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It's Saturday, June 10, 2023.

Today’s edition covers a pastor’s allegations of scandalous mistreatment by Southern Baptist seminary leaders, a controversy over another pastor’s comments about anti-homosexuality laws, and more.

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Of Christian Concern

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR RELEASES VIDEOS ALLEGING SCANDALOUS MISTREATMENT BY SOUTHEASTERN SEMINARY

Tom Buck, a vocal Southern Baptist pastor, progressively released a series of videos this week revealing the details of alleged mistreatment of him and his wife, Jennifer Buck, by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) leaders. According to the documentary-style videos, the story begins in 2018 when he and his wife sought feedback from author and speaker Karen Swallow Prior about an unpublished draft of an article that Jennifer had written. The article, which Jennifer hoped to refine before seeking to have it published, told the story of how Tom had been abusive in the early years of their marriage and how God had redeemed and restored their marriage from that abuse. 

The series reveals how the draft, complete with its sensitive information about the Bucks’ lives, was leaked and used to blackmail Tom. The videos suggest that Prior, who became an employee of SEBTS during that time, may have leaked the draft because of a personal vendetta against Tom for his vocal opposition to her endorsement of Revoice, a conference for Christians who identify as “gay/same-sex attracted” but affirm “a traditional sexual ethic.” They also suggest that the blackmail threats he received were precipitated by the actions of SEBTS provost Keith Whitfield, and intended to keep Tom quiet about some potentially damaging information he had on one of the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention presidential candidates.

The Bucks say they want SEBTS to conduct a third party investigation into the matter, something which seminary president Danny Akin initially expressed willingness to do but ultimately declined. The videos, whose release comes ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting next week, can be watched here.

FLORIDA PASTOR SPARKS CONTROVERSY OVER COMMENTS ON ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAWS

Pastor Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida was interviewed by NBC2 News regarding his controversial response to a tweet by Texas Senator Ted Cruz last week. In the tweet, Cruz denounced a Uganda law banning homosexuality, calling it “horrific & wrong” and saying, “Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque & an abomination.”

In response, Ascol tweeted that God in the Old Testament had established just such a law (Leviticus 20:13), and asked, “Was this law God gave to His old covenant people ‘horrific and wrong’?” His comment drew national attention, leading to the news interview. The full 27-minute conversation can be watched here.

Also Noteworthy

→ A Southwestern Seminary Board of Trustees Task Force issued a summary of their findings regarding expenditures by the former seminary president  Adam Greenway. The report published on Wednesday concluded that he “engaged in a pattern of spending that . . . did not reflect proper stewardship of seminary resources,” including, for example, “over $1.5 million spent on renovations, furnishings, and related expenses to the President’s home,” such as “$59,865.79 for Christmas decorations, more than $25,000 for artwork, and $11,123.49 for an espresso machine and accessories.”

→ Dallas Jenkins, creator of The Chosen, posted a video on Sunday responding to the controversy about a Pride flag spotted on the set of the Bible-based show. He explained that the flag is on a crew member’s personal equipment, that he and his team do not have a religious or political litmus test for who they work with, and that they intentionally decline to police personal workspaces. In the video, he gives detailed reasons for this approach.

→ Pennsylvania man Damon Atkins was arrested last Saturday while quoting the Bible in protest of a Pride march and rally, a viral video shows. Upon review of the case, the Berks County District Attorney’s Office dropped the disorderly conduct charges. County Commissioner Christian Leinbach said the arrest was “unlawful” and “could open the City of Reading and their police department to legal action,” The Lancaster Patriot reports.

→ The Syrian migrant who stabbed four children and two adults in a park in Annecy, France on Thursday reportedly shouted “in the name of Jesus Christ” in English before stabbing children. The suspect, who has been arrested, had obtained asylum status in Sweden claiming to be a persecuted Christian, but was denied asylum in France. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch suggests it’s possible that the the knifeman is actually a Muslim. Authorities says they have not found a terrorist motive.

→ Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh and his team released footage on Monday from an undercover investigation that allegedly exposes transgender telehealth as fraudulent. A member of Walsh’s team was approved for testicle removal after talking with a nurse for only 22 minutes via video call.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators.*

→ Can DEI Be Christian?: Christian apologist Neil Shenvi recently shared a link to a transcript of a 2022 talk in which he explains how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) can be disentangled from the “deeply unbiblical ideology” of critical theory. (Article)

→ Bible or Barber On Abolishing Abortion?: In an article for Servants and Heralds, Pastor Dusty Deevers addresses the conflicting definitions of “abolition,” and argues that Southern Baptist Convention president Bart Barber’s definition is unbiblical and insufficient. (Article)

→ “Homosexual” In The Bible: The social media account Smash Baals posted a Twitter thread on Sunday deconstructing the claim that “homosexual” didn’t appear in the Bible until 1946 due to a mistranslation of the word in a German Bible. (Thread)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

The Bible, Briefly

Holy, Common, Clean, and Unclean (Part 2)

Many believers struggle to understand or appreciate the book of Leviticus. It’s a book of laws, and not many besides lawyers care to read laws even in a modern context. Yet the psalmist declares, “O how I love Your law!” (Psalm 119:97), and we would do well to understand why.

Actually, with greater hindsight than the psalmist, Christians arguably have even more reason to love God’s law. A grasp of the concepts in Leviticus provides a rich context for understanding the ministry of Jesus, and gives the hearts of the faithful all the more reason to extol Him. With that end in mind, consider the following. 

Last week we defined four important terms from Leviticus—holy, common, clean, and unclean—and observed how, in ancient Israel, they constituted a kind of three-level hierarchy of all things (holy, common/clean, and unclean). In certain cases, a person’s or object’s status moved from one of these levels to another. How? According to commentator Gordon J. Wenham, there are four ways:

1. Pollution. A clean item could become unclean through simple physical contact with an unclean object, person, animal, etc. (e.g., Leviticus 5:2-3, 5-6; 11:31-38). Certain events could also make a person unclean, like childbirth (12:2, 5), emission of bodily discharges (15:2-3), and menstruation (15:19). Then also, whoever touched the unclean person, the bodily discharge, the menstrual blood, or even the beds upon which the person had reclined, would also become unclean (e.g., 12:2b; 15:4-7, 24). In other words, uncleanness was transmissible.

2. Sanctification. Sometimes, a holy item’s holiness could be transferred to a clean item, making the clean item holy. One example was the unleavened bread offered as Aaron and his sons’ portion. Whatever touched this food offering became holy (e.g., 6:16-18, 25-27). Like uncleanness, holiness was transmissible.

3. Cleansing. Unlike uncleanness and holiness, cleanness was not transmissible simply by touch. As the default state, it was affected by the holy and the unclean, but never the other way around. In order for the unclean to become clean, then, there had to be a process of cleansing rather than a simple touch. Depending on how the uncleanness had come about, this process of cleansing could vary from offering a sacrifice (e.g., 12:7) to taking a bath (e.g., 15:18) to simply waiting for a period of time (e.g., 15:28).

4. Profaning. It was strictly forbidden for any unclean thing to come in contact with any holy thing (i.e., 12:4b). This was profaning. When this happened, there were severe negative repercussions (e.g., 7:20, 21; 22:3)—in some instances, death for the unclean thing (e.g., 10:1-2). 

Next week we will see an example of how these concepts provide context for a powerful moment in Jesus’ ministry.

Church History Tidbit

Born in Carthage circa AD 160, around the time of Polycarp’s death, Tertullian was a pagan who converted to Christianity and wrote over 30 books defending the faith from paganism and heresy. He is considered the first theologian of the Western church, and was the first to write in Latin.

It is believed that Tertullian worked as a lawyer prior to his conversion. The legal phraseology and rhetorical strength of his writings lends credibility to that claim. In one of his most famous works, called Apology or Defense, written AD 197 (one year after his conversion), he makes reasoned arguments against common misconceptions about Christians, and against the Romans’ irrational persecution of them:

“Your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. That is why God allows us to suffer. Did you not just recently condemn a Christian woman to be violated by men rather than thrown to the lions? In doing so, you showed that we consider a taint on our purity something more terrible than any punishment and any death. Your cruelty, however great, is more a temptation to us than a benefit to you. The more we are mown down by you, the more we grow. The blood of Christians is seed.”

For all the profundity and usefulness of his writings, Tertullian’s legacy is a mixed one. He eventually descended into the heresy of Montanism, which played no small part in the varying opinions about him expressed by early church fathers.

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