Tag: SBC

Of the Shortcomings of Internet Conventions and a Thought on the SBC-AM 2023

pastortravislv

On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 13-14, the Southern Baptist Convention took place in New Orleans and was live streamed all over the world. As is the custom, Twitter (and I’m sure other social media platforms was) awash in vitriolic claims from groups on opposite sides of issues accusing all who disagree with them of heresy, cruelty, misogyny, effeminacy, and perhaps of kicking little puppies. As someone who has both attended such conventions in person and watched them on-line, I believe that Christians need to be extremely careful in forming impressions of convention activities from streams and social media. The stream can be a helpful tool. And the stream can be misleading.

What is helpful? For those who have an interest in what is taking place in the convention, the live stream offers the chance to watch motions and debates. The streamer gets to see the outcome of a vote without that information being delayed or filtered through a media source. Watching a stream allows viewers to hear and evaluate an argument as it is made rather than through a summary of the presenter’s points. And the stream can, from time-to-time, allow a viewer at home to laugh along with the light and sweet moments on the convention floor—such as a motion to hold the convention in Hawaii in 2028.

With favorable things well in hand, we must be cautious regarding negatives that we recognize in other forums but which we often fail to acknowledge regarding the SBC and other such conventions. The Southern Baptist Convention is far more than a simple business meeting. In real experience, the convention is a two-day gathering including worship, fellowship, and frank conversation far beyond the public microphone. Messengers who gather and who treat the convention as it deserves take the time to pray together, sing together, sit under the word together, and reaffirm love for one another.

Closely associated with the togetherness of the convention is the feel, the spirit, the mood of the event. I’m here thinking about an intangible feature of having ten thousand like-minded folks together seeking to collectively honor the Lord. During the pandemic years, many churches learned that watching a church service online, while better than nothing, is nothing like the true experience of gathering together with the people of God. Seeing smiling faces, shaking hands and hugging necks, and hearing collective voices make a massive difference in how one interprets the event itself. This is true on any Sunday morning. It is also true in a massive convention. Quite often, when watching the convention from afar, I have misinterpreted the mood of the room simply because I only heard the voices from the microphones. Trustworthy pastors I know and love tell me that, from the convention hall itself, the mood, the feel, the tone was far different than the rancorous feel I perceived from my PC.

Watching the event on-line and interpreting it through Twitter is a recipe for misunderstanding and misconstruing the motives of others. Users of Twitter seem to have no compunction against declaring the dastardly rationale behind why the moderator of the meeting took a moment before calling for a vote on a motion. Keyboard warriors lambast the folly of any person who does not agree with their particular method of facing down a problem. Faithful ministers of the gospel are often summarily dismissed, even when making a good point, for not agreeing with the sniping commentator about something utterly irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Bottom line, the social media filter will sour nearly anything one sees through the video, and being apart from the room allows for very little balancing data to help the observer come to a faithful conclusion. We all are likely aware that people say meaner things in a nastier way on-line than they would dare say in a face-to-face conversation. We should be careful not to let this happen to us as we interpret what we see from the conventions’ live stream.

For the sake of full disclosure, I need to say that I am not serving at an SBC church. I am a graduate of SBTS, and I dearly love Southern Baptists and am grateful for all I have been given. I saw things on-line from the 2023 SBC with which I was in strong agreement and things with which I strongly disagreed. I affirm the move of the SBC to declare Saddleback and other churches with female pastors as not in friendly cooperation with the SBC. I support the amendment to clarify this issue in the SBC constitution. I’m glad the BF&M was updated to speak of pastors/elders/overseers for the sake of biblical clarity, though I agree that the amending of the statement must be a slower process in future. I was disappointed to hear the ERLC position as presented from the platform on the prosecution of women who seek to end a human life, though I am assured by friends who were there that more helpful answers were given off-mic. I would have liked to see more faithful guardrails erected regarding accusations and the ARITF while seeing the work of combating abuse in the SBC continued; and, again, I am assured by friends who were in non-streamed meetings that such things are not being ignored.

Having spoken to people who were in the building, I also am deeply grateful for their experience of the godliness and kindness of people at the meeting. While there will always be an exception in a twelve thousand person business meeting, my friends experienced godly attitudes, biblical thinking, sincere worship, and sweet humility. Attending other sessions and gatherings during the convention, my friends have come away from NOLA with a good taste in their mouths about the SBC. Because these men are generally happy and godly men who are not putting a bunch of their own thoughts and experiences on-line, you may not realize that this is the view of many of the messengers who were present.

