This really irritated me
 

The comments to this facebook post got me annoyed.

http://www.facebook.com/thepentecostals?ref=mf

The Pentecostals The Pope has declared it "The Year of the Priest". I think we need to declare it the year of "Get your kids out of the parish until the Catholic Church will be honest about the pedophiles they have been hiding and providing cover to."


my answer

Erik Webster The UPCI is a fellowship of churches so scandals stay at a church level typically. The RCC is a top down setup so everyone gets hit on every level from top to bottom. There are a billion catholics and out of that there are some deeply flawed humans in that group. We should applaud the RCC for trying to get rid of priests that do that. But to tar their entire denomination is unfair since it is a very very very small group. There is abuse in the UPCI too and it has had its share of scandals, adultry, and homosexuality (even if its kept very quiet among the ministers when its dealt with).

The major difference is that the RCC is a bigger target as to where our group is able to deal with things on a sectional or district basis.

Besides... any group that has a website www.spiritualabuse.org dedicated to it among others has few stones to throw towards fellow Christians even if we don't see things in the same light. I am oneness apostolic and will be the first to say we need to clean out our house also.



I am sure I'll catch some fire from the sheeple among that 5000+ subscribers to that group.

Re: This really irritated me
 

Sure the UPC has child molesters in its churches, and sure it has been hushed up and covered over, but don't all groups/clubs/associations where children and adults are put together have similar problems?

I have been a member of the Spiritual Abuse group for many years.
I think there is a real need for that group and many have come there for healing and help and fellowship.

Recently someone (a UPC minister) called a local non-UPC minister to inform him that he saw that I was part of the Spiritual Abuse group on Facebook and it was an "anti-UPC" group.

Some times the posts become pretty strong against the "UPC" on the online forum (not Face book). I've written some pretty strong stuff on there myself. But a lot of people have been seriously injured in some of our Apostolic (including UPC) churches and some times people lash out against their abusers.

Re: This really irritated me
 

I found that spiritualabuse site a long time ago... I liked it.

Re: This really irritated me
 

I liked it and I still like it, but I am not very active there any more.

Re: This really irritated me
 

Sometimes the anti UPC comments injure members too. It needs to be done with the right attitude

Re: This really irritated me
 

Good point Prax. I have read more than one exodus "story" that pretty much questioned my salvation because I attended a UPC.

Seeing that "rejection of other Christians" is a primary charge made against the church by those who leave, this only makes one wonder if some have kept the same self righteousness and simply changed teams.

Re: This really irritated me
 

Yes, some times we stoop to the same level as those who mistreated us.
That's not good. Would that be considered rendering "railing for railing"?

Re: This really irritated me
 

Yeah...the charge of elitism is interesting. It's hypocritical because I see Trinitarians a lot say only Trinitarians are saved. Yet, supposedly, that is one of the things that makes a group a Cult.

Re: This really irritated me
 

My aunt wrote a book that was featured on there for a while, I don't know if it still is.

Re: This really irritated me
 

Going back to the Facebook site "The Pentecostals" ... do Phillips, Shindoll and the others in the "I Do Declare! dot org" crowd have permission to use the UPCI logo as if they were the spokesmen for the entire fellowship? They show no indication that they are simply speaking for themselves. They show every indication that they presume to speak for everyone.

The fact that they are using a registered trademark and the fact that you have to dig into the site to find who is actually behind it seems to indicate to me that there is a bit of subterfuge and deception going on - or perhaps it's all "innocent" and the result of poor planning and design; I dunno.

On the surface it does appear deceptive. Never mind the bricks they throw at the Catholics, this whole exercise needs to be reevaluated and vetted with the lawyers.