends of mine, but test them to discover whether they come from God or not. For the world is full of false prophets.” (1 John 4:1 Phillips)
Not being controlled by women deriding/ignoring fundamentalists is not a path (much less a guarantee) for perp-proofing a church. I do think that maybe, just maybe, there would be fewer – perhaps naively though.
The SBC will not change until they have their @$$es handed to them in a few lawsuits.
There is too much money, power, pride, and disdain – all with no accountability.
“Nothing will change.”
SBC is done … it just hasn’t quit yet.
I once had an SBC State leader intervening in a contentious church situation respond to my question “What’s it going to take to change this church?” … his reply: “It’s not going to get any better until the old deacons die.”
Unfortunately, the old guard SBC is being replaced by a more authoritarian bunch of New Calvinists. The “old deacons” are dying, but the “new elders” are alive and well and just as unspiritual as the last characters. Thus, “Nothing will change.”
From my 70+ year perspective as a Southern Baptist (I am now “Done”), I would say that sums it up pretty well.
When the lawsuits start draining the SBC treasury and that news makes local media, millions of members will rethink SBC as their church of choice. It’s all so very sad. I experienced an SBC in the last century which was focused on evangelism and mission … that focus changed to theo-politics vying for king of the mountain. Very little that goes on in the denomination now is pleasing to God.
Max,
Max: They nothing would change from the very beginning. I will call them what they are-evil and liars.
I think my 1st sentence could have been less clunky.
Nothing will change as long as the SBC remains controlled by men who hold the current beliefs and who continue to deride and ignore women.
Perhaps also giving jail time for leaders of the SBC who provide aid/cover for perpetrators? Maybe?
Luckyforward,
You know, I have heard something similar “to G5d laid this on my heart” type of preacher for over 40 years… I have always thought.. boy, I could never want to go around claiming such things, let alone from a pulpit…. a takes a “special kind of person” to have the $%^^ to claim such things…… and many of the them have crashed and burned over the years…
It really is.
In the Bible, there is no such thing as <The Rights of Man (Thomas Paine).
You (generic you), are at the whim and fancy of some earthly potentate or another, up to and including the big Kahuna in the sky.
And good riddance.
Whether they will ever openly admit it or not, the SBC practices, and pushes, Bill Gothard’s umbrella theology That is plain to see in the BF&M 2000. They’ll always take a man’s word over an “easily deceived” woman or child. Men are the only ones that truly matter, and forcing women and children to the bottom of the food chain makes for easy pickings’. When a male predator gets in good with a pastor, or slinks in with a degree from SBTS, etc, …. it’s open season. I believe the inflated egos will not allow change (at least as long as long as sacrificial givers keep the money rolling in), and they will do whatever they can to protect the public image of the SBC…… just look at how fast they changed focus from the abuse task force to women pastors.
Like Max, I left the SBC. I left in 2016, when I finally realized that the SBC had left me a long time ago.
Afterburne,
Afterburner, you are right. Prime Example: Paige Patterson obviously aided, abetted, and protected Darrell Gilyard.
Maybe the Sexual Abuse Task Force and the SBC over promised?
The “SBC” has very little money. It had some reserves, most now gone. It owns 1 building. That’s it.
About $400,000,000 passes from churches through the SBC every year, but this money is from 45,000 independent churches. The SBC cannot make churches give to it.
It could be that the SBC has run into practical difficulties running a database in house. Those difficulties may be created by third parties beyond the SBC’s control, say, insurance companies or law enforcement.
What if, for example, the SBC’s insurers have said, “we won’t insure any losses or pay any legal fees related to the database”?
That would make it impossible for the SBC to operate. Of course, it could start a database, but what church would send money to an organization that has no insurance?
Perhaps this is why Mark Dever is starting a separate missions agency that is not connected to the SBC and is not trying to construct a database? Maybe Rev Dever got the same talk Christa got.
Maybe other pastors and churches, not just Dever, are also on the precipice of starting new missions organizations.
So, the SBC can start a database, become uninsurable, and thus cease to exist. Or the SBC can recognize that it can’t practically do what everyone thinks it should do.
Or maybe there are law enforcement related obstacles.
Who knows?
But whomever is talking to Christa Brown apparently knows and has decided to tell Christa to let her down easy.
Religious people have to realize sometimes that they live in the real world. It’s easy to say you’re going to build a stairway to the stars. But it may not be doable.
Maybe the Sexual Abuse Task Force and the SBC over promised?
The “SBC” has very little money. It had some reserves, most now gone. It owns 1 building. That’s it.
