ABMen’s Spring issue of Men In Action has been published and the cover article is “Where Are the Men?” It is written by ABMen/USA President, Manuel Luquin. I have appreciated past articles by this author. He seems to have a conservative bent or at least he is one that recognizes problems within the denomination and is more than willing to point them out. He seems to have a high view of Scripture, yet sometimes I wonder. Is he just not willing to explain the deeper underlying issues?
He asks point blank, “Why aren’t more men in ministry? How come men don’t take their faith seriously?” He then cites George Orwell. The problem is however that Orwell may notice secular reasons as to why men do nothing or become complacent, he is simply not able to deal with Biblical manhood.
Luquin then rightly recognizes that men are having “their identity…squashed, their will is broken, and that the lives of those who love and depend upon them are being diminished as well.” What troubles me about his article is that Luquin seeks to almost give men what they need, tough preaching and a call to true repentance, a call to stand up to “conflict”, “to be freed from niceness”, “and allow God to use us according to how He has made us”, while refusing to admit the underlying reason why this isn’t being done.
To put it another way, where is sound preaching being done? Where is God speaking to His people from American Baptist pulpits? Topical sermons are given ad nauseam. Pop psychology 101 from Osteen like thinking pervades everyone’s happy Christianity.
Perhaps we are overlooking something even deeper. One pastor recently told me that after 7 years of prayer his church is pulling out of the ABC/USA. When I asked him “Why?” he responded by saying that Biblical authority held by the denomination as a whole is not what his church agrees with. This has manifested in the homosexuality debate. But one thing really stood out for him. There are now more women than men in seminary looking for pastoral positions within the church. Feminism has run a muck.
For a man to listen to a woman call him to repentance would be more like listening to your mother or a nagging wife or worse yet, Hilary Clinton telling us why feminism is right. Have you ever seen an American Baptist church with a woman pastor just overflow with masculinity? The ABC/USA are losing churches in droves. Perhaps they are overlooking the obvious. I don’t think so. The Leadership as well as Luquin clearly recognize the problem, and men like Luquin are only willing to go so far.
My challenge to Luquin is to force those who have a liberal theological view of Scripture to make their case from Scripture. I have yet to hear a positive case for women pastors. Why doesn’t Luquin make his case from Scripture for calling men back to their God given roles? Until the male pastoral leadership gets over their fear of women and culture I simply don’t see men coming to American Baptist churches in the numbers they’d like to see, much less serving in their God-given capacities.
Luquin is on the right track. Perhaps his next article will make a stronger Biblical case for male pastors calling men to repentance and training them for service while demolishing the rampant and destructive feminism that has overrun the denomination. The Southern Baptists had their fight and the conservatives won. I wonder what Luquin truly has in mind. God Speed Sir.
3 comments:
Howard, I generally enjoy your posts. This happens to be an outstanding one.
You've put your finger on two key points if we would see men in church again. First, we must have men leading men (and men leading the churches). Second, we must have preaching the deals with the whole counsel of God, not just topical tidbits that scratch the ears.
Keep up the good work.
LEG
I did want to clarify a thought on the SBC's conservative victory over liberalism. The SBC in many ways are headed down the road of Fundyism. The question is becoming, "Now that our churches ascribe to the doctrine of inerrancy, will we start to practice it?"
Hopefully the next battle for the SBC won't kill itself trying to sober everyone up by eliminating alcohol with a Constitutional Amendment, Or the other major battle, the evils of Calvinism.
There is much more to recover than a mere doctrine.
God Bless
Howard
As to the Calvinism disputes, I don't think that will tear apart the SBC. Of course, being a fundamentalist and knowing fundamentalists who identify on many points along the theological spectrum, I think going in the direction of fundamentalism is a good thing. Good men can passionately disagree and do it agreeably, without either casting unfair aspersions on those on the other side of the issue. And I think that ulitmately the cooler, more mature heads will prevail in the SBC.
As to sobering people up, Al Mohler makes one of the best defenses of an abstinence position regarding alcohol that I have heard. He doesn't fall into the error on either side of the issue. You can hear it at this link: http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/Mohler/Alcohol&Ministry.mp3 .
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