Kentucky Pastor’s Wife Mocks the SBC on Homosexuality: Godliness in Action or Duplicitous Dissension

Angela Thomas, the wife of Bill Thomas, an assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in Madisonville, KY is apparently less than pleased with the SBC regarding its position on the Boy Scouts controversial decision regarding gay scouts. She calls the SBC “the crazy old paranoid uncle of evangelical Christians.” She says “that Sexuality doesn't come up and isn't relative to typical scouting activities but now, thanks to Southern Baptists, the parents of little innocent scouts everywhere are having to have The Talk.” She stated that Southern Baptists have become “raging Shiite Baptists” after drifting to the right for four decades.

As it turns out, Bill Thomas was apparently asked to resign due to “intolerable insubordination,” according to the story. It should be noted that Mr. Thomas publicly affirmed and agreed with his wife’s column attacking the SBC. What was Mr. Thomas’ act of insubordination? He was instructed not to permit an openly gay person in the church to become a member of the choir and he refused to submit to his elders on those instructions. As a result, the elders were forced to act.

In Romans 16:17-18, the Apostle Paul admonished the Church at Rome, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”

First of all, I think it is very interesting how so many young people are coming up in the church, without the slightest notion of submission, humility, or any inclination whatever to embrace the faithful tradition that has been handed down over the centuries in the Christian group. The glaring irony for this demographic is their desire to redefine the Church while operating in sheer ignorance of biblical ecclesiology. In all things ecclesiological, they are oblivious. I am sure there are some slight exceptions here and there, but based on what they are producing or say they want to produce, they are clearly lacking any sense of what Scripture teaches about the Church. Many of these folks never open the Scripture, are clearly uninterested in what Scripture teaches, have no basic understanding of the nature and character of God, and yet, they feel very comfortable redefining the entire movement of Christianity.

Is it proper for Angela Thomas to openly and publicly vilify the Church? Is it an acceptable practice within the Christian community for Mrs. Thomas to publicly and openly attack her elders? The sole authority for practice within the Christian group is Scripture. What does Scripture say to Angela about a practice like this? Heb. 13:17 instructs us to obey our leaders and submit to them. Clearly Angela feels that she does not have to submit to Scripture’s teaching on this subject. In addition, it would seem that Mr. Thomas might have an issue with this principle as well if in fact he refused to obey his leaders on the issue of the gay choir member.

In addition, Paul says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:31-32) Clearly Mrs. Thomas has committed slander by comparing the SBC with terrorist groups and Islamic law. Is this the same kind of thinking that goes on in Islam? Is the SBC more closely aligned with Islamic thinking than we realize? This kind of vitriol is not only unfortunate and regrettable, it is intolerable and outrageous.

In summary then, Angela Thomas has not made an argument. She has not bothered to introduce any rationally compelling case for why anyone should pay her statements any mind. She is angry because the SBC took a stand on the issue that is different from the one she holds. Obviously, she is not comfortable with the biblical teaching on the subject of homosexuality. In addition, she seems to think that teaching young men how to become adult men has absolutely nothing to do with sexuality. She could not be more wrong on both accounts. In addition, as far as “the talk” goes regarding what is going on in contemporary culture on the subject of homosexuality, it is an irresponsible parent that does not have “the talk” with their children.

Angela Thomas makes no argument because she has no argument. Instead, she poisons the well and makes one hateful inference after another in her column. She is not one who receives the Scripture for what it is, the very word of God. (1 Thess. 2:13) Perhaps she would be better served to open her mind to Scripture, to submit to her leaders, to appreciate the seriousness of sinful perversions as rebellion against God, and to understand that men are better at raising men than she realizes. It is certainly true that men who have normal, healthy sexual appetites are far better at raising real men that those whose appetites are declared by God to be perverse, unnatural, and wholly wicked. After all, it is God who defines what it is to be male, to be a man and it is God who defines what it means to be Christian. I cannot say what kind of a mind would view these pictures and think, yes, this is the kind of man I want involved in the sexual and mental and spiritual development of my sons. I confess that my mind is simply unable to reason along these lines. It is simply incomprehensible for me.