What Am I Doing?

This is the question I asked myself as I penned my last post. Since 2006, when I entered the blogosphere, I have constantly defended entity heads along with the trustees and never once identified them in a post of disagreement. I have been one that entered this debate based on the one premise–the entity heads and trustees were duly elected within the structures of the SBC for those positions– and made certain that I never strayed from supporting the person duly placed in that position. That is, until last week.

As I penned the words questioning Dr. Akin’s myths posts that he placed before all of Southern Baptist, I was very cautious that I did not take aim at Dr. Akin. As one who has been in the blogosphere since 2006, I found two unprecedented situations that revealed a tension within me.  First, Dr. Akin has done something that I have never seen any entity head do before him.  He has entered the blogging world in order to bust “myths” from unnamed sources.  One thing I know about the blogging world is if you desire to keep anything alive just place it out there with “unnamed sources” and you will have a “balloon boy” story on your hands.  Second, Dr. Akin’s “myths” articles bring me into direct disagreement with him.  Myth “6″ and “7″ are two that I have never heard.  Before he penned these last two “myths” others stated in the comments that they have not heard some of the former “myths”.  He even shares that he has not heard “Myth 7″ but places it out there as fact because someone has told him it was out there.  “Myth 8″ is one that he agrees has validity but insists that the “myth” is that the GCRTF is working on such a plan.  It seems that Dr. Akin handles this answer different than other Task force members who insist the GCRTF, as a body, has not discussed the issue.

I find myself, though, in a very precarious position. I honor Dr. Akin as president of my alma mater,a leader in the SBC, and I desire to see SEBTS doing well. I praise God for the breath of evangelism that blows across that campus and I praise our Lord for the leadership with which Dr. Akin has surrounded himself. Do I agree with Dr. Akin on various issues that he has tackled in the past few years? No! Does he agree with me on everything I concern myself with? No! As I listened to him in his forum on 9/30/2009 say, “if you do not agree with this then maybe you need to find another place to complete your seminary education,” I found myself in total agreement with that statement. Because my last post presented areas of disagreement concerning Dr. Akin, I would like to use this post to let all of Southern Baptists know there are areas of agreement that I have with Dr. Danny Akin. Of course I am certain he will stay up every bit of two seconds concerning himself with whether I agree or disagree with him.

His Preaching–Dr. Danny Akin can shuck the corn. What does this mean? It means that Dr. Akin can take a section of Scripture and reveal that text in ways that are fresh and alive. Dr. Akin has a way of peeling away the inedible layers of historical content, theological academia, and grammatical structure in order to expose and invite the hearer to taste the sweet kernels of God’s truth found in the text. Dr. Akin combines this mastery with the passion of a 1999 South Carolina Gamecocks fan in his delivery. If you did not go to a SC Gamecocks football game in 1999 you missed a treat. By the 2nd quarter you could get a seat on the 50 yard line in the first row. However, you had to wait in long lines in order to get a seat in the nose bleed section in order to see the the kick-off. After each game these fans are yelling for you to wait until next Saturday. That is a sign of passion for their team. Dr. Akin has that kind of passion in his preaching. Each day he looks for the rapture of the church (he most affectionately refers to as Pre-Millennium) and every time I hear him preach he passionately calls for our allowing our Savior to live out the truths of Scripture through us.  Dr. Akin has publicly and privately stated, “Any time the gospel is presented and an invitation to accept the Gospel is not given it is ministerial malpractice”.

He shows no fear in presenting the truth of God’s word. Sometimes when he deals with an especially delicate subject matter he will offset the delicacy by saying, “you may not agree with me, but I really do not care.” Or it may be, “I am not trying to be offensive, I am just telling you the facts of the matter.” It was this matter of fact way of presenting God’s word that drew me to Dr. Akin years ago when he was my Dean of Students at SEBTS. He is one known for dealing with issues straight on and in his preaching he does not back down for one minute.

