Bob Jones University Weblog

Different but the Same

Quotes of the day:

"Of all the plagues with which mankind is cursed, religious tyranny is the worst."  Daniel Dafoe

“[Bob Jones III]…it was not the duty-bound combat veteran with the chest full of Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medals, and combat ribbons who was the ‘betrayer’. Rather, it was a group of BJU grads who were guided by their own self-interests and who reduced Biblical principles to carnal weaponry. Dr. Bob Sr. said, ‘A man’s character is not formed in the moment of crisis, it is revealed’…Your conduct reveals a character which belies BJU’s highminded prattle about standing for the ‘absolute authority of the Bible’ and ‘the old-time religion’…it is obvious that the Bible has little actual authority over the group. Once-upon-a time BJU’s teachers condemned situation ethics. Today, situation ethics are standard operating procedure for many in the BJU crowd…People are catching on to your see-no-evil, hear-no-evil antics. Acting blind, deaf, and dumb can be useful at times, especially at a BJU fundraiser [hosted by John Stevens and Northside Baptist].” 1997 letter to Bob Jones III

When I still lived at my parent's home, my father confronted me with an unflattering report from one of his contemporaries.  (To the best of my recollection, it involved some fairly aggressive driving.)  I protested and set out to mount a vigorous, self-serving defense!  That is, until he told me that he had received an identical report from another friend.  In fact, the second friend didn't know the first informant and cited a different incident!  

With this independent, corroborating testimony, my vigorous defense evaporated.  There was nothing else for me to do but to face facts and own up!  I was wrong, I couldn't attack the credibility of my accusers, and I was forced to take responsibility for my actions.  

It is hard to argue when faced with reports from unrelated people who have independently observed separate instances of behavior and who have come to similar conclusions based upon those observations. 

When I graduated from BJU in 1980, I was confident that BJU and the Joneses represented a sort of "ground zero" in sincere Christianity. In 1991, while attending Northside Baptist in N. Charleston, SC, that all changed.  

Bob III had given the go-ahead recommendation that made John Stevens its pastor.  Mr. and Mrs. Bob Jones III were members at Northside (even though it was some 200 miles from Greenville).  

Northside employed many BJU grads in the church and its schools.  It fed BJU many students and was, and is, one of the hundreds of churches across the USA that are vital to BJU's survival.  

Questions arose regarding some questionable financial dealings of Mr. Stevens, the preacher.  When I asked to see the books of the church, one would have thought I had asked the preacher to undress in front of the congregation.  I arranged to inspect the books on a Friday with BJU grad (now, a teacher at BJU) Barry Formanack, the church treasurer and a deacon.  Barry Formanack confirmed the appointment in writing.  We were excommunicated two days before that appointment was scheduled.  

(I understand that former  Northside treasurer and deacon, Barry Formanack now teaches accounting at BJU. Perhaps some of you will meet some of his students in the coming years.)

I kept Bob Jones III abreast of the situation at Northside.  It quickly became evident that Northside's support for BJU was more important to Bob III than truth and financial accountability.  

I learned a great deal about Bob Jones III during that time and how he approached issues and protected his and BJU's financial and fraternal interests.  I am convinced that Bob Jones III has chosen to serve "mammon" rather than God. 

I also learned a great deal about how the graduates of BJU acted when people tried to hold their fundamentalist leaders and institutions accountable.  I was met with coercion, intimidation, treachery, deceit, and every kind of deviousness imaginable.  

I sought to find the source of these things.  I finally concluded that the BJU-crowd - starting with Bob Jones III, their preachers, their full-time employees, and their rank-and-file people - are devotees of pragmatic expediency driven by personal loyalty to the Joneses and institutional idolatry for BJU.  

I concluded that it is perilous to trust anyone or any institution within the BJU/fundamentalist orbit.

People - especially those who wish to remain in the BJU/IFB orbit - seldom talk about their bad experiences with the Joneses/BJU.  It just isn't safe to talk about such things.    Just ask those who have talked.  One could be blackballed, shunned, fired, or excommunicated!

Dr. Grant Lewis, Dr. Camille Lewis' husband, evidently is not afraid to speak the truth regarding his exit from the BJU orbit of fundamentalism and from Heritage Bible Church in Greenville, SC.  He has written part of his story here.  

