In my posts I often use quotes to set the stage and to prepare the minds of those who read my posts so that they can get a sense of that which has shaped my view of Bob Jones University, the Joneses, and the Jonesians who support them. It is from these quotes that I have developed many of my ideas, attitudes, and philosophies. I especially like to use quotes from the Joneses or from the faculty of Bob Jones University, especially faculty members who taught me. While a quote is either loosely or tightly connected to the topic of the post, most quotes also relate to other posts. Through these quotes, I am endeavoring to give the reader a sense of the spirit that controls this group of people.
Quote of the Day:
"Wherever truth exposes error, error will oppose truth, and truth will be drawn into conflict. The believer must both stand and advance against the enemy. Although controversy is not to be sought, it must be accepted. He cannot ignore strife, though it is not of his own making. Love is a noble virtue, but Christian love is love in the truth...modern history affords ample opportunity for the teacher to illustrate our final lesson, that Satan's method is to counterfeit the true...We are conditoned to regard the "good" in every mixture of good and evil, when as discerning Christians, we should regard the evil. Few would value the scraps of food in a garbage can. Just as the good food is totally contaminated by its association with the bad, so is whatever good may seem to be in a spiritual mixture. In fact, the prescence of the good makes the evil more subtly dangerous." Dr. Edward Panosian, Professor of History, BJU
BEWARE THE LEAVEN
I have spent the past few days reviewing the websites regarding Bob Jones University, the Joneses, and fundamentalism. Some of what I read brought back memories. Other things were false, petty, or lacking in factual basis. Some of the websites simply dealt with the rules at BJU.
I have a unique view of BJU borne of dramatic events. I have dealt with Dr. Bob Jones III on a number of issues. I would encourage those who disagree with my assessment of Dr. Jones III, to engage Dr. Jones III in a dialogue wherein you ask him questions....after the manner of Christ, Who was the Master of the dialogue. You will find, in short order, that either Jones III will not answer honest answers regarding the outworking of his faith and/or practices, or he will attack and/or blackball you. Following in the footsteps of Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr., Bob Jones III is not one who is willing to submit himself to questions by his brethren or to submit to brotherly accountability. Has anyone witnesses an instance where a Jones humbly and graciously submitted to correction by their brethren?
Note these comments I penned to Dr. Jones III, "Incidentally, who at BJU gave you the idea to keep your church membership out of Greenville and secret? What a cunning, self-serving way to undermine and evade the Matthew 18-principle of Christ and spurn biblical accountability. Such clever dodges have served you well." And, I am not the only one to note that the Joneses have not mechanism to affect outside accountability.
I have come to several conclusions regarding the Joneses, my alma mater, Bob Jones University, and Bob Jones-styled fundamentalism. I am making my conclusions public - but only after careful examination of the facts and only after giving Dr. Bob Jones III ample opportunity to respond. I drew my conclusions based upon personal experiences, the experiences of other people, and my interaction with Bob Jones III, numerous BJU graduates, BJU faculty members, and various devotees and defenders of BJU-styled fundamentalism.
I penned a few of those conclusions to Jones III and Thurman Wisdom in an August 5, 1998 Open letter:
"The two most important tasks of anyone aspiring to be a Christian leader in Christ's Church are setting a good example and maintaining a good reputation. (I Tim. 3:7 and 4:12)
"If the leadership at BJU has taught anything, it is that Biblical principles can be quite flexible in hands that view the Word of God as an advertising prop to market education and a single-edged sword with which to bludgeon their competitors and personal enemies."
"Bob Jones III is positioned so as to operate outside God-ordained structures of accountability. He is a 'corporate business preacher' with no discernible biblical cover or scriptural precedence."
JONESIANISM
"Idolatry occurs when a man decides that his relationship to a person or institution, rather than his relationship with Christ, is pre-eminent in determining his religious and spiritual standing." Jerry Kaifetz
"Those who succeed at BJU often choose cowed servility to the man who signs their check over humble, unswerving submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit in matters of faith and practice. Those who do not submit to the whims and dictates of the top man do not last long. There is truth as well as humor in the joke that BJU's fight song is, 'Whose bread I eat is whose song I sing.'" Two quotes from an Open letter to Bob Jones III and Thurman Wisdom, August 5, 1998, Mark Fitzhenry
"So you want to know where a man stands with God? You have only to ask hime one question: what do you think of this university?" Dr. Bob Jones Sr., chapel address to faculty, staff, and students of BJU.
