Can I just address that large C&P about the Baptist abuses? I didn't fully understand what happened in there (I'm being very distracted by fixing dinner and having 4 hungry kids and a hungry hubby) but what was said in the beginning is wrong. In a true Biblical church, there IS accountability. I belong to an independent Baptist church (not an IFB - just independent) and we have a Senior Pastor along with 8 other Associate Pastors. We also have a deacon board and then a congregation. There are things that the congregation need to vote on (passing the budget and allowing new members in are 2 things that I've been involved in) but then there are things that just the pastors deal with and things that the pastors and deacons deal with. We've just had to excommunicate someone and it was not the congregations' business but it was done with the pastors and deacons involved. If there EVER was an issue of abuse anywhere in our church, I promise you - with a VERY big promise - that it would be dealt with swifly, legally and Biblically. There'd be no tucking this away or anything AND the victim would be able to get counselling - either from us or someone else. I can't imagine a true church allowing this to happen. Of course, there are those churches who are NOT Biblical churches and do not follow the Word of God - and if any are in a large organization like the SBC, I would be very disappointed if nothing was done at all.
But then again, what does this have to do with Sola Scriptura?
Ann