Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A Reassessment of Jerry Corbaley's Blog

You are probably aware that a couple of weeks ago IMB trustee Jerry Corbaley started his own blog. After reading his first two posts, I expressed my disappointment with Corbaley's blog, particularly the attitude that he seemed to convey in his posts and comments. Today I visited Corbaley's blog for the first time in a few days, and I was impressed by the change in the tone of his statements. His most recent remarks seem to demonstrate a spirit of genuine humility, a willingness to listen, and an awareness that there must be greater transparency and more open communication. There is also more of an emphasis on trying to find solutions than on defending the way things have been done. Corbaley acknowledged that blogging is a permanent part of SBC life and that our SBC entities are going to have to figure out a way to interact with the blogosphere. The main area where Corbaley's blog still disappoints is his failure to discuss why he supports the IMB policies. But other than that, he has taken a number of positive steps with his blog over the past several days and is now making some productive contributions to the overall discussion.

5 comments:

Tim Sweatman said...

I haven't been online for a couple of days, so I haven't seen his most recent statements. I'll check it out.

Tim Sweatman said...
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Tim Sweatman said...

"He's just accused all of us as wanting to undo the conservative resurgence in the SBC."

Jenni,

I'm not sure if that's what Corbaley is trying to say. But then again, I have a difficult time trying to figure out his point in a lot of his remarks. I'm getting the sense that he views public disagreement as being detrimental to the cause of Christ (just my personal understanding of his views). But uniformity is not the same thing as unity. I believe we can love one another and work together for the Kingdom, even if we disagree on certain issues. That is one of the points Wade has been trying to make throughout this controversy.

I have the same understanding of the conservative resurgence as you. I believe that many of us who grew up during the resurgence actually took the idea of biblical inerrancy, authority, AND sufficiency seriously. We don't filter our reading and application of Scripture through the lenses of Baptist history and tradition.

Jeff Richard Young said...

Dear Brother Tim,

I'm dying to hear what Dr. Corbabaley has to say now. Will he dare to show his face on his blog now? I thought he was going to come through for truth, justice, and the American way. Maybe you need to do another reassessment!

Love in Christ,

Jeff

P.S. I'm also eager to read what you have to say about the latest news from Tampa.

Tim Sweatman said...

Jeff,

I was in the middle of writing my post on the Tampa fiasco when I saw a comment on Marty's blog indicating that there may be some positive news from the meeting. So I have decided to wait until I see this latest report before I finish my post.

I wrote a rather scathing comment about the trustees on Jerry's March 15 post on his blog. I have a feeling he may choose not to post it; unfortunately, I forgot to copy it.