About $400,000,000 passes from churches through the SBC every year, but this money is from 45,000 independent churches. The SBC cannot make churches give to it.
It could be that the SBC has run into practical difficulties running a database in house. Those difficulties may be created by third parties beyond the SBC’s control, say, insurance companies or law enforcement.
What if, for example, the SBC’s insurers have said, “we won’t insure any losses or pay any legal fees related to the database”?
That would make it impossible for the SBC to operate. Of course, it could start a database, but what church would send money to an organization that has no insurance?
Perhaps this is why Mark Dever is starting a separate missions agency that is not connected to the SBC and is not trying to construct a database? Maybe Rev Dever got the same talk Christa got.
Maybe other pastors and churches, not just Dever, are also on the precipice of starting new missions organizations.
So, the SBC can start a database, become uninsurable, and thus cease to exist. Or the SBC can recognize that it can’t practically do what everyone thinks it should do.
Or maybe there are law enforcement related obstacles.
Who knows?
But whomever is talking to Christa Brown apparently knows and has decided to tell Christa to let her down easy.
Religious people have to realize sometimes that they live in the real world. It’s easy to say you’re going to build a stairway to the stars. But it may not be doable.
Hey Tom,
I just got a telephone call from Temp Sparkman’s former teenage girlfriend. Should I forward her to you?
Some years ago there was a book by a business writer titled “the Wisdom of Crowds”. In certain circumstances, groups make better decisions than experts.
And sometimes they make worse decisions. I suspect that there is a phenomenon that one could call “the gullibility of groups.” Someone who is trusted by a certain fraction of the members of a group may be reckoned to be trustworthy by other members of the group on the basis not of objective evidence of trustworthiness but on account of the fact that he is already trusted by a significant number of people. It can have something of the character of a confidence scam.
Withholding trust from new hires until they have earned it may be necessary, but does not seem highly workable when the new hire is someone whose task is to spiritually lead/guide/influence the group. A possible way around this would be to “promote from within” individuals who through long — many years — prior experience have proved their trustworthiness. That would throw a wrench into current pastoral search/hiring practices. It might be that the elders would also turn out to be the eldest.
Sure seems like you are defending the SBC!
Tom Parker,
Sure seems like you’re defending Temp Sparkman.
THE SBC leaders could sure use you as one of their PR persons. I can not believe you typed this and then posted it.
Tom Parker,
Respectfully, I don’t know that it would be terribly different if women were included in leadership. But if someone can point me to a study that shows egalitarian or even matriarchal societies have fewer incidents of child abuse, I’m happy to be persuaded otherwise.
Women are just as prone to abuse of power as men. We just happen not to have as much opportunity.
I’m thinking in particular of two women at a former church of mine. One was borderline fundamentalist, and we had a number of theological differences, but I trusted her integrity and her ability to speak the truth even in difficult situations. The other was married to an elder. She and I were more in line theologically, but I did not trust her. She struck me as too much in love with being in the inner circle to be counted on when push came to shove.
Oracle at Delphi,
Maybe the Sexual Abuse Task Force and the SBC over promised?
Or, maybe they just said what they felt they had to say to shut people up so they could move on. Believe me, I have some serious doubts.
The “SBC” has very little money. It had some reserves, most now gone. It owns 1 building.
Due, in large part, because the SBC high rollers love living large… mansions in gated communities, chauffeurs, extravagant parties, African safaris…..
Perhaps this is why Mark Dever is starting a separate missions agency that is not connected to the SBC
Or, maybe Mark Dever is just all about Mark Dever.
So, the SBC can start a database, become uninsurable, and thus cease to exist.
The SBC has been shrinking for several years, and the loss has nothing to do with being uninsurable.
Or maybe there are law enforcement related obstacles.
Yeah. Like being guilty of covering up crimes, harassing victims, and aiding and abetting predators.
I was involved in SBC churches for a long, long time. They aren’t getting anymore of my money….. and I walked out about 21/2 years before the sexual abuse revelations.
Willy Sutton robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.”
Predators go where they can find prey.
You’re agreeing with me that won’t happen in the institutions we have which have abolished Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but their personnel do need to be told the Gospel before we go off and believe somewhere. The difference is that I don’t turn up my nose at encouragement from the likes of Christa, whose comments apply to theology altogether, even more than to specific proceeedings.
Jack,
The public face of the churches enforced by its materialist media machinery says the Bible says that, very much so. According to the religious establishment, there is nothing more to “christian” religion than that anyway.
Tom Parker,
You’ve just defined gender theology which insults non-linears like myself.
Oracle at Delphi made a most insightful comment as to the issues for the SBC trying to make this work. I think Oracle is exactly right.
