SBC Blogger Charged w/ Sexual Assault

[Gene Scarborough]

That's OK by me---I am just trying to say "I know by personal experience people are not always as they appear and the fakers are hard to detect at times."

It goes back to the Reaction-Formation Psychosis thing. The key to detecting a fake is that it's "too much" of a show.

I fail to see any "looking foolish" stuff in this.

William---do you know anything about psychosis or neurosis?

[Dave Roberts]

Actually, we don't know if this was a seminary student or a college student enrolled through the efforts to pump up FTE's on seminary campuses by letting people get their bachelor's degree there as well. That's really irrelevant, but the assumption that the perpertrator and victim were both future ministers may or may not be warranted.

Actually, the seminary seems totally uninvolved in this. SEBTS did not have a role in reporting the crime, as far as I can see, and I have seen no comment from the seminary on the matter.

BTW, human sin seems to know no theological boundaries. It exists just as surely among the CR crowd as among any other group in society.

[William Thornton]

[William Thornton]

[Gene Scarborough]

I think we all must do a careful examination of human nature which is the basis of Psychology.

All humans want to keep their ego intact and view themselves as better than others = sinless. We all know that is not true, but the more people try to appear perfect, the more they provide Satan with good tools to work with!

We are all sexual beings and that is one of our greatest things for Satan to play with. At SEBTS, he has wrought a great public scandal to allow people to say, "That's just the way the 'righteous' are!"

We have much egg on our faces with sexual matters not being addressed to keep the perverts out of the clerical collar. Normally, when churches had to recommend anyone for a student at any seminary, that was the protection of local knowledge.

[Gene Scarborough]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Haruo]

Hopefully wherever he goes from here, he will be scrutinized. Forgiveness is a great thing, but not the greatest, and it can easily be manipulated by the recidivism-inclined penitent.

[Gene Scarborough]

Isn't it so sweet that SEBTS is such a forgiving place---would that were true before Lolley was forced out!!!!

We can forgive the sordid activities, but can't forgive Lolley for not kissing the hind parts of CR = go figure!!

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[Dave Miller]

Two things have bothered me in the reaction to this tragedy:

1) The speculation and rush to fill in facts that were not known (and seem now not to be true).
2) The use of this sad situation to promote personal agendas.

This is a tragedy and it is only made worse by this kind of behavior.

I have been in contact with Billy and he has given permission to me to share his story. I have not spoken to any law enforcement, nor read the charges against Billy. This is his story, and it has been consistent. I want to speak clearly, because my words have been twisted fairly egregiously by at least one blogger as he has advanced his agenda.

1) I am not a "defender" of Billy or of his actions. I am his friend. What he did was sinful and awful - and he admits this. I am grieved by his actions as is he. I do not plan to throw him under the bus, but I want to stand by him as a friend. He committed a sin, which was also a crime. But he did not reach the end of God's grace and I am not going to treat him like an outcast.
2) Billy has admitted to touching a fellow student inappropriately while that student was asleep. Not drugged. Not drunk. Not incapacitated or bound, as some have speculated here and elsewhere. Asleep.
3) He has admitted to touching the student, and to nothing else. Some have speculated about what the crime was. Billy has only confessed to touching. When the case goes to court (if it does) the facts will be legally established.
4) Billy has been broken and repentant in every communication with me.
5) Billy asked for prayer, especially for the person he hurt.

Those are the facts as Billy presents them. I am sure that this will not stop those who want to speculate from speculation or those who want to advance an agenda from advancing an agenda.

[Gene Scarborough]

Dave---

You run the blog I used to be on. It was a waste of time for me to be there since, like Sandy, you are convinced of your righteousness. This sharing of facts different from the published story is needed and I'm going to take your word.

Do you have any idea where the "drugged roomate" part of this story got started?

Either way, your compassion is admirable and I would try to do the same even though I too do not condone using people for sexual gratification. Since the man has shared his story, has he also shared why he preferrs same-sex stuff so I know you are beginning to understand homosexuality and some of its causes?

