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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Is it wrong to speak out against church abuse?

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roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re: roosters and humans

Quote:
Sometimes one has to act because another person is too weak to act for themselves....
The world is full of upside-down logic which protects the strong and exploits the weak and God hates that. Some of His strongest condemnation in scripture is because of this very attitude.


I was just going to write these very thoughts and you beat me to it. So I'll add a few:

We need to broaden our outlook from licking our own wounds to becoming aware of others who are mistreated - pushed to the back, regarded as "lesser" because they have "broken families", are not refined socially, not as educated.... in other words.. the "losers" of the pack. They are easy victims in the religious system. We can easily neglect them because WE don't feel their pain. In fact, we can be perpetrators simply by neglect. Neglect is a very serious sin. (Parable of the Good Samaritan)

There will always be there who just don't have the inner resources and spiritual maturity to be able to handle it.

Some years ago our family helped take care of roosters for a nearby farmer. The barn was filled with several thousand young birds approaching puberty, raised for breeding purposes. When the hormones kicked in we watched the stronger roosters mercilessly attack the weaker ones till they were bleeding and dying. It was gruesome. Each morning we gathered up the dead. My 11 yo son said; "Mom, these roosters are just like human beings" They have only three desires: food, power, and sex."

Now back to humans: if in any way we view ourselves as better than the "lesser ones", we are not a lot different than these roosters. For whatsoever a man thinketh in his heart, so is he .." There is no end to how far this sin can carry us, and how much evil can be justified.

Jesus was abused horribly, yet, even on his journey to the cross, he still had a heart for the weeping women around him. He said, "Don't weep for me.. weep for yourself." He was aware of their coming pain and suffering.

May God decrease us and may Christ increase.
Diane


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Diane

 2006/3/7 7:57Profile
sj
Member



Joined: 2005/12/16
Posts: 83


 Re:

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 2006/3/7 9:05Profile









 Re: speaking out against church abuse

Quote:
i guess you are making the points i feel like i've been wearing myself out trying to make

sj,

I'm glad it feels like that to you, because I do want to be supportive of your struggle to endorse righteousness in a very contrary situation. I'm only saying what comes to me, though, in the way that I usually do when I post. Possibly, I could back up my 'opinion' with a lot more historical detail, but if anyone wants it, they can ask.

Your testimony of being able to look in the eye, those who have cut you off from their fellowship, is powerful to me, because I'd say that's a work of God in your life, which I resect completely.

Quote:
Please show me where God cares one whit about protecting the the reputation of false shepherds and where He leaves the decieved to themselves?

Anyone else?

 2006/3/7 9:28
sj
Member



Joined: 2005/12/16
Posts: 83


 Re:

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 2006/3/7 9:36Profile









 Re:

[color=CC6600][font=Georgia][b]Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
& Ezekiel Chapter 34[/b][/font][/color]

 2006/3/7 9:38









 Re: Is it wrong to speak out against church abuse?


There is much I could say about personalities who seek to control others, but I won't. However, on the same theme, the references in this thread to backstabbing remind me of Joab, David's most senior soldier, who was known for killing people after he had either found them, or manipulated them into a vulnerable position. In other words, he [u]made sure[/u] they were at a definite disadvantage before he finished them off.

Compare this with the picture of the Good Shepherd, who goes ahead of the sheep, exposing His back to them while He LEADS.... in other words, He is vulnerable to the sheep.... and this is normal for anyone who is truly going out in front to show them the safest way. This picture speaks of a certain amount of mutual trust between the Shepherd and the sheep; and it has to be said that the sheep don't have to follow. No-one is forcing them to follow. They do so because they believe they are being led to pasture... this Voice has led them to food in the past, and they learned to trust it. Perhaps, only if they find they are being given a stone when they asked for bread, will they stop following.

sj, I know that's a mixed metaphor in the paragraph above, but, I think you get my meaning....

 2006/3/7 9:40
sj
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Joined: 2005/12/16
Posts: 83


 Re:

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 2006/3/7 10:01Profile
sj
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Joined: 2005/12/16
Posts: 83


 Re:

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 2006/3/7 10:20Profile
sj
Member



Joined: 2005/12/16
Posts: 83


 Re:

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 2006/3/7 10:41Profile









 Re:

Quote:

dorcas wrote:

There is much I could say about personalities who seek to control others, but I won't. However, on the same theme, the references in this thread to backstabbing remind me of Joab, David's most senior soldier, who was known for killing people after he had either found them, or manipulated them into a vulnerable position. In other words, he [u]made sure[/u] they were at a definite disadvantage before he finished them off.

Compare this with the picture of the Good Shepherd, who goes ahead of the sheep, exposing His back to them while He LEADS.... in other words, He is vulnerable to the sheep.... and this is normal for anyone who is truly going out in front to show them the safest way. This picture speaks of a certain amount of mutual trust between the Shepherd and the sheep; and it has to be said that the sheep don't have to follow. No-one is forcing them to follow. They do so because they believe they are being led to pasture... this Voice has led them to food in the past, and they learned to trust it. Perhaps, only if they find they are being given a stone when they asked for bread, will they stop following.

sj, I know that's a mixed metaphor in the paragraph above, but, I think you get my meaning....



Shepherd is Pastor in our language.

Also in Ezekiel 34.

Can you show the difference in that book {Ezekiel} and others of the 'difference' between Pastor and Prophet ?

Jesus was both. Just to throw that in. The Risen Christ leads in two ways also.

I personally see a difference between Pastor and Prophets and how they work to save sheep.

 2006/3/7 11:15





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