Dr. Grant Lewis independently came to some of the same conclusions I did about how the BJU orbit operates. While Grant's exit from Heritage Bible was not as dramatic as my wife's and my excommunication from Northside Baptist, the BJU-controlled church we left, it is uncanny how many similarities to our story I found in Grant's.  

It really doesn't matter what the circumstances are when a Fundamentalist's personal loyalty to the Joneses and institutional idolatry to BJU are challenged.  Those who seek the favor, patronage, and support of the Joneses/BJU act in a fairly predictable way.  I haven't trusted a BJU-trained preacher for years.

Leaving the BJU/fundamentalist orbit was a freeing experience for my wife and me. I will never again knowingly place myself or my family in a position, relationship, or belief system that is controlled or influenced by the practitioners of pragmatic expediency within the BJU orbit.

I learned a hard lesson at the hands of the BJU crowd.  Evidently, that is what the Lord thought was the best way to get us out of the sect.  I am certain that I made the right decision to get out of the BJU sect.

As was the case regarding reports of my aggressive driving, independent, corroborating observations are impossible to ignore.  (Except for the Joneses and BJU, of course.) The Grant and Camille Lewises have made some independent, corroborating observations about the BJU sect that should not be ignored by Christian brethren.

May the Lord bless the Lewises and help many people through them and their story.

mark

The Prince: Machiavellian Leadership

Quote of the Day:

"Christianity, said [Dr. Benjamin] Wiker, was the religion that defined the culture Machiavelli was born into and the religion he rejected – it is never permissible to do evil in the service of good. Machiavelli's singular statement that summarizes his entire worldview – The end justifies the means – meant "no act is so evil that some necessity or benefit cannot mitigate it." This idea, Wiker says, has Machiavelli inextricably linked to atheism.

According to Wiker, Machiavelli believed "that it is not only permissible but also laudable to do evil so that good might come – one must reject God, the soul, and the afterlife. That is just what Machiavelli did, and that is the ultimate effect of his counsel."

Wiker said, 'Because Machiavelli discarded notions of good and evil in 'The Prince,' he could confidently call good evil and evil good. Don't guide your life by what is good, but what is effective. …'"  Machiavelli in the House by Ellis Washington

Christ warned us in Matthew 20:25, "But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them."

I certainly don't pretend to know the mind of Christ or to be capable of plumbing the Wisdom of the Only Wise God.  I do believe that genuine Christian leadership is never cruel, cunning, duplicitous, double dealing, deceitful, arrogant, unapproachable, self-serving, or guided by pragmatic expediency.  True Christian leaders serve with Christ-like humility...the kind of humility that I find, as a proud American male, shocking, counter-intuitive...and, very humbling.  

It is the kind of humility that Christ demonstrated in John 13:

"Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him."..."When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

The All Powerful One Who spoke the worlds into existence took the office of the lowest-ranked house servant.  What a contradiction of His deity.  He served and He led by example, not only in foot-washing, but in presenting Himself as a Lamb to be slaughtered for unclean creatures.

I have watched modern-day fundamentalists leaders embrace and employ Machiavellian principles and practices while the rank-and-file within the movement give active or tacit approval.  Christian standards of conduct have been separated from Christian ethics.  That is bad.  But, what is worse is that it affects and hurts good, honest, trusting Christians.  Many BJU grads - most notably, BJU trained preachers and religious professionals - have adopted Machiavellian ways as the norm.  

In the past few years, I have met an increasing number of BJU graduates who have become disillusioned with Christian society and its institutions in general and Independent Fundamental Baptists and BJU in particular.  

We came to BJU convinced that it was the 'Fortress of Faith' and stood for "the absolute authority of the Bible".  We were more separated, doctrinally purer, adhered to higher standards of conduct, and were ethically and academically superior to all the other schools.  We were proud of BJU and being BJU students and grads.  That pride was bolstered by frequent criticisms of those who the Joneses judged fell short of BJU's standards.  Ours was a religious utopia.

It seemed there was a subtle shift in our attitudes and, instead of 'standing for the absolute authority of the Bible,' BJU decided what constituted biblical authority.  

The leadership did not act in concert with Christ's servant/leadership example. Rather than acting like servant/leaders, the Joneses acted like Machiavellians.  They excoriated those who disagreed with them.  They ridiculed those who didn't hold to their pet dogmas.  They ran roughshod over students, graduates, supporters, and anyone who didn't unreservedly support BJU and the Joneses.

