Jon Gary Williams
Articles / Resources
0329
The A. G. Freed vs Ben Bogard Debate
July 28, 1927
(By F. B. Srygley)
It will be remembered by 1,000 people at the close of the debate when Bogard in his last speech, boasted of his great victory over Freed. When Bro. Freed presented him with the same propositions to be debated in the Baptist house in Little Rock, Arkansas, Mr. Bogard had insisted that the Baptists of Nashville would not attend the debate was that they are not his kind of Baptists. He insisted that there are a great number of his kind in Arkansas, and so Bro. Freed was anxious to get his kind to hear the debate, as the kind of Baptists we have here would not attend the debate.
It appeared to me that Bogard tried to show more courage than usual in signing the propositions. Bro. Freed has written Bogard several times, but he gets no reply. I recently saw a correspondence which shows that, as usual, our brethren of Little Rock are anxious for the discussion, but, behold, Ben Bogard is "out of pocket." He is so busy "gaining victories," I suppose that he has no time to take up his agreement with Bro. Freed for a debate in one of his kind of Baptist Churches in Little Rock. I, for one, was afraid when he so readily signed that agreement and proposition that he was doing it under the stress of the moment, with hardly a well-defined purpose of carrying it out in good faith. Ben Bogard will defend his kind of Baptist doctrine in Little Rock, or the readers of the Gospel Advocate will know it needs defending.
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