Calvinist Flyswatter

Akin: training Apostle Pauls?

ARE SEMINARIES ALL THEY
ARE PUT UP TO BE?

"At Southeastern Seminary we are committed to training Apostle Pauls," says Danny Akin on the July 23, 2008 Between the Times blog.

Akin is the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. His statement is a good example of just one of the many common exaggerated opinions about the significance of seminaries. If Danny is committed to training Apostle Pauls, he might like to consider taking his prospective "Pauls" on a field trip to Mars. Chances are he'll make that trip to Mars much sooner than he will matriculate any Apostle Pauls.

But if Danny is just "shoot'n the breeze" with hyperbole, then he's merely doing what seminary promoters have been doing for years -- using exaggerated sales-talk to make young men think they will get a lot more from seminary than the seminary can deliver or ever has delivered.

Seminary is no guarantee for ministerial development. What one gets in seminary usually depends on who's doing the teaching and what they are teaching. The basic problems of the Southern Baptist Convention throughout my life have been brewed by the seminaries and their products. Most of the "isms" seem to be hatched in the nests of seminary professors. Some of the most biblically illiterates I have met had "Dr" before their names and a few "pigtails" after their names. Some of the worst commentaries and theological books were and still are written by seminary professors. Their contributions to soul-winning, evangelism, missions, and church planting are among the least of their accomplishments.

Based on what I have seen come from the seminaries, my opinion is what I told a customer recently in my bookstore. I took down a copy of a good book which covers a great deal of Bible doctrine, and I said, "If you will study this book, and read all the Scriptures given, you will have a better grasp of what the Bible teaches than most men who take a full course in modern seminaries."

We have demonstrated on this blog some examples of how far-fetched some of the esteemed seminary theologians, professors, and some of their offspring are in their teachings. Many of them know just enough about their craft to endanger the souls and lives of those who sit under their teaching and preaching.

posted by Bob L. Ross @ 12:23 AM