And, despite the talk about separation, doctrinal purity, high standards of conduct, and ethical/academic superiority, the Joneses turned out to the be hypocritical; they didn't meet the standards they applied to others.  And, that inconsistency coupled pragmatism and cruel, authoritarianism, and disconnection from Christ's example seems to have led to disillusion within the BJU-styled religious utopia.  

That disillusionment is consistent with the effects of 'secular' Machiavellian society as Mr. Ellis Washington concludes in his article: 

"...What does this tell us? Liberals, progressives, socialists, intellectuals, academics and others adopting Machiavelli's separation of morality from politics and the end justifies the means – both atheistic notions – have no other choice than to create a paradigm where metaphysical concerns are unconnected to public policy, and the only real and relevant heaven one needs to be concerned with is right here on earth.

We can thank Machiavelli for separating politics from morality, which turned the rule of law into tyranny – also for deifying cruel, perverse, unconscious leaders, denigrating heaven and transforming it into a utopia on earth … thus making earth a living hell."

One of the reasons that led me to leave BJU-styled fundamentalism was because many fundamentalists seem to have diefied "cruel, perverse, unconscious leaders" who denigrate heaven and Christianity.  

mark 

Historical Perspective and Straight Thinking At Please Reconcile

The Please Reconcile website contains a wealth of information about BJU's interracial dating ban scandal. 

Most recently, PR posted a 1986 interview of Dean of Men Tony Miller regarding the interracial dating ban Rules.  From the interview, a couple of facts become clear.

First, "Mr. Miller’s words clarify that the interracial dating policy was codified in the 1970s (not the 1950s) due primarily to the admittance of African-Americans (not Asians)."  This contradicts the oft repeated story that the interracial dating ban was spawned in the '50's as the result of an Asian/Caucasian romance.   

Secondly, Tony Miller was well aware of Bob Jones III's misstatements in the Larry King Live interview.  Dean Miller never stood up and corrected the errors.  In keeping silent, he became a partaker in Bob Jones III's deception.  I wonder how many students Tony Miller expelled from BJU for not reporting the known wrongdoing of another student.  Evidently, Dean of Men Tony Miller held the students over which he exercised authority to a higher standard than that to which he held himself.  What could be more hypocritical?

THE "BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE" OF THE SEPARATION OF THE RACES

Please Reconcile also has a June 25, 2008 post titled The Biblical Principle of the Separation of the Races.

This well-written, well-documented article comes to an inescapable conclusion regarding Bob Jones III's statements in the Larry King Live interview about the present state of BJU's ideological view of interracial marriage: 

"The more one reads the interview, the less one can be sure that anything has changed on the ideological level. Thus, though people may say, “The policy has changed, so why do you hound the school for mere words,” we suggest that good, healing words are precisely what are needed at this point."  

It is time for all BJU graduates to take a stand and join the Please Reconcile group by signing the Petition regarding this unresolved debacle.  

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Since this was posted, Please Reconcile has unfortunately deleted from their site the history of BJU and the Joneses regarding their behavior regarding the interracial debacle.  Apparently, Jon Henry of the Please Reconcile site, promised that if BJU would make some sort of statement or apology he would delete from the site the details of BJU's and the Joneses' handling of the matter.  I believe that promise was ill-advised.

I do not believe it ever serves the truth to whitewash the past.  This interracial dating/marriage controversy - more publicly than any other - revealed how the Joneses, BJU, and their staff operate.  The facts and details that were revealed about the Joneses and BJU and some of the TEACHING AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF at BJU, demonstrated a level of dishonesty and gutlessness that remains unrebuked.  And, some of these unrepentant people - opportunistic heretics and sychophants, really - still teach and influence students at BJU.  

The underlying problems that allowed BJU and the Joneses to lead an entire religious sect and sub-culture to accept the Joneses interracial foolishness as "Bible policy," remains undisturbed.  The Please Reconcile group never insisted on addressing the matter of personal responsibility for sin in this matter.  In fact, with respect to judgment and righteousness and restitution, there seem to be a host of things left undone.  

Yet, BJU, the Joneses, and those who aided and abetted them in this matter, seem to have been let off scot free. 

But, my guess is that Dr. Stephen Jones' statement, empty as it is, satisfied many gullible people who couldn't wait to congratulate themselves on how this new statement on interracial relations.  

I do want to write about this when I have some time.

mark fitzhenry