Thread by @cuatronelson

I appreciate Dr. Merritt stepping down from SEBTS. He should. I also appreciate Dr. Akin honoring that request to resign. A gracious departure is okay.

But, a big BUT, what’s not okay is the silence over *the* issue at hand.

Reminds me of:

When @BethMooreLPM left SBC. She *should have* left SBC as she wasn’t southern baptist for a long time. And we didn’t need blog posts lamenting her departure. She left because she wasn’t southern Baptist. And it’s sad that wasn’t addressed by many in leadership positions.

BUT:

Dr. Merritt’s situation is different. He has declined an SBC seminary professorship *b/c* he has endorsed the preaching of an openly gay man and a sermon that was gospel-less calling it faithful.

(This is all the more sad since the gay man is his son.)

Now Dr. Akin has accepted the resignation b/c Dr. Merritt doesn’t want to be a “distraction”. (Well, a bit too late!)

But what is left unaddressed is the sin and now we are left to wonder does @sebts agree merely that Dr. Merritt is a “distraction”?

OR

Does SEBTS uphold the BFM 2000 in opposing homosexuality? Does the school affirm the preaching of openly gay men and gospel-less sermons? This we don’t know publicly because SEBTS and Dr. Akin haven’t responded publicly. They’ve merely cited the “distraction.”

Further:

Because Dr. Akin lauded Dr. Merritt as “a model for us all” what does this mean in terms of Merritt’s approach to the preaching of openly gay men? Should southern Baptists also affirm this type of preaching or not? This is simply not clear from Dr. Akin’s tweet.

Also:

Is Dr. Merritt remaining in the SBC? I assume so. But if this is his position on homosexuality, how can his church be in step with the BFM 2000? And how can he be applauded as a model for us all?

Finally:

I very strongly do not like the political type tactics of accepting a resignation and move on and not address the issue. Political parties can do that but not gospel people. Gospel people address sin, confess sin, repent of sin, forgive sin, and reconcile.

But

As long as our leaders cannot model gospel humility and repentance and confession of sin, there’s little hope for turning ye olde SBC ship.

Ultimately, this is an example of making a bad situation worse with a failure of courageous leadership.