Pittsylvania Association Protest

                                                                                                                               Vol. V, No. 3, June 1992

Directors of Pittsylvania Baptist Association voted 60% to 40% on Feb. 18 to send protest letters to Averett College in Danville and to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, regarding seminary professor Molly T. Marshall's lecture at the college. The motion to send the letter was made by Rev. William C. Blalock, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Danville. Professor Marshall delivered two lectures at Averett in January. A conservative group, Concerned Baptist Laymen, based in Danville, protested what was reported to have been said by Marshall regarding biblical images of God.

The text of the Pittsylvania Association motion expressed "our displeasure and disapproval of your (Averett) allowing professor Molly Marshall, or any other professor, whether guest speaker or as a member of the faculty, to express and expound such views as God having no gender. Jesus is always presented to us in the New Testament with a masculine gender, and He certainly referred to His Father in the masculine gender. For example: John 10:10 and John 14:9. We respectfully request that you give prayerful consideration to this matter and take corrective action. [BP]