Webb telescope captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons: Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus, Larissa, and Triton.
“Man is armed with craft and courage, which, untamed by justice; he will most wickedly pervert and become at once the most impious and the fiercest of monsters.” Aristotle
Don Ogden was a monster hiding as a Christian academic.
The Times Union Online posted an obituary in Grace Music Dept. Founder Accused Of Sexual Abuse.
Don Ogden died on June 27, 2015, at the age of 88, according to christianpost.com. He founded the department of music in 1950 and served as its chairman through 1987. The father of two daughters and a son served a combined 42 years at two area churches, retiring in 1993.
It sounds like he lived a whole and successful life, having founded the Department of Music at Grace College and Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. During his employment at Grace College, he molested 100-200 boys, and Grace College allegedly knew he abused boys and did nothing.
According to the Christian Post, he was actively involved in predation into his 80s.
The man who had declared that he “loved being a servant of the Lord” was also a serial sexual predator who had an attraction for sex with young boys, which he once allegedly likened to a “dentist that eats candy.” Ogden’s addiction was so deep that even at the age of 80, eight years before his death, he was still allegedly actively engaged in his predation.
This sounds eerily like Ravi Zacharias. Their predation ran deep and was present toward the end of life. This should be remembered by those pastors who have told me, “Don’t you believe that Jesus can heal?”
His daughters are the heroes of this story: outing their father and those that did nothing to prevent this travesty.
I am in awe of their actions since they would bring pain to their family. They chose transparency, unlike Grace College. The Christian Post published Founder of Grace College’s music department abused at least 100 boys over decades, whistleblowers allege,
A six-page statement with supporting evidence recently shared with The Christian Post by Ogden’s adult daughters, Diane and Kathleen, said they discovered in February 2021 that, along with his legacy in music, their father left behind an estimated 100 to 200 male victims of his predation.
They also accuse officials at Grace College and the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church of mishandling his abuse out of fear they would disrupt the funding of their operations if a scandal about Ogden’s predation was made public.
The sisters claim that they tried to get help for the victims and a confession, presumably by those who knew of Ogden’s predation, without success, so they decided to come forward. According to The Roys Report.
Ogden’s daughters wrote in their letter that they learned about the allegations last year and confronted church and college leaders.
Grace College hired an independent investigator, and the outcome pointed fingers back at Grace College.
CBN posted Grace College Music Dept. Founder Abused 100-200 Boys, Now His Daughters Aim to Bring ‘Light to Darkness.
Grace College confirmed with CBN News that once the school’s administration became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct by Ogden against students, they hired Elizabeth H. Canning, Campus, and Workplace Solutions, as an independent investigator.
…In the school’s investigative brief, they outlined they sent 900 letters to music program alumni since most of Ogden’s contact was with music students.
In total, more than 140 people responded by email or phone to the investigator’s letter or direct outreach. Eleven individuals responded to those letters indicating that they experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct by Mr. Ogden, with most of the incidents occurring during choir or music group tours.
The investigative report did confirm that in 1993, Mr. Ogden was arrested in Kansas for sexually assaulting a minor while traveling as part of his work in Grace’s alumni department, but this case was not prosecuted. The boy reportedly recanted his story and said the sexual encounter was consensual.
The Times Union Online reported:
The investigation “substantiated” claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault perpetrated by Ogden within his employment at Grace, the brief states. The reported incidents occurred between 1960 and 1990, with most incidents occurring in the 1980s.
The investigation also revealed that some former employees had knowledge of the misconduct and failed to appropriately respond to the information at the time
Grace College released a statement to the Roys Report, which I found to ignore any plans for support for counseling for the victims who were discovered.
…Grace College condemns all forms of sexual harassment, which has no place in a God-honoring community such as ours. A respected member of the school and community betrayed the trust placed in him by students and families. We are deeply sorry this happened. There is no place for any type of sexual misconduct at Grace College. This behavior should not have occurred, and we cannot express enough our grief and sadness about how the actions of one man affected so many. Grace College’s primary concern has been for the safety and well-being of the individuals affected by this abuse. Because the investigation was re-traumatizing for many investigation participants, Grace College will not release any information associated with this situation to protect the privacy of those participants. Grace is dedicated to creating a safe environment and a Christ-centered community for our students. As the investigation determined, the school did not respond appropriately in the decades when Mr. Ogden was on staff. Policies and personnel are in place to prevent and respond to these situations if they do occur.
