IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DUCK ...
Vol. XI, No. 3, March 1998
[Editorial Introduction: This is a first person account of one family’s experience in a Virginia Baptist church. These events occurred within the last twelve months. There is no desire to embarrass any individual or local church, and therefore names and location have been omitted. Should a reader have a valid reason to validate the events, he may contact me and I will call the author and find out whether he would be willing to talk with the inquirer. I have placed two passages in bold print because I will comment upon them at the end of the article. TCP]
My Southern Baptist experience dates back to World War II when, as a child, I accepted Christ as my Savior and was baptized by Reverend J. P. Gulley at Del Ray Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. My parents moved rather frequently, and I continued the habit by embarking on a Navy career. After each move, I found a Southern Baptist church (or a conservative protestant church if an SBC church was not available) to join. Perhaps I was naive, but it was not until the 1970's that I started to realize that there was a broad spectrum of theology within the SBC.
That was brought home to me vividly during a study of Revelation at my church in Charleston, SC. What I had been taught and believed about that great prophetic book was challenged by the pastor who said that the book described events that had already taken place and had little or no application for us. Years earlier, I had learned a much different meaning of Revelation at the feet of Dr. Homer Lindsay, Sr. at First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida. The experience raised my awareness of the fact that being Southern Baptist no longer meant a conservative approach to the triune God and His revelation through His Son and His written word.
After this experience I was careful to find out about a prospective church's theology and, particularly, that of the pastor. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that "conservative" also carried a very broad spectrum of theology, and words such as "moderate" and "fundamentalist" entered my church-related vocabulary. Not being a Pentecostal fundamentalist, I considered myself a moderate among conservatives, although my preferred description was a "traditional" Southern Baptist. The word I didn't hear was "liberal."
When I retired from the Navy in 1980, I moved back to North Carolina, where I had attended college, and searched for a "traditional" Southern Baptist church. I soon found out that "traditional" and "moderate" in North Carolina had new definitions for me. The Alliance of Baptists and fledgling Cooperative Baptist Fellowship were the rage. Randall Lolley's reign at Southeastern Seminary had produced a hoard of preachers in N.C. pulpits who were preaching a theology which seemed very strange to this "moderate" Southern Baptist. It was a shock to my psyche. I had many discussions with "moderate" preachers and found that they no longer accepted what I had been taught through the years in Southern Baptist churches and what I had come to believe about God, Jesus Christ, and the written Word. I knew then that I was not a "moderate," and after a lengthy search, I found a church and pastor with a compatible theology.
In 1995, 1 retired from my civilian job and moved back home to Virginia. I had been receiving the Religious Herald for years, so I had a pretty good idea of what I might be facing when I started my search for a church home in Virginia. I visited all of the Southern Baptist churches in the local area and didn't really feel at home in any of them. Several were quite similar to Anglican churches. Others supported the CBF and SBC. One or two appeared to have a conservative theology but their mission emphasis was geared to non-SBC mission organizations. Finally, I found a very loving fellowship that supported the SBC, although the pulpit ministry was unimpressive. Being very cautious, prior to joining the church I met with the pastor (a man in his 40's and a product of Southern Seminary) and was assured that his was a conservative church and he was a conservative preacher who supported the SBC. I joined the church, the Sunday School, and the choir.
Several months later, I was invited to attend a new members class to be taught by the pastor. The initial lesson was on the SBC controversy and the types of Southern Baptists: fundamentalists, conservatives, and moderates (or moderate-conservatives). The pastor stated that there were no Southern Baptist liberals, that the fundamentalists had taken control of the SBC, and that many moderates were seeking alternative organizations for fellowship such as the CBF.
