Praise indeed from those blokes at the BCSE. And Hey! I must have done something right. Honestly, I am not worthy to have had BCSE do some research on me. (Can I be on your blacklist now? Please?) If you want to read their results, look here.
Welcome, if you were reading that article and found your way here. Nice of you to drop by.
The article is mostly about Gareth Crossley and I am one of his “connections”. The bit about me is mostly accurate. Trouble is I don’t really think they are trying to be nice. Strangely, they describe me as having “attacked” them. Well, if you can describe pointing at a man in the street on stilts and wearing a pointy hat as “attacking” the man, then I suppose it was an “attack”. But you need to redefine “attack”. Well, never mind.
Just so that we are absolutely clear: Dr Crossley and Mr Anderson are men I am honoured to be associated with and to have learned from. They mean a great deal to me. No doubt I will not see them in heaven. In the same way as one great Christian leader once said of his colleague, they will be much nearer the Throne than I.
Doggie's Breakfast 
A creationist church? GASP!
Not bad credentials to be disparaged by that group.
Hi rev-ed,
GASP indeed. What is amazing to me is that if you read their stuff they seem to genuinely believe that belief in creation is a recent phenomenon, funded with money from foriegn shores.
Oh well.
Thanks for your comment. Good to hear from you.
Hi Stephen,
My wife, who is of course the unimpeachable and de facto authority, says that your nice words about me are a huge exaggeration! 🙂
Regarding being “attacked”. My impression from the BCSE’s website and forums is very much of a “them and us” mentality. Anyone who points out that there’s something fishy about the BCSE becomes one of “them” – the enemy. It’s very black and white. (This went a bit wrong when they wrote an article on Boris Johnson – see http://bcse-revealed.blogspot.com/2006/12/bits-and-pieces.html)
Regarding creation being a “recent phenomenon” and “foreign import”. I think you are spot on here – and in fact it goes beyond creation, to evangelical Christianity in general. On the BCSE forums you can find a lot of material where Roger Stanyard in particular states, unchallenged, the view that evangelicalism is a recent import. He seems to believe that liberalism is historic Christianity, and that evangelicalism is a recent innovation imported from the US…
“Oh well”, indeed! It shows that we’ve got a lot of work to do.
I notice that you are described as “a self-proclaimed friend of Anderson“! Have you been approaching random strangers and declaring yourself to be their friend? I suppose it’s possible that they have misinterpreted the standard Glaswegian greeting, “Y’awright pal!”
David A,
Clearly evangelicalism is a new thing to most of the people at BCSE. It shows that there are now large sections of the population that have no idea about their own history. (I think recent comment on GenevaNet about the lack of teaching about the Reformation, which used to be standard, is apt.) It also shows that in the present day evangelicalism has a short reach into society.
David M,
Yes I noticed that description “self-proclaimed”. It conjures up wierd images. I have only ever seen it used of someone whom the writer thinks has no right to the claim he is making e.g. Idi Amin, self-proclaimed King of Scotland. Stephen Dancer, self-proclaimed friend of David Anderson! What a preposterous, unreasonable thought! They need to manage their use of rhetorical devices better.
For the avoidance of doubt, I hereby officially on-the-recordly proclaim Dr. Dancer to be my friend.
I fell out with the other one, so there was a vacancy. 🙂
I’ve just come across this. It is absolutely amazing. Or laughable. If not a little sinister. But ultimately very pathetic.
The VERY thought that there should be INDEPENDENT churches not part of the mainstream who DARE to believe in the Bible. CLOSE THEM DOWN AT ONCE!!!!
*sigh*
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for dropping by.
Yes, they do not seem to appreciate that there has been a strong history of independency within the church of Christ in the UK. (Not that I agree with that, you understand – but I at least recognise and respect it!)