Monday, October 8, 2007

QUESTION of the WEEK - From Sista DONNA

Do you think female leaders in the church that are unmarried but pregnant should step down from their positions?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

no!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

It depends on the position held at the church,age,and this persons truly belief in obeying the word.
Position, because if she is in leadership she mustinstruct,abide,and govern herself by the word of God. No fornication. If she is unable to restrain from this activity she needs to consider position her walk with the Lord and seek his strenght and guidance in finding a mate to date equally yoked. Dont make lite of God's leaders

Frank Robinson said...

We should note that our bar may be so low now, that we fail to recognize the individual and corporate absence of shame in such matters.

This shamelessness among us may help perpetuate dysfunction in the community almost as much as going to a club, getting one's "freak on" and creating a greater likelihood fornication and adultery happen.

Our attempts to be forgiving and accepting are renowned. One brother told me that if he ever messed up, he was going to a black church, because black folks so easily forgive you and accept you, even after you mess up. The good parts of that are good, but soft motives and good intentions may not always provide the best results.

Shucks, according to 1 Corinthians 5, we aren't even supposed to keep company with a brother or a sister who is a fornicator (along with several other categories of sin). Notice that God makes a distinction there between those called brethren and the world. This is NOT to destroy or throw them away, but to give them the sense that their behavior has broken fellowship, and that they might experience the shame that leads to repentance that leads to restoration to the fellowship.

What is proposed here may be what has been done by many, as if it is a celebration of the grace of God, while condemnation is heaped on those who do not consent to this practice.

No qualifiers were in place, or else maybe I missed it. Has the person made a clean break with her sin? Has the involved fellow also been identified and corrected? Further principles of letting a person be proven, observed and so forth speaks to the wisdom of not putting a novice in a leadership position, anyway.

Some are so hard-in-the-forehead about this, they will do what they are going to do, regardless of what the Lord, Himself has to say.

We have a culture that exalts pimping and whoredom, but ridicules holiness.
When the we are not transformed by renewing our minds, we compromise and are less than the light of the world. I’m sorry, but don’t you think that getting back from Saturday night’s whoring, washing oneself off, dressing up, going to church and singing “O how I Love Jesus,” (add to some, shouting, dancing & speaking in some kind of tongue) is not only hypocritical, but should NEVER be the norm for the people who claim Jesus as Lord?

We were called OUT of darkness. We should understand and partake of God's holy nature. Otherwise we are left with a diluted witness and a confusing standard.

Pregnant out of wedlock? Both the man AND the woman, sit down for a season and find the forgiveness and restoration of the Lord. Live it, and let them see you live it. Then perhaps your teaching will be effective, as the students can see YOU actually believe the truth you are teaching.

Or stand up, pregnant, with the evidence of your decisions, without the covering of marriage, and say, without shame, “its nobody’s business.” But Sunday School IS the Lord’s business.

The responses should be very revealing to all of us, and should give us some things to reflect on about ourselves and our culture, both in the church and in the world, knowing we cannot be married to both. You have to choose one and forsake the other.

Pastor Frank Robinson

Anonymous said...

Wow! Pastor Robinson said mouth full. Would you suggest she get an abortion?

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness you've got to know that I am loving this. as we so fondly yell out in the black church "Say that Pastor" Thanks

Sista Rita said...

AMEN PASTOR ROBINSON!! If we are going to talk the talk we MUST WALK the WALK. Go to 2 Timothy Chp 2 vs 15-26 (NLT) Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who CORRECTLY EXPLAINS the word of TRUTH. Avoid godless, foolish discusssions that lead to more and more ungodliness. This kind of talk spreads like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples of this. They have left the PATH OF TRUTH, preaching the LIE that the resurrection of the dead has already occurred; and they have undermined the faith of some. But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription. The Lord knows those who are his, and Those who claim they belong to the Lord must turn away from ALL wickedness. In a wealthy home some untensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive untensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. The Lord's servants must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone. They must be able to teach EFFECTIVELY and be patient with difficult people. They should gently teach those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will believe the TRUTH. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. If we who are leaders/teachers, etc. cannot walk the walk we WILL BE CALLED HYPOCRITES!! We must let Jesus Christ and His righteousness shine in and through us. OTHER WISE WHAT'S THE POINT OF OUR WITNESS? This Hurts out testimony. People outside the church will say THEY ACT JUST LIKE US. And no she sould not get an abortion, but like pastor said sit down for a season. PREACH PASTOR PREACH....

Vondi said...

Now if nobody got that I don't know what to say. Pastor Robinson broke it down. When we get to the place where we can get down on our face and repent in truth, not just because thats the thing to do. We have to be serious and take responsibility for our actions. No if, ands or buts about it.
God bless you all and pastor Robinson thanks for the break down.

Anonymous said...

I agree with what Pastor Robinson said, however 'whoring on Saturday night' that’s a bit harsh.

Anonymous said...

Harsh...no it is what it is, why should sin be dressed up? maybe the sting of hearing sin being called out will lend effect to reality of what's happening. Folk need to hear it straight with no chaser, that's a big part of the problem today every one wants to be made to feel good about their sin however when you read the word God gives some harsh consequences to sin, so better to call it what it is now in hopes to be snapped back into reality then to stand before the Father hear "Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' "

Frank Robinson said...