His Theology–Dr. Danny Akin is an astute theologian. He has the unique ability of presenting difficult to understand positions in theology and making them attainable for even the most ignorant among us–of which I am the chief. Many difficult to understand theological positions became a refreshing study for my developing theology by way of Dr. Akin’s very easy-to-follow theology notes. Though I never had him for class I made sure I purchased a copy of his Systematic Theology notes. Though these notes are old and I am certain his theology is more developed, the basics are still there.

Dr. Akin is one who can, within limits, accept a Calvinistic soteriology, but he is not a Calvinist in the classic sense. If one is looking to label him, though he would not label himself, one would label him Amyraldian. Amyraldism is the theological position that rejects Limited Atonement in the classical 5-point sense, but accepts that the atonement is limited thus keeping one from ascribing to universalism in one’s theology. Dr. Akin describes the rejection/acceptance of Limited Atonement as follows:

Most Baptists would say the Bible teaches that the atonement is limited in its application, but certainly not its provision. In other words, in His death on the cross Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4-6; 4:10; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:1-2; 4:9-10) making a universal provision. However, the application is limited to those who receive the free gift of salvation offered to them by their personal faith in Christ. One can see then that all evangelicals limit the atonement in some sense, but do so in different ways.

Dr. Akin has made many contributions to pastors in the areas of theology. His contributions are too numerous to list in this article, but if you go here you will see a list of books he has either authored, edited, or to which he has been a contributor. I have a number of these books in my library, but one I constantly reference is A Theology for the Church. It is this book that is a daily guide in ministry evaluation within the framework of Scripture.

His Decisiveness–Dr. Danny Akin is a decisive person. He has a practice that whenever he gets angry over various issues he lets it sit for a week before he responds. Sometimes he has advised that one wait more than a week. Very wise counsel for us all to heed. However, when he makes a decision he sticks with it. Therein lies the difficulty but also the clear intent in his person. One knows that when Dr. Akin makes his mind up on a matter he is not likely to change it. The difficulty of this characteristic presents itself to the one that finds him/herself in disagreement with his decision. One will have to live with his decision or one will be ostracized by those that agree with him. The positive side of this characteristic lies with those who agree as well as those who disagree. For those that agree one will find a steady hand as one advances the decision that Dr. Akin stands. For those that disagree one will find a steady force that will not back down nor sway to the left or right. One will know where he is heading because he has made the decision. For example Dr. Akin  began a series on the “myths” he sees being perpetuated within the SBC concerning the GCRTF.  I do not know how many of these “myths” he has planned before he completes his series, thus far he has found eight “myths”, but he will not stop publishing them until he has completed his series. Why? He has made a decision that they are needed and he is not going to stop until he publishes them all. Whether you agree or disagree with him, you have to admire his tenacity and iron will.

In closing, I would like to address one more characteristic that I see in Dr. Akin. Some do not see it because they have never had the privilege of knowing him as a professor. Those who have know what I am speaking of. Dr. Akin has a compassionate heart and a stern exterior. Dr. Akin’s heart breaks at the disagreement he sees and the unwillingness of others to accept his position. The stern exterior is seen as he removes his support and distances himself from those that publicly disagree with him.  It breaks his heart to do so but he sees his need to do so as a necessary move.  However, his heart is still broken and he jumps at every chance to follow his compassionate heart.  I remember going through a forced resignation and he found out about it and called me. He asked about my family and what steps I was taking in finding another position.  I told him that I had sent out resumes to various churches I knew were open, and to friends. He responded, “I haven’t received one from you!” He then proceeded to instruct me on how to get him a copy of my resume.  He even invited me to place his name on my resume as a reference.  It is that compassion that I see in Dr. Akin and it is the knowledge of all that I have presented that I struggle with as I embark on my stands which place me in opposition to him on some issues.  However, at the end of the day, from an “old school” perspective, we are brothers in Christ and part of the same Southern Baptist Convention.  If his thoughts prevail I will continue to serve my Lord through the Southern Baptist Convention.  If Dr. Akin’s thoughts do not prevail I believe he will continue to serve the convention as he always has.