During my N.C. experience, I had run across Mahan Siler, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh and a former adjunct professor at Southeastern Seminary. I have in my possession a copy of a letter he wrote to the editor of the Raleigh News and Observer in which he apologized to the Jewish and gay/lesbian communities in Raleigh for two resolutions adopted at a recent SBC annual convention: the belief that those without a personal commitment to Jesus will be consigned to a literal hell and the condemnation of homosexuality as an abomination in the eyes of God. Siler stated that he disagreed with both resolutions and that "I understand God to be a gracious, life-giving mystery who, for me, is most clearly encountered in the human Jesus, the Christ ... I assume that there are other lights, other understandings of God's movement of love and justice in our world. To judge with certainty another person's relationship to God is, for me, the height of arrogance." I made a copy of this letter and asked the pastor if that didn't qualify Mahan Siler as a liberal. The answer shocked me. The pastor told me that he knew Mahan Siler and that while he didn't agree totally with his position on homosexuals (Siler had "married" two men in his church), he agreed with his position that there were alternative ways to God other than through Jesus Christ! I was flabbergasted! He said that he believed that God was a God of love and would not let any person go to hell. He said he believed that a devout Muslim who followed the teachings of the Koran would go to Heaven just as easily as a Christian. My immediate response was to declare that what he said was not scriptural. His reply was that he had problems with some of the Scripture.
This was the worst allegation in the class; there were others. Regarding stewardship, he said he did not believe that God expected everyone to tithe — only those who could afford to. Subsequently, he stated that people who support tithing were supporting the Mosaic Law, and that had no part in Christianity.
I came to the conclusion that I could not listen to a man preach who believed in this universalist view of God, a man who did not honor my Lord and Savior as God's one and only answer to the sin problem. I continued going to Sunday School but did not attend the worship services when the pastor preached. The pastor told me that I needed psychiatric help. After several months, I thought things might work out after all when I learned that the pastor's wife had left him. Surely he would leave his pulpit or would be asked by the church to leave. Neither happened, so I decided to expand my territory in search for another church.
Since I had sung in the choir and had become an associate Sunday School teacher, I was missed by some of my fellow church members. When they called me to ask where I was, I shared with them the problem I had with the pastor's theology. Finally, the deacon body voted to send a delegation to meet with my wife and me and the pastor. At that meeting, I reviewed my concern with the pastor's theology, and he confirmed his beliefs. The deacon representatives reported back to the deacons that they saw no hope for reconciliation, and the pastor told the deacons that he did not understand what my problem was. Upon hearing this, I wrote a letter to the deacons telling them about the new member class, the subsequent discussions with the pastor, and my deep concern over his liberal, universalist theology. I concluded my letter with the suggestion that it was my opinion that the time had come for the pastor to leave the church since he did not meet the New Testament or church constitutional requirements for a pastor.
Twelve days after I mailed my letter to the deacons, my family deacon phoned me and told me that charges would be brought against my wife, my mother, and myself if we did not leave the church. He could not tell me what the charges would be but that I had broken church rules. Having had my fill of the situation and not wishing to extend this trauma to my family, I resigned (as did my wife). Subsequently I received a letter from the deacon chairman stating that the family deacon was not acting for the deacons when he asked me to resign.
I am carefully and prayerfully looking for a new church home. It will probably be a long time before I come to the point of joining another church, but there is one thing certain, if it is a Southern Baptist church (and I have every reason to think it will be), it will be affiliated in some way with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia
From my experience, I have added the word "liberal" to my Southern Baptist vocabulary. The saying has become trite, but "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ... “!
[Editorial Comment: One must wonder just whom a pastor with such views would classify as a liberal. Obviously his views have gone far beyond mere liberalism to outright heresy. Please understand that using the word “heresy” is not an effort to be mean, but simply a clear and accurate description of this pastor’s position. My Webster’s defines heresy as “Religious opinion opposed to the authorized doctrinal standards of any particular church, esp. when held by a person holding the same general faith, ... lack of orthodoxy or sound belief; rejection of, or erroneous belief in regard to, some fundamental religious doctrine or truth;...”
There is no more fundamental Christian doctrine than that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that “no man cometh to the Father but by me” as He himself said. To maintain otherwise is to call Jesus a liar or a lunatic.
Similarly, to deny that there is a judgment and that those who have rejected Jesus’ free gift of eternal life will spend eternity in hell, is to believe in “another gospel.” Even worse, it is to say that I know better than God what is good, that God is either mistaken or evil or incapable of having what He wished recorded in His Bible. Similarly, it is to hold that Jesus is of less than infinite value because to reject Him is not worthy of infinite punishment.
While doing all we can to counter the (literally) devilish teachings of such pastors, we also to need to pray for their unsaved souls. May they repent and accept Jesus as Lord and so avoid the very real hell they are now at pains to deny. TCP]