Quote:
Originally Posted by pelathais
I haven't really seen this - but what usually happens is just as bad. Someone goes to the pastor with some kind of slur and the pastor doesn't bother to check it out- instead he "handles it" from the pulpit.
Lives are hurt, the whole church is traumatized and when the truth finally does come out, it turns out that everyone was reacting to childish gossip.
My cousin played college football in a lower NCAA Division (2AA, or whatever) and when his team was in town he asked me to come see him. I talked to my pastor and got his "approval." I went to the game- they didn't charge admission! In fact I walked right out onto the field and met with my cousin and his team mates on the field itself before the game. The only problem was- another local school was vying for the National Championship and all of their games were being loudly publicized.
A few days later I was called into the pastor's office while he and his wife screamed at me for going to that football game. I reminded my pastor of our conversation- I reminded him of the school my cousin attended and where they actually played. His head fell into his hands when he realized how foolish he had been. But his wife would let up. She kept screaming at me saying things like I had "disobeyed the pastor..." even after the pastor was reduced to just shaking his head and mumbling to himself.
I tried to get an apology but got thrown out of the pastor's office instead. The whole thing could have been avoided if the pastor had actually "investigated" the rumor. Or better yet, if the pastor had paid enough attention to the people working with him that he would remember his conversations with them 2 or 3 days after the fact.
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Think of the hundreds or thousands of times scenarios play out like this in UPC all across the country or world. Sad. Sad. How can anyone say this kind of thing is right in the eyes of God? When the standing in an organization means more to "preachers" than doing what is right in the eyes of God, the future for those people is bleak.
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