Dr. Albert Mohler’s Message for Christians: “Say Something!”

on August 22, 2013

It was twenty years ago that Dr. R. Albert Mohler was named President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the midst of an ongoing controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention. The Convention was in the midst of a conservative reformation, which in part focused on the often unbiblical and unorthodox views being taught in Southern Baptist seminaries. In 1978, for example, a graduate student polled students at the Southern Seminary and discovered that graduates were LESS likely to believe in church teachings the longer they stayed. Embarrassingly, only one-third of M.Div. students believed both in the virgin birth and that Jesus walked on water, and nearly 40 percent had doubts about God’s existence or the divinity of Christ.

This week, Dr. Mohler delivered his 20th opening convocation as President of Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, which is now one of the world’s largest seminaries. In his convocation remarks, he reflected upon how far the seminary had come during his tenure, but how much more work there was to be done. The convocation, entitled “Don’t Just Stand There- Say Something: The Sin of Silence in a Time of Trouble,” encouraged a new generation of Southern Baptist leaders not to stay silent in the face of an ever-changing culture.

Dr. Mohler noted that the theme of his first ever convocation was “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There.” The humorous reversal of a common phrase summed up Dr. Mohler’s conviction that at a time when many Southern Baptists openly advocated for abandoning traditional beliefs, the denomination should stand firm and refuse to budge. Before he was named President, all faculty members had to sign an Abstract of Principles stating their belief in all the teachings of the Southern Baptist Convention and pledging to teach in accordance with those beliefs. In his first opening convocation, he reminded faculty members of this pledge (which many held to be merely a “historic” pledge) and promised he would hold them to it. “The Abstract is a reminder that we bear a responsibility to this denomination… to call this denomination back to itself and to its inheritance,” Dr. Mohler quoted himself as saying.

Ten years later in 2003, Dr. Mohler recalled, the title of his convocation had come full circle to “Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something.” “Ten years ago our task was the recovery of truth and the happy science of theology—the recovery of the intellectual and spiritual and moral disciplines of the faith in a postmodern age…” Dr. Mohler said at the time, but ended his convocation with a question “But what now?”

In 2013, Dr. Mohler’s message to his student is “Don’t Just Stand There- Say Something.” “We know what we believe, that’s what we confess” Dr. Mohler said, “We know what must do, as the Lord himself has commissioned us.” The task before the seminary, and all Baptists, was to speak. “We are called to speak that what has been revealed, to preach the Word in season and out of season… and we are living in a time that may well be described as increasingly out of season. Thus we speak of the sin of silence in a time of trouble.”

“We are witnessing a fundamental transformation in how the culture around us thinks, believes, feels, and even experiences reality.” Dr. Mohler cautioned. The mandate of all Christians, he reminded listeners, was to speak the truth about the Gospel and God’s law, not to waver in the face of a changing culture. This new culture, he noted, would demand that Christians remain silent and close their ears to our message. “Threats of hate speech and threats to religious liberty are now part of our national conversation,” he lamented. “Ministers in Europe have been arrested for preaching the Gospel and specifying sin.” Nonetheless, he argued, Christians are called to speak unpopular truths and refuse to bend to a world that glorified sin. Perhaps to cement this call to speak the truth, the service ended with the hymn “Soldiers of Christ in Truth Arrayed.”

In many ways, Dr. Mohler’s convocation was similar to recent comments made by former Southern Seminary Dean Russell Moore (who sorrowfully noted that this was the first convocation he had missed in 20 years). In a Wall Street Journal profile, Moore envisioned the future of American Christianity as a “prophetic minority,” dutifully preaching the truth of the Gospel in the face of increasing moral relativism. Other denominations should take note of these prominent Southern Baptists’ vision to preserve and protect God’s word in what will assuredly be a time of tribulation. But they should note that Southern Baptists did not put the cart in front of the horse. To truly follow in their path, other Christians must first find the courage to challenge worldly and unbiblical beliefs within their own faith community. Only then will they have the solidarity and sureness necessary to challenge American culture.

  1. Comment by Adrian Croft on August 23, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    Mohler is a great guy, the SB is lucky to have him. Scary to think how close they came to sliding into liberalism.

  2. Comment by Jay Partin on August 26, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    He may be a nice guy but he presided over the seminary while its academic standing diminished among former students, like myself, and other supporters who want to follow the “truth” wherever it leads, not merely be a signatory to the SBTC dogma. It’s a shame to see a once wonderful seminary built by theological giants now led by a narrow minded Lilliputian. “There were giants in the earth in those days” (Gen. 6:4), that is before Moeller (BM).

  3. Comment by Richard Wallace on August 27, 2013 at 9:11 am

    I graduated from Southern Seminary in 1977. I had
    quite a few professors who seemed to question the
    Bible’s accuracy and authority. It didn’t change my
    “conservative” stance, but I am so glad for Dr. Mohler
    and the Seminary going back to evangelical sanity!

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