I think you made this up, but if it did happen and is true what he did was wrong. But this is one case and the FUNDAMENTALIST leadership since the 1990s has had hundreds and maybe thousands.
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
Before there was an SBC, before there was Al Mohler, before there was Mark Dever, before there was New Calvinism … there was Jesus! Long after SBC is gone, Jesus will still be there. Folks just need to keep the Main Thing the main thing and let celebrities and institutions that support them fade into obscurity. But before they leave, they need to identify and deal harshly with those who used and abused the Body of Christ.
The lure of the inner ring has crippled many. Bad-boy pastors get away with bad-boy things because of yes-men elders who love the power and prestige of being called “elder” even though many of them are not qualified to hold that sacred office.
senecagriggs,
“Can we fix sin?” – this is basically what I was going to write.
I think the problem is pride. Churches don’t reckon with the limitations and inherent sinfulness of human beings. Churches teach Jesus has fixed sin in us. I don’t think Paul teaches that. I think he teaches a new heart and the Spirit in a vessel of flesh – two opposing forces. One day, we get a new body – not today. Churches teach people to stay naive about evil. Paul teaches that deceitful people take advantage of naïveté. Because we don’t understand we still war against the flesh, we think it’s perfectly fine to put people in positions of unaccountable authority. We never even stop to question why such people would want to be in such positions.
There is no solution except the return of Christ and the redemption of our bodies…except there is a way forward. It’s to humble ourselves and receive God’s grace. If churches can adopt a “low anthropology”, the reality of our doublemindedness, limitations, and self-centered sinfulness, we can begin to see ourselves as we are. Our expectations can recover from narcissistic delusion. We can form churches that understand the dilemma of being human instead of incubate some type of American exceptionalism that extends even to individuals.
Even humility won’t protect us from sin. But maybe we’ll start to understand the need for accountability and consequences, without which there can be no grace, mercy, or forgiveness.
Oracle at Delphi,
Thank you for your comment. I know that you know about the SBC. I am confused. Are you saying that the SBC is a separate entity from the NAMB? We understand that the NAMB owns property/ houses, etc.
The SBC has put itself into a bit of a pickle. It claimed it was going to do the right thing. Instead, it has allowed for the cover-up of abusers for a long time. It is a Christian entity that has behaved like a secular institution. Sometimes, it is worse than a secular group (Don’t get me started.)
I am watching two groups picking at each other and believe there may be a fundamental split in the SBC and two new groups formed.
Given Dever’s track record, it is better to be rid of him. He still refuses to pull his endorsement of CJ Mahaney, who is now a faithful SBC member himself. What a disaster.
I predict the continuing decline of the organization. The leaders will say our society is drifting from faith. However, many have said they have left over the abuse crisis. The SBC has achieved something I know they avoided. They are no different than the Catholic church.
Yes, Ik now. that there are many faithful. The same goes for the Catholic church. I wonder how God will deal with this at the end of time.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat,
Lather, Rinse, Repeat,
Lather, Rinse, Repeat,
Lather, Rinse, Repeat,
Lather, Rinse, Repeat,
Praising GOD and Singing Hymns all the way.
Moving in the SPIRIT instead of the FLESH like all those Heathens.
So what else is new?
There are over 30,000 One and Only True Churches Founded By Christ in 33 AD; what’s one or two more?
“WE THANK THEE, LOOOOOOORD, THAT WE ARE NOTHING LIKE THOSE SECULAR HUMANIST HEATHEN SPAWN OF SATAN SURROUNDING US…”
“BLAME CANADA!
BLAME CANADA!
BEFORE ANYONE CAN THINK OF BLAMING US!”
18-year-old Mormon Missionaries are also called “elder”.
The difference is they have a sense of humor about the title vis-a-vis their age and inexperience.
(Ding Dong!) “HELLO! MY NAME IS ELDER YOUNG!”
These Not-a-Mormon Elders(TM) are obsessed with their title and position, with all the intense unsmiling humorless concentration of a religious fanatic.
In Christianese, “WHO GETS TO SIT AT HIS RIGHT AND LEFT HAND! ME! NO, ME! NO, ME!”
Remember how the Twelve bickered about it until the Rabbi from Nazareth shut them down? Hard?
“GOD LIVES IN THE REAL WORLD.” — Rich Buhler, Eighties talk-show host
But a lot of Religious people(TM) don’t.
More Spiritual than God?
“Open your workbooks and turn with me
To the chapter on Authority;
Do you top the chain of command?
Rule your family with an iron hand?