It seems fitting to call blind devotees of the Joneses and BJU, "Jonesians". While most supporters of BJU and the Joneses profess to be Christians, it often appears that many of them are loyal to the Joneses and BJU first and Christ second. Oft has it been said, when there was an issue within fundamentalism, "What does Dr. Bob say?" Wouldn't one who is first a Christian say, "What does God's Word say?" Loyalty is the coin of the realm at BJU; to disagree with the Joneses is to lose their favor and patronage.
As Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968) once preached in BJU's chapel, "So you want to know where a man stands with God? You have only to ask him one question: what do you think of this university?" Had anyone else - other than a Jones - made such a statement about another school or institution, he would have been summarily labeled an idolater. (The Joneses have been elevated to such an extra-biblical status during the past 80 years that they are known as the "Great Exceptions" when it comes to being held accountable to ethical and biblical standards of conduct.)
But, Dr. Bob planted a philosophical seed and that philosophy leavened the university family. The philosophy that what one thinks of BJU determinies his standing with God was passed down from Bob Jones Sr. to Bob Jones Jr. to Bob Jones III and then to the administrators, staff, faculty, students, and graduates of Bob Jones University. Such a philosophy has insulated BJU and the Joneses from outside criticism, ie., if one is critical of BJU or the Joneses then that person cannot enjoy God's blessing. According to Dr. Walter Fremont, Dean of Education for over 40 years, Bob Jones Sr. set the parameters of the Jonesian defensive mentality when he advised his faculty and staff to never waste time engaging those critical of the university but to dismiss them as "bitter" and "egotistical". Such an approach would insure that no weighty issues were ever addressed or dealt with at BJU.
Through my experiences over the past 15 years, I accumulated quite a few documents. I will be adding documents on a regular basis as this site takes shape. (WHEN I FIGURE OUT HOW TO SCAN DOCUMENTS INTO FILES AND UPLOAD THOSE FILES TO THIS BLOG!!!!) If you have some Bob Jones University documents that you would like to contribute, contact me, I will attempt to verify the authenticity of the documents, and I will try to post them. As you may have guessed, BJU Exposed is not officially sanctioned by Bob Jones University. I long since have given up hope of being named "Bob Jones University Graduate of the Century". But, the new millenium is young and hope springs eternal!
I still have acquaintances - and, even friends - who support and/or are associated with Bob Jones University. I staunchly supported and defended BJU and the Joneses for years and I am well-equiped to understand the mentality of those who still center their faith around BJU, the Joneses, and BJU-styled fundamentalism. But, I am careful not to number amongst my friends "Jonesians". Double-minded men are unstable in all their ways and that has never applied better to anyone than a Jonesian.
If you are a Pauline Christian, a follower of Paul who followed Christ and one not afraid to speak out against wrongdoing, you will never be safe around a Jonesian; they tend to turn on those who speak the truth about BJU. While a Jonesian may appear to be a Christian, a Jonesian will never apply a Christian principle to a Jones or to BJU. Wally Metts made this observation about fundamentalists and it applies doubly to the Jonesians I have known:
“To be quite blunt, many organizations I encounter [profess a belief in the fundamentals] to maintain peer status, but lie, cheat, steal, carry on corrupt business practices, slander, commit fraud, and practice bitterness and hatred. But as long as they [believe the fundamentals], they are accepted by their peers. It would be hard to imagine a more hypocritical stance.”
A Jonesian, when all is said and done, shows an inordinate devotion to the notion that the Joneses and/or BJU are the final arbiters of faith and practice. Though they might not verbalize it - and would never admit to the attitude - what one "...think[s] of this university" will be the sole determining factor in how a Jonesian will view all others. One cannot serve two masters. It has been my sad experience to observe that a Jonesian will turn on anyone who does not share his/her adulation for the Joneses and/or BJU.
Mark Taylor Dalhouse, author of the book An Island in the Lake of Fire, Bob Jones University, Fundamentalism & the Separatist Movement, wrote, "[BJU], its founding family, and its passionate supporters, are an ecclectic mix of hard-and-fast convictions and ambiguous actions." Repeatedly, the Joneses' convictions turn into nothing more than preferences. The Joneses abandon their convictions whenever the situation benefits the Joneses and their followers follow suit.
I have opposed the doings of the Joneses and BJU for years, not because of bitterness, I am past that phase, but because I believe having a place where the truth can be told is needed. I don't want to appeal to those who simply hate Christ and find BJU a tangible target at which to take aim. That being said, it is not the Joneses or the rules at BJU that concern me. Rather, it is the influence over young students, local churches, and weak legged preachers who depend on the favors of BJU and the Joneses that concerns me. If you attend one of these churches, the BJU-trained pastors act like they have adopted the ethics, tactics, attitudes, and authoritarian tyranny practiced by the Joneses. This affects the man in the pew, the young person in "youth group," the unsaved visitor in the back row of the church. It is a dangerous leaven, a leaven that has generally destroyed the independent, fundamental church movement.
