Televangelist gets 2 million dollar present
There is an interesting post over at Monday Morning Insight that I have to draw your attention to. Kenneth Copeland just got a 2.1 million birthday present. Other big time church leaders raised the money at the behest of his son! Word got out first when on preacher bragged about it to his congregation on Sunday. He didn't say how much their church had given.
This raises all kinds of ethical issues. One that I didn't expect came up in the blog reactions. The only positive reaction in the "comments" section of the blog pointed out that anyone who wanted to critize the evangelist should follow Matthew 18. Go privately first. If it can't be resolved take a couple of witnesses. Then finally, if that doesn't work, go public. This is standard Christian teaching regarding a respectful way to resolved conflict. And I generally think it's right on target and I will guard this method from the business meeting ambush, the sermon ambush, the anonymous letter ambush and all the other formats in which people like to grind their axes.
But are there circumstances under which Matthew 18 doesn't apply? Like the Kenneth Copeland situation for one? Did Jesus always confront bad behavior with a Matthew 18 style approach? No. He consistently confronted Pharisees in public without first attempting to correct them in private. So what makes a public criticism acceptable?
This raises all kinds of ethical issues. One that I didn't expect came up in the blog reactions. The only positive reaction in the "comments" section of the blog pointed out that anyone who wanted to critize the evangelist should follow Matthew 18. Go privately first. If it can't be resolved take a couple of witnesses. Then finally, if that doesn't work, go public. This is standard Christian teaching regarding a respectful way to resolved conflict. And I generally think it's right on target and I will guard this method from the business meeting ambush, the sermon ambush, the anonymous letter ambush and all the other formats in which people like to grind their axes.
But are there circumstances under which Matthew 18 doesn't apply? Like the Kenneth Copeland situation for one? Did Jesus always confront bad behavior with a Matthew 18 style approach? No. He consistently confronted Pharisees in public without first attempting to correct them in private. So what makes a public criticism acceptable?
