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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Word of Life Church
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
A story I have encountered recently is of the "Word of Life" church in New Hartford, New York.
Link here.
Apparently this pastor is regarded as a prophet by her flock and ordered the parents of two teenage boys to flog them. (The boys do not appear to have done anything wrong.) One died as a result, and now numerous individuals including the parents and the pastor are charged with crimes.
I don't often run into such stories. How common is this? Is there any clear-cut way to prevent such a tragedy in the first place?
[fixed link]
[ 15. January 2016, 21:31: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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anteater
Ship's pest-controller
# 11435
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Posted
Link didn't work for me
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Schnuffle schnuffle.
Posts: 2538 | From: UK | Registered: May 2006
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Hilda of Whitby
Shipmate
# 7341
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Posted
Try this.
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"Born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad."
Posts: 412 | From: Nickel City | Registered: Jun 2004
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Nicodemia
WYSIWYG
# 4756
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Posted
There is a Word of Life church in Manchester (UK) but I don't know if it is linked to the US church. Probably is. What they believe sounds like ordinary Pentecostal beliefs, though I cannot imagine that Pastors such as the US one would begin to be tolerated here.
On the other hand, who knows?
Posts: 4544 | From: not too far from Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
There are zillions of churches called "Word of Life". I wouldn't assume they are any more linked than any church calling itself "St John's".
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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anteater
Ship's pest-controller
# 11435
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Posted
The only interesting bit is why people are prepared to follow obviously mad/bad leaders despite so many warnings. It must be some atavistic trait to follow the dominant ape.
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Schnuffle schnuffle.
Posts: 2538 | From: UK | Registered: May 2006
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nicodemia:
I don't know if it is linked to the US church. Probably is.
Quoting from at least one news report: "The evangelical congregation has no affiliation with or oversight by any larger church organization."
There are several "Word of Life" churches here in the Phoenix area, one of which is Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Others appear Pentecostal in nature from their websites. I MWd the LCMS one back in 2008. I may drop in on one of the others soon just to see.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I think there is a need in many people to have someone to tell them what the think, what to believe, what to do. It is comforting and enables people to pass their responsibility onto others.
Once you have delegated your responsibility then you just do what you are told. That is always a dangerous thing. If you delegate your responsibility to think, you sort of deserve all you get. But to make other people suffer sucks. To encourage others is abusive.
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Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Sadly enough people with similar beliefs to make To Train Up A Child by Michael and Debi Pearl a book people actually buy.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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