Tenn. Church Destroyed By Fire After Members Come To Blows At Meeting
Contributor:
There was a fist fight at a Claiborne County church and now the building has burned to the ground. Detective Capt. David Honeycutt with the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office said the fire was being investigated and a look at the fight is a strong element of it. The cause of the fire late Friday or early Saturday hasn't been determined. Honeycutt said there was no indication of an electrical malfunction.
Edwards Community Missionary Baptist Church was in rural part of the county, near the Union County line.
"That's God's house. It's no place to throw fists, or shoot people, or talk about shooting people, it's for blessing the Lord," the church's pastor, Rev. Clayborn Gibbons, told WBIR-TV in Knoxville.
The station reported the building had stood for nearly 70 years, but a recent division over who should lead the congregation erupted into fisticuffs on Sept. 30....
There are alternatives to fisticuffs. According to a feisty Baptist "church lady" we knew back in CA, the pastor had her escorted out by Sheriff's deputies after learning she brought a tape recorder to the church business meeting.
That's the sort of boldness folks need in the face of clerical tyranny. Don't walk out - make them throw you out!
I've heard about a similar incident at another Baptist church. Solve disputes by a shootout or fistfight? Is that what at "Bible-believing" church is supposed to do?
Titus 1 6 namely, if any man be above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. ---[URL=http://www.lockman.org/nasb/nasbcmp.php]]]NASB[/URL].
"Familiarity breeds contempt," is not a verse in the bible!
Dr. Alan Cairns | 5/11/2009
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