Quote:
Originally Posted by pelathais
Well said, at least IMHO.
One thing that I noticed many years ago- and this was with his "Trinitarian Controversy..." books that I believe have been repackaged together into a History of Theology book; but he was really one of the first to stand up against the mania that said, "The Trinity was invented at Nicea by Constantine..."
That actually took some courage and some tact. The whole "Nicea" thing was creedal doctrine in the UPC. Between Bernard and Seagraves that embarrassing glitch has been mostly removed. CLC alum will all tell of how Seagraves would open his classroom discussions with, "Trinitarians don't believe in 3 gods..." Bernard did the same thing with his "Trinitarian Controvery..." books.
Also, I remember there being a lot of antipathy toward Bernard both before he went to Austin and soon after. A lot of folks complained that he had been made an editor without having "paid his dues" by pastoring.
Then, when he moved to Austin - the closest thing he had to a hometown in the US (being the son of missionaries) he was heavily criticized because his mother-in-law switched churches to attend his home missions work.
He was called a "saint stealer" for taking his mother-in-law in. If it had been any other circumstance, or another man - he would have been called a "a Saint" for taking in his own mother-in-law!
It seemed to me that the guy couldn't do anything "right" enough to satisfy all of his critics. He's been kind of branded as being almost an "ultra-con" and a machiavellian. I think he's just careful. Maybe he's also a bit more willing to show kindness to a few rascals that I wouldn't give the time of day to.
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Pel,
I don't think that is exactly accurate. His mother-in-law went to church with us and when she left to help him, no one thought one thing about it. We were happy he had a close base of faithful people to work with and they had wonderful testimonies of healing and deliverance starting out.
Whoever was gossiping about that had it wrong and just wanted some sensational gossip.
I logged back in to say that I verified that with my husband. He said he didn't think anyone was upset about that - "At least I never heard anything about it."
He has built a beautiful church in a lovely community. We have many friends that are still members there.
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