Re: The question involving an out of wedlock, pregnant Sunday School teacher, should she get an abortion? My response is NEVER!

How is it any unborn baby’s fault the parents made their choices? Look at the selfishness of this and the unnatural disregard for one’s own flesh and blood.
Whether trying to maintain a good image, or hiding the sin, punishing the sex partner or disposing of the inconvenience, this is not a good thing.

We are so messed up, we would find outrage and legal consequence if we cracked the egg of a condor. Remember that container discovered in Woodland Hills in 1982? There were 16,433 dead babies stored.
16,433.

I spent a couple of days at an abortion clinic when the dead baby had to be removed from my wife’s body. You should have seen them, everyone from relative innocent to the hardest looking of women… In their nervousness, they talked about each other, like, “Look at her. Who would HAVE her?”

Whatever the attitude going in, when each came out that door, they all looked the same. Head & eyes downcast.

Men have been known to walk away from women & children, but a mother killing her baby is extraordinary in nature, but apparently common for us.

Kill the baby to teach Sunday School? Nope. She doesn’t have anything to say.

If you have failed, before compounding the sexual sin with a killing, let me give you something from the Word that will help.

He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Re: “Whoring” does sound harsh, I suppose. But the only qualifier should be, is it true? Only apply it where it is true. But isn’t whoring exactly what it is for many? Calling it something else doesn’t change what it is.

Want to know what’s worse? I’m thinking of the beautiful daughter brought up with the mother doing that, who as a young girl, loved to sing, but very early, she became sexually accessed by older fellows from her church, later promiscuous and addicted to drugs.

If the word “whoring” causes men and women to pause, maybe they can consider consequences beyond the night.

I can be more gentle, when gentleness is called for.

Pastor Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson said...

Re: The question involving an out of wedlock, pregnant Sunday School teacher, should she get an abortion? My response is NEVER!

How is it any unborn baby’s fault the parents made their choices? Look at the selfishness of this and the unnatural disregard for one’s own flesh and blood.
Whether trying to maintain a good image, or hiding the sin, punishing the sex partner or disposing of the inconvenience, this is not a good thing.

We are so messed up, we would find outrage and legal consequence if we cracked the egg of a condor. Remember that container discovered in Woodland Hills in 1982? There were 16,433 dead babies stored.
16,433.

I spent a couple of days at an abortion clinic when the dead baby had to be removed from my wife’s body. You should have seen them, everyone from relative innocent to the hardest looking of women… In their nervousness, they talked about each other, like, “Look at her. Who would HAVE her?”

Whatever the attitude going in, when each came out that door, they all looked the same. Head & eyes downcast.

Men have been known to walk away from women & children, but a mother killing her baby is extraordinary in nature, but apparently common for us.

Kill the baby to teach Sunday School? Nope. She doesn’t have anything to say.

If you have failed, before compounding the sexual sin with a killing, let me give you something from the Word that will help.

He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Re: “Whoring” does sound harsh, I suppose. But the only qualifier should be, is it true? Only apply it where it is true. But isn’t whoring exactly what it is for many? Calling it something else doesn’t change what it is.

Want to know what’s worse? I’m thinking of the beautiful daughter brought up with the mother doing that, who as a young girl, loved to sing, but very early, she became sexually accessed by older fellows from her church, later promiscuous and addicted to drugs.
If the word “whoring” causes men and women to pause, maybe they can consider consequences beyond the night.

I can be more gentle, when gentleness is called for.

Pastor Frank Robinson

Anonymous said...

This is some good stuff. When I first asked the questions to Sista Delores, I had no idea how much feed back I would get back. Reading the answers has been awesome and I gained alot of insight on what the words says about this.

Not sure if this matters, but the young lady in question is not a Sunday school teacher (not really sure where that come from). She is the President of the Doorkeepers Ministry. Not sure if thats important but wanted to get the facts straight.

However, I'm still not sure who to approach her about this. She asked me what I thought and I told her I need to read and pray about it. Maybe I should just direct her to the site and let her read it for herself.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I believe the woman should step down from leadership. As a Christian, according to Colossians 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: FORNICATION, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness which IS idoltary. It's clear that she desired more to set aside God's word for pleasure of the flesh. As a leader, that's not a great example.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Not much more to be said that hasn't already been clearly dealt with by Pastor Robinson. I'll just piggyback and say that James tells us that not many of us should be called teachers, as we are held to a greater account. And anyone who is in any kind of leadership position is teaching by example. Holiness has become a four-letter word in the church...the place that is supposed to champion and exemplify the holiness of God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit by faith in Christ. This should be very disconcerting to any true believer.

This is why a passion for the Word of God, manifesting itself in obedience through faith, is so essential to authentic Christianity. And while forgiveness is a necessary ingredient to love relationships in the Body of Christ, it is repentance that allows us to receive the forgiveness that is already available to us. But then, repentance has become a four-letter word in the church as well, hasn't it?

- Pastor Jediael ("The Preacha-Poet")