One of the first articles I ever published at this site was entitled “Ecumenism, Book Sales, Beth Moore, and the Bishop of Saddleback”. In that article, I implied that Rick Warren was more concerned with expanding his influence than staying true to biblical doctrine. Here we are nine years later. Rick Warren, his church having been expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention for appointing a female “pastor”, is now arguing vociferously that women should not be proscribed from filling the office of pastor in the local church. Let me say that again: Rick Warren is arguing that women should be pastors.
He’s arguing very badly. I’m not going to go over and refute Warren’s arguments for egalitarianism. Denny Burk has already done so here, so I don’t need to do it again on this blog. Furthermore, I don’t feel inclined to argue for established orthodoxy. I was educated at a Southern Baptist Seminary and the Southern Baptists already decided that the Bible teaches that only men can be pastors. Frankly, so was Warren, and he believed that along with the SBC for years, until it was became inconvenient for him to do so. That’s how things work with a theology of convenience.
So, really, nothing has changed. Rick Warren has been bad at teaching doctrine and applying biblical truth for years and years. That didn’t really matter to the Southern Baptist Convention because Warren was really good at the thing that the convention loves most: growing numbers. For proof, look no further than Warren’s alma Mater, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Warren was set in Stainglass at his seminary’s chapel along with other Southern Baptist heroes of the faith like Paul Pressler, Paige Patterson, and Jerry Vines. (After Paige Patterson was dismissed as president of that institution those windows were taken down.) But what had Warren ever done for the faith or the SBC? He sold lots of books and grew numbers at his church. Nickels and noses are the currencies of the SBC. His seminary couldn’t help but enshrine him as a hero.
It didn’t matter that Warren was (and is now) a doctrinal jellyfish. It mattered that he drew numbers. Never forget this readers: Warren is on the warpath, out of pure pride, to split the SBC over the issue of female “pastors”. Pulpit & Pen has been warning you Baptist readers about Rick Warren and his ilk (Beth Moore, Russell Moore, et al) for nearly a decade. Look at them now. Then look back and who SBC leaders were telling you were good. Look whose books they were selling. Look who they were platforming at conferences.
Nickels and noses…as if the rocks wouldn’t cry out to worship Jesus if there were no people to do so.
*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.
