Posted on 05/25/2018 4:59:43 AM PDT by Cronos
A fundamentalist Baptist church with two high-ranking members facing sexual abuse charges and a pastor charged with not reporting it has a decadeslong history of similar problems.
...Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite has had four members accused of sexual abuse in its 50-year history. Members and ex-members say a strict culture that reveres church authorities as nearly unquestionable has led to an environment conducive to ongoing abuse.
...In 2011, the church’s then-pastor, Matt Jarrell, committed suicide in a West Virginia jail cell, where he was being held on rape charges. He had a history of sexual assault arrests, at least one of which was known to the church's assistant pastor, per news reports at the time.
Open Door is an independent fundamentalist Baptist congregation. It reads the King James Bible and believes each word of the Bible was directly inspired by God. Its website contains this passage:
“We hold that the local church has the right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. … We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christian individuals or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe that the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.”
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
It’s NOT the culture. It is the failure to follow biblical standards, which does not include a single-elder model. The New Testament church is meant to be a plurality of elders for accountability as much as it is to properly feed the flock.
Oh SNAP! Why would anyone join a church like this?
To feel self-righteous.
The problem is that in the fundamentalist baptist churches the pastors are all-in-one - preacher, showman etc. - in many cases like the late, great Billy Graham, this clicks for God. But in many cases it doesn't - and the showman comes to fore, leading to a Weinstein-like pastor.
Besides, don’t get caught up with this being a Texas Baptist pastor — these sexual predators are definitely found outside Texas baptist groups — all over the country. So its necessary not to blame the Baptist community as a whole for this scum bag and not to blame the Baptist Church for this bad preacherman
Meaning bishops,pastors,deacons.
Plus the late great Rev. Billy Graham if I was not mistaken, had a rule to NOT ride in an elevator alone with a woman who was NOT his wife.
And no pope as that is not witnessed in the NT.
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