There are a series of articles relating to this topic and we wil provide a few comments to as many as we can
The MeToo movement is a “wake-up call” for Southern Baptist pastors, said James Merritt, lead pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Georgia, ahead of the denomination’s annual meeting on Tuesday.
“The safest place an abused woman should feel she can go is her church. And the safest person she should feel like she should be able to go to is her pastor,” said Merritt during a panel discussion hosted by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, titled “Conversation on Gospel Sexuality in a #MeToo Culture.”
This is ony partially true. The pastor also has to be the safest place for the abuser to go to as well. The pastor and the church cannot take human sides. If they do, then the story, emotion, and the facts are influenced and sway the church to act outside of the biblical call to do justice. The church must stand with God and take his side.
When the church starts playing favorites or lets its sympathy or hatred get in the way, then God’s ways are lost and humans suffer because of it. God does not get the glory for solving the issue. Justice does not favor one side over the other. Women are not always sinless when they are subject to abuse.
Notable women in Christian leadership positions, such as Beth Moore and Kay Warren, have joined the chorus of thousands of people revealing their stories of sexual assault and harassment under the #MeToo hashtag.
The online movement has been flooded with accounts of abusive pastors and church members.
But are they actual acts of abuse or sexual mistreatment accordng to God’s definition or theirs? Secular culture is not the determining force in what is or isn’t abuse. The church also acts under God’s rules not the secular world’s (for the most part). But what they are all talking about is sin. Sin comes in a variety of forms and from both sides of any issue.
Lying about being abused is as much a sin as actual abuse is. We know how to handle sin and we know what needs to be done. When we start being line item specific sometimes we forget that sin is sin and there is only one answer to solving it. Abuse and other sins all come from our human frailty, the sin nature. If we take bibliclal teaching seriously, we can reduce the amount of sin conducted in the church, including abuse.
BUT it must really be sin and not someone’s idea it is sin. The accusation has to be honest, have more than one witness, have real evidence and not someone’s word only and so on.
#WeToo have a voice. For all the times we were bullied into silence, we get to speak up and call wrong WRONG. #WeToo for fewer future,” she wrote.
#metoo, #churchtoo and now #wetoo are not biblical strategies to solve any sin problem. Sadly, they incur more sin by their acts of injustice, lack of mercy, discrimination against men and bully people in order to ruin the lives of supposed offenders. Ms.Moore is not doing any one any good by advocating sinful methods to solve this issue.
Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines implored those gathered for the annual meeting of the United States’ largest Protestant denomination to “believe in a supernatural God.”
That is the question that many involved in this issue need to ask themselves. From Beth Moore and Kay Warren on down to the lowliest woman involved. If you do, then you need to humble yourselves and correctly follow his instructions. You cannot follow secular culture or the ungodly and their definitions of what abuse are. You say you believe in and follow Jesus, then you must do it even in this abuse issue. The bible tells us in Proverbs 3 not to follow our own thinking but to trust God and that verse applies to this issue.
We do not penalize men for doing nothing wrong nor do we punish innocent men and treat them in ungodly ways just to look like we are doing osmething or to gain favor with a specific group of people. Those groups of people do not offer salvation or eternal life to anyone, they are not the ones to be obey or pleased.
Notable evangelical Bible teacher Beth Moore has stated that when a woman goes through the process of reporting abuse within a church, she should have a “female advocate” with her during the whole process.
The founder of Living Proof Ministries was part of a Monday panel on issues with the church and sexual misconduct, which was hosted by the SBC this Week podcast by Amy Whitfield and Jonathan Howe.
Moore said that “in every case of abuse or assault there has been the misuse of power,” and warned that the victim is “already intimidated by feeling overpowered” and warned that “if there are not many female voices,” that “exaggerates the feeling that she’s got that she’s not going to be heard.”
She must be god to know what happens in every case of reported abuse in the church. We are being a little bit mean here because Ms. Moore thinks a woman is qualified to be an advocate just by being female. She seems to ignore that the Church belongs to God and he has the say as to what takes place inside the church. Her words are also a backhanded insult to the integrity, honesty and character of Christian men.
Having spiritualy qualified women’s voices is important but Ms. Moore seems to leave that part out. We have concluded that she wants to make her personal mark on the church instead of being an instrument of God tso he can implant his ways on his people.
When a church staff, whoever it may be, begins to work with the victim, also there must at all times be a female advocate in every single one of those meetings. Without exception. Whether that seems fair or not,” stated Moore.
The bold words prove our point. Fairness is part of what God is all about. So is justice, mercy, compassion and more. The soul of the offender is as important to God as the soul of the offended. When God said he desired that all men be saved, he did not leave out abusers. We have to be fair, just, honest and so on without those aspects the truth remains hidden.wWithout the truth, we cannot take the right measures to prevent and discipline the sinner. It isn’t about protecting women only, it is about obeying God when these issues arise. We have no permission to disobey God simply because a woman brings an accusation against another person.
There is more to that article but we will leave it for another day. Suffice it to say that we follow God first, not women and not law enforcement.
Thomas Hatley, a former chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, has called for the resignation of Kevin Ueckert, chairman of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s board of trustees, as well as the executive board members for firing the seminary’s former president Paige Patterson.
Hatley, who served as IMB chairman for eight years and has been a pastor in the SBC for more than 40 years, also called for the reinstatement of Patterson as president of the Texas seminary and an independent investigation of the claims that led to his firing.
“I recommend that the SWBTS board chairman and executive committee resign as board members for the following reasons,” Hatley wrote in an open letter to Southern Baptists after noting that conflicts should be handled biblically with both love and grace.
We agree. These movements are not just, they are more for appeasement and to let sin dictate the actions of the church. Most of the time, if not all, these movements, including church variations, do not have God in them or directing them. They are more about revenge, hurting the supposed offender and a power grab.
In this case, the women trying to grab the power are acting more sinful than the men they accuse. This alone undermines their credibility, their honesty and their claims. We are not going to say more, compare the actions of those opposing Dr. Patterson, abusers, pastors, denominations and church leaders with biblical instruction and you will see it for yourselves.
You cannot conquer sin by being sinful.
{PS we know there are mistakes in the above article but our time ran out and we need to go}
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