Ugh, I feel like such a fool for supporting an American pastor whose orphanage director in the Philippines was accused of sexual abuse. All because my parents met the American and swore he was a great guy. Now it seems likely that the abuse was swept under the rug. Infuriating on many levels.
Oh i know that story. Not a great guy. Sorry. But your faith community conditioned you to support missions in every case. You’re not a fool, you’re a good hearted person who was lied to.
Regarding inerrancy, another problem is translation. Many likely were originally written in other languages ? Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and more. This introduces another significant variable. It is difficult to translate, likely impossible, directly from one language to another. Therefore, the thought processes and interpretation of the translator will likely play a significant role(not necessarily conscious). As a result, you could legitimately question what the thoughts/intent of the original writer were. I also like you’re bringing up the fact that the values of the cultures during when some of these volumes were written, were radically different from now. An obvious example would be the institution of slavery under the Roman Empire.
So...the Archdiocese of VT filed for bankruptcy today because of $30MM++ in settlements for abuse.
JPII looked the other way for decades and Francis, while better...is just not into the idea that the whole (mostly male...though there are a lot of nuns who have explaining to do) Church infrastructure is complicite in the abuses.
So, interestingly enough--the Catholic Church also has a doctrine of inerrancy. And women are similarly barred from leadership. And they also have an abuse crisis. Hmmmm.
Thank you, Holly. I miss you at the MK Safety Net Reunion. Working on the MKSN board since 2011, I have heard so many heartbreaking stories of abuse of MKs usually by missionaries. Some whose stories I have heard have survived but what about the many who have not survived? Broken marriages, missionary parents disowning their children, many physical problems, suicides, lack of education to get a good job. The list goes on. But we were told this is the sacrifice we had to make to spread the gospel. Do I have to keep sacrificing even when I am over 80? When will the Evangelical church wake up.
The story you linked to about Gregory Dow made me want to throw up! I think the most disturbing part was how his wife didn’t just look the other way, but knowingly helped her husband abuse the children in their care. WTAF! I have no idea how these people can sleep at night.
I have seen good submissive wives enable all kinds of things. Blech. Also telling about that story, was the Kenyan authorities looking the other way explicitly bc he was American. Americans are powerful in so many such contexts. That is dangerous.
My sister, Beverly Shellrude Thompson, was also one of the original founders of Mk Safety Net... though for a long time she has worked with the Canadian branch. We both experienced the pervasive abuse that characterized the Mamou boarding school.
Yes, Beverly! I ran out of time to interview her. But I emailed with her and yes, there was a group of MKs from Mamou who founded MK Safety Net. I will correct the article.
I absolutely LOVE this! "As I have said before—What do folks think God has been doing for the last 2,000 years?" My personal take on this comes from many evangelicals I've known (and still are friends with) MISS the entire point of Jesus promise of sending the Holy Spirit as our counselor! They'll argue back and forth that following Jesus is following the Holy Spirit and God but rely on the tenets of inerrancy instead of relying on the 2,000 yr old promise of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. Giving us to learn and live in the Spirit is the answer to that question.
So you reject the 5 solas of the Reformation, why then, do you keep employment at a Reformed University? Also if not inerrant, what standards do you apply to Bible truth, feminism?
I appreciate your work. It straightens some things out for me.....things I have intuitive or gut knowledge about, but not the words to explain them. Thanks for your words!
All of my other comments have been directed at your readers, out of a sense of duty.
But Holly, I would like to direct this one at you:
I find your expression of faith to be a perverse and heretical distortion of true Christianity, and in my estimation, people like you, though you doubtless fancy yourselves to be doing good, are quite possibly some of the Devil's greatest tools right now.
You are aligning yourself, indirectly at the very least, with avowed enemies of the God you claim to believe in, and the ideas you are putting out there are worse than misguided. They are sacrilegious. You are promoting subversive ideas aimed at undermining and ultimately destroying western Christian civilization. Which is, rather ironically, destroying the future of our daughters and sons.
Although it is tempting to think of you as an enemy, please know that I do not hate you. I merely hate what you're promoting. And I pray for your repentance and the salvation of your soul, before it's all said and done.
Please take this as a sincere warning. Not a personal attack.
Oh Holly! You nailed it. The connection between inerrancy and abuse is so clear, now that you say it. Thank you!!
If by "nailed it" you mean nailing Jesus to the cross again...
Ugh, I feel like such a fool for supporting an American pastor whose orphanage director in the Philippines was accused of sexual abuse. All because my parents met the American and swore he was a great guy. Now it seems likely that the abuse was swept under the rug. Infuriating on many levels.
