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Spiritual Sounding Board
Sometimes things simmer just under my surface for a while until they erupt and I can’t ignore them anymore. I grew up in the Baptist church (SBC) even though I left that church about two decades ago. My parents are still Baptist, as are many of my friends. I still care about issues within the Baptist church, so when I hear a highly-respected leader within the SBC make a statement that is absolutely false and hurts victims who are still healing from past abuse within churches, my heart breaks, and then I realize that I’m very, very angry.
Dr. Albert Mohler is president of the flagship Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Recently, Dr. Mohler participated in a panel discussion at the 2014 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. He has been criticized for supporting the embattled former head of Sovereign Grace Ministries, C.J. Mahaney, under whose leadership at least one pastor admittedly failed to report sexual abuse committed by a fellow pastor. In the panel discussion, Dr. Mohler told pastors to call 911 at the first knowledge of any sexual abuse. Good advice, but he should have stopped while he was ahead.
You can watch Mohler’s comments on a video at this link. The comments on sexual abuse start at 55.50. Even though I find it inconceivable that anyone needs to instruct clergy to call 911 upon learning about child abuse of any kind, I was happy to hear Dr. Mohler make the point so strongly. But then, he kept talking, and I began to wonder what his real motivation was for making that strong statement:
“This [the requirement to call 911] is something that churches have had to learn,” Mohler continued. “You go back 30 years, 20 years, churches didn’t know what to do in this kind of situation. We’re in a different situation now. There’s no excuse right now for not knowing what you’re going to do before you have to do it. It is a gospel ministry stewardship imperative. Be ready to dial 911, and do so before you leave the room.” (Bold and italics are mine.)
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