There was much, much more that was not covered in the scope of the investigation.
The report was incomplete because it only looked at music students at the college. Julie Roys posted; Report: Sex Abuse Claims Substantiated Against Founder of Grace College’s Music Department.
Ogden’s daughters claim in a letter obtained by TRR that the investigation did not reveal the full extent of their father’s abuse.
The investigation relied on surveys sent to only music students at Grace, the women state. But “there are reports of him molesting at Brethren Youth conference, on Timothy Teams Grace sent out, and malls around the country,” Ogden’s daughters write. “He was also involved in boys clubs at church, Riverwood Ranch, male slumber parties in our home, and activities in local churches . . .”
He was a longtime member of Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church.
Ogden was also reportedly a leader at Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church, near the college, when he was arrested. Christian Post reported Ogden wrote a letter over a year after his arrest in which he confessed to a sanitized version of his alleged misconduct.
Winona Lake Grace Brethren’s pastor at the time assured church members in another letter published by Christian Post that Ogden’s confession was “accurate and complete in scope.”
The Christian Post had a copy of the letter sent to the congregation of the church after Ogden “gave a confession.” He reportedly stepped down from leadership, but the pastor told members “not to speculate that he confessed only a small part” of what occurred. CP also has the written version of the confession offered by Ogden in which he claimed there were “exaggerated charges” leveled against him. He also confessed to an “allurement to young boys.”
About 14 months later, after he was removed from leadership roles at Grace College and Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church, Ogden confessed to a sanitized version of his predation, calling it an “allurement” to young boys.
“In accordance with what we believe the Bible teaches, I want to share with you, my Christian family, the following: some degree of allurement to the sin related to the charges has troubled me at various times throughout most of my life. I have sinned in this area of my life. That problem did make me vulnerable to the approach which led finally to the exaggerated charges we have been fighting,” he wrote in a letter dated May 13, 1994.
He thanked his wife and his supportive friends and asked for prayers and forgiveness from those who “have been hurt by me in any way.”
Most likely embarrassed by the reports, the church has finally responded. Well, sort of…
Winona Lake Grace Brethren has since written to men involved in the church’s music ministry currently or in the past, Cone told Christian Post. He added the church has not heard back from any men who say Ogden abused them.
Final thoughts:
- 100-200 boys and teens!! I’m speechless.
- Once again, the institutions knew it and did nothing. Shame on them.
- Grace College and Seminary and Grace Brethern Church must offer to pay for counseling for the victims as they come forward.
- I doubt these institutions will pay to help the victims.
- Ogden was a prolific abuser and appeared to continue his obsession until the end of his life.
- There is a special place in hell for people like Ogden and those who covered up for them.
- I didn’t feel that anyone repented and apologized in this story. Readers, help me if I’m wrong.
Once again, I thank Ogden’s daughters for doing the right thing. I wonder how they felt as they came forward. I pray for the peace that passes all understanding for them and their families.
How tragic–and incredibly brave for the daughters who had the courage to step forward. And, Dee, as you noted, how many more boys were molested outside of the music department. Like you, I pray for the family and the victims.
This man was a serious predator pedophile. It’s disgusting that the church didn’t stop this man.
And what’s with the police dropping charges when a “child” says it was consensual sex?!?
How does that work?
“Don Ogden, the Deceased Chairman of Grace College’s Department of Music, May Have Molested 100-200 Boys. Did HIs Church and the College Know It?”
100-200 boys knew. Witnesses. Evidence.
A better question (instead of “Who knew?”) is “Who silenced the victims?” and thus is complicit, driving the getaway car for the predator (and therefore legally equally criminal under the law).
Every person violated, no matter the age or gender, is a witness and is evidence. Church Polite Society needs to STOP discarding, marginalizing, and silencing these important voices.
Poke even a baby and they will scream. A victim, no matter the age, will cry out about their violation – unless someone clamps or restrains them.
Target and expose not only the predators but also the victim silencers. Equally evil.
Grace College and Seminary and Grace Brethern Church … we have family friends who are involved with all three of the above, including in music. Can’t wait to ask them what it’s like to work collaboratively with a monster that violates children.
As Bob Dylan sings, “How does it feel?”
Our friends should have known better, but then even the daughters only just found out but THEY DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. GOOD FOR THEM!!!