Oh i know that story. Not a great guy. Sorry. But your faith community conditioned you to support missions in every case. You’re not a fool, you’re a good hearted person who was lied to.
Well said and well done, Holly.
Regarding inerrancy, another problem is translation. Many likely were originally written in other languages ? Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and more. This introduces another significant variable. It is difficult to translate, likely impossible, directly from one language to another. Therefore, the thought processes and interpretation of the translator will likely play a significant role(not necessarily conscious). As a result, you could legitimately question what the thoughts/intent of the original writer were. I also like you’re bringing up the fact that the values of the cultures during when some of these volumes were written, were radically different from now. An obvious example would be the institution of slavery under the Roman Empire.
Fantastic, Holly. Thank you!
So...the Archdiocese of VT filed for bankruptcy today because of $30MM++ in settlements for abuse.
JPII looked the other way for decades and Francis, while better...is just not into the idea that the whole (mostly male...though there are a lot of nuns who have explaining to do) Church infrastructure is complicite in the abuses.
Burn it all down.
So, interestingly enough--the Catholic Church also has a doctrine of inerrancy. And women are similarly barred from leadership. And they also have an abuse crisis. Hmmmm.
Thank you, Holly. I miss you at the MK Safety Net Reunion. Working on the MKSN board since 2011, I have heard so many heartbreaking stories of abuse of MKs usually by missionaries. Some whose stories I have heard have survived but what about the many who have not survived? Broken marriages, missionary parents disowning their children, many physical problems, suicides, lack of education to get a good job. The list goes on. But we were told this is the sacrifice we had to make to spread the gospel. Do I have to keep sacrificing even when I am over 80? When will the Evangelical church wake up.
Shary, thank you so much for your work.
Thank you.
The sola scriptura inerrancy dogma eventually drove this okie back home to the safe harbor of the Holy Orthodox Church.⛪️ ☦️📖🌐📿🔥⚓️
📯🕊️☘️Grace and peace to you, pray on🕯️❤️🩹🌞🔔🇺🇸…….
The story you linked to about Gregory Dow made me want to throw up! I think the most disturbing part was how his wife didn’t just look the other way, but knowingly helped her husband abuse the children in their care. WTAF! I have no idea how these people can sleep at night.
I have seen good submissive wives enable all kinds of things. Blech. Also telling about that story, was the Kenyan authorities looking the other way explicitly bc he was American. Americans are powerful in so many such contexts. That is dangerous.
My sister, Beverly Shellrude Thompson, was also one of the original founders of Mk Safety Net... though for a long time she has worked with the Canadian branch. We both experienced the pervasive abuse that characterized the Mamou boarding school.
Yes, Beverly! I ran out of time to interview her. But I emailed with her and yes, there was a group of MKs from Mamou who founded MK Safety Net. I will correct the article.
Wow - how did I miss this? Superb piece here Holly!
I absolutely LOVE this! "As I have said before—What do folks think God has been doing for the last 2,000 years?" My personal take on this comes from many evangelicals I've known (and still are friends with) MISS the entire point of Jesus promise of sending the Holy Spirit as our counselor! They'll argue back and forth that following Jesus is following the Holy Spirit and God but rely on the tenets of inerrancy instead of relying on the 2,000 yr old promise of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. Giving us to learn and live in the Spirit is the answer to that question.
Right?!
Thanks for your writing. I was looking forward to meeting you in Akron. It was great. Sorry you couldn't be there.
Dale
So you reject the 5 solas of the Reformation, why then, do you keep employment at a Reformed University? Also if not inerrant, what standards do you apply to Bible truth, feminism?
I appreciate your work. It straightens some things out for me.....things I have intuitive or gut knowledge about, but not the words to explain them. Thanks for your words!
All of my other comments have been directed at your readers, out of a sense of duty.
But Holly, I would like to direct this one at you:
I find your expression of faith to be a perverse and heretical distortion of true Christianity, and in my estimation, people like you, though you doubtless fancy yourselves to be doing good, are quite possibly some of the Devil's greatest tools right now.
You are aligning yourself, indirectly at the very least, with avowed enemies of the God you claim to believe in, and the ideas you are putting out there are worse than misguided. They are sacrilegious. You are promoting subversive ideas aimed at undermining and ultimately destroying western Christian civilization. Which is, rather ironically, destroying the future of our daughters and sons.
Although it is tempting to think of you as an enemy, please know that I do not hate you. I merely hate what you're promoting. And I pray for your repentance and the salvation of your soul, before it's all said and done.
Please take this as a sincere warning. Not a personal attack.