tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post9014843888092965918..comments2024-03-17T16:21:14.907-05:00Comments on Stop Baptist Predators: What would Jesus say?Christa Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-61496194950496405902008-02-16T20:41:00.000-06:002008-02-16T20:41:00.000-06:00Debbie, you are and have been so brave. So has Ch...Debbie, you are and have been so brave. So has Christa. So has everyone who has stood up to this very powerful group of RELIGIOUS people, religious not spiritual.<BR/><BR/>It is so sad. It really breaks my heart. It really is hard to leave the Baptist church. It is where I grew up, it was where I thought I was comfortable. I do love and miss the music. But it is full of Steve Gaines types and Paige Patterson types and all manner of other people who cannot see or choose not to see the evil that resides within the very doors of the place where they worship.<BR/><BR/>How tragic for all involved.<BR/>PhyllisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-35330008564175075002008-02-16T13:16:00.000-06:002008-02-16T13:16:00.000-06:00the 12:43 post articulated this issue so beautiful...the 12:43 post articulated this issue so beautifully. <BR/>Thank you ....I hope you will keep sharing this "word picture" so people will open their eyes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-4409183316022506502008-02-16T12:43:00.000-06:002008-02-16T12:43:00.000-06:00I read an article at Ethicsdaily.com entitled "Doe...I read an article at Ethicsdaily.com entitled "Does God Protect Some Disaster Victims But Not Others", dated 02-15-08 by authors Brittani Hamm and Adelle M. Banks. The article talks about the tornado disaster that hit Union University and other areas in the southeast recently.<BR/><BR/>I thought after reading the article that just as people respond to help victims of tornadoes and other natural disasters, clergy sexual abuse victims need help. But it is puzzling that no one responds. The Southern Baptist denomination is not responding. Church leaders may try to discredit the ones who speak out against the abuse, shame the victim, intimidate and even sometimes threaten, ridicule or use twisted theology, etc. Church members may become angry at the victim because they want to protect their beloved minister or think it will hurt the church. When the one who did the damage is a respected and trusted minister in a position of authority in the church, what does a victim do? That minister may be respected on local, state and national denominational levels. The clergy abuse victims are asking for help, showing a need for changes to be made and the denominational and church leaders are crying foul, calling a support group "evil doers", and "just as reprehensible as the sexual criminals" themselves.<BR/><BR/>Tornadoes are natural disasters and we have warning sirens, meteorological forecast, emergency relief efforts, outpouring of churches helping, and neighbors helping neighbors. Who helps the one assaulted by SBC ministers, assaulted on so many levels as Debbie Vasquez and Christa Brown and so many others? Thus far, it has not been the Southern Baptists. That saddens me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-44025569698121290622008-02-16T09:42:00.000-06:002008-02-16T09:42:00.000-06:00anonymous: I mostly agree with your remarks, but i...anonymous: I mostly agree with your remarks, but in light of the long controversy between Southern Baptist "fundamentalists" and "moderates", I want to point out that, on the clergy abuse issue, BOTH groups fail abysmally. This is very tragically an issue where they stand on common ground in failing to minister to the wounded and in failing to warn people in the pews about clergy-predators. The Baptist General Convention of Texas, which is the largest of the state-wide Southern Baptist conventions, is a self-described "moderate" group, but they do no better than Nashville leaders.<BR/><BR/>I could not possibly agree with you more, anonymous, in what you say about how "trivial" so many of their other debates are. Compared to the urgent need for protecting kids against clergy-predators, the Southern Baptist hyper-debates about such lesser subjects as private prayer language seem to me like debates about how many angels are on the head of a pin.<BR/><BR/>gmommy: You have summed up the situation well - "...these so called men of God take care of each other but not the many wounded by SBC ministers."Christa Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04560409585720043015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-85484065780209678302008-02-16T09:30:00.000-06:002008-02-16T09:30:00.000-06:00How fitting that Paige Patterson will stand in the...How fitting that Paige Patterson will stand in the pulpit of Bellevue Baptist Church this Sunday.<BR/> Paige Patterson did nothing to prevent the harm done by BBC during the cover up by Steve Gaines for the predator minister Paul Willimas.<BR/>Now he gives his unspoken endorsement by preaching there this Sunday and Gaines can feel smugly justified in his ungodly treatment of the victims of the perverted minister he covered for.<BR/><BR/>Even tho thousands have left BBC broken hearted ...Patterson will stand in the pulpit and glorify the criminal and heartless behavior of the BBC leadership with his words and presense.<BR/><BR/>Then later in the year, Gaines will stand in the pulpit of Patterson's empire seminary.<BR/><BR/>How "fitting" that these so called men of God take care of each other but not the many wounded by SBC ministers.gmommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11713588262748876624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-49357584951997637322008-02-16T09:08:00.000-06:002008-02-16T09:08:00.000-06:00Much of the problem is modern one. The seminary mo...Much of the problem is modern one. The seminary model is dated and needs reform. No grades were ever the criteria for such education prior to the last century which required that a mentoring/apprentice relationship was necessary for the equipping of a minister (which would hold them accountable). The fundamentalists are fooling themselves and are in a state of over correction rather on trivial matters and not taking serious conisderation to weightier ones like yours.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874123597623259718.post-5518384481225764382008-02-15T22:25:00.000-06:002008-02-15T22:25:00.000-06:00What would Jesus say to a clergy abuse survivor su...What would Jesus say to a clergy abuse survivor such as Debbie?<BR/><BR/>Jesus might not be able to speak at first because he might be weeping. If he overturned the moneychangers tables in the temple and ordered everybody out, I would tremble if I was a clergy abuser or pastor who was a part of coverup to clergy abuse.<BR/><BR/>Thank you,Debbie, for your courage and sweet spirit in dealing with this. You have been much more gracious than I would be. And thank you, Christa, for not backing away in the face of threats and hateful comments from those that were happier when abuse was covered up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com