An interesting comment

I had realized recently that this blog was getting a lot more hits from the Hagerstown area and now it appears that somehow this blog address has gotten out to members of the other church; the church that formed during our split a year and a half ago.  Fact is, my blog address is at the bottom of my emails and at times I forget to remove it before sending off an email to possibly someone who was once "on the other side." 



So, tonight I have received a comment in response to the To Heal or not to Heal post from September of 2006.  The comment reads as follows:



What happened happened. No forgiveness needed on your side; its the other side that has forgiven you for your rude, untrue comments. Its not true that we did picked up our "toys" and left just because we were defeated. We did not want to stay in a church where the Word of God wasn't considered infallible by all. To stay would be the same as agreeing with what happened. Its a shame what happened with your pastor and i do hope that things straighten out. But lets not act like children and put things on here for your "enemies" to read. Very immature and sick. Maybe you need to keep your unchristian like comments to yourself.

First of all, let's be realistic.  The word of God in our church was considered infallible by all.  The other side's complaint lied with the ELCA.  The word of God, the Gospel, has always been and continues to be taught and preached at our church.  In that building, that was never an issue.  I think you know that.  The pastors that we have had in that church since then, ELCA pastors, have continued to preach the Gospel, straight from the source, the Bible.  Again, that has not changed. 



There is no body of Christ, nor any affiliation or denomination, which is perfect.  All are run by human beings and where the word of God is not infallible, people are.  We are not God.  I am not bold enough to even begin to imagine what God thinks about some issues that are in our world today.  I am not Him nor do I have the capacity to think as He does.  I know He is a forgiving God and that by His grace, I am forgiven, as are you. 



Next issue, I have no enemies, nor did I ask you nor anyone else to read here.  However, if you have been reading here, you will see in more than one post, that I have stated that this is my journal and therefore, my opinions.  You have them too.   We all do.  I have also stated numerous times that I am not censoring this journal to accomodate anyone.  It's like a television channel; you don't like  what you see, then turn it off.  I'm not going to defend my opinions by listing all of the "Rude and childish" things that the other side said and did before the split nor am I above knowing that things were done by both sides that could be considered "unchristian-like".  Again, we are all human beings and it is our nature to say and do things that are not always right. 



My "unchristian" like comments, as  you view them,  are not being placed anywhere but on MY journal, therefore, I don't feel the need to "keep them to myself." That would defeat the purpose of a journal now, wouldn't it?  These are my comments, my views, my opinions.  If you don't like them, don't read here.



And finally, thank you for your well wishes about our pastor.  I hope he finds the peace in God that he needs to heal and that God is able to heal he and his family, if they just place their trust in Him.  It is sad what happened. 



I hold no ill will towards those that left and do not think of any of them as my enemies.  The reason the split hurt so badly and so deeply for those of us who are still there is because many of those that left were or are our friends.  There is hurt on both sides and I know that, but any time I have run into anyone who left the church, I have spoken to them, though there have been times that someone who left saw me and avoided my gaze altogether, and then no, I did not pursue a conversation. 



A friend of mine said, a year and a half ago, when I told her of this situation, "Honestly, it is so sad that Christians are best known for shooting their own wounded".  



So sad and so true.