Religious politics

Long ago, early 1990's when I made a full break from the SBC, I said goodbye to politics. The different factions pulled strings for themselves. I sat in seminary classes and watched people shout at each other, some professors left feeling pressured. One of the professors, Dr. Humphries, was especially disliked by the conservatives and in between semesters he took a plane to Samford. I dont know who resigned..who was fired..etc.. but in the early 90's I said goodbye to the SBC and all of its POLITICS.

Didnt take me long after I made the jump to Independent Baptist before I realized that the Independent Baptists are just as bad..if not worse.
Southern Baptist politics is usually divided along theological lines whereas the Ind Baptists are usually divided along bible college or "popish person" following. Fortunately there were some SBC folks who served as race horses with blinds on their eyes... didnt involve themselves. Also, there are a great number of Independent Baptists who truly are INDEPENDENT BAPTISTS and dont care about schools and popes.

The SBC politics grieved me so badly because our mother church(we were a mission) was liberal and the associational director was conservative. Getting them to work together to make our mission a church (in the eyes of the SBC) was impossible.

The liberal-conservative issue really began when the SBC promoted Bold Mission Thrust in the late 70's. Bold Mission Thrust had nothing to do with the controversy, really. Just happened at the same time.
It too 12 years for the SBC conservatives to make their move, and most of the planning was done down here in the Big Easy. Patterson was involved for sure, among others.

In the SBC, your status and label depended upon what you believed. In the Independent Baptist world, the determining factor was where you went to school, who you follow or support?

I have learned to keep to myself and just serve the Lord. They (both SBC and IBF) can have their meetings and their events, i will just keep to myself and I enjoy, in my own group, the absence of the fighting that goes on outside my walls.
I dont miss that.

tim