“But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.”
2 Chronicles 33:9-10.
I’ve been reading a book series lately about the time of the kings. This series covers the reigns of kings Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh and showcases Judah’s flow of destruction to prosperity to destruction. The determining factor of this flow is one simple question: will the king lead the people to do what is right or evil in the sight of the Lord? Unfortunately, the frequent answer was evil. Manasseh’s reign, in particular, was so horrible that it is remembered as worse than the abominable actions of the nations God destroyed. We know how evil those nations were-it is why God had the Israelites drive them out. What they did (child sacrifice, prostituting themselves in the name of worship, taking innocent life, abusing others, etc) is horrific, but it should not surprise us. Evil behavior is expected from evil people who do not know God. But to hear that the Israelites, God’s own people, did the same evil of those who do not know Him is much worse.
At the same time that I was starting this series, I also watched the documentary “Quiet on Set.” This documentary is about the dark underbelly of Nickelodeon, a children’s television channel that produced major hit kid/teen shows in the 90s and 2000s. The documentary exposes the toxic and abusive behavior of its main showrunner towards the employees on his shows, particularly the women on his writing staff. The actions towards the female writers were appalling, with explicit sexual comments and abusive behaviors accepted as normal. The disrespect and harassment the showrunner got away with is shocking.
It also reveals the repeated sexual abuse done to one of the most famous Nickelodeon child stars by a beloved acting coach on set. The details are difficult to stomach. No one knew this acting coach was a pedophile. To make things worse, most did not believe the child when he came forward about what was happening. Eventually, the case ended up in court with clear evidence to convict-yet the perpetrator had letters from stars all over Hollywood defending him, many asking the judge for a light sentence. Seeing the letters and hearing the quotes on behalf of a man who had done so much evil is almost unbelievable. This man is not in prison today. It is a hard documentary to watch.
Nickelodeon had complaints against its showrunner for years, with some women even filing a lawsuit. Yet they did nothing. There was nothing in place to ensure fair and appropriate treatment of women.
The man who abused the child star was not the only pedophile who worked for this company whose entire business was literally making shows about kids and teenagers. There was nothing in place to protect children. Nickelodeon has yet to comment on the documentary.
The situation is full of evil, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Evil behavior is expected from evil people who do not know God.
But to hear that the Southern Baptist Convention, God’s own people, did the same evil as those who do not know Him is much worse.
We have the same problems in the SBC as Nickelodeon. Women have been disrespected, exploited, harassed, demeaned and abused. Children have been abused, shamed, and shut down. Perpetrators have been defended and protected. But what concerns me most is that we haven’t eradicated these sins from our convention. Instead, we are putting time and attention to women’s job titles.
The proposed Law amendment is supposedly fighting against a threat of liberalism, against women who are trying to steal men’s jobs. But it isn’t really about that. It’s about power. It is a way to keep women “in their place.” Women have been mistreated in our convention for decades. We might not like it and might not want to admit it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Just look into our history and you will find that our pattern is to push women down. That pattern may not be as prevalent as it used to be, praise God, but it has not been broken. The Law amendment has come up at a convenient time, at the moment that we were perhaps about to deal with the sin of sexism and its effects in our convention. Dave Miller wrote a fantastic article detailing this. Part of his article states, “Is it just a coincidence that when the movement to deal with the shameful disgusting abuse in the SBC that has taken place for decades, suddenly, we are told that the real problem is EGALITARIANISM? Are we saying that the problem isn’t pastors and church leaders who have been abusing women (and men, and children) and systematically refusing to deal with that abuse, and gaslighting the abused and blaming them for their abuse, but it’s the fact that a woman is called the Children’s Pastor?” He is completely right. I encourage you to read the whole article.
Our problem is with women, but it isn’t the problem that you think. It isn’t egalitarianism, it isn’t women trying to take jobs away from pastors. It isn’t women not believing and following the Bible. Our problem is that our convention as a whole* does not believe that women are equally valuable, integral and important to the Kingdom of God and the spreading of the Gospel as men are. We say in our statement of faith that a woman is “?? in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him.” It’s time for our actions as a convention to back up our words.
Manasseh led the people to great evil, and no one stopped him. Instead, they went along with it. God warned them to turn back to Him, but they didn’t listen. And disaster struck. The question to us is, will we listen? Will we turn from our sins against the women in our convention?
God will bring justice on those who committed and allowed abuse at Nickelodeon. I pray He opens their eyes to their sin before it is too late. But He’s going to hold us accountable too. We know the truth, and yet evil has been allowed to fester in our midst for far too long. If Jesus returned today, would we be able to stand before Him and claim that we did everything we could to purge the sins of abuse and exploitation from our convention? Would we be able to confidently say we did everything we could to love, protect, esteem, value, and support our sisters in Christ? If our answer is no, then we’ve got work to do. Manasseh and the people paid no attention when warned. I am begging us not to do the same.
*This is a commentary on the state of our convention as a whole. There are many individuals within the convention who do believe that women are essential to the church and the Kingdom and have actively encouraged women in their God-given gifts.
The author of this post has been a family friend for many years. Because of the tendency of many to attack women relentlessly, she asked to remain anonymous, and I honored that request. She is a lifelong Southern Baptist, who is involved in non-pastoral ministry.