Albert Mohler, Mark Dever, and Lig Duncan have issued a statement expressing their love for and confidence in C. J. Mahaney. You need to read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:
We have stood beside our friend, C. J. Mahaney, and we can speak to his personal integrity… A Christian leader, charged with any credible, serious, and direct wrongdoing, would usually be well advised to step down from public ministry. No such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C. J. Mahaney. Instead, he was charged with founding a ministry and for teaching doctrines and principles that are held to be true by vast millions of American evangelicals. For this reason, we, along with many others, refused to step away from C. J. in any way. We do not regret that decision. We are profoundly thankful for C. J. as friend, and we are equally thankful for the vast influence for good he has been among so many Gospel-minded people.
I am so thankful to see these men release this statement. Consider this my cosign. Read the rest here.
19 Comments
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Brent Hobbs
The Gospel Coalition also released a statement, which is excellent in my view. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/05/24/why-we-have-been-silent-about-the-sgm-lawsuit/
Joseph Randall
What happened to the link of the full statement? It doesn’t work anymore?
Rebecca Davis
It’s gone. The post is gone.
Denny Burk
Yeah, I saw that. I don’t know what happened to it.
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Steve Dillon
It was the massive number of negative comments that the statement generated. I could provide links to the captured comments but you could probably find them from Bill Kinnon’s twitter. @kinnon
buddyglass
The allegation against Mahaney is that he violated mandatory reporting requirements, advising his subordinates to handle the matter through church discipline. At least, that’s the sense I get from reading the amended lawsuit.
Ben Spry
Denny,
I have greatly benefited from Mahaney’s ministry and deeply love and respect the leadership of T4G. But CJ was listed in the lawsuit as one of the defendants, and he was pastor of CLC while the abuse was supposedly being covered up. I don’t feel like T4G’s response is enough. This is a tough situation. Your thoughts?
Joe Rucker
Has C.J. ever responded publicly to this controversy and explained his side of the story. Seems to me instead of asking for the case to be dismissed he should have welcomed the chance to defend himself in court.
Andy Moffat
I certainly agree that there needs to be transparency at the organizational level that allows for proper feedback and reporting. However, to say that the closing of comments on an article is somehow breaking that is a bit of a stretch. They posted an article and didn’t wish that particular article to be deluged with comments. There’s no inherent right that says we need to be allowed to comment on their FaceBook page. By closing the comments they have not only closed off any comments against, but as well any comments in support. Perhaps they don’t believe that an on-line discussion is the best venue to discuss such a thorny issue. That, like it or lump it, is their right. Send an e-mail, phone them, write a letter. There’s more than one avenue to have your say.
Andy Moffat
No problem… for my part I rescind the stamp of dork. 😉 And understand, I don’t mean for any rancor to come across.
I agree that there needs to be transparency. I agree that people who are in the situation need to be able to express their concerns and blow the whistle, so to speak. But, your personal experience notwithstanding, that does not mean that they are required to make their blog posting open to public comment. I can agree with the guts of what you’re saying… I just don’t think we can use the closing of comments on a blog piece as the poster child example of the problem. That’s all I’m saying. A desire to close off comments on a blog, or FaceBook, may indeed be indicative of their modus operandi, but it may not. In my view it’s just a week place to try and prove your point.
This discussion does however bring to mind an interesting point of discussion for me. Why is it that our culture now feels that anyone and everyone should have the right to speak into a situation and be listened to?
There may indeed be aspects of this situation that deserve to be made public. That should happen. their may indeed be parts of this situation that are no one’s business. The masses should then butt out. Where do we draw the line?
Have a good weekend Julie Anne!
Lynn Burgess
Julie Anne: A public discussion on this matter… for all the world to express an opinion… or “outcry” as you call it… is hardly biblical according to Matthew 7 and 18.
Adam Omelianchuk
True enough, but why offer support? It seems that we should suspend judgment on the matter. If Mahaney was part of a scheme that failed to report abuse to the proper authorities, then what he did was not unlike what Joe Paterno did. That, of course, is not proven, but neither is it disproven. More investigation is needed.
Don Johnson
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/whats-being-said-about-the-sgm-scandal
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Don Johnson
T4G has apparently removed this statement from their website and now has a post from CJ withdrawing from the next conference.
Jack Brooks
If C J Mahaney and his people devised an approach to church discipline that entailed not reporting alleged crimes to proper civil authorities, then they were in violation of the law. This is similar to a situation from years ago when Gary Ezzo’s son-in-law “borrowed” thousands of dollars from the Growing Families International accounts, then later Ezzo told their accounting firm that it had been a loan (which it evidently had not been). The accounting firm dropped them like a hot potato. Also, I do not understand the Baptists’ lockstep support for a Charismatic ministry that doesn’t practice congregational polity. The SGM polity of “elder rule”, in which the elders are self-appointed and can’t be removed by the congregation, is ripe for abuse.
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