Looking back at the meeting, I am making some personal commitments. I will not demonize those who see issues differently than me. I will disagree, and perhaps strongly disagree with them, but I will not assume their motives or falsely accuse them of treachery in their tactics because of Twitter. And I would argue that neither should you. If you are barely informed on the issues—especially if your info comes from social media—be slow to assume you know what is going on. If you have not actually met or spoken graciously to someone who disagrees with you, be hesitant to tell the world what you think of their motives.

What then should we do with a live stream of a convention? We should be grateful for the tool. But we should recognize that tool’s shortcomings. Use the stream to observe, but know that your observation is deeply limited. Be extremely careful not to be overly influenced, especially emotionally influenced, by what you read on Twitter. Hold fast to your convictions. Make the case for what you believe. But do not assume that social media allows you to ignore the fruit of the Spirit, especially love, peace, patience, and kindness.

How the Mighty Have Fallen: A Call for Character as We Respond to the Paige Patterson Situation

pastortravislv

What do you do when those who oppose you are hurt or defeated? How do you react when those who would make themselves your enemies are put in their place? Do you rejoice? Do you sing?

David sang when King Saul met his end. But when David sang at the death of Saul, it was not a song of celebration. Even though Saul had chased him and attempted to murder him, David sang in genuine sorrow over the death of the king.

2 Samuel 1:17-19 – 17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18 and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:
19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How the mighty have fallen!

It is interesting that, in our world, the snippet of this Scripture passage that is well known is the phrase, “How the mighty have fallen!” You hear that line in the mouths of movie characters quite often. Unfortunately the line is often delivered with a sneer. Good guys or bad guys in the movies like to rejoice when people on the other side get their comeuppance.

But if we were to handle this rightly and learn from David’s example, we would learn that, even when those who were our enemies face their ends, we should experience grief. Even when the evil schemes of mean-spirited people are exposed, we should not rejoice in their pain. Of course we can and should rejoice when justice is done and when righteousness prevails. But, when people hurt, when people fall, when people die, our hearts should also have in them a sorrow for the fact that people had to come to judgment rather than repentance.

To risk a politically charged example, I think to myself of how some are likely responding to the recent removal of Paige Patterson as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Patterson’s pattern of incautious comments and the offense they caused as they were seen together made it impossible for the trustees of the seminary to keep Patterson as the school’s head. I’ll not speak to other accusations of cover-ups and the rest, as I know nothing and have no right to suspect things.

The reason I bring up Patterson, however, is the fact that there will be many on the Internet who will celebrate. Patterson has certainly not always been kind or fair in his criticisms of others. He has often spoken of the reformed or of Calvinists with a smug dismissal. I have heard him say things regarding the exegesis of biblical passages that I believe he has to know are untenable. And the harsh edge of those sorts of comments has certainly widened the divide between Patterson and those with whom he disagrees. Thus, there may be many who would, with a sneer, say, “How the mighty have fallen.”

But, Christians, let us remember that there is nothing godly about rejoicing in the fall of a brother in Christ. While we may think that the seminary trustees of SWBTS have done the right thing, there is nothing godly about somebody doing a little Internet victory dance. There is nothing godly about rejoicing in something that has brought so much hurt to many Southern Baptists who are deeply upset by Patterson’s removal.

Let’s learn from David. When a person who has opposed us falls, let us mourn. It would be so much nicer to see those who oppose us turn from that opposition and graciously change their views. It would be beautiful to have people live with character, above reproach, and with biblical fidelity in all things. But neither we nor those who think we are nuts actually live in perfect faithfulness. I’m sure that I will find, before my life comes to an end, that there are doctrinal issues I’ve missed. I would far rather have the Lord bring me to change gently than for him to have to bring my life and ministry crashing down. And If I would want the Lord to change me gently, how could I ever rejoice when a brother in Christ, flawed like me, is hit hard with the consequences of his own actions? May we give the grace that we wish to receive. May we always take the high road. May we lament at the fall of anyone, especially those who are genuine believers, regardless of whether or not they have been nice to us or our positions.

In this, I am not at all defending anyone. I believe that, in the case of Paige Patterson, his removal from the seminary presidency was overdue. But I can also mourn for the hurt all this has caused and pray that God use this time of sorrow at SWBTS and the SBC for good as he works out his plans for his glory. And I can pray that God have mercy on us all, as it is only the grace of God that keeps any of us from sinful self-destruction.