I have accumulated a great deal of information over the years regarding BJU and the Joneses. At one point in my life, I made BJU, the Joneses, and BJU graduates the subjects of deliberate personal inquiry. I felt Bob III and BJU had betrayed the very ideals that they espoused from their great "pulpit" in the Founder's Memorial Auditorium.
What a story my exodus from Jonesianism is! To say the least, it is dramatic, full of Jonesian villany, treachery, manipulation, religious tyranny, connivance, deceit, duplicity, etc.! At first, I felt guilty that I was concluding that the Joneses and BJU were duplicitous. (If one wants to know the essence of the much-vaunted "Character" imparted to the students and graduates of Bob Jones University, one need only attend a Bob Jones University-approved fundamentalist Baptist church and watch how the Jonesians deal with the issues that crop up over a 5 or 10 year period.) Then, as I got a personal glimpse into the character of Dr. Bob Jones III as a fellow church member, I wanted to know if I was the only one to come to the conclusion that Dr. Bob Jones III lacked personal and ecclesiatical integrity.
I was greatly comforted at that time of reassessment of the Joneses and BJU by reading "An Open Letter to Dr. Bob Jones III" from Charles Underwood, the first Director of Church Planting at BJU. Those within the BJU orbit and have reservations should be comforted too. Breaking with a Jones, with BJU, with Fundamenalism is quite different than renouncing one's faith in Jesus Christ. Take comfort. There is life after Jonesianism!
Mr. Underwood's letter was in response to a letter he received from Dr. Bob Jones III. I was comforted by the letter. I had observed - independently of Mr. Underwood, a man I had never even heard of - the same traits and tactics he had observed in the Joneses and BJU!
Every prospective student and his/her parents, every graduate, every present student, and every staff/faculty member should read this letter. It has served to detail a pattern of behavior, the Jones boys mode of operation. While much has been written about the Joneses harshness with those who disagree with them and their duplicity, this Charles Underwood's open letter reveals more about how the Joneses have led the university than any other. Yes, the issues change, the words change, the tactics change, but in the final analysis, the Joneses are exactly who they revealed themselves to be back in 1983 as revealed in this letter. With Dr. Bob Jones III now as Chancellor and Steven Jones as President, I am not optimistic that much will change at my alma mater.
Underwood detailed instance after instance and Jonesian controversy after Jonesian controversy. What surfaced was a Jonesian pattern a consistent template by which the Joneses dealt with those who disagree with them. Underwood's most powerful and convincing device was in quoting the Joneses own words to show their duplicity, double dealing, and hypocrisy. And, the most convincing evidence of the duplicity of the Joneses is comparing what they say in one situation with what they do and say later. As Dr. Bob Sr. said, "People won't mock a consistent Christian, they will respect him."
Underwood demonstrated that the Joneses say and do not and have made a mockery of biblical Christianity and spiritual leadership. More than any other (short) document available, Underwood's Open Letter details the way the Joneses operate, the loyalty they demand from their followers, the benefits of being loyal, the sychophantism that motivates those who want to advance their religious careers, the punishment meted out to those who are not loyal, the duplicity of the Joneses for pride's sake or for the sake of BJU.
The pattern of behavior and duplicity of the Jones boys, as outlined in Underwood's letter could serve as a template for practically every controversy and conflict in which the Jones boys have engaged. Underwood's use of the Joneses' own words and contradictory statements and actions are so accurate that one could change the date, controversy, and individuals involved and not even notice the changes. Unless I am mistaken - and please correct me if I am - Bob Jones III's basic character and leadership style have not changed in the past 24 years.
Was Mr. Underwood a "bitter, egotistical" person as a Jonesian might accuse? Or was Mr. Underwood one who drew on facts in order to draw logical, biblical conclusions? Are Mr. Underwood's observations out of date? Note Mr. Underwood's spirit:
"...The talk and the teaching coming from BJU are so contradictory that even your most loyal supporters are questioning the possibility of your survival as the "Fortress of Faith." A longtime supporter of BJU recently said, "We don't need BJU anymore!" I wanted to weep when I heard that statement. Something strange is happening at BJU, and it is turning off people so fast that you must either change your attitude or hire a Madison Avenue advertising agency. It is my studied observation that you are losing favor with God and good men."..."We have attempted to explain to offended friends... why you have no respect for graduates who practice what they have been taught at the university; and why you advocate building independent fundamental churches and yet excoriate those who exercise independence..."