That’s the dividing line between Complicit (equally evil and bound for hell) vs. DO THE RIGHT THING (“As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.”)
Ava Aaronson,
Yup…
No matter the institution, their response always seems to be the same… circle the wagons, and the he$$ with the victims…… so antichrist-like…
A good attorney can convince a jury that water buffalo are not really mammals, but amphibians.
Happens all the time.
The police high-ups are Christian(TM) or otherwise also Groomed?
Predators don’t only Groom their prey, but third-parties in positions of Authority; that way they have pre-positioned Friends and Allies just in case.
“TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!”
100-200 boys?
Move over, Jeffrey Epstein AND Jimmy Savile!
Wait a minute…
Doesn’t 100-200 BOYS make it HOMOSEXUAL?
Does Rank Hath THAT many Privileges when you’re Godly(TM)?
Or was he a true Pedophile, going after pre-pubsecsnt fresh meat? Same-sex Pedos self-identify as Straight and arouse as Straight; they go after little boys because pre-pubsecsnt boys have FEMININE secondary sex characteristics — smooth skin, no facial hair, little body hair, high-pitched voices, and inconspicuous external genitalia. So they’re not REALLY male, so it really isn’t HOMOSEXUALITY(TM). “LOOPHOLE! LOOPHOLE!”
So protect the leadership BFF predators (especially donors) by hiring the water-buffalo-are-amphibians lawyers.
This MO is so church commonplace, they must teach it at seminary.
Ah… the undercurrent or the reality of church. What lies beneath. Not the projected marketed image but definitely the foundation built upon. No cornerstone of Jesus, that’s for sure.
Interesting point. Prolly also ignored as victims since #MeToo and all that focuses on women and girls. All the big cases, Epstein Cosby Weinstein Savage Ravi and such are single gender – the other one.
Under the Media and Public radar, these old dude monsters target little boys, and the boys are forced to “man up” in silence while taking one for the man-a-gawd team. How convenient for the predators. Sick. Evil.
Jeff Anderson does televised press conferences with adult men who were victimized as little boys. Altar boys likewise were/are convenient fresh meat targets for monster priests. Decades later, Anderson and Associates represents the boys now men.
In the words of the prophet Marc Bolan (of T Rex):
You can bump and grind it’s “good for the mind”
You can twist and shout let it all hang out (note meanings of twist)
But you won’t fool the children of the revolution
You can terraplane in the pouring rain (gimmick)
Headless Unicorn Guy,
The child is parent of the grown person.
“There is a special place in hell for people like Ogden and those who covered up for them.” (Dee)
“Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not (worked and represented you in Your name?)’ And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who acted wickedly [disregarding My commands]” (Matthew 7:21-23)
“For the choir director … Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.” (Psalm 36:1)
“Did His Church and the College Know It?”
There was an SBC music minister in my area who served in several churches. Whenever we encountered him at churches we visited, I always sensed that something was amiss. He was eventually convicted and imprisoned when a child victim/survivor came forward; it was revealed that he had abused several children over a period of years. He died in prison.
My wife and I once struck up a conversation with his wife while shopping. We talked about the condition of the church in America and the need for a genuine revival. The music minister walked up near the end of the conversation, just in time for him to hear me say that the church needed to “Repent or else!” (quoting Revelation). The man couldn’t get away from us fast enough, he literally ran from the scene. I left there convinced that something was not right with this picture … a few months later he was exposed.
Hard to believe that all those pastors in all those churches didn’t know, as they passed him around. We only had casual contact with him, but those folks lived with him as one of their ministers. Somebody knew.
Really good article in BNG a few days ago about why churches can’t handle abuse right.
FreshGrace,
Sorry, meant to include a link.
https://baptistnews.com/article/why-cant-churches-get-handling-abuse-right/#.Y0bIMUzMK5c?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=eb0d0284-9059-4808-a2f1-d6e6c84d347d
What is absolutely mind-boggling is how this kind of man was not exposed. I can assure you that many people knew what he had done. Probably family members. Probably his wife. I am sure that many of those young men talked to someone, and people knew, but he was such a monetary gold mine, bringing in students and donations that no one wanted to lose him.
It just blows my mind that no one, not one person, turned him into the authorisies in all those years.
https://www.grace.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/289_Fall15_Web.pdf
That link is from 2015, a glowing report on him after his death. He was arrested in 1993 for a sexual encounter with a minor, and they must have just swept that under the rug. That totally baffles me.
