So when he first came to Shenadoah he was sort of a unique kind of Hyles guy that was likely needed to keep the church from going bankrupt. When Owens left about half the church left, however there were still plenty of Hyles people that remained. So they needed a pastor that the Hyles people could support but also one that wasn't too abrasive so he could quickly bring new people from the community in. He always talked about you all think I went all liberal on music, because he allowed some non hymns to be sung-still very conservative just not in any hymnbook.
Yes, conformity to a social group can be a difficult task whenever it requires things of you that you don't actually have any real conscientious convictions for. In my early days of uneasy conformity to fundamentalist "standards" I began to do what comes natural as part of that process and use the accomplishment of said standards as a badge of honor (better known as "self-righteousness"), but in my true pursuit of Christ I quickly realized that such a system was fraught with failure (ie, kinda like what Luther realized before his epiphany of "the just shall live by faith"). Eventually I came to the realization that any righteousness I had, whether in the way of justification, AND sanctification, was via faith in Him and to His glory. That was an abstract but very real turn in my Christian walk. It was at around that same time that I met up with a character from this forum who was a Crown College graduate (a different breed of Indy-fundy than the Hyles type) and he told me a pithy saying about the difference between his (Crown) version and view of sanctification....he said (regarding the general Hyles outlook) that "they get the fruit before the root", meaning that they often looked first to the outward conformity to rules and "standards" as a means of achievement or recognition of sanctification rather than looking at their relationship to Christ and His righteousness imputed to their account. That may be a bit crude and generalized way of putting it, but over-all I think it fit. From that point I stopped caring about externals near as much and focused much more on my walk in the Spirit via faith, which IMNSHO was the correction in daily Christian life that I needed.
I was a young 30-something burgeoning fundamentalist when I went with my even younger HAC-trained pastor to a Grace Baptist revival in Delaware to hear Jack Hyles preach. That young pastor of mine had been mentored by Pastor Bane and had nothing but good things to say about him. Of course, our heroes often escape an objective critical analysis of them.
Is he a sexual predator like Hyles?
Well, I hope he is no longer a racist, are least.
I know this is an old post-just thought I would answer since I basically asked him that question when I started going to his church back in 2013. I had an issue in a church in NC when I lived there where the pastor did a Sunday evening sermon critical of inter racial marriage. Since my wife was Filipino we moved on after that. So every church I would investigate after that one of the first questions I would ask is the pastor's view and the church's view on interracial marriage (these things aren't usually addressed on a churches website). He claimed it was not an issue. I'm not an IFB any longer but from my experience Bane was more reasonable than most of them. The only two major IFB issues he was kind of dogmatic about was the veneration of Jack Hyles and mistaking his honorary award for a degree.
I'm sorry what he stated is so wrong. I'm so happy you married and have been for 22 years. Thank you for not falling for his excuses.
That would be enough for me to wish him a nice life and move on.
It was this screwed up mindset that convinced me that it was not God's perfect will to marry the Filipina lady I had met and fell in love with when I was in the Navy! I was convinced that God had called me to preach and was preparing for the ministry during my last tour in San Diego and was told that marrying outside of my ethnicity (or culture) would seriously limit my ministry opportunities so I was convinced that I had better put God first and wait for the one that God had for me.
Where in tarnation you been boy?
I met my wife in the Navy. We were both stationed on the same ship (a sub tender). She had come to the U.S. and joined the Navy about six months later. I know in my wife's case she's related to about half the Philippines. I've been to some of the Filipino churches in the DC area when I lived there. The ones I've been too seem to be a mix of Baptists and charismatics. I've heard that it was easier for Filipino pastors to get visas through the Southern Baptists so many of them would go that route and stay SB regardless of there theology.
I became to absorbed with social media and distanced myself for a while. I'm going for moderation and less arguments now but we'll see how it goes. I've not been to Green bank area yet, but I used to threaten my kids with moving there. Did you go to the Greenbrier to see the bunker? I'm up north about ten min from Maryland, twenty min from PA, and and hour from DC area. I want to do more travelling to southern/central WV. How's everything in your world? Aren't you in KY or just across the border in OH?Where in tarnation you been boy?
Just finished a vacation in your neck of the woods, or at least were you used to be. Went to Green Bank and Cass, West Virginia. Talk about being out the sticks! Radio silence (no cell phone coverage) is the law within a 45 minute zone of the Green Bank observatory, in order to prevent potential electronic interference with the telescopes). It’s amazing how much I didn’t realize I relied upon my cell phone when on vacation.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Getting sucked down the rabbit hole is a real problem for many of us. There are fewer “arguments” now than used to be, even fewer trolls. It may be too peaceful.