Reading Time: 7 minutes Today, let’s go over the declines that the SBC faced all over in 2020, and talk about why those declines likely happened.
Guides
Posted inPolitics
Russell Moore and the leaked letters: Who got named, when, and why
Reading Time: 9 minutes Today, let me show you a bit about the leaked letters’ provenance, what they cover, and who they name — and then, let’s talk about why Russell Moore wrote them like he did.
Posted inReligion
Why Hell Fails as a Christian Threat (Journey Into Hell #2)
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hi and welcome back! Last week, we dove right into Hell. That post pointed out how many different religions have featured Hell-like afterlives in their belief system. Today, we’ll dive back into Hell to ask why the idea of Hell fails so hard as a Christian threat. The Many Nested Assumptions in the Threat of […]
Posted inReligion
How Calvinists created the SBC’s fixation on inerrancy
Reading Time: 9 minutes It surprised me to notice that most of the people behind the Conservative Resurgence (the Old Guard, I call them and their sympathizers) weren’t Calvinists themselves, for the most part. But they got a huge amount of support from Calvinists all the same. Calvinists spoke their language — and then turned it against them. These Calvinists took brutal advantage of one concept in particular: Southern Baptists’ newfound affection for a doctrinal stance called inerrancy. Today, let me show you what inerrancy is and why this belief opened the door for Calvinists to wrest control of the SBC away from the Old Guard.
Posted inReligion
Unchurched: Evangelical Endorsements Reveal a Pattern
Reading Time: 9 minutes Lately, we’ve been examining Lee Strobel’s book, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary. In it, Strobel sold evangelicals a bill of goods about those outside their bubble. And they loved him for pandering to their very worst qualities. Their endorsements and praise reveal a solid pattern, and today, I’ll show you what that pattern looks like.
Posted inReligion
Pastoral Restoration: A Beloved Evangelical Farce
Reading Time: 9 minutes Pastoral restoration involves punishing and humiliating a male evangelical leader enough to mollify the flocks. Both parties seek to ease the scandal-causer back into pastoring without the flocks freaking out and rejecting him (or it blowing up into a public-relations nightmare for the denomination).
Posted inGeneral
The Legacy of ‘The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience’
Reading Time: 9 minutes Now, fifteen years later, let’s see how well Ronald J. Sider’s suggestions went. How many leaders took his suggestions? How’d that go? Has his corner of the Christianity sandbox improved since then — or not? Today, let’s check out the legacy of The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.
Posted inReligion
Pastoral Suicide: A Sad Dealbreaker for Evangelicals
Reading Time: 11 minutes Recently, I learned of very sad news: Darrin Patrick, an evangelical pastor, has apparently died by suicide. Unfortunately, this news represents part of a widespread and growing trend in that end of Christianity. Today, let me show you what that trend is, and what it means for evangelicals as a group.
Posted inReligion
Teen Baptisms Are Down (Still!) in the SBC
Reading Time: 10 minutes The SBC tracks baptisms-by-age-group — and they’re alarmed about just how far teenage baptisms have plummeted. That trend doesn’t seem to be anywhere near reversing, either. Today, let me show you a decline that gives me a lot of hope for the future.
Posted inReligion
The New Narrative Lie of Evangelism Success (Amid the Pandemic)
Reading Time: 10 minutes Christian evangelists and dishonesty: it’s one of the strongest pairings ever. They’ll say anything to score a Jesus sale! But we can tell a lot about their success by checking out what they don’t say in their own glowing self-reports. There’s a narrative taking form in Fundagelical-Land about evangelism amid the pandemic, and it is as false as anything […]