Bob m,
Yup…. that says more about the corruption of the “Evangelical industrial complex” that almost anything else… just like the RCC and Sandusky and Penn State football…
Oh but he was such a nice guy, a great music teacher, tremendous choir director, fantastic church elder, outstanding citizen, made so many contributions to his church and college, loved by many … while he abused 200 children! I’m sure they preached him into heaven at his funeral, all church members go there you know. The church in America has become so open-minded that their brains have fallen out!
My question to this is did any of the parents of these boys know? If they were aware why didn’t they expose him? I’m sorry but if any parent knew and failed to openly out him I have such a serious problem with that. This of course in addition to how disgusting these so called leaders. shame shame shame.
In all these comments …valid all…lets remember that he HAS received justice as he has stood before a holy God who knows ALL of his sins!!!
I dedicate the lyrics of “Face it alone” (published today) to all survivors of institutional procurement. We who were given “gracious” permission by school * in 1969 to “have” sex outside marriage (when it was our private affair – my brother’s class tore a strip off the teachers) just as trendy major religions stopped praying for us. Which have tricked their adherents into normalising undefended intrusion. (Presumably in some countries, this occurred piecemeal.)
As Camus points out in The Rebel, oppressors gleefully concede us the “future”: in this instance when the other children are the goodies we may pounce on; who now bear “me too” and other “controversies”.
The world was always liable to these ups and downs, but the big churches had been asked (by children) to pray yet flaunted their gimmicky “reforms” instead.
{ * the coordinating teacher left after “carrying on” with a boy }
Bob m,
This reminds me of an internationally hailed religious official.
Sad for any who lost their faith because of him, and did not get earthly justice.
“If anyone leads astray one of these little children who believe in me, he would be better off thrown into the depths of the sea with a millstone hung round his neck! Alas for the world with its pitfalls! In the nature of things there must be pitfalls, yet alas for the man who is responsible for them!” (Matthew 18:6-7 Phillips)
Abagail.
That’s way off In the Sweet Bye-and-Bye.
These F’ers must be shown to LOSE IN THE HERE-AND-NOW, NOT THE HEREAFTER.
Even if all you can do is Expose them for what they are before everybody – Shouted from the Rooftops, Remember?
Otherwise, all you’re doing with Judgment in the Hereafter is sitting quietly with folded hands mouthing Pious Platitudes.
It comes across as the most Impotent form of Virtue Signalling.
Touch Not Mine Anointed, remember.
Priorities?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Yoder
John Howard Yoder (December 27, 1927 – December 30, 1997) was an American theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism.
“In 1992, media reports emerged that Yoder had sexually abused women in preceding decades, with as many as over 50 complainants. The Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary acknowledged in a statement from 2014 that sexual abuse had taken place and it had been tolerated partly because he was the leading Mennonite theologian of his day and partly because there were not the safeguards in place that there are today.“
Malachi 3:13-18
“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts? So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’ ”
“At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.””
FreshGrace,
Thx for sharing.
Ethicist?
Apologist? RZ.
Theologian?
Whatever that famous Ian Campbell was …?
They write books, keynote at conferences, draw crowds, project an image, have a billboard famous face, claim to be theo-experts, use big empty words, etc… while violating others undercover for profit, power, & personal pleasure.
How about living as a decent person that loves God and loves neighbor (instead of profiting off wage-earners while violating women & kids)?
When they tell you who they are the first time, believe. Actions speak louder than words. Actions are the tell.
Our most famous pastor was a national name. As far as we know he was tight with his wife. But his kids are/were monsters and his board included racists. He ran church like a business but never dealt with what was actually happening in his misogynist racist predator friendly church. He was above that. Bring up an issue and he quickly moves on to the next item on his agenda. He was neither a Weinstein nor an Epstein but the donors … well, big money mattered most. Absolutely beautiful church that had some very ugly characters embedded. The pastor needed those donors for his grand operation.
So certain undercover evils become overlookables instead of dealbreakers. This is a key factor in a toxic org, a dangerous community to be a part of.
Did anyone see that Hulu is releasing a tell-all documentary on the Falwells and Liberty?
Evangelicalism is like a bad soap opera!
