Lest We Forget

Dr. Paige Patterson (President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is taking a lot of heat these days. Many bloggers and other critics are hitting him hard with charges of being a "fundamentalist" (or worse). Nobody is perfect, and I'm sure Patterson (like all of us) is not without fault. I can't say that I agree with everything Patterson has said or done in recent years, but I still can't help but respect him. I don't know the man personally, and I am not here to take sides in the uproar, but in the interest of fairness I have to say this.

I have long been aware of Patterson's key role in the "Conservative Resurgence" in the Southern Baptist Convention. Having heard him speak on a number of occasions, I have been impressed by his keen analytical mind, his gift as a scholar, his eloquence in expounding scripture, his wit and wisdom. When the resurgence began, I was serving as a pastor in another Baptist denomination. I noted with some interest the conflict going on in the SBC but "didn't have a dog in the fight", so I was somewhat detached. Since then I have read much on the matter, and come to know a few people who were involved. I felt that I had a pretty good handle on what happened, and an appreciation for men like Adrian Rogers, Page Patterson, and Paul Pressler, who helped begin the theological turnaround in our convention and its various seminaries and agencies. But this week I got a wonderful reminder not to take for granted what these men gained for us.

Dr. James Moore was a dear friend of mine. Bro. Jim had retired from many years as an active vocational evangelist, and pastor in another state, and returned to Westmoreland Baptist Church where he had been saved, called to preach, and married. Jim passed away this past December, and his widow, Norma, was kind to share Jim's library with me and two other ministers. Norma is now moving to Florida and she called the other day and told me she had some other things (including many audio cassette tapes) of Jim's that she was going to throw away unless I wanted them. So, hating to see anything like that just be thrown away, I stopped by her apartment to pick them up.

There were hundreds of tapes. Most of them were recordings of Bro. Moore's messages preached in his pastorates and evangelistic crusades over the years. However in going through the tapes I found four cassettes that caught my interest, and I couldn't resist listening without delay. I'm glad I did. These tapes were a treasure for guys like me, and for other Southern Baptist pastors, and seminary students, some of whom were not even born when these tapes were recorded. In fact, they are a treasure for any SBC pastor because it is easy to forget with the passage of time, and to take for granted the battle for the Bible that took place in our convention in the late 70's and early 80's.

The tapes were two sets of two tapes each and they chronicled a pair of debates between Paige Patterson and two "moderates", and the subject was "The Inerrancy of Scripture". One set was recorded somewhere in eastern North Carolina in February, 1981. At that time Patterson was an associate pastor at First Baptist Church of Dallas and the President of the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies. His debate opponent was Dr. Cecil Sherman, who had held a number of positions with the North Carolina Baptist Convention. Each man presented a paper, debated each other's point of view, and fielded questions from what seemed to be a rather large audience. The moderator also mentioned that the debate was being covered by "Baptist Press", "The Associated Press", and the "New York Times". Must have been considered a pretty important event.

The second debate was held at the invitation of the "Religious Newswriters Association" and was held just before the SBC annual meeting in June of 1981. Patterson's opponent was Dr. Kenneth Chafin, pastor of South Lane Baptist Church in Houston and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Southwestern Seminary. The format was the same as the previous debate, but the only listeners who were allowed to ask questions in this one were the members of the RNA.

In both debates the atmosphere was charged. In listening to Drs. Sherman and Chafin, I was shocked at many of their comments and their answers to questions submitted to them. These men were highly placed in the convention, and represented much of what was wrong in our seminaries at that time. While both of them claimed to have a "high view of scripture" they constantly spoke of their rejection of the idea of inerrancy. They wouldn't answer simple questions without parsing words and being inconsistent in thier answers. You would be amazed to hear them in their own words, and I would be happy to share the tapes with anyone who would like to hear them. The quality of the tapes was not good, but the picture they painted was vivid. It is still hard for me to believe these men were representative of those who controlled the convention apparatus. It was frightening.

I came away with a new appreciation for dire spiritual situation that our convention leadership was in at that time, and why the turn around was necessary. I also gained a new respect for Patterson and the courage it took for him to face that type of opposition, along with the name calling and slander that was so plentiful at the time. The grace he exhibited while never backing down from his position was inspiring.

We should all take inventory from time to time and be reminded of where we were then as a convention, and where we are today, lest we forget. It is evident that God's hand guided a courageous group of men during those turbulent times, and I believe His hand was on Paige Patterson.