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Post by Admin on Apr 17, 2023 22:10:41 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2023 8:58:13 GMT -5
Wow.. that thread aged like wine, and milk. It's a good illustration for sure!
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Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2023 6:00:24 GMT -5
Wow.. that thread aged like wine, and milk. It's a good illustration for sure! One gets better, the other goes rancid. Did I miss something?! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2023 18:17:21 GMT -5
Wow.. that thread aged like wine, and milk. It's a good illustration for sure! One gets better, the other goes rancid. Did I miss something?! Yes - it became more and more relevant and timely (wine) but because it has aged so well, it means it hasn't been dealt with properly (milk). |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2023 18:18:56 GMT -5
Graham Thompson understood the nature of what he was speaking of. Really too bad he left the work. But they were never going to give a guy like him any position of influence.
"Today I want to speak about the care of children. Amongst the things that we are speaking of is a matter that is referred to often in current terminology as CSA. The first word of these three is child and the last is abuse or assault and the middle one I am not going to voice but it begins with s and refers to a kind of physical mistreatment that is of the cruelest, basest, most defiling, and most damaging kind.
There are some things that we don’t like to speak of and don’t ordinarily speak of so openly and there are some things that are so distasteful that we don’t even like to feel it might be necessary to speak about them so we are not going to voice that word but I must say that if anyone has the slightest doubt about what is going to be referred to, please ask afterward."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2023 18:22:04 GMT -5
"...Paul when he wrote to the Ephesians said about things to keep away from. In Ephesians 5:12, he said it is a shame even to speak about those things that are done of them in secret. But there are times when it is necessary to say something because it is not always done of them. There have been times and occasions when things have been done which should not have been done among the fellowship. There have been times when things have been done which should not have been done by members of the ministry.
Today we want to speak about these things as discretely as possible and as clearly as necessary. In the last year or so, there has been quite a lot of discussion about matters in Victoria, Australia. I find it very saddening and have to say that I feel that the response of the ministry has not been adequate. There is no point in trying to make an apology because words can’t deliver. But what is really needed is that most profound of all apologies and that is reform of attitude and beginning to acknowledge where there has been error and the committed purpose and earnestness to ensure that where there has been error that there will not be error again."
Imagine that this attitude towards what is going on now had permeated through the ministry and fellowship. This was OVER A DECADE AGO!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2023 18:26:08 GMT -5
I hope you don't mind me continuing to direct quote large pieces of this. THIS is the response that we all needed.
"One thing that needs to be remembered very clearly in this matter of treatment of children is that we are talking about crime, and more than that we are talking about the most heinous kind of crime of all. The various crimes that are committed, some are against property, some against the interests of society or the state, and there are some against the person. Of all crimes, the crime of one person against another person is the worst.
The crime of a man against the person of another man is bad.
The crime of a man against the person of a woman is worse.
The crime of a man against the person of a child is the worst of all.
It has the worst disastrously damaging effect and leads to a legacy of challenge that is mostly carried the life-long through."
And although the issues he was responding to at the time weren't of this nature, we know now that there are female predators in the ministry as well.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2023 18:33:26 GMT -5
Other "little gems" I enjoyed from Graham's sermon
We must never fall into the error of suggesting that because a person is in the fellowship of the children of God that there are things they are sheltered from in terms of not having penalties applied.
It must never be thought that the gospel or fellowship presents an umbrella under which people may hide and the law may be broken with impunity or the law-breaker find shelter and not face the consequence of breaking the law and it must never be seen or seem to be that the fellowship of God’s people presents an opportunity or place where there is scope for the breaking of the law.
Think about Jesus and His love and His feelings and His purity and how He valued little children because in them He saw the essence of purity and lack of defilement that He loved because it spoke of what He lived himself and that is why there is a respect toward children in Jesus. Think of Jesus who felt so toward little children and how He would feel if there was anything to which His name was attached which could be used in a way in which children could suffer or in which suffering was allowed.
So the process of the law is not to be resisted. There is to be a cooperation, there is to be an acceptance, there is even to be a thankfulness to God for the very same because it is of God.
So there is the question now of what do we do if there should seem to be a risk somewhere to the children. The safety and welfare of the little children must never be compromised by anything. There must never be anything that is allowed that could impact upon it or threaten or give the slightest measure of risk to the children. Where there is a known risk there must be openness so the risk can be avoided. Failure to do so is as much an offense as the offense itself.
This matter of mistreatment of children, there are three components to it. One is that it is criminally wrong. Another is the mental health aspect as well. The other is that it has an element of spiritual health aspect. Those three things, differing as they do, need to be addressed by those who are competent to do so. We are faced as shepherds and pastors of the flock, with the help of God and with the aid of His spirit, we seek help in matters of the spirit and in spiritual welfare for individuals of the flock but we are not equipped for those others and they need to be left where they belong. Matters that relate to criminally breaking of the law need to be dealt with by the law, and matters that relate to mental health and those sorts of concerns need to be dealt with by those who are competent to deal with them.
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