Bob Jones University: Compromised Spiritual Sanctification for Secular Pragmatism
Since the installment of Dr. Steve Pettit as BJU president in 2014 we have witnessed and documented (see links below) a slow march away from the university’s biblical separatist legacy. The university has chosen a path of compromised spiritual sanctification for secular pragmatism.
“After being the premier Fundamentalist academic institution for eighty seven years, BJU elected Dr. Steve Pettit in 2014, as the president who steered the University out of separatist Fundamentalism into the inclusive, Broad Evangelical Movement,” (p. 179, 530).
Yours faithfully,
LM
UPDATE (Nov. 7):
1) The BJU administration has removed or blocked the video from its Facebook page we link to above.
2) Dr. Kevin Schaal posted an article at the FBFI Proclaim & Defend blog. In it he cites the section from Dr. Beale’s new book, which we have noted above. We appreciate the FBFI finding its voice over what is transpiring at BJU. The balance of Schaal’s article, however, essentially blunts the impact Beale's sharp and precise statement.
Related Reading:
Alumni and friends of BJU have reached out to Steve Pettit about the direction he is taking the university. On hearing the reproof of friends Pettit and the administration have chosen not to change, and instead stepped on the gas-pedal. The trajectory the university is set upon can have only one of two outcomes, neither good.
Why These Schools Collapsed & What Does it Mean for BJU?
“Why did Clearwater close, Northland close, Pillsbury close, Calvary Baptist Seminary close, Tennessee Temple close…why did they fall, what happened and what can we learn? I want us to learn something from history because it will have a current application and future application as it relates to our fellowship.”
Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. "If BJU Ever Changes...I Pray The Lord Closes Its Doors
Many of the alumni…and long-time friends of BJU have seen enough of how the school is moving toward ecumenical inclusivism to abandon the university. It appears there is little left to do other than: 1) Watch the university continue on an ecumenical trajectory or 2) as one alum said, It “…should be taken back by all who invested their lives, students, and for many…their fortunes in the place.”
BJU Lurches Further Into Evangelicalism
Further we must refuse to surrender resources to those institutions, agencies, and churches who are moving. It is not wise to continue to send our children to colleges, give our money to agencies, or support churches that are in transition while we wait to see where they will land. By then it is too late! Look at where their feet are pointing! At some point there must be separation from this disobedience. It is the only tool which God has given to us to police ourselves and to maintain the priority and purity of our position.
An Analysis of BJU's Position Paper on Calvinism, Arminianism & Reformed Theology
After reading BJU’s position paper, I feel that it reflects a style commonly employed by many New Calvinists. Their writing typically skirts issues to avoid offense or exclusion, while maximizing inclusivity. They achieve this by allowing the reader to supply his or her own theological definitions rather than offering clear-cut ones that would reveal Calvinist views. The fact that BJU’s paper appears to use a similar strategy concerns me.
A Failure to Stay the Course by Pastor Travis Smith
For more than 15 years I have observed a pattern of change at Bob Jones University that is all to familiar. Like a ship slowly, imperceptibly drifting from its course, the university is adrift from the disciplines that shaped the character of generations of Christian students in its past.
Dr. John Whitcomb has said it this way:
ReplyDeleteThe only possible way to perpetuate His truth is to separate it from all forms of error and compromise. A refusal to recognize this fundamental fact is the fatal blunder of modern ecclesiastical ecumenism in all its forms, including evangelical ecumenism. Truth cannot be perpetuated through compromise and compromise cannot be avoided without separation. This is a formula which God’s people have discovered through centuries of sad experience with the weakness of fallen human nature in the presence of “the god of this world,” and especially through the direct teachings of God’s Word (Christ, Our Pattern and Plan, p. 14).