Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Debelak
Its happened over and over and over and over again in church history, and it doesn't raise the question: maybe there's a problem with "having no problem at all with established church authority."
nobody asks "Wait, maybe the problem isn't this particular manifestation of abuse, but rather the structure we set up in the first place...."
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Greetings to you too! I see you have moved.
Welcome to Ohio! Hope all is well with you and yours.
You are right about some established church authority. For centuries the believers have had no tools to deal with abusive church power. I grew up in Catholicism, and after entering the Recovery, I read all the church history I could find, arming myself with anti-Catholic venom. I read about inquisitions, tortures, corruptions, and the slaughters of innocents.
I was one of many who became enamored at the beautiful simplicity of "local" churches, shepherded by "local" elders, free from outside controls and interference. When Witness Lee and Titus Chu both boldly proclaimed that they "control no one, and control no churches," I took their promises at face value, and I believed their words. I had been in the Recovery for ~30 years before I began to investigate for myself what was really happening
and what really happened in our recent past.
Peter, you definitely ask good questions. To be honest, I have been burnt enough times that I am understandably skeptical of all Christian leaders. There are probably two reasons that keep me from chucking the whole idea of "established church authority." One is the clear words of scripture, and the other is the many godly men in history who did place the care for God's children above even their own lives. It's too bad that the rotten ones get the most attention.