Are you held accountable for supporting a corrupt pastor?

[JohnB]

I'm glad to see some Christians will hold Pastors accountable for their actions.

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezekiel 3:17 - 3:19

 

[MessengerofTruth]

"Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! " Matt 18:7.

If you know the Pastor or church leader has stolen from the church, cheated on their wife or done other things, are you held accountable for continuing to support them? Even if they have not repented? I am amazed when I read of corruption in a church and yet some members of the church still support the Pastor or church leader.

If you are aware of their deception and continue to support them in their role of authority, you become joined hand in hand and a partaker of their sin.

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

[JohnDB]

In many churches, but not all, the senior pastor is the supervisor of the subordinate pastors. The subordinate pastors or associate pastors are not necessarily hired or picked by the senior pastor. (Committees, councils or boards do this job depending on denomination) Usually the music minister is...but again not always. The Senior pastor gets to give his opinion....and it is valued...but not the final determination.

This sort of separate hiring approache keeps things honest and clean....unless there is a weasel on the committee in the church. When the board or council is not a group consisting of the local church membership...then comes the regular accusations of disinterest by the council of the individual churches or moving a popular pastor to a larger church because it brings in more money....all kinds of junk.

Fleas come with the dog...and every model has fleas.

Usually personell committees are literally flooded and swamped with resumes and CVs. Tons of DVDs and thumb drives and youtube video links as well as Telegraph channels etc. (Like twitter)

One position will get a thousand or more applications. So....how does one stand out? By having a PhD AND a current job as a pastor. The other applications are usually dumped first round. (But people do dream though)

However this tends to just shrink the pile....not eliminate it completely. There still will be dozens of resumes/CVs/people to sort through and evaluate. This is now where the job gets difficult. Evaluating people. Everybody lies, withholds pertinent facts, and is not necessarily the most forthcoming with their "behind the mask" personalities. Especially pastors....

 

[Lifted_by_the_word]

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

 

[Edify]

I have a Christian friend, his whole family is Christian, he was raised in the church. Him and his wife were going through issues. They went to 3 pastors to talk over issues. He swore he would never again go to a Christian pastor for marriage advice again. The ONLY thing the pastors could do was to open the bible and quote scriptures. This did not help them at all and they did get divorced. They had no answers for the issues they were going through.

When a married couple goes to pastorial marriage counceling, they will be given scripture. Most christian marriages fail because one/both of their personal relationships with Christ is already failing.

 

[ResidentAlien]

I made an appointment many years ago with a pastor to get help with a problem that involved sexual immorality. We talked for awhile and he revealed to me he was having the same problem! I learned a very important lesson that day; just because someone is a pastor doesn't mean they have it together spiritually.

 

[Edify]

Everyone deals with something. Paul talks about a constant warring with the flesh with himself losing many times.

 

[JohnB]

When a married couple goes to pastorial marriage counceling, they will be given scripture. Most christian marriages fail because one/both of their personal relationships with Christ is already failing.

Or the Pastor doesn't know any better and can only use the scripture. Not all the answers are in the bible.

 

[cv5]

"Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! " Matt 18:7.

If you know the Pastor or church leader has stolen from the church, cheated on their wife or done other things, are you held accountable for continuing to support them? Even if they have not repented? I am amazed when I read of corruption in a church and yet some members of the church still support the Pastor or church leader.

Corruption predicated on unblief and bogus doctrine?

To answer your question: Not since I bailed out. There have been plenty of one day and three day wonders too. Bye bye.

 

[SomeDisciple]

Or the Pastor doesn't know any better and can only use the scripture. Not all the answers are in the bible.

Pray tell; where are the answers, John B?

 

[Niki7]

Pray tell; where are the answers, John B?

Sometimes people only like the answers they agree with.

That remark caught my attention too.

 

[JohnB]

Pray tell; where are the answers, John B?

Tell me where in the bible it tells you how do do brain surgery. Where does it tell you how to handle a bad choice in marriage or the differences people have in marriage?

 

[Cameron143]

Tell me where in the bible it tells you how do do brain surgery. Where does it tell you how to handle a bad choice in marriage or the differences people have in marriage?

I don't know about brain surgery but the Bible is stocked full of information concerning human relationships. Maybe start with love (insert name) as myself.

 

[JohnB]

I don't know about brain surgery but the Bible is stocked full of information concerning human relationships. Maybe start with love (insert name) as myself.

It appears there is no sin or punishment for being a bad spouse or parent.

 

[SomeDisciple]

Tell me where in the bible it tells you how do do brain surgery. Where does it tell you how to handle a bad choice in marriage or the differences people have in marriage?

Okay, so in the context of marital counseling, you pull out "brain surgery"? It's obviously not the Pastor's job to do any kind of literal surgery- but if you need surgery you don't need to learn how to do surgery... you need to go to a surgeon. Even non-believers know that without reading the bible.

As far as the next two, the bible tells husbands and wives how they should behave toward one another. If you both have a good focus on your relationship with God, it should outweigh everything else.

It appears there is no sin or punishment for being a bad spouse or parent.

What do you mean? Of course there is.

 

[Cameron143]

It appears there is no sin or punishment for being a bad spouse or parent.

And yet God may work wonders if only we would first practice love. It's always better for us to focus on love and let God settle accounts.

 

[JohnB]

Okay, so in the context of marital counseling, you pull out "brain surgery"? It's obviously not the Pastor's job to do any kind of literal surgery- but if you need surgery you don't need to learn how to do surgery... you need to go to a surgeon. Even non-believers know that without reading the bible.

As far as the next two, the bible tells husbands and wives how they should behave toward one another. If you both have a good focus on your relationship with God, it should outweigh everything else.


What do you mean? Of course there is.

In a perfect world what you say might be true. We don't live in a perfect world Not all the answers for life's problems are in the bible.

 

[hornetguy]

Not all the answers for life's problems are in the bible.

I disagree wholeheartedly. The Word is the ONLY place where you can find answers to ALL of our problems.

 

[Cameron143]

I disagree wholeheartedly. The Word is the ONLY place where you can find answers to ALL of our problems.

You can even find a few new problems you never knew you had.
Of course, you can do that on most threads too.

 

[ResidentAlien]

In a perfect world what you say might be true. We don't live in a perfect world Not all the answers for life's problems are in the bible.

The principles are all there. We just have to prayerfully apply them to whatever situation we're in.