Ellen Brown
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I am deeply distrustful of anyone in authority. You would have to have been there. God says I have to forgive, but I do not have to allow abuse over and over.
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Should pastors get paid?
- Thread starter Riders
- Start date
Sorry, I am deeply distrustful of anyone in authority. You would have to have been there. God says I have to forgive, but I do not have to allow abuse over and over.
That's why God is the authority and not the Pastor/Preacher/Priest/Nun/Pope. People forget that.
And when clergy abuse the authority given to them by God, we should absolutely call them out on it and defrock them.
Ellen Brown
Well-Known Member
Or Bishop or General Authority !
Ellen Brown
Well-Known Member
In many cases, one can not get a voice to "Call Them Out", so you have to leave the organization to show your displeasure. Along with that comes accusations from the membership and leadership that one has backslidden, or is 'No Longer "Worthy" '. In one organization, there are 'Love Conferences' where the disenter is badgered and threatened and threatened with disfellowship, or "Excommunication". In my case, I resigned to ROB them of the satisfaction of "Lovingly administering discipline". That was greatly satisfying. As I write this, the remembrance is causing me to be more angry. The organization is a very good example of Brainwashing, and other programming techniques.
There's also a long history in Christianity of explicitly not paying for religious "services:" Simony - Wikipedia
Catholicism considers simony a sin. It was also a major issue in the Protestant Reformation, so many Protestant denominations have a long tradition against the practice as well.
It can make for weird arrangements involving churches and money. I remember arranging my first wedding (in a Catholic church) - the priest was very careful to clarify that the mandatory fees were just for the organist and decorations, and the "suggested donation" for the wedding ceremony itself was voluntary and that they were definitely not charging money to perform a sacrament.
... though he also made it clear that most people pay the suggested donation.