What Was All That Stuff About Voddie?

Concerning Voddie Baucham

(Please see previous post about Baucham speaking at an American Vision event and the link list at the end of this post linking to posts on this site pertaining to him.)


As I noted in the previous post, people ask me fairly regularly about what I’ve written on this blog concerning Voddie Baucham. Please allow me to summarize. (Late entry 07Jan10: I'd just like to note out of respect for those who might have concerns, Dr. Baucham has invited me to call him by his first name. My apology to the person who has already expressed this concern.)

I first read about Voddie on Jen’s Gems website in mid 2007 in an anonymous comment from someone who claimed to have attended his church. They expressed disappointment in him, noting that he was once someone that they respected but that he’d changed since his involvement with Vision Forum. (I have looked unsuccessfully to find the quote.) If I’m not mistaken, I first wrote about Voddie concerning his disturbing comments in the “Return of the Daughters” video. Though I believe that I did offer Voddie Baucham as an example of the presence and influence of aberrant patriarchy within the SBC on Wade Burleson’s blog, I don’t believe that I had much to say about Baucham until I found a reference to my Patriarchy Workshop on his own blog several months later.


The Development and Practice of Patriarchy from Cynthia Kunsman on Vimeo.

Baucham claimed in a post on his website that my “rant” at Midwest Baptist Theological Seminary came about because his critics there somehow called for me to present the Patriarchy Workshop. When I blogged about how he was not even mentioned in the general bibliography, Voddie sent me a very short email that offered a general apology. He claims that he didn’t intend to hurt me, referring to me as his Sister in Christ. But, given some of his comments and the gross error of his online claim, I found his short response inadequate and confusing. Was he sorry that I was some sort of chump?

A republishing of what Voddie deleted (http://bit.ly/2rbJPD0)

We exchanged a few emails until Don Veinot responded to my request for input regarding Voddie’s error. I heard nothing further from Voddie after Don responded. I did get a Google alert that notified me that Voddie corrected the error with a new post that noted an uncharitable comment made about me earlier that year, wrongly attributing it to a party who has never made any such public comment about me, to my knowledge. Though Voddie previously offered to answer any questions that I had, he never followed through on that either.

I learned from my personal and direct exchange with Voddie that if Voddie thinks he’s right and someone is mistaken, his apology is warranted. If it turns out that someone with noteworthy political power in Baptist circles points out that Voddie is in error, an online correction is warranted, but the personal apology goes out the window. In fact, it seems to me like Voddie thought that retaliation was in order in my circumstance. But this is typical behavior within patriarchy, so I was not all that surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. After this experience, I reviewed more of Baucham’s work, starting with his reference to a sermon by Whitfield that he offered as the source of his “patriarch as prophet, priest, and king” teaching that he mentioned in one of his emails. I then offered my opinion about his book, his views on college for young women, his concept of “first-time obedience,” and the vaguely defined multigenerational faithfulness which he mentions in his book. (Also see this list of posts.) I also later wrote about a conference featuring Voddie as the Vision Forum minded gathered to write a “manifesto for homeschooling” in the Spring of 2008.

So if anyone else still has any questions about what I’ve noted about Voddie Baucham, most of what I have written can be found by searching for Voddie’s name in the Blogger search box, or you can look at blog posts that fall between November 2008 and April 2009.

FYI: I understand that Voddie recently took another swipe at those who offer critical opinions about his teachings in a somewhat recent blog post. A series of audio clips (with Voddie’s static photo) appears on YouTube featuring a presentation that Voddie Baucham made some time ago concerning the topic of “Biblical Womanhood.” (Who would know better about such things, right?) I've only every referenced the first segment on this site in a previous post, pointing out his teaching that Sunday School arose from and is tantamount to Social Darwinism. Other discussions about the other segments of the talk appeared elsewhere online in early 2009, but I believe that a discussion of Voddie’s more irresponsible statements on Karen Campbell’s blog prompted Voddie’s recent aforementioned November 2009 blog post. I did not participate in this discussion, but I have broached the topic in this post about covert (non-physical) incest as defined by the addictions and recovery literature.

Voddie says:

“A lot of men are leaving their wives for younger women because they yearn for attention from younger women. And God gave them a daughter who can give them that.

(7Mar19:  Videos deleted since this post was originally published, but you can find them elsewhere if you google enough.)

I hope that this helps to summarize things regarding this popular Vision Forum affiliate and my disappointment with Gary DeMar who apparently now features Voddie Baucham at American Vision conferences. They used to sell their own texts and books written by a fairly wide variety of authors. These days, American Vision’s website seems to push the infamous Gary North’s material as much as they market their own published work. (A few years ago, Vision Forum had the most notable presence.)

How sad.

Voddie Baucham on Corporal Punishment and Shyness in a Young Child from Under Much Grace on Vimeo.

