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 ...
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day--about 3,000 in all. Acts 2:41
First Megachurch, starting in Acts.
Sexual abuse is horrible across the board. But remember it is now starting to come to light in the Evangelical churches.
We shoot our wounded?
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Speak for yourself. That is a pathetic cliche.
no, I posted a link to validate my claim that they do not hold Christmas day service and haven’t in years.
Reading is fun.
Dont go blaming that wicked church. While they have guilt, your brother is the one who got himself into the mess.
The book of 1 Peter talks about how fleshly desire and lusts of all kind are ultimately manifested. And that manifestation is really ugly.
Sexual abuse is horrible across the board. But remember it is now starting to come to light in the Evangelical churches.
***
In the words of our Lord and Savior as recorded in Matthew 7:
“2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
+1
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day--about 3,000 in all.
Acts 2:41
First Megachurch, starting in Acts.
*************
Credit to AMPU for the original post.
If the Bible was actually written by God and you believe what it actually says, (that’s me!) then you can be disparaged as a fundamentalist. (Thank you!) A scandal like this does not destroy the final truth authority. What if, however, the earth is millions of years old? Well then the Bible does not mean what it says. Or the book was not actually written by God. Or God wrote it but He has a twisted sense of humor! You must look for some other final authority.
If the final truth authority is yourself, as is with most people, then whatever you want to think or do cannot really be questioned. You can make up your own religion as you go along, which is fine or at least nobody can stop you, but neither can you question anybody else’s. What about all the contradictions? Does that feeling you are hearing come from the same God that someone else says he is hearing? At any rate, you can enjoy any religion scandal that destroys someone else’s final authority.
If the final truth authority is some holy man or woman, like Joseph Smith, or Ellen G. White, or Bill Hybels, then you must address any challenge to that person’s authority, and you can enjoy any scandal that challenges someone else’s source of authority.
If the final truth authority is the catholic church, then you must address any challenge to her claim that she speaks for God. If the church is the final authority, then who sits in Peter’s seat really matters. The Bishop of Rome changing the catechism may even matter, and Pope Francis’ so-called heresy as it is called here on this forum REALLY matters.
Are there many catholic people saying the authority of the church is challenged by the pedophile priest issue including any cover-ups? Many catholics answered that objection in their response to the play and film by John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt.” Please correct me with my many thanks.
Sexual abuse is horrible across the board. But remember it is now starting to come to light in the Evangelical churches.
I myself know of one such. As in, I was there, saw the aftermath, heard rumors, watched the spin and organizational CYA, could name names.
no, I posted a link to validate my claim that they do not hold Christmas day service and havent in years.
Unless they're skipping a regular Sunday service of worship, them not having a special Christmas day service bothers me not at all. Christmas day on Sunday is going to be a once in 7 year thing.
(One thing I love about where we're at now is, no show and extravaganza at such times. )
Nobody said it wasnt. However, to act gleeful over that fact is pitiful. To celebrate it is awful. My point is this: If you do it in an evangelical church, you are very likely to be exposed. If it was consensual with an adult, you are far more likely to be tossed out of ministry forever if it is found out. That is a fact. I know, I have worked in revitalizing ministry for over a decade and have helped churches work through the process. I know men who are no longer in ministry because of it. They werent shuffled of quietly to another church by their superiors to commit the same sin. Does that happen as well in evangelical churches? Yes. But at a far lower rate. If you do it and what you did is criminal, you are far more likely to go to jail than if you are a priest in the Catholic Church. Do cover ups still occur? Yes. But at a far lower rate. That is a fact. You are far less likely to have the help of your superiors covering up your sin or crime. That is a fact. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar or deceived. I am just pointing out facts. Discard them if you wish. The SBC President never moved a pastor, guilty of the crime of child rape, to another church. If he had found out, that pastor would be in handcuffs 100 times out of100. Period. End of story. Fact.
I expect it now that whenever a thread is posted that addresses the Catholic church's sexual abuse scandals that what will follow is exactly their intent to point fingers at others and say, "They do it, too!". What is seldom mentioned is that this "problem" has been going on for CENTURIES in the Roman Catholic church! Read Peter Damian's treatise The Book of Gomorrah. Such debauchery was around a thousand years ago. It's not a new problem but its tentacles reach deep and is systemic. What will it take to eradicate such evil?
And I think you fail to see the irony.
CATHOLIC megachurch........Hmmmmm
1.2 BILLION and counting was the last I heard.
Hmmmmm..........
but only when they need the numbers to brag about!
Evangelical megachurch......hmmmmm.
Yes we and I all have sinned, and thank God there is forgiveness if we are penitent in faith, yet some sins directly hurt others and sexual abuse of kids is most intolerable. But as posted as a comparison? A young church volunteer versus ordained priests in long-term abuse of boys,often shuffled around from parish to parish, and accusations of sexual abuse of women versus Catholic homosexual predators.
Which posting is the RC response to articles such as How the Church Hoodwinked Its Anti-Abuse Experts
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