Al Mohler: Reformed and Reforming

Rhetorician,

What is a "cradle roll" Southern Baptist? I have attended a SBC for about 3 years & have never heard that description before.

 

I might be wrong but we called cradle roll, from the cradle or brought up in a SBC church from birth on.

 

Bob, you are right. When I was a child (about a century ago, it seems now), when a newborn was brought to church for the first time, he/she was enrolled in what was called the Cradle Roll Department. Once they were able to walk, (toddlers) they were promoted to the Nursery. The next step up is at four years of age, to the Beginner Department. Next was the Primary Department for seven and eights. At age nine, came the promotion to the Junior Department, and at age thirteen, to the Intermediate Department. That continued through junior high and high school (with various age-group classes), when they went to the Young People's Department, which was mainly college-age, and finally to the Adult Department.

Some of our oldest adults called their classes the Graveyard Department, where they stayed until they got the ultimate promotion--to Heaven.

The department names have changed somewhat over the years, mainly reflecting school divisions (such as Junior High, College and Career), but the principle of organizing age groups remains intact.

 

it seems nowadays that anyone is given an ear...unless you claim to speak authoritatively and have a claim to truth with a big "t." Society prefers to hear people speak truths (small "t") and that has seeped into our churches. So yes, Mohler would find himself at odds with those kinds of folks and vice versa. On the whole, most conservatives I know appreciate Mohler and understand/tolerate his Calvinism. Only a few extremists reject him (KJVOs, rabid Arminians, etc.)

Mohler has clearly steered the ship of the Beeches back to doctrinal integrity.

I thought it was interesting that they equate the old guard with Mohler. Something that never has accurately hung onto the old guard is that they ruled with an iron fist, something Mohler is accused of often.

 

There really is no iron fist like that suggested by some with Dr. Mohler. I work on the campus of SBTS (I manage the grounds), and get to deal with Dr. Mohler in multiple ways. I'm also a double grad of the seminary and I am one of the rare students who have been blessed to actually sit in the classroom with Dr. Mohler for an entire semester. He is nowhere as radical and extreme as he is painted by the media, Baptist and secular. The one area that is non-negotiable is the Abstract of Principles. After that, each professor, just as each church, is autonomous and accorded the respect due one who holds to the priesthood of all believers.

Read the Abstract of Principles (as formulated by the Founders of Southern Seminary) here:
http://www.sbts.edu/documents/abstract.pdf