tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28113006.post8946631055489207016..comments2023-07-13T08:48:47.109-05:00Comments on The Race Set Before Us: Banned from Church: Abuse of Church Disciplineabcanedayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13671418539630398806noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28113006.post-1488762579591144272008-01-31T11:46:00.000-06:002008-01-31T11:46:00.000-06:00Frank,I've read your letter to Alexandra Alter. I ...Frank,<BR/><BR/>I've read your letter to Alexandra Alter. I agree with all of the concerns that you express in your letter.<BR/><BR/>I agree that each of the three questions you pose in your comment (posted above) are entirely legitimate. I wholeheartedly agree with your final paragraph in your comment, also.<BR/><BR/>I wrote my blog entry because I was confident that plenty of others would challenge Alexandra Alter's article. Instead of challenge her article, which is worthy of challenge for both what it says and fails to say, I chose to comment upon what also seems quite obvious from her article, namely pastoral abuse of church discipline. <BR/><BR/>I grant that Alexandra may not have provided sufficient background information concerning some of the cases about which she wrote. However, she provides sufficient data concerning the main case to make it clear that Pastor Burrick behaved as a stubborn child and took up a personal battle of wills with a long-time member of the church rather than true church disciplinary action.<BR/><BR/>Yes, the WSJ article does paint church discipline as "shunning" and "blacklisting." Though, I acknowledge that my experience in the church is hardly the standard by which all things must be judged, I can honestly say that I have rarely observed church discipline practiced according to Scripture. More frequently, church discipline that I have observed has been abused, even amounting to "shunning" and "blacklisting." <BR/><BR/>I could write another blog entry, and may do it sometime, on the paucity of church discipline. For, as I have observed, I have seen numerous individuals in churches who should have come under church discipline. Failure to discipline members has resulted in a horrible scourge upon individuals, upon churches, and upon the church.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for writing your letter to Alexandra and for stopping by to read and to comment.<BR/><BR/>Blessings!abcanedayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13671418539630398806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28113006.post-9796990315159115832008-01-31T07:07:00.000-06:002008-01-31T07:07:00.000-06:00Prof Caneday:I'm not sure you and I disagree that ...Prof Caneday:<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure you and I disagree that the situation at Allen Baptist was poorly handled and a result of bad will on both side of the pulpit. I said in my letter to WSJ that the Allen Baptist incident was certainly an incident that was handled poorly.<BR/><BR/>The problem with the WSJ article is that it painted "church discipline" as "shunning" and "blacklisting".<BR/><BR/>Here would be my questions regarding that view:<BR/><BR/>[1] Is church discipline a doctrine with a biblical foundation?<BR/><BR/>[2] If so, what purpose does the Bible tell us discipline ought to have in mind?<BR/><BR/>[3] Do the abuses, mistakes and errors of some disqualify the doctrine from practice today?<BR/><BR/>The question is not whether some people abuse this ecclesiastical doctrine: it is whether or not we ought to behave as if there is something at stake inside the body of Christ which is worth teaching to disciples and demonstrating to the world.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your link. God bless you.FX Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798420127955373559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28113006.post-67041327224735482782008-01-24T09:54:00.000-06:002008-01-24T09:54:00.000-06:00Thank you for this post. It has a lot to say that ...Thank you for this post. It has a lot to say that needs to be heard.Adam Omelianchukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02962074536479488859noreply@blogger.com