I had the great privilege of preaching for a young pastor at a small Southern California Baptist Church a while back. He and I had never met before I arrived to preach for him, having only chatted with him on the phone a time or two after an out of state friend recommended us to each other. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other, and I learned over the course of several hours of asking many questions to get to know him that he was a bit saddened that he and his beloved pastor and father in the ministry were somewhat estranged.
As we talked, it became apparent that my new friend’s experience with his former pastor paralleled my own difficulties with the pastor who baptized me. It is not an uncommon pattern that I have seen develop time and time again over the decades. Before this young man’s sad experience with his now former pastor, I was made aware of the same kind of thing happening elsewhere when a spiritual young man became estranged from his pastor for the same reason, curiosity and the desire to examine different Bible doctrines to arrive at his personal convictions. It seems to frighten many Baptist pastors when one of their young men asks questions about Bible doctrine, inquires about the reason for taking certain stands, or displays some clumsiness in how he goes about asking questions to satisfy his spiritual curiosity. Pastors frequently either display anger when questions are asked and unpersuasive responses are offered or suggest by tone or expression that asking questions of the pastor is somehow out of line. Baptists claim to believe in soul liberty, the right of each believer to study and understand the Bible according to the dictates of his conscience. Such a position is not a threat to good Baptist order and practice but is a glorious liberty. After all, if the Apostle Paul insisted that he exerted no dominion over Christian’s faith in Second Corinthians 1.24, on what grounds can any Church pastor claim or expect to exert such dominion?
My first pastor displayed a standard response to almost every question asked him, either by me or anyone else in the Church: “That’s a very good question, and it happens that issue is the subject of my own study at present. When I arrive at a position from studying God’s Word, I will let you know what my answer to your question is.” The only problem, of course, is that he said that to everyone, he never did get back to me or anyone else that I know of with an answer, and a pastor with that many years in the ministry should already have answers at the ready for most questions new Christians ask. Yet that was what my pastor said when asked about the gift of tongues, when asked about the doctrine of the Church, when asked about the various approaches to observing the communion of the Lord’s Supper, and when asked just about everything else you might imagine. In short, my first pastor had no answers. Thankfully, he did not respond to questions the way many pastors react, with surprise, anger, or a lofty attitude.
One young pastor I know found his relationship with his pastor grew chilly when he asked about the doctrine of election. When his pastor said that election was a doctrine reserved for consideration by more mature Christians my young friend asked how it was then that the Apostle Paul mentioned election to the Thessalonian Christians who were only weeks old in the faith? His pastor had no answer. When he asked more questions about such doctrines, his pastor made it very clear that he was not only not interested in such topics, but he didn’t want to discuss them with his curious young Church member. That was the beginning of their growing distance from each other. His pastor’s only interest was “getting it done,” while having no interest in discussing or teaching Bible truth.
Another young man didn’t even get that from his pastor. Instead, he got an astonishing mixture of anger and accusation. His pastor lied to him and about him to others. The young man’s parents were even subjected to their pastor’s railing accusations about him. I doubt he would know how to be mean-spirited with his pastor. His offense? He was curious about Bible doctrines and was not dissuaded from satisfying his curiosity by pastoral proclamations like, “That’s heresy!” Really? It is something the great majority of Baptist pastors have believed for centuries (and certainly all the famous ones), and it’s heresy? Here is another one: “It stifles soul winning!” Really? Did it stifle Jonathan Edwards’ soul-winning zeal? Or George Whitefield’s? Or William Carey’s? Or Adoniram Judson’s? Or Charles Spurgeon’s? Or B. H. Carroll’s? No pastor has any business expecting someone to take his unsubstantiated opinion about doctrinal questions, especially when his opinions fly in the face of easily verifiable history.
I cannot speak for other men, but I take studying God’s Word seriously. I put in a great many hours and search out a great many other men’s positions before settling on my conclusions concerning what God’s Word teaches. I can recollect numerous times over the years when I have raised a point with this pastor friend or that acquaintance, only to get a loud guffaw in response. I am not always right, but I am not stupid and as I said I do seriously study. It is not uncommon for a pastor to react ridiculously to a question, a comment, or an observation about an issue or a topic that he has never given a serious study or serious consideration to. It should be otherwise. Experienced and capable teachers insist that there is no such thing as a stupid question. As well, there shouldn’t be any such thing as an invalid opinion held by a believer seeking to learn God’s truth. It is crucial for pastors to field questions asked them, and to avoid the terrible habit of pretending to be so busy serving God they have no time to deal with Church member’s questions, or to negatively react to an honest question asked with a humble spirit.
For many years, I was left without a handle to describe this phenomenon. Then I stumbled across the perfect description in my reading: Semmelweis-reflex! The label “Semmelweis-reflex” was coined to describe the automatic rejection of ideas without giving the slightest thought, inspection, or experiment, simply because it challenges entrenched paradigms. Claiming that hand washing would save lives, Ignaz Semmelweis faced ridicule and strong opposition from medical colleagues. But Semmelweis was eventually proved right, and his detractors were wrong, costing many patients their lives.
There you have it, one possible reason why a teen leaves after graduation never to return. Or a young Gospel minister parts company with the movement he grew up in. Curiosity is aroused. A doctrine or stand becomes intriguing. A question is then asked. However, rather than field the question properly, the way a pastor ought to, the way a Baptist ought to, what the curious young man sees instead is some form of the “Semmelweis-reflex.” Do you react that way, pastor? I sincerely hope not.