“Because a goodwife learns to cower
Beneath the Umbrella of POWER,
From the cover of Heaven’s Gate —
I. MANIPULATE.”
— Steve Taylor, “I Manipulate”
If you remember the ORIGINAL definition of “Taking God’s Name in Vain”, it didn’t involve cussing at all.
“The phrase “GOD Laid This on My Heart’ should be approached with the same caution and forethought as the phrase ‘Please Castrate Me’.”
Where the Prey congregate, the Predators will swarm.
And there is no better cover than GAWD(TM).
Both Cover and Cosmic-level Justification.
“In ‘that day’ many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we preach in your name, didn’t we cast out devils in your name, and do many great things in your name?’ Then I shall tell them plainly, ‘I have never known you. Go away from me, you have worked on the side of evil!’” (Matthew 7:22-23 Phillips)
Max,
That verse always scared me. But I once had a pastor who said if it scared you, then you had nothing to be scared of!
He’s right. I guess such Scripture doesn’t scare these bad-boy pastors, but I doubt seriously if any of them were really meant to be pastor; it’s a sacred office that comes with a Spirit within you to cause you to walk the straight and narrow. I have never known a ‘real’ pastor who used and abused anyone. Most of these characters ‘went’ into ministry; they were not ‘called’ into it by Holy God … in my humble, but accurate, opinion. So, Matthew 7:22-23 awaits them at the pearly gate.
It’s better to have the hell scared out of us on this side of eternity!
Headless Unicorn Guy,
I agree
Christa’s quote of the person on the SBC Task Force is cryptic because we don’t know the person speaking or the circumstances surrounding the quote. I have surmised that it may relate to the matter of trying to start a database. Rumor is that there are some real obstacles to starting that. I believe the idea of a database has been a significant goal of Christa and others.
I missed the part of this relating to NAMB.
To answer your question relating to NAMB and the SBC, they are 2 separate legal entities. The SBC messengers select Trustees for NAMB, and in recent years the entities have voted to make the SBC the sole member of the entities. So, while they are separate entities, those connections may have implications in legal matters.
As to whether there will be a split, it’s hard to say. I suspect rather than a split, we will see different churches moving toward different emphases and cultures.
Long before there was a Calvinist or Reformed takeover of the SBC there was sexual abuse. Even in tiny little churches in the sandhills.
The problem isn’t Calvinism. It isn’t Catholic theology.
I will go out on a limb and say it is too many unsaved pastors, unsaved deacons or elders, unsaved mama’s and daddy’s, and unsaved members in general.
Dead people stink.
What is it about churches that attract predators?
What is it about the SBC that attracts predators?
I submit that the answer is hidden in plain sight. Pastors and other church workers are among the most unsupervised and unaccountable people in any line of work. A predator desires power and freedom from accountability. Both are available in most American churches.
An idea of an internal data base contrasts with the God Who knows, while ones created by outside journalists have often been more objective hitherto, and the SBC – well God is scratching His head saying what’s that this week?
It’s “well meaning” to say that ideally, this idea shouldn’t hit organisational snags.
Meantime why don’t ordinary christians critique the so called “doctrines” in their sermons and paperbacks, and why don’t they discern the actual dynamics among their bosses. It was ordinary christians that were supposed to have the relationship with God. All the books in the Bible OT and NT are diatribes against bad churches.
In the unlikely event that the organisational side gets sorted – or similar in the RCC or C of E – that was never going to be good reason for ordinary believers to stop resorting to God. Because the next wave of angels of light and excuse makers might be waiting in the wings – who knows! When I was at my mother’s knee she never said I should believe in the hierarchs (even my priest didn’t say so but perhaps he was “rigid” (TM)).
My friends’ friend’s friend was impacted when his molestor committed suicide on the eve of trial. In the same not very extended region, my parents’ old church leader joked as he strew the ashes of a (non suicided) molestor around the garden of a clergy training college – after having been cautioned for at least one of his other cover ups. And a writer testified to his being molested and stonewalled, after the said leader deceased (he would have been accused of upsetting an apple cart if he hadn’t waited).
The value of Christa’s insights is more apparent when we apply it across all of theology.
Especially in NeoCal elder-ruled churches. It is customary for NeoCal church planters fresh out of SBC seminaries to handpick yes-men elders. In my area, there are 20-30 year old NeoCal “pastors” with like-minded elder boards of same age. Think about it, 20-30 year old “elders”! In such churches, with no congregational governance, the “pastor” can darn well do whatever he wants to.
And to actually don’t need a 20-30 year old Founding Lead Pastor.
Among an Inner Ring of 20-something Elders, Groupthink can also function as a Cult Leader.