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Dr. Mohler and the Southern Baptist Convention

 Dr. Mohler apparently thinks he is the head honcho/spokesman/grand poohbah of us Southern Baptists. 

Well, I'll back off. I am not sure how much of an "us Southern Baptists" I am. I attend an excellent SBC church in Chattanooga. I love my church. I appreciate a lot about the SBC, especially the International Mission Board. 

Dr. Mohler is president of Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He is not president of the convention, or a pastor or missionary. The AI overview tells me:

 As the longest-tenured leader of any SBC entity, he functions as a foundational theologian, chief spokesperson for conservative evangelicalism, and key architect of SBC policies. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

I wonder if he has been a leader of a SBC entity longer than some pastors. I am also older than he is by four years. Not that my age means much, only that I no longer care what people think of my opinions especially about this particular issue.

I like this essay: https://baptistnews.com/article/what-if-mohler-talked-about-womens-bodies-the-way-he-talks-about-himself/

Al Mohler should back off on the women in leadership issue. Let the convention figure it out. The younger pastors are going to rethink it over the years. I doubt any SBC churches will have female senior pastors any time soon. That's okay because Baptist churches are supposed to be self-governing, and I am not sure I can support the whole church being under the leadership of one woman. My issue is Al  is his forcing the issue. He has a bully pulpit, as they say. 

Last Sunday a woman made an announcement in our church and then led us in prayer. I don't think Dr. Mohler would accept that. I think women can be ordained. Women have been leading the church de facto for years, and before the 1980s, SBC was more open about all this. I have a friend who is ordained (she goes to a Cooperative Baptist church). She preaches sometimes. I am not sure I would want to sit under her preaching, actually. But that's not the point. 

The big argument is that ordination of women would lead to senior pastoral leadership and that would lead to the next step, progressive doctrines and acceptance of LGBT people as members and even more. Why should it? Why could the SBC draw the line about sexual behavior? 

I used to be on the conservative side, and generally I run that way. But I don't like the overriding sense of female inferiority I get from these extreme views on women's leadership roles.

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