tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782597.post963751986174502483..comments2024-02-14T19:05:20.541-06:00Comments on The Arrow's Path: GOE's: day 3The Archer of the Foresthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03075768526819990250noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782597.post-68028615899509571222007-01-05T20:54:00.000-06:002007-01-05T20:54:00.000-06:00Without being disrespectful, the more I think abou...Without being disrespectful, the more I think about the questions you're being asked concerning ordination, the happier I am to be Baptist.<br /><br />I was actually pretty cheered to see they were finally asking <i>pastoral</i>-focused questions, but many of the "theological" questions don't seem to have much bearing on how in-step you are with your confessional underpinnings, unless there's more you aren't telling us in these posts. There also seems to be, so far, little focus on your pastoral theology until today.<br /><br />I'd be the first to agree Baptists ought to have a more formalized and structured ordination process - it would weed out pretenders pretty quickly, in my estimation - but I just don't see the value of making the ordination process as if it were a seminary exit exam.<br /><br />It seems to me an ordination candidate ought to be evaluated on the workings of his denominational apparatus, his pastoral theology, and on whether or not his systematic/biblical theology is in line with his denominational confessions. Anything beyond that is probably designated to the realm of throwaway questions.<br /><br />I mean, if Baptists alone started evaluating these things in their ordination councils, we wouldn't have half as many ordained ministers! Lots of us are clueless about how the SBC works and what the SBC confession of faith actually entails, and most uneducated, ordained preachers out there probably don't know what the term "pastoral theology" encompasses.<br /><br />I certainly didn't until I got to seminary. And I wasn't evaluated on any of these things in my ordination council. But it would have been a much different experience and more serious and solemn if I had been.<br /><br />Just my 2 Baptist cents.Stephen Newellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02195331288968778323noreply@blogger.com