Youtube official trailer: https://youtu.be/-9TFjf0PXmg
Church as entertainment … with the Great God Entertainment on the throne … with bad actors in the pulpit and swooning fans in the pew. The more they sin, the louder the applause. Actors would have no stage if it weren’t for an audience willing to buy tickets to the show. So God gives them what they want, but sends leanness to their souls.
with his fans still trying to apologize for him
A glance at the American church and one finds few who both fear the Lord and honor His name.
From the words of a song “Living Life Upside Down”:
“What if we’ve fallen to the bottom of a well
Thinking we’ve risen to the top of a mountain
What if we’re knocking at the gates of hell
Thinking we’re heaven bound
What if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves
When we should have been thinking of each other
What if we reach up and touch the ground
To find we’re living life upside down”
Max,
“Apologist? RZ”
++++++++++
i’m counting on Daniel Silliman at Christianity Today to keep us apprised of the just desserts.
They are CELEBRITIES(TM).
“Once we used to call those who [long for the gutter] Perverts. Now we call them CELEBRITIES and try to Be Just Like Them.”
Can you identify this National Name ManaGAWD?
He needs to “get famous”, his Godly Achievements shouted from the rooftops.
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Aren’t you being extremely hypocritical when you’ve admitted you’re on the FDA board of directors and you’ve approved the covid injections/boosters, yet thousands, perhaps millions, of people are suffering adverse events and death from trusting the authorities who said it was ‘safe and effective’? Are you sounding the alarm now?
How many other so called Christians in the health care system remain silent in not wanting to lose their licenses or income? How many church leaders guilted people for not masking or getting the injections? Now we find out many were paid with Fed $$ to do so. This is sickening and insane!!
The powers that be had over two years to come out with a response with forthrightness, investigating, putting out detail reports and plans of action, yet has anybody heard anything along those lines? It seemed like there was one of the most limited, vague, non-direct responses ever for something of the sort, and then crickets. Maybe this will prompt some movement – or more of the same.
More and more I realize the value of the legacy one of my Grandma’s left me. She had 3 weeks of formal schooling, was trafficked as a young teen, but got gloriously saved and sanctified.
At that time those in the Holiness movement were being booted out of Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other denominations. They did not care if they were being booted out…..they celebrated it as a badge of honor. They did not get hot under the collar that the church was corrupt, they just left it. And either started new ones or functioned well as free range Christians between camp meetings and brush arbor meetings.
Her leanings took from the then Baptists the absolute need to be born again, and she was of the groups that believed if you were saved you would know when it happened. And then entire sanctification, same thing.
Now you may disagree with her theology. Point is she believed in a true conversion, a real turn around to begin with, which then as you grew and matured would lead to another crisis of faith where you gave yourself up completely to God and He began to change you from the inside out.
To be blunt, saved people were expected to make every effort to stop sinning in their own lives. Yes, they knew no one would be perfect in this life. That was no excuse to wallow in your sin.
Today we have pew packers who want someone to tell them “there there its ok” no matter what sin or perversion they have, and then get all wrought up if the preacher is just as rank and foul.
The way to clean up the church is clean up the pew packers, and then they will either clean out the pulpit or leave the church.
Bridget,
It is my understanding this event happened in Kansas City area and age of consent is 16. Boy didn’t want to be outed to his friends.
Off topic.
But that tweet in the side bar about Johnny Hunt’s men’s conference called “Hunted”. (10/14/22)
Thought that it was strange that a predator had a conference about being hunted (traps set by Satan to fall into, as far as I can tell by looking it up). I understand that it’s a play on his name. But it also appears to be a ploy by a predator to make him the victim rather than the perpetrator. Or maybe I’m really missing something?
Sorry for being so way far off topic. And sorry if I’m missing the whole point.
And you know this how?
If the boy was in anyway under this man’s supervision then there is no such thing as consent.
This man was a predator(.) There is no excuse for his actions.
It’s no doubt a sick money maker for the Falwells.
Ken,
Cool it with the rhetoric. Christians view things very differently, but I’m sure you believe your view is correct. For your information, I have taken all three vaccines. So have my husband and mother.
Bridget,
I believe it is the story from the point of view of the ‘pool boy.’ Not the Falwells.
I wonder why anyone would attend Liberty.
Mara R,
I know nothing about this situation or the conference.
There’s a useful term, though, used to describe the techniques of some predators and gaslighters. DARVO: deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.
Bingo!
IMO, the underlying problem with these bad-boys in the pulpit is that the pew likes preachers who aren’t much different than them … it makes them feel better about themselves.
