The Letter:
Jason S. Davidson
1766 Big Red Way St.
PFT 1118
Bowling Green, KY 42101
To the members of the Nolynn Association,
I am writing to you all in regards to why I am turning in my minister’s license. It is quite possible that the majority of you have heard something about this situation and maybe some of you have already formulated your opinion based on what you have heard. However, it is always good to hear things straight from the primary source and so I pen this letter with the hopes that some of you would gain understanding to why this has occurred.
The reason that I could not be ordained in the Separate Baptist denomination is because I could not say that my belief corresponds with the doctrinal statement contained within article #15 of the Articles of Faith. It is true that I did say that I believed in the article when I was first set aside by the Presbytery Board. The fact of the matter is that I did not know what I was talking about. When God called me to preach, I was 15 years old. For four years, I ran from that call and I finally announced that call when I was 19 years old. I knew that God was really going to have to help me because at that time, I hardly even read the Word of God. So, it makes sense that I was just saying that I believed in the Separate Baptist articles of faith because that is how I was raised. I didn’t really think much about it at that time. However, shortly thereafter God made me realize that it is important to know why you believe what you believe. People would ask me certain questions about Separate Baptist doctrine and I really wouldn’t have a clue as to how to answer them. Therefore, I got serious about studying the Word with a passion and I haven’t stopped since. In direct relation to the articles of faith, I began to study each one out individually and I would find conclusive Biblical evidence that supported each article of faith. Everything was going great until I ran into article #15.
For over a year and a half, I poured over the issue of the Kingdom of Christ. By the end of this time, I was still sort indecisive about it. This was also the time in which I was supposed to be ordained. So the Presbytery Board came back in order to set up an ordination date. At this time, they proceeded to interrogate me once again regarding the articles of faith. I had some hesitation about article #15 and I asked the members of the board about why it was necessary to put this subject into the articles of faith. The way I understood it, the article was voted in back in the mid-1980s and I just wanted to gain a better understanding to why it was added. One of the members of the Board answered me and told me that it was because certain people within the Separate Baptist denomination began to teach and to preach that human beings that died lost would be resurrected by God and placed in a future Kingdom in order to give them a second opportunity to get things right with God. Since that was about the most absurd thing I had ever heard, I agreed with the article based on the answer that the Presbytery Board gave me. I was in agreement to the premise for which the article was placed into existence. My ordination date was set for sometime in February of 2002.
After I went home after that meeting, I thought that everything was okay. Everybody seemed to be happy and plans were made to attend my ordination. Yet it kept coming to my attention that what I had agreed to, the article itself did not say. There was nothing mentioned in article #15 that said anything about a resurrection of the lost having a second chance to get right with God. The article just says that there will be literal fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, primarily the millennial reign that is spoken of in the 20th chapter of Revelation. Every answer I ever received on this issue regarding the Kingdom of God is that is only a spiritual kingdom and that Christ will never again set foot on this Earth. I immediately thought that this sounded suspect, and during that time frame between the final Presbytery Board meeting and the ordination itself, I committed myself to prayerful study of what God had to say on the Kingdom issue.
Within that time frame, I did not come to a final conclusion of what I believed on this issue, but I knew enough that there was no way that I could honestly tell the Presbytery Board and all those who were going to be there that night at Okolona Church that I believed in article #15. I decided email one of the members of the Presbytery Board to let them know that the ordination was going to have to be postponed.
After that time, the Presbytery Board met again in order to give me sixth months to continue to study on this issue. So that is exactly what I did and at the completion of those six months, I knew that I believed that the Word of God teaches something totally different than what article #15 says. The Presbytery Board called for yet another meeting at the end of the six months and they asked me once again how I felt regarding article #15. When I told them what I believed, they were then prompted to ask the church in which I was licensed, which of course is my home church of Louisville Separate Baptist, to pull my license. Instead of having someone that I grew up with or quite possibly someone who I was related to pull my license, and instead of them maybe even keeping me on as a licensed minister and running the risk of being kicked out of the association, I decided to turn in my minister’s license.
In much brevity, that is what all has ensued and that is where we stand today. It is not my place within this letter to carefully outline for everyone that will read this letter what I believe regarding the Kingdom and what the Bible has to say about it. That would take an extremely long time. However, if you would ever like me to tell you what I think about the Kingdom, there will be a list of addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers at which you can contact me to talk to me about it. Nor is it my place to convert you to see things the way that I see them. However, I feel that the way we handle the Word of God is the most important thing in on our lives. We should make it a priority to know why we believe what we believe. I am not too awfully interested in hearing what someone else has to say about what they think the Word of God says to them. I am totally interested, however, (and I pray that you are as well) in hearing what the Word of God has to say…period. I was surprised that when I went to certain members of the Nolynn Association and inquired of them what article #15 meant that every single person I talked to really could not give me a straight answer. Granted, I did not get to talk to a large amount of people on this issue, but I feel as though I talked to enough of them to know that a lot of people within this association has no clue to what article #15 means or why it was put into effect. I understand that it has caused a lot of confusion in the church as a whole and I also learned that some churches dropped out of the association completely because of this article. I don’t know what exactly that tells you, but it tells me that it certainly did not make things better, but only worse.
I am not terribly hurt by this situation, except in one area. All three members of the Presbytery Board agreed unanimously that I was called of God to preach. It is sad when folks are unable to ordain those who have already been ordained by God Himself, especially over an issue such as article #15. As for me, I was called by God to preach and you can rest assure that I will continue to preach the Word of God. It does not matter where it is at…God is my boss and I will work wherever He tells me too. Whether it is in a church building, at a church function, or even on a stump, if God allows me to preach, I will preach. However, I am saddened that it will not be as a part of the Separate Baptists. I have grown to love so many people within this association and this ordeal will not change my heart towards you and I pray that it doesn’t change your heart towards me. I pray that God will bless each individual and I hope that it won’t be too long until I see you again.
In Christ’s Love,
Jason S. Davidson
You can reach me at the following addresses:
Jason S. Davidson
1766 Big Red Way St.
PFT 1118
Bowling Green, KY 42101
208 Gentry Mill Road
Russell Springs, KY 42642
1188 Highway 3525
Russell Springs, KY 42642
7700 Chet Lane
Louisville, KY 40214
Email Addresses:
Jasonsd19@hotmail.com
Jasonsd21@netscape.net
davidj@wku.edu
Phone Numbers:
Dorm: (270)745-4209
Russell Springs: (270)866-3577
Louisville: (502)366-0009
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