Posted on 03/16/2014 10:03:14 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
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After telling the congregation at the Miracle Faith World Outreach Church that he had been unfaithful to his wife, Bishop Bobby Davis died.
"After the service on Sunday the bishop's family asked us to remain in the church and the bishop confessed to us something that happened long ago," church elder Judy Stovall told the Connecticut Post. "He wanted to come clean with all of us. He wanted to ask our forgiveness."
Before he died, church members were screaming at Davis to show him their support.
"We were shouting, 'We forgive you, we love you,' but the stress of all of it -- he had a heart attack," Stovall said.
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(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Thank you for confirming your hypocrisy.
I can understand the fears of going public...
The pastor confessed to his wife so that she could determine whether to keep the marriage intact...He also confessed to the congregation so they could decide whether they would want to keep him as their pastor...
Christians are led by the Holy Spirit...Who would I be to say the Spirit led him wrong, or that he ignored the Holy Spirit...
Along with the congregation, we should be thanking God that He worked everything out for the good...
But where do you see any substantial evidence that Teddy Kennedy repented? What i have read shows none, even in his letter to the pope, nor did the latter provide any reproof from what was said. Instead, his apostolic blessing was provided.
And seeing a RC "priest - a title foreign to NT for pastors - was unlikely to help.
It is a dreadful fact that the hardest person to forgive is yourself.
I am amazed at the comments here, many of which presuppose things that were not stated in the reports.
It does not say he did not deal with this with his wife, and embarrassed her by publicly confessing his sin, nor how long ago this was, or if it occurred more than once, much less that this took the place of private confession to the Lord.
Nor was a matter of private confession versus public confession, but as he had violated not only the trust of his wife but also that of his congregation, he confessed to both, which is consistent with 1Tim. 5:20, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” (1 Timothy 5:20) And in so doing i think he showed great courage and an example I and we should follow when we have violated trust to some degree others place in us. Now about that scratch...
Davis and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last June. He was a certified marriage and family therapist.
Do you see the irony of your last two sentences?
As the last sentence was ironic is why i supplied it, which others seemed to have missed from what i saw. And so how much deeper his shame and propriety in confessing it as he did. As compared to the many who did worse and kept silent.
People in leadership positions in the church have a much higher standard to uphold. No doubt, other congregants knew about this affair and he was doing the right thing by making a public confession AFTER he had already confessed to his wife and forsaken the other woman. Hopefully, he was not presuming he could just continue being the pastor. It was a PUBLIC sin and it needed PUBLIC confession in order to set an example before the assembly. Don’t know why God took his life - could have been any number of reasons. We can look at Ananias and Sapphira as told in Acts 5, who said they sold a parcel of land and gave all the money to the group when they were lying. God slew them, it was said, “You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (v. 4).
You have that very correct.
On the part about those that are being critical of him for going public (me), I guess I'd be considered a heathen with some of the explanations that have been offered and m total disagreement with them. I just would never imagine beating myself up publicly like that, especially not in church. Wow. I mean, what's the point?
That's the part I don't get. A weakness? It is human nature. If you are a woman then I can understand your post but if you are a guy you need to accept yourself for what God made you.
Now that don't mean you should be unfaithful but there is a saying for this. Just because a guy is on a diet does not mean he can't look at the menu.
Okay, that's it. I'm in enough trouble with these posts.
Yes, he did fail his congregation and public confession of that was necessary.
I agree also that there was likely suspicion of or knowledge of the affair anyway.
I knew a couple once where the husband was fooling around on his wife and I found out before she knew because I saw his car parked at someone else’s house when he was supposed to be at a meeting of some kind, as his wife old me he was doing that night (or rather supposed to be doing).
There’s something people can sense when someone is on the move.
James 5:15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
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