[Dave Roberts]

[Tim Bonney]

David Miller has mentioned agendas. So far the agendas I have seen have been to try to make this about the Takeover/CR. That's just patently unrelated to this situation.

The other possible agenda he could be referring to would be the concern that denominations need to have some way to keep track of offenders for the safety of the church. I honestly see that agenda as being related to this issue. And I don't think it is inappropriate to talk about how we deal with clergy or persons in the process of becoming clergy when they fall. Every denomination has to deal with this no matter what their polity. There has been a lot of criticism from Christa Brown and others about how the SBC has (or hasn't) dealt with these issues. I think that is a valid concern that comes up any time such a moral failure occurs. After all, no one would be talking about it if a problem didn't come up.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

"Mentally incapacitated and physically helpless" - that's the description from the arrest warrant.

The accused - per Dave's relay - says the student was sleeping. It seems Birch would disagree with the description included in the warrant.

The police charged him with sexual assault.

Birch has admitted to "touching a fellow student inappropriately"

That itself is vague.

My guess - in light of Dave's claim that Billy has "ONLY confessed to.." - is that the facts will be in dispute and a jury will have to make a determination with regard to what is and is not "fact"

I don't see much agenda promoting going on though. I see Gene ranting as he often does. I honestly don't read Gene when he starts sounding utterly absurd.

[William Thornton]

After almost a week of reading about this on the blogs, I'm thinking that once he was arrested, he was unwise to confess any details at all to another and then give permission to put it on the blogs. The general issue of our promise for prayers and that justice be done would be sufficient.

I have respect for Dave Miller and his sense of propriety but surely Birch has a defense attorney who will give him the standard counsel not to say anything further because it cannot help him.

Unless there is some discussion left here that is profitable, I make the suggestion that we drop this. If Gene wants to start a general ihatethenewSEBTS topic, he may certainly do so.

[Wade Burleson]

[Dave Roberts]

I would still like someone to respond to how they know these things were swept under the rug pre-takeover. That seems to me the most gratuitous and blantant character assassination without citing any form of evidence. What think you, William?

[Dave Roberts]

I commend Wade for a very clear and accurate statement.

[William Thornton]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

A really great, clear comment from Wade.

Like I said a few times earlier, the arrest warrant stated "MENTALLY CAPACITATED AND PHYSICALLY HELPLESS"

That's been repeatedly demonstrated to be specific legal language. I asked my brother-in-law, a police officer in Killeen-Fort Hood about that phrasing. He said that the language clearly means that the officer believed that the victim was not simply sleeping.

I noticed on Wade's blog that numerous individuals were trying to downplay this sexual assault as "inappropriate touching." I wish Dave were outraged that some who claim to have spoken with Birch are trying to characterize felony assault as something merely inappropriate.

"Touching" just doesn't sound bad to most - that's why predators often try to characterize their actions in this manner. But most who understand what "touching" actually often involves in the case of sexual predators, knows that "touching" is actually "sexual assault" - the crime Birch was charged with.

Why is anyone taking Birch's word or suggesting even that we might be able to trust Birch's word?

Also, I understand the sin is a sin is a sin point. We're all sinners, etc. But I think it's problematic when we describe a sex crime as a "moral failure." In our society, most people who hear of a sex-related "moral failure" are going to think about a man cheating on his wife.

There has to be stronger language used than a "moral failure" for a sexual assault. Honestly, I think when non-evangelicals hear that type of language used, they question whether folks really understand the seriousness of the matter.

[Neil Heath]

In reply to Wade's comment that he posted here so Google's search engine couldn't reach it--one of the registered users that shows up in my list of who's online is "Google [bot]".

It's one of several bots that do indeed crawl these pages, so it may be that your post will show up on search results.

[Haruo]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

I know you can find BaptistLife.com posts via Google Searches but it really takes some digging (from my experience)

The same is generally true for comments left on blog posts.

Blog posts themselves, of course, are going to pop up in Google searches and Google alerts.