by Gene Scarborough » Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:56 pm
Let me be quite frank: I don't trust the current SBC historians not to redact history!!!
I was priviledged to work with Catherine Allen on her Lottie Moon biography. The reason was that she served as a school teacher for a plantation owner in Bishopville, SC, as she made her journey to Rome, Ga. As pastor, I heard the story from a couple of old ladies and pursued it with pictures of the outbuilding and still standing plantation house. Ms. Allen was quite grateful for the added information on her life.
As I talked and corresponded with Catherine Allen, I found her to be down-to-earth and simply wanting to convey as complete a story as possible. No theology involved. Just the truth as best she could discover it!
On the other hand, now Paige Patterson has managed to come by her mission station remnants and who knows what else. Instead of immediately conveying them to WMU headquarters where they belong, he has them under investigation at SWBTS. Who knows what will come from this?
I know for a fact, Dr. Nathan Finn, current Professor of SBC HIstory at SEBTS, is working hard to redact the story of N. Rocky Mount Baptist Church where I served as Pastor. Their place in SBC history is that they took a fundamentalist pretender of a Pastor to court in NC over ownership of the church property. The case is entitled Johnson vs. N. Rocky Mount Baptist Church and occurred in the late 50's in NC. It dealt with the central question: Which is the real Southern Baptist congregation entitled to ownership of the property deeded "as long as it remains a SBC church?" It set legal precedent in NC and was cited as a pivotal event in SBC history in the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists. It was affirmed all the way to the NC State Supreme Court that the minority in the formal vote was the real SBC congregation. They had the property returned to them.
Dr. Finn and I have debated the issue on SBCLife with him contending that there was nasty stuff being done by the NCBSC and others to deprive the congregation of its autonomy in deciding to leave the SBC and N. Rocky Mount Association. It is my contention, based on the court transcript and members still living, that the minority was telling this sneaky pastor that he played games with emotions and got 51% to vote to leave in a meeting poorly announced and based on faulty information given by that Bob Jones-educated fundamentalist rascal.
I know this redaction attempt personally. I am not surprised with the attempt to prove Lottie Moon was a conservative and left Toy over theological differences. It makes as much sense as the claim that Southern Baptists are really Calvinists.
Please, SBC leadership, quit the chuck-and-jive to prove you are right. If you were really "right," then there would be no need to re-write (redact) history to fit your view.
I appreciate the fair and balanced views presented by William in his blog. It fits my picture that Lottie was more concerned about the lost souls of China than the preservation of some theological "orthodoxy."
Last edited by
Gene Scarborough on Sun Aug 07, 2011 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gene Scarborough