reply to post by xSMOKING_GUNx
I discovered that like some other religions the followers, if they are repentant, are forgiven for any sins or crimes they commit and these
sins are kept secret within the religion and concealed tightly behind closed doors.
I think you may be making something out of nothing here. Any faith believes that if you repent of wrong doing, you're forgiven by God. In the
Christian church, this also means that within the congregation, your relationship to them has been restored, and isn't supposed to be brought back up
and held against you.
For example, if I am a member of a church and I flip out at the pastor, and it's my fault, and then later apologize to the pastor, he's suppose to
forgive me and that's that, nothing more should come out it. No more gossip no more anything.
That doesn't mean though that if I murder someone that the congregation should just sit on their hands. There are laws, and as Christians, we're
also supposed to obey the laws. So, if I murder someone, I can apologize and be forgiven by the congregation, but I still need to suffer the
consequences for my actions.
Of course, there will be people who attend any church that have a bad past. This is always a tricky issue, and how they function in the church should
be up to that local church. Usually though, a person who was convicted of touching kids understands that they can't work with kids.
I've never heard of the Plymouth Brethren withholding things like the Catholic Church did. From what I glanced over about their beliefs, they're so
literal in what they believe, i.e., remove the sinner from amongst you, that, they wouldn't tolerate it at all if someone was acting in a way that
they shouldn't.
The women and children within the groups are made to be silent and submissive and have no opinion, control or voice, an ideal situation for
crimes and abuses that will never be apparent to those outside the Brethren, unless of course the outsiders are the victims.
While I don't think it's right that they make women and children be silent and submissive, I think that it is speculation to think that the Brethren
believing in that would lead to crime. Remember that they take the Word seriously and really don't want to sin against God. You basically are
disowned by them if you sin, until you repent. Since there is no hierarchy, essentially, it would be difficult to keep a sin, like rape, or
molestation, that happened to a woman or child, quiet, like it there was a pastor. There seems to be things that one can do that gets the permanently
remove from the fellowship as well.
I guess, in short, what I'm trying to say is that the Plymouth Brethren don't play around with sin. They wouldn't play the same type of games that
the Catholic Church did--in fact they wouldn't be able to since there is no hierarchy!
Is there any cause for me to be concerned?
I would say no. The structure of the Brethren seems to prevent anything bad from staying hidden for long. It also seems that they won't play games
if someone does something really bad toward another, they'll take care of it, due to their views on sin.
I guess something that you could do is get to know some of the people involved with the chapel. That could perhaps alleviate some fears.
I just wanted to say to that, I don't necessarily agree with all the practices of the Brethren. I think that separating yourself from the world is a
bad thing for example. Shunning people away is also a bad thing.
[edit on 7/4/2009 by octotom]