Ken,
I’ve had the J&J and three Moderna boosters, so has my husband. And don’t quote numbers if you don’t have the data to link to.
BTW, I do believe some people have probably had adverse reactions. But it doesn’t offset the good the vaccines have done.
jojo,
You don’t think the Falwell’s are profiting?
Ken,
Ken,
do you have any evidence for your claims?
And no, some guy on the internet and his youtube videos does not count as evidence.
Jesus said, that the truth shall make us free.
Strangely enough, many christians have decided to follow the father of lies.
Ken,
instead of being a sniper shooting spitballs, if you really mean what you say, please stand by your comment and cite your sources.
i’d be interested to know what is compelling about them that gives them enough credibility to develop into one’s belief.
Ken
Your comment was not approved. This post is about molestation, not your views on the vaccine. Please stop this thread now.
The alumni have been strongly recommending an educator for chancellor that has experience in collegiate education and to move away from nepotism. The board is bascially hinting they want to make Johnathan Falwell chancellor.
And no, they send some vague emails occasionally to alumni about changing their direction and then nothing.
Johnathan Falwell doesn’t even seem like he is passionate about the university at all. But he has the name and that’s all they care about.
elastigirl,
1. Janine Small, Pfizer’s president of international developed markets reply to EU Parliament questioning
2. Dr Aseem Malhotra, peer review paper in Journal of Insulin Resistance
3. FOIA Pfizer’s document released so far.
4. Even Reuter wrote a report about the latest info. from Pfizer doc.
5. UK gov ONS data set “Deaths by vaccination status, England” – children’s mortality rates.
More and more data and study is coming out pointing to the other direction.
Ken is pointing out the behavior when abused is called out – immediately circle the wagon, attack the person who legitimately raise the issue, and self-imposed moral high ground instead of digging into the unfolding facts.
Sowre-Sweet Dayes,
If 100% of a county’s population is vaccinated against polio, and they all die within 100 years, does that mean they all died of polio or the polio vaccine?
The sources you cited have all been noted as taking information out of context, or for conflating correlation and causation.
Sometimes one person knows better than the majority. Sometimes not. In any public debate, questioning a viewpoint is not automatically the same as abuse.
This has been the case in nearly every situation in evangelicalism … institutions covering for their bad-boy leaders … denial, abusers trumping victims, until the potato becomes too hot to handle.
A major Power Differential voids Consent.
The exact amount of Power Differential that does so is open to argument; like most natural systems, there is no hard dividing line and Law requires a hard dividing line.
The Great/Royal House of Falwell.
“Righteous and Pious are We, are We…”
God’s Highborn Speshul Pet rapes 100-200 children and gets to sit at the Right Hand of Christ forever.
Us Lowborn pew-sitters slip up just once – “disrespect to parents [date/time stamp], didn’t Witness when you had the chance [date/time stamp], miss church on [date stamp]” and we Burn in Eternal Hell while God’s Highborn Speshul Pet watches as a Spectator Sport.
Is there a God for us Lowborn?
I sure hope there is.
Note the key word ‘tolerated’ and I think we have in large part why this stuff (molestation) continues to go on mostly unabated. The men that do it are tolerated because of who they are.
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Church ghouls deliberately combine theological and ecclesial deceit with plausible views AND every shade in between, to make everything difficult to discuss. It’s not responsible to claim to unmuddy waters by simply inverting everything that has been said at a bad church, or not parsing what has been uttered by commerce (Finland teaches children to do so, and I recall one lesson on that when 13). In some countries there are questions such as: what’s so special about race courses; misapplications of the otherwise excellent 6 ft rule; AND many more far reaching questions.
Since there has been a helpful declaration of interest, it behoves – as Ken may have wanted to point out – to expose the HOW of bad church dynamics poisoning the world’s life as well as of individuals and congregations, AND refrain from selectively portraying other issues on non-relevant grounds. Repudiation of belief and prayer by resurgents and hegemonists is behind this, depriving you and me of any vision of the gifts sent to us without veto at Ascension. Bible Christians got turned by their own bosses into non Bible and anti Bible. This is why the approach of chivvying church leaders into tweaking their overt stances doesn’t address the problems.
