I have not yet said very much about the Paige Patterson affair in the Southern Baptist Convention. This has been a function of my general busyness, my lack of knowledge about the back story, and assorted other stuff. The one thing I wouldn’t want it to be is a function of timidity.
Depending on who you listen to, the removal of Patterson was an act of belated repentance and courage, dealing with the kind of thing that the SBC should have dealt with long ago, or it was an act of craven cowardice, pitching Patterson off the sled so that the Russian wolves, fanged SJW quadrupeds all, would be delighted that they got what they wanted (justice, amirite?) and would be content to run off to their dens with Patterson’s bones. Incidentally, I made these wolves Russian because that is part of the sled trope, and because I wanted to tie this into Mueller’s investigation somehow.
What I wanted to do here is suggest a test that we can all use if you (like me) also do not know the backstory and particulars, but you would like to know how the SBC is actually doing. If this really was an act of courageous repentance, then that means that the SBC is in far better spiritual shape now, and in a much better position to defy the wolves.
Because I got ten dollars here that says the wolves are still chasing the sled.
If this was true courage, then the people who were gratified at Patterson’s removal will be FURIOUS at what happens next, and will loudly complain that the SBC is “turning back the clock.” They will feel double crossed. They will lament the stillborn resurgence of enlightenment.
But if Patterson’s fall was the result of a failure of nerve, then that will become manifest also. If he was sacrificed by men who were not up to facing the journalistic wrath of Jonathan Merritt, whose failings kind of put Patterson’s alleged failings into the shade, then you can rest assured — another tribute sacrifice will be demanded, and fairly soon. And if this was a craven move, so will the next one be.
So watch and pray. Courage breeds courage, and cowardice does the same. Like begets like. We will know soon enough.