Dr. Couch, I just read that a bunch of Southern Baptist pastors are very
confused about the issue of speaking in tongues, and the subject of
having a “private prayer language.” Have you heard about this?
Yes, the Washington Times reported a statistical study that showed 50%
of Southern Baptist pastors believe one can have a closet or private
prayer language. 7% were unsure on the issue. That is a total of 57% of
Southern Baptist pastors who are in the dark and haven’t a clue as to
how to study the Word of God and find definitive answers. They have been
(1) listening too much to their “emotional” sheep (who have been
watching too much charismatic TV), (2) watching too much
hyper-charismatic TV themselves, (3) unable to exegete and study the
Scriptures for themselves to find the right answers.
I am not surprised by this statistic mentioned above. I have never
met many truly educated Southern Baptist ministers, especially those who
have attended Southern Baptist seminaries or Bible schools. They are
rarely taught the biblical languages and have only a smattering of
exposure to biblical doctrine. The M.Div. program of one Southern
Baptist school I know about gives only 9 hours in doctrinal survey
courses, out of a total of 90 hours required. But they have about 9
hours the students must take in Baptist History! That M.Div does not
require any biblical languages though some students may take a token
amount, say, of 6 hours of Greek (which is useless for doing any
exegetical work).
Southern Baptists push “fellowship,” increasing memberships, and
baptisms, over and above doctrinal teaching of the Word of God, in order
to strengthen and mature their sheep. No wonder the pastors do not know
what they are doing when it comes to doctrinal clarity.
Thank the Lord there are a few who do indeed study their Bible and
have answers, and, do not follow the crowd as to what is popular. But
those numbers among Southern Baptist ministers are shrinking. Some
Southern Baptist schools are so liberal they have turned green, as in
green moldy cheese! But the blind Southern Baptist church members just
keep on supporting these institutions. I really don’t understand that,
and I wish someone would explain it to me! Probably the reason: loyalty
to the denomination and to the “system” is more important than doctrinal
integrity.
Thanks for asking,
Dr. Mal Couch
