HATE CRIMES CHRONICLES:
Living and Dying for Missouri Baptist and Southwest Baptist University
Believing Missouri Baptist Lives -- Not Their Lies
Living and Dying for Missouri Baptist and Southwest Baptist University
Believing Missouri Baptist Lives -- Not Their Lies
So, where are we with this? What's going on now?
This week, Marie summarized her thoughts in a letter to friends:
... Perhaps it's time to face reality. Maybe it's time to believe what Southwest Baptist University and the Missouri Baptist Convention are doing -- not what they say they are going to do.The details of this new strategy will be outlined in a series of posts and letters, beginning today, Friday (July 31) and this weekend (Aug. 1 -2):
It's time to believe their lives -- and not their lies.
In order to resolve this, there needs to be some basis for trust between the parties. As it stands, however, the brutal truth is that I -- for one -- have no foundation on which to base trust in them, their motives, or their methods.
Beyond this, many of the participating individuals are rightfully concerned that once their part is publicly disclosed, they will be subject to discipline, dismissal ... and worse. (There is much in this that has not been made public.)
I can understand their fears.
From what I have seen, I have no confidence that the officials at Southwest Baptist University and the Missouri Baptist Convention (or, First Baptist Church of Bolivar, to a degree) understand and implement even the most rudimentary of civilized conventions and concepts -- such as, fair play, which, according to recent primate research, even chimpanzees understand at some deep level.
Even an outsider can see that Missouri Baptists treat each worse than animals. Again and again and again, I have witnessed them lie, steal, connive, cheat, and brutalize each other ... and then justify those actions in the name of Jesus Christ.
And, please remember, this is how they have treated their so-called friends and allies! Those deemed enemies fare even worse.
As I have attempted to communicate with these individuals and institutions, I return to the same nagging question: Do I even want a continuing relationship with these people?
Even if we were able to effect some kind of reconciliation, wouldn't it be a matter of time before I did something that displeased one of them? Then, wouldn't they be after me like a murderous pack of hounds ... again?
If I weren't forced into this situation by their crimes, wouldn't I avoid these kinds of troubled and troubling people like the plague?
But, when I have said (numerous times over several decades):All right, enough! Even though I recognize that your actions have been unethical, immoral, fraudulent and (even) illegal, I still care for your well-being as people and wish the best for you.Each time, though, the response from one group or the other has been continued slanderous subterfuge, or even more cruel and physically savaging ploys.
Although I don't agree with your philosophies or methods, let's part on friendly terms: cease your unethical actions, acknowledge your wrong-doing (privately, if necessary), pay what is owed and settle the debt, and I will go on my way.
All the while, they chant the Name of the All-Forgiving Christ, as though Jesus were merely a tribal totem ... or a mascot.
I don't understand.
More importantly, I'm not sure I want to understand, anymore. Do I really want to know what misery lurks in the heart of these people and their dark motives?
As a creature of the Light, I do not dwell (or even dally) comfortably or easily in the Darkness.
I have to ask, honestly: Is this really Christianity? Do these people actually represent Christ in any comprehensible way? Or, is this yet another deception -- like so much else in their individual and collective relationships?
Is it time to face the fact that attempting reconciliation may be a logistical impossibility? Since no one in authority will properly and righteously demonstrate judgment, discipline, and authority, this exercise in "reconciliation" is worse than herding cats ... and half of Noah's menagerie!
Even with the aid of the Holy Spirit, maybe this just can't be done -- given the circumstances and parties involved.
Having reached this conclusion, I have turned to a different strategy, which will implement assistance from several secular agencies and authorities.
Though I am not happy about this turn of events, I understand it as a necessity. Although my kindness is unlikely to be reciprocated, I will use compassion, caution and care in dealing with others (even with those others who have sought to injury me).
No, I am not angry, disgusted, or perturbed, nor am I seeking revenge.
My motivation is simply this: I am looking to escape, to escape to a healthy community where people genuinely care for each other and invest in each others lives, where God can dwell in people's hearts and lives, where I can be who God made me to be. ...
1. Letter to the pastors (past and present) of First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Missouri -- Rev. Billy Russel (the current pastor, who should be returning from a missions trip this week), Dr. Rodney Reeves (former interim pastor) and Dr. Ray Leininger (former pastor).
2. Letter to Dr. David Tolliver, current executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention and recent member of the Southwest Baptist University Board of Trustees, which, in part, requests an EMERGENCY MEETING of the Missouri Baptist Executive Board to be held no later than the last two weeks of September 2009 (see here).
... and
3. Formal Letter of Complaint to Southwest Baptist University's Accreditation agency, Higher Learning Commission of North Central Association (www.ncahigherlearningcommission. org).
