by Sandy » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:12 pm
Well, first of all, Patterson is not "the Master," and giving to projects that enhanced the residential comfort of he and his wife on the seminary campus is not the same thing as the women who bathed Jesus' feet with perfume. Second, neither is Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in any way the equivalent of Jesus. The woman who anointed his feet was involved in an act of worship related to the Jewish custom of foot washing, because the Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dinner had been rude by not doing so. I do not believe that buying Steinway pianos for the music school of a seminary is anywhere even remotely connected to the context of that scripture, is certainly not an act of worship, and if it were, would be idolatry.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is an institution which exists to train ministers of the gospel. It is not Jesus, nor is it a church, though I find it hard to justify spending the kind of money on a Steinway piano for a church and equating that to the anointing of Jesus' feet. Raising money to provide an opulent living space for a "president emeritus" and wife, and to furnish a church music school with a particular brand of piano at a cost of six million dollars is nothing more than poor stewardship, especially in light of the fact that Southwestern continues to struggle financially, is laying off employees, including professors, due to rapidly declining enrollment, is raising tuition and fees because of declining cooperative program revenue due to enrollment, and is becoming increasingly unable to perform its mission and purpose. That's just a demonstration of a complete lack of accountability, not to mention misplaced priorities by the trustees, and incredible incompetence of leadership, nothing more. Or blatant selfishness, if you want to put it in those kinds of terms.