Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
I always say that all the evil in this world is done by people with "good heart". The Bible tells us that our heart is deceitfully wicked, people who claim they have a good heart have deceived themselves as well.
There is a higher standard for an elder than for others, and I think it includes being reprimanded before all when they sin. I see it along the lines of Samson, that reprimand may do more good for the Body of Christ than all of their previous labor combined. It is about going through the experience of the cross and despising the shame.
The real confusion occurs when more than one person are involved in a sin. For example, if you want to publicize PL molesting a sister, will the sister also be shamed and how do you feel about that. So it is possible for a victim to be victimized twice. If you try to cover that part up and hide her identity it will be almost impossible to do without lying and being involved in a cover up. These are tough calls. Also, leaders of the LRC are not omnipotent, they may want things to work out a certain way, but what are you going to do. You can't control what BM and others do and say. The point is it is very difficult to deal with sin in a "clean" way that doesn't involve further problems.
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It is the public trials that victimize the woman a second time. Defense attorneys are permitted to expose her life before all. If she is not badly battered, the attorney says it was "consensual." None of this should happen in the church, however, and especially not at a ministry like LSM. Credible witnesses and godly mature men are all that's needed.
I would think that it is far more difficult for the victim to keep silent, knowing the perpetrator gets off scot-free, and worrying who his next victim will be. This is why Paul's words are so wise and instructive concerning leaders, "
those that sin rebuke before all that the rest may be warned." All are warned about sin, and all are warned about PL. Those who know the victim are now free to comfort and encourage her without shame, and those who do not know the victim's identity, still can be warned.
This makes the LC constructs of "The Work" and the "Local Ground" all the more error prone. WL and company used both paradigms to protect his darling boys. Since WL headed up "The Work," he silenced all the brothers by saying he would "take care of it." Who would dare question WL? Since discipline was supposedly governed by the matter of the "Local Ground," only Anaheim could address the problem of WL, and who was the lead elder in Anaheim, but WL. It was widely said that Anaheim was "WL's baby, since he raised her up."