I weep for the church imprisoned within the SBC, the actual people of God whose hearts break for the lost and who are subjected continually to this dog and pony show--Hard abuse, propped up by soft abuse and all the while every member thinking what a tragedy it would be if it burnt to the ground, what "good work" would be lost. It's more a rumour of good work, a "best effort". I suppose the saying is made plain here: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We could add that hell itself is wallpapered in the kind of lies they push.
Exactly this. This year, again & again, they celebrated the SBC as "a force for good." And I wondered... Really? How do they balance it out with all the lives they've decimated and harm they've done? "Hell itself is wallpapered in the kind of lies they push." Yes.
Did you ever watch The Good Place show? The ultimate question is if we can actually balance out the bad we do with the good we do on some cosmic level. That show answered that question better than a whole lotta theologians I know.
Honestly, at this point, why would any self-respecting woman remain in an SBC church? Knowing their tithes are supporting and enabling an unrepentant culture of abuse? It’s beyond me.
It's beyond me as well. But of course so many women within the SBC have been indoctrinated & conditioned for so long to be small -- to be submissive -- to be "less than" -- that I think many just don't see it (even though it's fully obvious).
A few years ago when our church membership was debating whether to leave the SBC, we had a few members imploring us to stay and “fight the system from within.” They said we “needed a seat at the table” so we could “be the change.” After the members voted overwhelmingly to leave, and we did so, these “fight the system” folks left us for other SBC churches. And now, they are … not fighting from within. Nor were they fighting from within when they were with us. It’s a lie that many people in the SBC tell themselves, to ease their conscience about what they’re participating in.
This I believe as well... At this point in time, after all the horror of what we've seen, the "fight from within" mantra is self-serving delusion... "It's a lie that many people in the SBC tell themselves to ease their conscience about what they're participating in."
I went to a Southern Baptist Bible College that glorified the conservative takeover and that "fight from within" mantra was echoed throughout that year. I was tottering on the edge of deconstruction at that stage and struck me as strange even with one foot still in that world. That college no longer exists so they're not fighting from within either.
"In my view, there’s not a basin in the world that’s big enough to wash away the blood that’s on Southern Baptist hands. Their scorched-earth torture-tactics against clergy sex abuse survivors have decimated countless lives, and flat-out taken some." oh so true...every entity has involvement in further perpetrating trauma against survivors. For each survivor who has spoken and suffered, how many have stayed silent? How many lives truly lost and decimated?
They did a good job of going through the motions, of handing all of us hope. It has been such a betrayal of so many survivors and advocates. I watched and waited from my own little corner of Christendom, and my heart sank.
I wish someday - someday - to see a different endings to these stories.
And to the survivor who wrote to you, to quote dear Gisele Pelicot: "Shame must change sides." You, survivor, gave them what makes you beautifully human: hope and trust that they cared, this time, about the truth. The shame is theirs.
Thank you for your voice, Christa. It is healing to many.
Is there any such thing as “fighting from within”? That means that the thing, the being, the organization, the person is eating itself. That’s not the way, no! The only way things fight on the inside is it’s a form of cancer. We deluded ourselves here (Australia) for a couple of years (on a different issue) and stayed in a denomination. Nothing changed, so we left and resigned from professional ministry. I’ve been following you and this saga since I listened to “All the buried women” podcast (including Savannah Locke). This whole thing saga is a blight on SBC. I think a Biblical comparison is the life of Judas - sadly when he realised he couldn’t make or cause the change he exited the team, and suicided. Maybe people would be best to leave before there is more (personal) damage. It’s sad, pathetic and gross. I feel for you Christa and all the other victims and survivors.
I weep for the church imprisoned within the SBC, the actual people of God whose hearts break for the lost and who are subjected continually to this dog and pony show--Hard abuse, propped up by soft abuse and all the while every member thinking what a tragedy it would be if it burnt to the ground, what "good work" would be lost. It's more a rumour of good work, a "best effort". I suppose the saying is made plain here: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We could add that hell itself is wallpapered in the kind of lies they push.
Exactly this. This year, again & again, they celebrated the SBC as "a force for good." And I wondered... Really? How do they balance it out with all the lives they've decimated and harm they've done? "Hell itself is wallpapered in the kind of lies they push." Yes.
Did you ever watch The Good Place show? The ultimate question is if we can actually balance out the bad we do with the good we do on some cosmic level. That show answered that question better than a whole lotta theologians I know.
Honestly, at this point, why would any self-respecting woman remain in an SBC church? Knowing their tithes are supporting and enabling an unrepentant culture of abuse? It’s beyond me.
It's beyond me as well. But of course so many women within the SBC have been indoctrinated & conditioned for so long to be small -- to be submissive -- to be "less than" -- that I think many just don't see it (even though it's fully obvious).
I wrote something adjacent to this that just came out this morning.
https://open.substack.com/pub/dlbacon/p/is-this-a-supporting-wall?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2v2ne0
Powerful post, Daniel. Thank you.
Thank you for reading!
A few years ago when our church membership was debating whether to leave the SBC, we had a few members imploring us to stay and “fight the system from within.” They said we “needed a seat at the table” so we could “be the change.” After the members voted overwhelmingly to leave, and we did so, these “fight the system” folks left us for other SBC churches. And now, they are … not fighting from within. Nor were they fighting from within when they were with us. It’s a lie that many people in the SBC tell themselves, to ease their conscience about what they’re participating in.
This I believe as well... At this point in time, after all the horror of what we've seen, the "fight from within" mantra is self-serving delusion... "It's a lie that many people in the SBC tell themselves to ease their conscience about what they're participating in."
I went to a Southern Baptist Bible College that glorified the conservative takeover and that "fight from within" mantra was echoed throughout that year. I was tottering on the edge of deconstruction at that stage and struck me as strange even with one foot still in that world. That college no longer exists so they're not fighting from within either.
"In my view, there’s not a basin in the world that’s big enough to wash away the blood that’s on Southern Baptist hands. Their scorched-earth torture-tactics against clergy sex abuse survivors have decimated countless lives, and flat-out taken some." oh so true...every entity has involvement in further perpetrating trauma against survivors. For each survivor who has spoken and suffered, how many have stayed silent? How many lives truly lost and decimated?
They did a good job of going through the motions, of handing all of us hope. It has been such a betrayal of so many survivors and advocates. I watched and waited from my own little corner of Christendom, and my heart sank.
I wish someday - someday - to see a different endings to these stories.
And to the survivor who wrote to you, to quote dear Gisele Pelicot: "Shame must change sides." You, survivor, gave them what makes you beautifully human: hope and trust that they cared, this time, about the truth. The shame is theirs.
Thank you for your voice, Christa. It is healing to many.
Is there any such thing as “fighting from within”? That means that the thing, the being, the organization, the person is eating itself. That’s not the way, no! The only way things fight on the inside is it’s a form of cancer. We deluded ourselves here (Australia) for a couple of years (on a different issue) and stayed in a denomination. Nothing changed, so we left and resigned from professional ministry. I’ve been following you and this saga since I listened to “All the buried women” podcast (including Savannah Locke). This whole thing saga is a blight on SBC. I think a Biblical comparison is the life of Judas - sadly when he realised he couldn’t make or cause the change he exited the team, and suicided. Maybe people would be best to leave before there is more (personal) damage. It’s sad, pathetic and gross. I feel for you Christa and all the other victims and survivors.