"...For over a year, beginning in 1970, I contacted men and women on behalf of BJU. I made approximately three thousand contacts by telephone and about a thousand face-to-face. When people faced me with the duplicity of the leadership of the university, I simply disbelieved it, and I went on trying to help build a school that I felt would stand for the truth of God until Jesus comes. After I left BJU in 1976, I made it a matter of personal investigation. Then, I became convinced of your double dealing with the truth with good men and of your compromise with Masonry."
He noted Bob III's propensity to characterize any criticism leveled at him or BJU as "scurrilous attacks..." Underwood quoted some of Bob III's and Bob Jr.'s own words, defined "scurrilous" for Bob and concluded, "It seems to me that you and your father are masters of this art."
He cited facts, quoted the Joneses' self-contradictory statements, gave numerous examples, and concluded "...how little regard you and your father have for facts and how judgments are rendered on the basis of some bad reports from somone looking for 'brownie points.'" He finally concluded, "...As I write in this vein about my alma mater, and let it be clearly understood that I am not talking about the university as an institution, nor am I talking about the thousand or more faculty and staff members who, out of love and loyalty for Christ, have given their lives, as I have, to what they thought was service for Christ. I am speaking about the chancellor and the president who have betrayed so many alumni, former students, and supporters, that it makes me heartsick."..."It has been my hope that the Lord will not have to say of BJU: "Ephraim [BJU] is joined to idols: LET HIM ALONE." (Hosea 5:11-12) However, I am very fearful that He will."
That letter was written in 1983 and is much like an Open letter to Bob Jones III written in 2000! Whether the issue involving Bob Jones was Rice, Graham, Calvinism, Masonry, KJV controversy, Westcott and Hort, interracial dating, the autonomy of local churches, Christian brotherhood, a school rule or policy, dealing harshly with a student or supporter, etc., running through it is a Jonesian thread of dupicity, double dealing, abusiveness, all leavened with a patent Jonesian hypocrisy that would make a Pharisee blush.
Dr. Myron Cedarholm, an old-line fundamentalist, said, "As the schools go, so goes the movement." That is certainly true of Bob Jones University-styled fundamentalism. Schools influence, or leaven, the thinking of the next group of graduates. By their own boasts, BJU and the Joneses have been influential amongst the Fundamentalist Movement and the pastors, evangelists, churches, and Christian organizations that comprise the Movement. It is interesting to see how the Joneses cobbled together a network of independent, fundamental churches and organizations from which to farm student/customers.
The Joneses are not "gospel ministers" or "evangelists". The Joneses pitch their education products from church pulpits and use the gospel of Christ as an advertising prop. The Joneses are in the education business and they depend upon churches and religious high schools to support the school by plying BJU with students and providing places of employment for BJU graduates. With their influence - their leaven and the inordinate personal loyalty that they require of those hanging onto their coattails - they influence the direction, the tone, the standards of Jonesian-styled fundamentalism. To be sure, they are the gate-keepers and enforcers within the Movement and they deal harshly with anyone who holds them to universally recognized standards of ethical/biblical conduct.
The purpose of this site is to caution and to inform those who would attend BJU that there is more to the institution than manicured lawns, bright-eyed, modestly dressed co-eds, and well-groomed, polite boys. The Mormons in Utah project the same image. Most of what is on the internet about BJU deals with "the rules". If you want to go to BJU, find out what the rules are, keep the rules, and don't moan about it. I didn't know what the rules were when I got there. I just scanned the rule book and signed it. But, keep in mind that there is more to BJU than its carefully crafted Madison Avenue image. Like tens of thousands of graduates before you, you will assimilate a great many attitudes and beliefs that you will come to question as you go about living the rest of your life, marry, attend church, raise your children, interact with other, etc.
BJU's influence upon fundamentalism is undeniable. If you visit a BJU-pastored church in Arizona it will be much like a BJU-pastored church in Pennsylvania, or Indiana, or South Carolina. It has been in the Jonesian, independent, fundamental churches pastored by authoritarian, duplicitous BJU-trained pastors supported by blindly loyal bands of BJU graduates, that I have seen the leaven of Jonesian hypocrisy raise its ugly head! I'm not saying that every BJU graduate or BJU-trained minister is bad. What I am saying is that a man would wise to check a BJU-trained pastor's attitudes and loyalties before going to his church.
