Tom Rush is an alumnus of Southern Baptist Theolgoical Seminary and a current trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In a recent Faceboook thread about JD Greear and his position the church’s relationship with homosexuals, Rush did not mince words about the spiritual status of the SBC President:
“This guy is an apostate.”
Facebook thread.
Rush was specifically responding to an (edited) video of Greear in which he apologized to the “gay and lesbian community” on behalf of himself and “his community” for not standing up for “abuse and discrimination” directed towards homosexuals.
Greear’s words were taken from a speech entitled “Preaching Like Jesus to the LGBT Community and Its Supporters” which he presented in October of 2014 at the ERLC’s “National Conference on The Gospel, Homosexuality, and the Future of Marriage. The full video of Greear’s speech is no longer available on the ERLC website but can still be found on his personal ministry website.
Greear’s positions on homosexual affairs are not a new controversy in the SBC. Today’s news is that an SBC insider has broken the unofficial 11th Commandment of the SBC “Thou shalt not criticize thy fellow Southern Baptist.” A trustee of the SBC’s flagship seminary, which is already mired in controversy over the firing of Dr. Russell Fuller, has publicly accused the sitting SBC President of rejecting the Biblical faith.
If the SBC is to continue as a unified denomination, its leaders must follow Rush’s lead in ending the culture of silence. Greear’s words about homosexuality were spoken at an SBC event nearly six years ago, before his ascension to the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC President is indirectly responsible for the appointment of SBC trustees like Rush. Southern Baptists must decide if they want Presidents like Greear or trustees like Rush. The way things have been going, it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to have both in the future.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
