On Bothersome Baptists

By Bruce Prescott

Every family has its bothersome members. As does every church and every committee.  Who’s bothersome depends on which side of the table you are sitting.

Mainstream Baptists are “bothered,” about the criterion that the SBC and BGCO uses to invoke the memory of Herschel Hobbs.  Last year, when SBC leaders and Seminary Presidents were publicly denouncing Hobbs and the 1963 BF&M committee as being theologically “naďve,” “neo-orthodox,” and “duped,” Garth Pybas, the Baptist Messenger, and the Executive Director of BGCO were all as quiet as church mice.  This year, when the pastor of FBC OKC says Hobbs is “smiling down” from heaven, they are howling like coyotes.

The December 20, 2001 issue of the Baptist Messenger quotes Garth Pybas, the last living member of the 1963 BF&M committee, as being “bothered” by Dr. Jeff Zurheide’s statement that Herschel Hobbs was “smiling down” from heaven after the church’s vote to withdraw from the SBC.  (This story was also run by Baptist Press on January 8, 2002).

It is hard to understand how Pybas can present himself as a friend of Hobbs, or any of the other members of the 1963 BF&M committee, while he stands mute in regard to their defense against attacks by SBC leaders and seminary presidents.

Perhaps he agrees with Hobbs’ critics and detractors.  In that case, the purported clarifications of the 1963 BF&M that he offers in a video taped interview at a Southern Baptist Seminary are worthless.  Along with Hobbs and the others, he is either guilty as charged of having been theologically “naďve,” “neo-orthodox,” and “duped” or, he is distinguishing himself from the others and using his vantage point in history to aid those who disparage the memory people who are no longer alive to defend themselves.

Either way, Pybas has lost all credibility and that’s a shame.  It’s a shame because, it is entirely possible that Pybas doesn’t even realize that he has been cynically manipulated to corroborate the allegations that SBC leaders and seminary presidents made against him, Hobbs and the 1963 committee.  It’s a win, win situation for them and a lose, lose situation for Hobbs, Pybas, and all the other members of the 1963 committee.

Here’s how BGCO leaders have controlled the flow of information to keep Baptists in Oklahoma in the dark about last year’s attacks on Herschel Hobbs and the 1963 BF&M committee.

On June 21, 2000 Baptist Press released its post-convention summation of the debate over the 2000 BF&M.  In that story, Fundamentalist historian Jerry Sutton is quoted as saying, “The 1963 committee was in many ways naďve and they permitted neo-orthodox language to be inserted unbeknownst to most of them.”  The story was disseminated to news agencies around the country and printed in most state Baptist newspapers. The Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, however, never printed that story.

Any Baptist in Oklahoma who trusted that newspaper as their source of information would be uninformed of the official SBC position being expressed through Baptist Press.

In the fall of 2000 several issues of the Baptist Messenger were filled with stories related to the decision by Texas Baptists to cut funds to the six SBC seminaries.  Nowhere, however, was there any mention of SBC seminary presidents making statements critical of Hobbs and the 1963 BF&M committee.  Those statements were published in the Texas Seminary Study Committee Report and the Texas Baptist Standard and weighed heavy on Texas Baptists as they made their decision.

A lot of Oklahoma Baptists still do not know that the presidents and trustees of SBC seminaries told Texas Baptist leaders that “the 1963 BF&M is a “neo-orthodox” document” that caused a “theological disconnect” from “conservative Baptist theology.”  Nor do they know that two of the presidents said, “There was not a professional theologian among the 1963 BF&M committee.  The closest thing they had to a professional theologian was Herschel Hobbs, and he was duped.” (BGCT Seminary Study Committee Report, pp. 8, 14).

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Don’t take our word for it. Check the references yourself. Here are the full internet addresses where you can research the issue:

Baptist Press story — www.baptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=6063

BGCT Seminary Study Committee Report — www.bgct.org/communications/ssr.htm

Baptist Messenger —– www.baptistmessenger.com

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