by Wade Burleson » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:20 am
William,
Thanks for pointing out the faulty link. Attribution for your quote about Julie Pennington-Russell has been corrected. I realize that you are not sure how you feel about airing the problems at Tom Hatley's church, but since the Georgia Baptist Convention has very little problem airing their "displeasure" at FBC Decatur, and since the Convention is now making a "disfellowship" move toward FBC, Decatur I am putting the Convention leadership on notice that this action will not be done without other Southern Baptists being direct, and at times sharp, in our questioning of their intended course. However, If I were reading my post impartially, I would come away believing my words to be much more critical towards Dr. White, the Executive Director of the Georgia Baptist Convention. His integrity is at stake. I use the situation at IBC and pastor Tom Hatley as illustrative of what you call: (1) the highly selective practice of disfellowshipping, (2) the poor handling of disfellowshipping a church, (3) the shadow of stupidity cast on all the SBC because of GBC, (4) the difficulty or impossibility to justify the action on the basis of consistency, and (5) the lack of kingdom value in such an action. Those pushing to disfellowship from FBC Decatur argue they are being "faithful" to the biblical text. I am asking, as loudly as I can, "What about all the other qualities the Bible commands a pastor to possess? Are you going to disfellowship from those churches who call pastors who lack self-control, gentleness, etc . . . or are you simply singling out those churches that call a "female"?" Obviously, I believe that we should leave both churches, IBC, Rogers and FBC, Decatur alone, and let the local church practice their autonomy without interference from outsiders. My post is to point out the inconsistency of the act of disfellowship.
To your point number four, which affirms precisely what I am saying, I would like to add two thoughts:
First, there is a measure of consistency in this new found practice of Convention's or SBC agencies "disfellowshipping," "removing," or "publicly denigrating" those who disagree with various interpretations of the sacred text. Those in power are always the ones who determine what should be believed, and those in power are the ones always removing the dissenters.
Second, until those without the power are unafraid to confront such un-christian, absurd and definitely un-baptistic abuses of power by SBC trustee and denominational leaders, there will never be a stop put to it in the Southern Baptist Convention.
I am doing my part to make it end.
Wade
Last edited by
Wade Burleson on Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The world is too dangerous to live in - not because of the people who do evil but because of the people who sit and let it happen.
Albert Einstein