Posted on 09/08/2010 2:20:52 PM PDT by Binstence
SEPTEMBER 8--The Florida pastor who is planning to burn a pile of Korans this weekend runs a church that has established a variety of cult-like rules for individuals studying to become ministers, according to the groups rulebook.
The Dove World Outreach Center (DWOC), headed by Islam-hating Rev. Terry Jones, has been widely denounced for its September 11 bonfire plans. The tiny Gainesville church is headed by Jones and his wife Sylvia, a co-pastor.
The DWOCs Academy Rulebook, a copy of which youll find here, was created in November 2007 by Sylvia Jones. The document, which details the standards to which a prospective DWOC minister must adhere, addresses topics such as behavior, study, and communication. It is also filled with the kind of creepy directions that are often associated with cults.
For instance, students are directed to cut off most contact with family members. Family occasions like wedding, funerals or Birthdays are no exception to this rule, the rulebook notes. No phone calls. Exceptions can be made under certain circumstances but only after receiving permission.
The Joneses also barred Singles from having romantic relationships to the opposite sex
(Excerpt) Read more at thesmokinggun.com ...
I’m going to quote here from a fellow blogger who left this comment in an email thread:
“And finally SO WHAT that Dove associated with Westboro? None of them have attacked anyone...none of them have advocated violence against anyone. Who cares? Are conservatives adopting the tactics of the left in using guilt by association?
What principles are being violated? Freedom of speech? Assembly? Religion? Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness....??? Argue your case against Dove by using principles that are being violated not by using associations? Is the purpose of the article simply to attack them for their associations?
I will leave you with this wonderfully illuminating quote:
We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you. —— Hussein Massawi, a former Hezbollah leader
As creepy as Rahm Emanuel, or Hillary, or the various czars?
Rev. Phelps is waiting for your support too.......
It’s not calling Jesus a liar to say the Scripture does not teach us to hate our parents the way we normally use the word hate. It’s an honest attempt to resolve an apparent conflict by legitimate recourse to cultural features of the language and by comparing Scripture with Scripture. For example, would you have Jesus versus Jesus if your parents were your enemies? Love your enemies, hate your parents, but your parents are your enemies? No, the first rule of Biblical interpretation is that when you hit an apparent contradiction, dig deeper, because God wrote the whole thing, and will not contradict Himself, and therefore you will always find a resolution in the nuances of language, history, and context.
The simple answer here is that hate can be used in more than one sense, as we also do all the time. Someone gets a promotion, and their best friend says, “I hate you.” Jihadic hatred? I think not. Friendly hatred, a mere joke, with no misunderstanding.
In the case of parents, there is no escaping a rule to love them if you look at the broader context. If they are believers we are told to love them because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. If they are our enemies, we are told to love them because we must also love our enemies. Hatred as Jesus used it in Luke 14:26 must therefore mean something different than the simple, polar opposite of what we normally think of as love.
In the context of Luke 14, Jesus is speaking of whatever might be in conflict with the desire to obey and follow Christ, that any such thing must be treated as you would treat the inferior of two choices. You will always go with the one you most desire.
Solomon was blessed with great wisdom, yet he chose to treat with tolerance the pagan deities of his many foreign wives, and it led to great spiritual harm for him. He should have treated all persons or things that would woo him away from his Creator as inferior choices, as things that will always be desired less, that will always be trumped by a love for God. Thats all it means.
Not to underplay the seriousness of such choice-making. It can be very difficult to do in the real world.
But understanding hate this way begs the question, what then is love, if not the polar opposite of strategically distancing oneself from temptation?
The ancients viewed love differently than we do. Love to them, and I think Biblically as well, was the activity of seeking someones best interests, not simply a feeling of positive emotion. If I love my infant child I will change her messy diapers even if she doesnt like the experience, even if it upsets me to see her tears. If my parents want me to abort my baby, I will see my parents wishes as against my following Christ, and I will disobey them, in that sense hating them.
But the testimony of my love for my child and my respect for the God-given life of that child may win them ultimately to follow Christ themselves and to repent of their former sins. So in that sense, I am really seeking their best interests, I am loving them, just as I am commanded to do. Thus the contradiction is resolved.
Amen. Finally a voice of reason. This fool is hardly a hero. The admiration for him on this thread is very scary.
it has been a trip reading some of these posts by freepers on this subject today, damn’d if they don’t sound alot like DU posters
” Rev. Phelps is waiting for your support too.......”
sense you so bravely make your point, I have about as much use for the koran as I do homo’s
except I can make TP out of the koran and most likely not catch a disease
so burner has proved that muslims are not peaceful and do not understand our laws.
That in itself has been a success.
muslims could have proved us all wrong and said well we disagree but it is your laws which allow this but no they go out giving death threats and calling for death.
As for the idiots which say this will put our troops in harms way.
Well they already are, it’s called a war with rounds flying at them.
As for this Govt and the General saying we are over there to bring freedom and protect freedom here. Well how can you say that with a straight face when you tell someone here not to do something.
er non muslims are already being killed by muslims and we’re already in harms way.
He’s proven what hypocrites the left and muslims are by wanting tom appease muslims again and ignore our laws.
great post
Hilary Clinton, the DOD, the Joint Chiefs, etc. also have the right to speak out AGAINST this non-Christian idiot’s Koran burning spectacular. Nobody’s violated the Westboro-Baptist-supporting idiot’s First Amendment rights; they’ve just exercised their own to voice their disapproval.
“So Jones is either a useful idiot, or a leftist subversive”
This bears repeating. Over and over and over again. He is no friend to conservatism.
if they think this guy’s creepy, they obviously haven’t read “Ask the Imam.”
Not only did she insult Catholics, The Pope, and Christians, She insulted BOB MARLEY!
LOL
I can do the same thing out of your NIV Bible.......which I will considering the hypocrisy I've witnessed out of the Baptist faith.
Given my family that would be a blessing.
Great post...keep it up.
Yep.
I agree.
And I can say it with authority because I AM a Songwriter! LOL!
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