A Jones isn't God and he isn't the final arbiter of anything but whether you make it in the Bob Jones-controlled fundamentalist orbit. The rules do not apply to the Joneses; they make the rules for others. The Joneses are the Great Exceptions: none of the rules or normal biblical principles apply to them. Those within the BJU-orbit and who discover that the "Emperors" of the Jonesian empire have no clothes, find out quickly the danger of rebuking or reproving anything Jones. If you can't be mindlessly loyal to the Joneses and BJU - and change your mind when they change theirs - you won't succeed as a friend of the Joneses, as a student at BJU, or as a minister within BJU-controlled fundamentalism. If you cannot turn a blind eye to Jonesian duplicity and treachery, you will not last very long. If you cannot keep your mouth shut when they lead everyone down an unbiblical path or when others are abused by the Joneses or the Jonesians, you will become personna non grata. So, it is not surprising that at BJU there is a leaven of peculiarly Jonesian hypocrisy that will permeate every part of your spirit.
Let me give an example: The Joneses filled BJU's Bible faculty with Calvinists, taught their students Calvinist theology, changed their minds with regard to Calvinism, systematically fired their Calvinist faculty, forced students to sign statements saying they would not discuss Calvinism, refused to give at least one of my friends a copy of what they forced him to sign, excoriated their Calvinist graduates for emphasizing the Calvinism they were taught to embrace at BJU, and then the Joneses joined themselves with Ian Paisley, arguably the most noted Calvinist politician/preacher in the world!
I am not a "Calvinist" nor do I condemn my Calvinist brethren. We agree on certain points and we disagee on other points. I believe that this debate will continue until Christ sets us all straight! But, Underwood's comments on this issue are quite revealing as to the substance and leadership of Bob Jones III: "The attitude of the president toward graduates who take a 'Calvinistic stance' is most unbecoming. I just talked to a man a few days ago who received all of his theological education at BJU, and yet he came under your ridicule for embracing Reformed Theology or five-point Calvinism. If you had not retained the five-pointers on the BJU faculty, there would have been no need to debase your graduates. They usually believe what they are taught. If you had not kept the five-pointers, your faculty would have been decimated, as you well know. I have a note from you in which you stated regarding Calvinism, 'We are not so much against the doctrine as we are the emphasis.' Now, that statement may seem logical to you, but to me it is illogical. A man, of necessity, must emphasize what he believes, or else there could be no honest conviction."
It has been said, "One does not disagree with Bob Jones and remain his friend for long." And, in many such Jonesian flip-flops, many a student, grad, and faculty member misstepped in the dances of agreement with, and loyalty to, the Joneses and paid the terminal consequences of disagreeing with the Joneses! Right or wrong, the Joneses lead and a host of gullible and/or ambitious fundamentalists blindly follow the Joneses lead.
Fundamentalism has run its course. Fundamentalism has all-to-often become the playground of those who cannot submit to any form of accountability. The Joneses have led in this trend and they have helped set the tone in Jonesian-styled fundamentalism. The Joneses may try to change the label, but it is not the name that is killing fundamentalism, it is its leaders, its schools, and the types of people its leaders and schools produce. A Pharisaical leaven, a peculiarly Jonesian hypocrisy and idolatry have infected fundamentalism. Fundamentalists have left off Christ and obedience to His New Testament commandments and started worshipping fundamentalism's institutions and gurus. It is in the throes of death. Some will blame that on the Joneses and their cronies: institutional corruption usually moves from the top down and is aided by silence and timidity within the rank-and-file. Whoever is to blame, Christians need to start looking for another vehicle to sustain biblical Christianity in the US: biblical, New Testament Christianity is a rare commodity within the independent, fundamentalist Baptist Movement, Jonesian or otherwise. This movement has gone the way of the large, main stream denominations of old.
The first purpose of this site is to warn the simple of the leaven of hypocrisy the Joneses have sown into the university family and into the Jonesian brand of fundamentalism. In Luke 12:1, Christ commanded, "Beware ye the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Those who refuse to know the truth, when they could have known the truth, are guilty of choosing ignorance and self-deception. Don't believe me or anyone else. Look over the documents in the archive. Write Dr. Bob Jones III and ask him direct questions about the things herein that he himself has written and done. Afterall, isn't BJU "The Answer Place"?
Secondly, Paul commands believers in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." If you attend Bob Jones University you will learn to outwardly conform to a set of man-made standards. However, you will also be instructed by faculty members and under the disciplinary perview of administrators who are first loyal to the Joneses and who must teach and support the philosophies, the vain deceit, the traditions and rudiments of the Joneses.
It is no coincidence that BJU-grad preachers and BJU-grad church members act in accord with the philosophies, vain deceit, traditions of men, and the rudiments of the world. It is no surprise that the BJU-crowd delights in following authoritarian leaders who scorn biblical accountability: a little leaven leavens the whole lump. A word of caution should be adequate for the wise. Nothing but bad experiences serve to caution the "otherwise".