The real reason SBC lost members.

[Josh]

If you look into the actual subject at hand, you will find that the SBC is bleeding members most heavily in exactly the demographics that I described. Younger people, urban people, and non-white people. And the demographics where they are maintaining their numbers are older, whiter, and rural people. A quick bit of digging into the data will show this to be true.

Interesting that you bring up Pentecostals since Pentecostals have never excluded women from the ministry like Baptists. Even going back to the origins of the faith in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. Women have always been free to preach and lead. Here is a historical photo of the original leaders and founders of the Pentecostal faith

Oneness Pentecostals rarely have female preachers, and have the most significant growth. It was 30% women in their ministry back in the 1920s and is so non-existent now that I can't think of any I have met.

My citation is the overall trend of what happens to mainline denominations (and the SBC is becoming a mainline protestant denomination, no doubt about that). They shrink and die.

[temporal1]

https://apnews.com/article/baptist-reli ... 4c3dae3fd5
.. It makes SBC larger culture wars ring hollow.

Do you have any evidences that this is the "real reason" for the exodus?
I didn't see anything in the article about polling or surveys. And most members wouldn't have been broadly aware of the systemic issue with the lack of action in cases of abuse.

i’m with those who question this topic’s subject line. it’s sophomoric and even cheeky. esp in General Theology.

SIN harms. it harms well beyond whatever particular incident.

one of the harms sexual predators do, esp within churches, is opening up avenues for other sinners to point fingers and brag:
WE AREN’T THAT BAD! it definitely happened following the huge 1990’s Catholic priest abuse scandals! homosexuals jumped right on it, declaring themselves better-than. sadly,they made major headway based on those arguments.

now this. no different.

that’s human reasoning. what do scriptures say?
i don’t believe they suggest,
“sodomy is an abomination - unless - your neighbor is a child sexual predator. then, sodomy is fine. preferred.”
it doesn’t go like that.

The unforgivable sin.
MD was my starting place. i was impressed with an overall youthful group, CM teens+20’s, upbeat, welcoming, fun-loving - AND,
Biblically literate. Astute. They did not hesitate to tackle the hard stuff. They weren’t novices.

i had mostly read the Bible on my own, i enjoyed it, i would “dig in.” i didn’t have the background to match those i found on MD, mostly CM youngins. i wasn’t intimidated. i was impressed and interested.

When the topic of The unforgivable sin came up, i was surprised, and fascinated. It wasn’t what i would have thought!
i dug in studying it and was changed by what i found.

God has His ways. They are not our ways. God’s ways are perfect. He doesn’t ask “too much.”
But He’s dead-serious about what He asks.

[nett]

one of the harms sexual predators do, esp within churches, is opening up avenues for other sinners to point fingers and brag:
WE AREN’T THAT BAD! it definitely happened following the huge 1990’s Catholic priest abuse scandals! homosexuals jumped right on it, declaring themselves better-than. sadly,they made major headway based on those arguments.

Yes exactly. Which is very convenient, because homosexuals then further prey on the victims of of that abuse, by convincing them that the confusion they are experiencing is just homosexuality, and that it's fine. eg: Milo Yiannopoulos

It's an insidious cycle.

[temporal1]

one of the harms sexual predators do, esp within churches, is opening up avenues for other sinners to point fingers and brag:
WE AREN’T THAT BAD! it definitely happened following the huge 1990’s Catholic priest abuse scandals! homosexuals jumped right on it, declaring themselves better-than. sadly,they made major headway based on those arguments.

Yes exactly. Which is very convenient, because homosexuals then further prey on the victims of of that abuse, by convincing them that the confusion they are experiencing is just homosexuality, and that it's fine. eg: Milo Yiannopoulos

It's an insidious cycle.

to clarify.
in this case of SBC, it’s not homosexuals, per se, but the modus operandi, as VB spells out in this video:

This means they are not special exceptions to carnal sin.

When i was first interested in Mennonites, following the 90’s priest abuse scandals, along with revelations in secular and gov groups and institutions, i HOPED Mennonites would be special exceptions. No. Not as a whole. i HOPED Mennonites had a special way.

Every human construct, bar none, requires active accountability and oversight.
Every one is vulnerable to sin. The more impossible it seems, the more likely it is to be true.

i’m very sorry to say.

Regarding membership, while carnal scandals are horrible+damaging, i’m more inclined to believe VB’s observations:

“The Coverup You Never Heard About” | Voddie Baucham / 18min



2019 Vote: SBC Resolution 9 (CRT and intersectionality)

2019 to 2022 = 3 years (old math)