Other Links on Under Much Grace 

Concerning Voddie Baucham 

Voddie Baucham on the Family Integrated Church

(Southern Baptist Convention Minister and Vision Forum Affiliate)

• Attempting to Clarify Baucham’s Position on Matters Related to the FIC (Noting that though Baucham claims to reject certain practices and find them repulsive yet continues to participate in close relationships with groups that embrace these practices and ideologies that support them.)
• List of Questions for Baucham Pertaining to the FIC (Formal questions posed to Dr. Baucham after he agreed via email to answer questions regarding perceived discontinuity between his embracing of the FIC and claims about his personal convictions.)
• Putting Voddie Baucham’s “Family Driven Faith” into Perspective (Review of Baucham’s book on the Family Integrated Church)
• Giving the Appearance of Tolerance: Using Logical Fallacy and Political Expediency (Double-speak used to condemn age appropriate education in religious settings while claiming to be tolerant of practices that fall outside of those accepted by the FIC)
• Does Baucham Embrace Marriage as a Sacrament?  (No divorce policy EVER, plus his bizarre take marriage as a "sanctifying work."
• Voddie Defines Sunday School as Darwinian Evolution (Transcript of an embedded audio)
• Why Doctrinal Statements Tell You Nothing of the Unwritten Rules of a Manipulative Group (Discussion of how manipulative religious groups maintain two sets of beliefs and rules, including those that are not written and are reinforced subjectively.)
• A review of the film, Courageous.  (Mentions how FIC doctrine and Baucham's statements are propagated to the unsuspecting via the film.)
• See also *Two Major Distinctions Between SBTS and Other Patriocentrists
• More links HERE.

Corresponding with Voddie Baucham

• Corresponding with Voddie Baucham Via Email: Discerning the Intent (Discussion of an ambiguous apology offered as damage control for an untrue statement posted on Baucham’s blog including a comment from Don Veinot)
• Apologies that Aren’t: Reflecting on Correspondence with Baucham (Discerning genuine apologies from “blanket apologies” that offer no shows of contrition or attempts to make restitution.)
• Concluding Statement About Email Correspondence with Baucham
• Original Response to Baucham’s Blog Post About Being Persecuted Because of Calvinism (Baucham’s post contains an error regarding the interest in an apologetics conference presentation on the topic of patriarchy) followed by a Second Statement About the Veracity of Baucham’s Original Blog Post
• College Attendance For Daughters, Post 1 (A review of Voddie Baucham’s statements about the necessity of college for daughters in comparison to his family’s choices.)
• College Attendance For Daughters, Post 2 (Answering College Plus and their mistaken impression confusing criticism of the hypocrisy of the patriocentrists as opposed to a favorable impression of their distance learning program.)
• See also Baucham's *Prophet, Priest and King Doctrine

VODDIE'S DISTURBING VIEWS ABOUT 

FIRST TIME OBEDIENCE

First Time Obedience and Unquestioned Submission (Pearl-style, authoritarian discipline)

• Revisiting First Time Obedience as it relates to Lydia Schatz
• About First Time Obedience (FTO) from the series on Multigenerational Faithfulness
  • Introduction: The Selfish Sin of Shyness
    • FTO in young children. A review of the submission required under multigenerational faithfulness as Vision Forum’s carryover from Bill Gothard’s submission teachings with various examples of this demand for unquestioned obedience without credulity.
      
      Response to Baucham's charges that he's been taken out of context concerning corporal punishment and expectations he holds for small children.  (2013 blog post)
      
      
    I: Parental Convenience

• A review of the principle of sacerdotalism and parental convenience (as a control issue in dysfunctional families) as rationales for requiring FTO and “leaps of faith” required under multigenerational faithfulness.
II: Spiritualizing All Activities

• Review of the tendency to make every banal daily activity one of great eternal spiritual significance as a consequence of works-based salvation. Includes a discussion of viewing personality traits that do not fit the belief system’s paradigm as sinful as well as the building up of all gender related activities as sacramental for the impartation of inward sanctification.
Part II Personal Experience
• Blog host’s personal experience with inherent personality traits treated by parents as sin, the idolatry of seeking parental approval, and the consequences of requiring unquestioned submission with the use of guilt and shame that predisposes one to easy brainwashing and compliance with thought reform. Includes a section from Biderman’s Chart of Coercion addressing the powerful effects of devaluing individuals in religious settings.
III: Poor Development of Analytical Thought and Problem Solving Skills

• Discussion of the development of how perfectionism, works-based salvation and First Time Obedience squelch problem-solving skill and prevent the development of critical thinking under the guise of multigenerational faithfulness.
IV: Theological Concerns

• Discussion of the development of how perfectionism, works-based salvation and First Time Obedience squelch problem-solving skill and prevent the development of critical thinking under the guise of multigenerational faithfulness.