Comments on: Ben Cole Leaving The SBC?

By: Matt2239

Matt2239 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:47:55 +0000

Marvin,

I don’t see someone attacking by name the character of a very godly and loving man as someone who’s heart is broken. I guess we will have to disagree on the appropriateness of destroying a person’s character simply because we disagree. And, I doubt you have any idea whatsoever about the state of my heart.

By: Marvin Merriweather

Marvin Merriweather — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:29:25 +0000

Matt, I can’t believe you could be so cruel and callous. If your heart were as broken as Ben’s, you’d want sympathy.

By: Matt2239

Matt2239 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:16:50 +0000

Wow! So much hatred. It is one thing to “leave.” Many have left the SBC in the past and no doubt may in the future. But, to attack personally someone you do not know except through cursory interactions at a denomination level has no ring of Christ-likeness at all. Then, to brag that one has a better “education” than someone who attended seminary — well, does that not really tell all we need to know about the writer. And then, self-adulation has just begun: this person has been places, seen things, “smelled” stuff that nobody his age ever did. This person obviously has never risked his life in service to his country where he could have gotten some really good sights and smells. It is clear he did not get his way and now he is going to “take his bat and ball” and leave the field. So, go. If I were as bitter as this writer, I’d hope I’d go also. It is hard to count the number of admonitions from our Lord this one brother ignores in just one post. Amos (of Andy and Amos) once recounted how he was going to deal with someone who slapped him each time the person passed by: “I’m goin’ to strap some dynamite on my chest and whens he slaps me — I’ll blows his hand off.” Bitterness can do that — blow someone’s hand off. But, what does it do to the one who is bitter. I’m no great fan of denominations — SBC or otherwise — but I do know personally (not in a denomination interaction) some people this bitter writer mentions. Simply stated: “the writer could not be more wrong.” So sad.

By: Royal E. Smith

Royal E. Smith — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:20:15 +0000

Ben rarely misses any detail but in his exit strategy he blew it. The SBC only exists for two days each year. At other times the ministries of the SBC are conducted by boards, agencies and commissions authorized and budgeted by the convention. To exit the SBC one must first be elected a messenger by a cooperating congregation then register attendance at the convention and from there one could legitimately exit the SBC. Ben should have better understood the body politic.

By: Bennett Willis

Bennett Willis — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:31:06 +0000

I appreciate your reprinting Ben’s departure strategy. It came out during an extended time of my not reading Baptist blogs and I missed it. I commented somewhere (in response to a comment that Wade’s group had declined) that it might be because we had decided that the SBC was no longer relevant so why fight over it–and it sounds like that was Ben’s attitude.

Everyone is writing a book (or two or ten). I went to Eddie Smith’s “How to write a book seminar.” I recommend it to anyone who just has the fee to spare–you don’t really need to be planning to write a book, but it might be even more interesting if you did. It is an interesting and enjoyable mini vacation and has a lot of information. He points out that it should not take long to write the draft–and suggests that it might take three weeks if you get organized. Eddie has some very practical (and probably effective) ways to get the chapter titles and get it done. It was a fun evening and day.

I hope that someone reads this, but looking at the dates, it may not happen.

Bennett Willis
Lake Jackson, TX

By: ds sinclaif

ds sinclaif — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:17:32 +0000

Perhaps SWBTS could adopt Campus Crusade’s philophy: for eveyone, at each level of responsibility, the same financial support is authorized, based on family requirements and travel assignment. Wouldn’t that kind of approach to the Seminary Family be equtible and help solve the stress on the budget? Some High Administors (and spouses) might humble themselves, deciding to change out their bathrooms’ rolls of toilet paper themselves one late night, instead of rousting out bed the student wife who failed to correctly monitor the royal rate of usage. In this time of austerity and belt-tighening, scale back the personal chef; get by with Slim-Fast for one meal. Perhaps with these suggestions, we can keep dedicated faculty thinking there really is a Seminary Family.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:28:55 +0000

Although I might be considered one of those conservative fundementalists, I think I can understand where he is coming from. I just wish he left saying it was his time, but there was still hope for the SBC to move to be more Christ like. While he and I might disagree on the specifics of what that means the convention should do, I would have appreciated his exit being a little for graceful… a little more hopeful.