Posted on 08/17/2018 8:03:34 PM PDT by marshmallow
Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois reportedly paid $3.5 million in lawsuits over the sex abuse of two developmentally disabled boys.
The evangelical megachurch, which recently saw its entire elders board resign over unrelated accusations that former lead pastor Bill Hybels sexually abused women, made the payments in the lawsuits over several years, court records obtained by The Chicago Tribune show.
One payment of $1.75 million was apparently made in February, while another one of $1.5 million was made last year.
Former Willow Creek volunteer Robert Sobczak Jr., now 24, pled guilty in 2014 of abusing an 8-year-old with special needs at the church, alongside an older boy not connected with the church. A year earlier, he admitted to sexually abusing another disabled boy at the church, believed to have been 9 years old.
Willow Creek said that the experience was "heartbreaking," and insisted that it has made changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
Hopefully, they also discuss Hell, the default destination for the unsaved, or else they are doing the congregation a disservice.
Jail. Resignations. Hmmm. Not tucked away and hid and protected. Hmmmmmm for decades. Big difference. Although I suspect you won’t see the difference. Does it happen everywhere? Yes. Nobody says it doesn’t. However, in evangelical churches there is a very good chance someone is going to jail. The chances of them being sent to another church to cover up the sin and protect the sinner are slim and the president of the SBC most certainly isn’t implicit in the cover up. Nice try...but what a fail. The chances are really good an evangelical pedo criminal goes to jail. How many of your priests are doing jail time? How many are out of the ministry? Stop covering for the sin of the church. It makes you look bad.
to be honest, this DID come up.... he felt that there was no Hell, in some sort of way, that even if you were sorry for your sins after dying, you would go to heaven.
Now, we had that talk, where I asked, “well, what about someone who repents, not out of true regret, but only for the purpose of going to heaven?” “for selfish reasons?”
I remember this conversation, not word for word, but I do remember him telling me “that was OK, you just had to “say you were sorry”.
I asked “what if you said you were sorry, but had all intentions of committing the same thing again? Like killing someone or robbing someone?”
His explanation was that people like that have a mental disorder, and are not accountable for their actions...
Now, this got even further... so, as one would, I said something along the lines that “repeat offenders are mentally ill and deserve to go to heaven?”
His general stance was that those who do not repent are mentally ill, and Jesus accepts everyone who is incapable of clear thought, sort of like how if a drunk person or someone strung out on drugs might kill someone, they will go to heaven as well because they are mentally not in the right state of mind.
I happen to not agree with that sentiment. Maybe many Christians do. I don’t know.
He would find bible passages that would affirm his belief, that there really was no accountability for your actions in life, just so long as you said “ok, I’m sorry”, and not even before death, but you somehow got some sort of mulligan in the after life.
It is a weird sort of theology he has.
Now, I’m not a dedicated Catholic for decades (my wife is though), I’m pretty agnostic now in my old age, but I just don’t agree with his views at all. I personally think there is a responsibility for your your actions on earth, you WILL answer to God for your actions. There will be judgement.
I guess I’m kind of old in my thinking.
Yes. It was a volunteer the did it not the pastor. The entire board of elders resigned over an issue with the pastor. They should entirely clean house. Anyone that was in a position of leadership should be gone. What I didn’t read is how the volunteer was sent to a different mega church after the cover up by the local church. Nor did I read about 299 other abusers in the same organization in one local ares systematically covered up by higher ups in the organization transferring them to another place to abuse others
There is a big difference between an isolated incident dealt with quickly and an international system of corruption abuse and coverup going on for decades. There is sin everywhere. Whether it is a system side evil and how it is dealt with is the difference
A volunteer at one church does not excuse the widespread evil in an entire organization nor are they anywhere near equivalent
No Bible-believing evangelical church would have female pastors and elders. Says it all, really.
Sobczak, now 24, is serving a seven-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2014 to sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy with special needs at the church and an older boy who was not connected to Willow Creek.
Hmmmm, a PRISON sentence.
Something you never hear about Catholic priests.
Not withstanding your bad experience with your brother, I’ve met people from Willow Creek churches and they are normal.
I do not agree with all of their choices. I do not worship there.
In summary, it sounds as if your brother is unstable and your sample size is very small.
That said, I’m sorry for you and your family.
So based on hearsay, you are accusing someone of being a liar???
This is very sad and I condemn it. But it is extremely limited to one church. They will purge it.
It does not, however, hold a candle to the systematic, worldwide sexual and physical abuse, and coverup by Roman Catholicism, priests, bishops, Cardinals, popes.
... And the denials by Shiite Romans on this board who try to minimize that evil.
Exactly. There are predators everywhere, but especially in places with the vulnerable. Scary.
“In modern Christianity, there are no wounded Christians.
We shoot our wounded.”
That is priceless. Yes, I do agree with you. And I am really just very weary of organizations that take advantage of us imperfect people. And the way the libs have taken over our institution, churches too, I am far more weary. I had seeing people taken advantage of or being led astray.
And I would like to say again how much I love your quote above. And this “...strengthen your brothers”.
Priceless.
I had seeing people taken advantage of or being led astray.
Supposed to have been “I HATE seeing people taken advantage of”.
“Oh dear, you’re not REVELING are you???”
Not reveling because this happens in all religions, public schools, colleges, hospitals, anywhere you have adults interacting with young people. The Catholic Church is largest Christian Church in the world so it stands to reason that it would be the worst problem numbers wise. What makes it so bad now these old homosexuals that invaded the church in the last 50 years are still around as bishops and have covered for there homosexual buddies. They need to be held accountable and when convicted of a crime kicked out of the church and sent to prison. If there is any inkling whatsoever that an applicate to a seminary is homosexual he should not be allowed in. Make him sign a statement. If it’s later found out he’s homosexual he’s kicked out. And the military should do the exact same thing, That’s the way it was for 200 years before Obama. Rape is up in the US military since’s King Obama’s edict allowing sodomites to openly serve. Male on male rape.
So my point went right over your head.
And in the process PLEASE STOP attacking a fellow Christian. Thank-you.
Just watched “Spotlight” again last night. What a great movie. This is a plague in most churches, I think, for the reasons you state, and needs to be carefully monitored & policed.
OR at least stop acting like you’re happy it’s happening in other places too.
Evangelical megachurch......hmmmmm.
Not just "a". "The". The exemplar, the root US-ian evangelical megachurch, if there can be such a thing.
(Hyperbole, yet, but it is pretty darn influential in that crowd.)
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