Thursday, May 26, 2016

Then This Happened - BANNED!

Yesterday morning, I posted this blog post about the ABWE sex abuse scandal. (Click here) This post was a follow-up to this post (click here) about fixing the culture of abuse within ABWE and other faith-based organizations. I shared the blog posts on several social media sites as well as in a couple of college Facebook groups from my college years, specifically BBC in the 70s and BBC in the 80s.

When I shared the first blog post in the 70s group, one group administrator put up a generalized statement about sharing other things and keeping it light. After the sharing of the 2nd blog post, no such generalizations were stated, the administrators of the group simply removed me entirely from the group, effectively banning me.

The 80s group kept me and my blog post on there and simply kept going as normal.

The fact that the 70s group administration removed me completely from the group makes me suspicious. They have not spoken with me, did not in any way warn me that this could happen. They simply censored me and my blog.

Clearly they have every right to do that. If anyone in the group posts something they don't want to talk about, they can remove them without a word.

So be it.
I am not deterred but I am disturbed.

Not only was I removed from the group, but my blog was addressed by a woman who had major issues with things I said. She had issue with the statement, "If your husband doesn't pursue Christ as strongly as you, leave him in the dust and pursue without him." This woman said the Bible does not teach this. When I presented the argument that it does and tried to show her, she quickly ended the conversation and that was that.

The Bible says, "Looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith." This is what I encourage people to do. (Hebrew 12:1-3)

Before her hit-and-run finale, this woman also had issue with me saying, "Look to Jesus, not your husband, for your faith and courage." She said this is "wrong advice." She didn't wait around for me to point out that the Bible tells us to look to Jesus, that "He, alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 62:6. (There are many more verses that teach this. Look them up; they are very encouraging.) This woman told me she'd been in a leadership position in some mission board at one time. How can a person like that, who has obvious objection to direct Bible teaching, qualify for a leadership position on a mission board?

This explains a lot. The fact that, without so much as a word of warning and no discussion, I can be removed from a supposedly "Christian" group for telling the truth speaks volumes about the administrators of that group. What are they hiding? Did my words strike too close to home for them? Why do they need to hush the abuse of Donn Ketcham? And the fact that a woman who was in leadership in a mission board would say that looking to Jesus is "wrong advice," tells me a lot about where these mission boards are.

When a leader in any supposedly Christian organization tells you something that is directly contrary to the Bible, beware. That person is not qualified to lead in a Christian organization.

Pressing on for Truth,
~Tricia

9 comments:

  1. Keep talking - you are being heard!

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement! Gotta keep on keeping on.

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  2. Keep speaking truth! Enough of this spirit of religion that keeps people in bondage to lies.

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    1. Thank you for your encouraging words! I love that you called it "spirit of religion." That's so true.

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  4. Your response also said, "This is wrong advice." There certainly is no mention of "the husband's part in the wife's spiritual growth" because I can't find that in Scripture. The Bible tells us to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," showing that spiritual growth is a very personal thing. Women need to understand that the Bible is talking to them and there is no mediator between God and people besides the Lord Jesus Christ.

    I did not misquote you. You did, indeed, say it was wrong advice for me to tell people to look to Jesus, not their husband, for their faith and courage.

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  6. I am sorry for the response from your posting Tricia. I am also sorry to say I am not surprised. I don't understand this type of behavior but have come to expect it and move on. Sallie also demonstrates this mindset. There seems to be an unwillingness to challenge entrenched conventions by claiming they are biblical. Sallie may have a loving and supportive husband that encourages her in her faith but this is not always the case. This goes for the female spouse as well. When we stand before Christ, we will stand alone. In Acts 17, Luke commends the Bereans for their tenacity and due diligence and says many believed, including a number of prominent women and men. Interestingly, he mentions women first and also identifies them as "prominent". He didn't call them wives - never mentioned their marital status.

    Sallie, if you stayed with us in the discussion, I think you misunderstood Tricia point that men AND women are equal before God whether they are married or single. Her post was not addressing the marriage relationship directly but the individual's responsibility before God. If we properly understood this, ABWE may not be in the crisis it finds itself. Sallie, you ended your comment with, "I will pray for you." Will you?

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    1. Tom, thanks for your kind words. Sadly, I am not surprised by the hit-and-run practice of some people, either. I have learned that we can only chip away at patriarchy a little at a time, so I do what I can in hopes that someone will actually open their Bible and look things up for themselves, leaving their preconceived ideas and speculation at the door.

      I like to remind people about Sapphira. Not knowing her husband was already dead for his lie, she was made to answer for herself about her lie and pay the price for it. She did not get to hide behind her husband as though he was responsible.

      You are right about Acts 17 and if we read the Scriptures without speculation, we find that women were very prominent in the NT church.

      Sadly, the culture of abuse which allowed things to happen as they did in ABWE continues in many churches. We have to keep chipping away at this!

      Thanks for commenting.

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