Judge Paul Pressler … tolerated because he was the architect of SBC’s Conservative Resurgence
Ravi Zacharias … tolerated because he was a great apologist for the Gospel
Tullian Tchividjian … tolerated because he was Billy Graham’s grandson
Bill Hybels … tolerated because he was a key figure in evangelicalism’s seeker-friendly movement
etc. etc.
Tolerated by men but not by God. No one is too big to fail.
Reminds me of a button I saw at SF cons a few years ago:
TOLERANCE: How far you can alter a working system before it breaks down.
Bridget,
Since 1969 girls and boys were openly, officially induced (by proxy) to expect to “act” adventurously, with “obliging” predators (of various ages) taking the lead of course.
Michael in UK,
I’m not sure what event you are describing, but the world before 1969 was not exactly heaven.
As a former girl, I don’t want anyone to grow up with the limitations that girls and women faced in the past. In my lifetime, American married women were not allowed to have their own bank accounts without the husband’s permission. Employment ads in newspapers stipulated the sex, age group, marital status, and even race of applicant. A married schoolteacher could be fired for being pregnant with her husband’s baby (or any other baby, but that’s a different topic).
These restrictions did not protect girls—or boys, or women, or men—from predators.
One way to protect people is to allow them to assert themselves. Autonomy gives people a chance to prevent trouble, and to report trouble if it happens.
Neither was it Pure Hell. (Which was the mistake Pleasantville made.)
It had its good points, it had its bad points.
“The Best of Times, The Worst of Times. In short, it was a time like any other.”
— Charles Dickens, Prologue to A Tale of Two Cities
Friend,
Every country and, in decentralised countries each region, has its own experience. In England that was when government trained teachers in state schools placed on a “discussion” agenda whether there “should” be sex before marriage (from whom, wasn’t explained). I knew this was our business but wasn’t articulate. My brother’s class tore a strip off the teachers for intruding (he recalls as I recently corresponded with him about this).
This was not the “sex education” lesson (that went fine), and it wasn’t training in genuine discussion either (which would have been fine if we’d had it).
The world always has its ups and downs but the significance in timing is that the period of this normalisation was the very period when major denominations had abandoned prayer in favour of “updating” or “trendy vicar syndrome”, which gave cover to Jimmy Savile.
Religions didn’t actually believe in the value of praying for the welfare of the nations’ young. I understand why so-called scorners deride the idea of a “soul” because some form of irrelevant mini-salvation has been made substitute for our integrity.
Teacher’s permission to act so called “daringly”, and for girls, and some boys, to drop self defences and expect invasion (which some older people would also avail themselves of – including the teacher who brought in the “discussion” sessions).
Because it is trendy and daring to be invaded and invade – teacher put it on the agenda. It wasn’t about helping others stand up for themselves or looking after others. The reason why the culprits in these blog entries cut corners in sex talk and sex (including by proxy of their proteges) is because they are copying the lack of belief of large denominations since 1946 or before.
The BBC pages are reminding me of the heinous “colour bar” which I recall overhearing talk of overturning during my childhood. There was the wicked inequality in pay in jobs.
The sexual revolution, the environment revolution, the capitalism revolution, the mass electronic media revolution (ref McLuhan), the charismatic revolution, would all have gone better if, instead of placing all eggs in an anti-Bolshevik basket just as materialistic as the Bolsheviks, the top highest profile religious leaders had called for far more genuine prayer.
The trend towards “dominionism” – using button pushing to meld church and state affairs – and moralising / browbeating has had real spiritual force by taking christians’ minds off the wouldbe role of Holy Spirit, hence there is little chance of witness to things of our God any more.
Those for whom “dominionism” seems distasteful don’t pray the prayer of Dan 9: 3-21 because of the false doctrine not to repent for our predecessors’ and leaders’ sins. Again this will look different from one locality to another. The UK is highly centralised and deferent (we don’t have “buffered selves”). That was how they “had us by the proverbials”.
I’m not just thinking of the smaller or better churches. Thank you for specifically inviting me to explain. In effect, we were procured (by proxy). It adds extra potential for mixed messages about “how to relate”. Children ought to be presumed by authority as “asexual” in orientation (unless they make known otherwise without prompting).
– which still doesn’t negate age of PARENTAL consent OR power differential questions of course (and adults in charge of “yoof” culture often aren’t telling the youth the truth about this, hence “PJ” Smyth whom my then pastor’s mentor recommended for his job change very recently).
Beyond awful. How I hope for comfort, peace and healing for the victims.