Sword of the Lord (Finally) Responds to the 20/20 Story on Abuse in Fundamentalism

[Darrell]

Here's an article by Shelton Smith printed in yesterday's edition of the Sword of the Lord. Same old song from the usual suspects.



(click below to embiggen)


(I haven't been able to lay my hands on the page 7 material yet. If anyone out there has it, feel free to pass it along.)

[Away-From-The-Umbrella]

“Our churches are not perfect, but we do not tolerate evil, even if someone in our leadership does it.”

“IFB churches are not given to the abuse of women and children. To the contrary, we preach and promote their full value and worth. We want them to be treated like royalty.”

Are they without shame?

Phelps has not produced any proof he ever reported this crime to the police – but the Sword of the Lord just accepts his unproven statement as fact. The Sword of the Lord totally glossed over the fact that Chuck Phelps made Tina Anderson apologize infront of the church for being raped and the resulting pregnancy.

So much for being treated like royalty…

“Independent Baptists by definition are independent. There is no network, and many independent Baptist camps and colleges shy away from other independent camps and colleges.”

The Sword of the Lord is also wrong about the IFB not being networked. Just because all the different networks do not always get along does not mean they do not exist. Try offending a IFB college president or national speaker and see if you can get employment in his network of churches again…Kiss the right ring and opportunities will open up for you.

Oh pleeeeeeze. There are many cultic IFB churches.

The Sword of the Lord article is very self-serving and has little to do with reality.

I also didn’t see anything mentioned about encouraging compliance with manditory reporting laws…just a rec to get legal counsel…(continued on pg 7, which has not been posted yet)…which will probably suggest David “defend the ministry at all costs” Gibbs at Christian Law Association.

I can’t help but wonder if Gibbs bought a large ad for this particular issue…

[elfdream]

Pretty much what I would expect. More concerned about their reputation than the actual abuse.

Do they honestly think that the Powers That Be in the media are sitting around conspiring to 'get' the IFB? Doesn't the 'ubiquitous' media have better things to do with their time like...I don't know... Report on Tornadoes and Earthquakes and floods...terrorism...politics...

[Elijah Craig]

Human beings hate hypocrisy. We are all hypocrites, but we hate hypocrisy in others more than just about anything else. So any time you have preachers standing up and pointing fingers at others, while covering up gross sin, the media is going to be all over it. Because people want to see other people being hypocrites.

The way to make it stop is to own up to what you did.

[Darrell]

Quote:I wonder how many SOTL subscribers will take this 20/20 "rebuttal" seriously.

Unless we're talking about those people who received the subscription as a gift, probably most of them will.

[RobMille]

(05-15-2011 02:44 PM)Utah Man Wrote:  Far too many IFB pastors / leaders act like they are the Fourth Person of the Trinity; "God the Father , God the Son , God the Holy Spirit, Then Me"

I wonder how many SOTL subscribers will take this 20/20 "rebuttal" seriously.

You've seen Don's IFB organizational chart before?

[Chuck Travels]

The rape trial against Ernie Willis is scheduled to start May 23, 2011 in Concord, NH. Not sure if that has any thing to do with the Concord PD press release having been removed from it's server or not.

Here it is copied on google docs http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cach...3IUA&pli=1

Fact is a press release from Concord Police when Ernie was arrested in March of 2010 did say that Phelps notified the Concord Police but that the victim could not be found. Tina was moved hundreds of miles to Westminster, CO well outside the legal jurisdiction of the Concord PD in the fall of 1997 when her pregnancy was revealed. Tina did not return to Concord until 1999.

If Phelps didn't know what to do, he should have called his local RAINN hotline. It is 100% confidential and they would have told him what to do.

Chuck Phelps is a very smart man. Some people expect people to *really believe* that Phelps couldn't have taken both Tina and her mother in his car down to the Concord, PD, but Phelps could allow Tina to stay in his "prophets chamber?" Some people *really believe* that Phelps set up for Tina to go to Colorado to live with friends of HIS, but never knew that Tina's rapist was paying her airfare to get her out of dodge?

Those interested, are invited to read this blog as it attempts to unpack all of the fundy spin surrounding this case. http://chucklestravels.wordpress.com/201...ly-issues/

BTW: Darrell you scooped me, have been working on a rebuttal to the Sword of the Lord response.

Thanks for all you do.

[Darrell]

Page 7:

[captain_solo]

Interesting that when 20/20 reports on "the IFB" its not a network

But SOTL can speak for "IFB Churches" as a whole and declare their lily white innocence by doing the same thing they accuse ABC of special pleading, only presenting one side of the evidence...hello pot, I'd like you to meet my friend kettle.

[co_heir]

"You'll not find any place on the planet where everybody is treated with more respect than at an IFB church."

Right. As long as you go along with everything the "man of God" tells you and always follow all the rules, and are male. What a pile of bovine excrement!