Saturday, January 6, 2007

On Lawsuits Against Believers

For a few months now a very small but very vocal group of people at Bellevue Baptist Church have decided to wage an all-out campaign against the church's new pastor, Dr. Steve Gaines, who so happens not to be Dr. Adrian Rogers. I have not made Savingbellevue.com an issue on this blog yet, because quite frankly I have found much on the website and its affiliated forum to be pure gossip, spread by people with critical attitudes. My concerns are fourfold:

First, people on the forum continue to bring up things which Dr. Gaines has already apologized for (such as talking about the controversies at Bellevue while speaking at another church), and even refuse to accept apologies for things such as Dr. Gaines' handling of the music minister leaving. Second, much of the disputes on the forums seem ridiculous to me. So what if Dr. Gaines sends his children to a Calvinist school, and so what if one of the minister's sisters was seen drinking alcohol? Third, some people on the forums have even expressed their desire that Dr. Gaines make more mistakes so that pressure will build for him to resign, which I find completely against the Bible's instruction that we ought to pray for our leaders and not hope that they stumble. And finally, certain people on the forum were becoming frustrated with the media's inattention to the matters at Bellevue, and began writing to the media in hopes that they would air their grievances. This goes squarely against Savingbellevue's mission statement ("It is regrettable that non-members will also have access to the issues as they are brought before the church, but with almost 30,000 members of record, any other means of bringing the issue before them was impractical.") It certainly doesn't seem like they regret nonbelievers having access to the website anymore.

Now I don't mean to be overly negative, as certain people on the forum have indeed tried to participate in a godly manner. But I can't ignore something which has recently surfaced on savingbellevue.com - and that is, a suggestion that it might be time to file a lawsuit against certain ministers at Bellevue.

1 Corinthians 6 says, "When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? ... Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?"

This passage has long been considered a prohibition of believers filing lawsuits against other believers for a couple of reasons. First, they are bringing their case before unbelievers. This point is very important, and is something that really should not be missed. As Dr. Richard L. Pratt (formerly of Reformed Theological Seminary, now of Third Millenium Ministries) says in his commentary of the passage, "Because Christians should see things in light of the kingdom of God, and have true, spiritual wisdom (1:24,30; 2:6-8; 3:19), any Christian should have greater wisdom and be a better judge than even the wisest unbeliever... Unbelieving human law simply does not reflect true wisdom, true godliness, or true justice. Regarding public courts it might be said that justice is blind, not because it treats all men equally, but because it can’t see the truth." Dr. John McArthur also notes in his Study Bible, "When Christians have earthly quarrels and disputes among themselves, it is inconceivable that they would turn to those least qualified (unbelievers) to resolve the matter."

But not only is filing lawsuits against believers wrong because it brings matters before unbelieving judges, but because it brings disgrace upon the Christian community by airing its sins in public light. As Dr. Pratt goes on to note, "Bringing the disputes of the Christian family into the public eye damages the reputation and witness of the church. The gospel is supposed to reconcile believers in fellowship with each other in Christ. What will the world think when it sees Christians appealing to those without the gospel to solve the problems that the gospel should be correcting? Naturally, the world will think the gospel is ineffective. Even if a church court were to misjudge a case, this would be preferable to damaging the credibility of the gospel by going to public court." Similarly, Dr. McArthur does not mince words when speaking of these matters: "Such conduct as suing a fellow believer is not only a sinful shame, but a complete failure to act obediently and righteously. Christians who take fellow Christians to court suffer moral defeat and spiritual loss even before the case is heard, and they become subject to divine chastening." Now, some may counter that the community already knows of the issues at Bellevue, but there is no need to further drag its name in the mud.

Now, in taking issue with this teaching of the Bible, one writer at SavingBellevue, James Sundquist, wrote a letter saying that this passage only refers to trivial matters, referring to verses 2-3 of 1 Corinthians 6, which says, "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!" Now, by not fully quoting these verses, Mr. Sundquist does his readers a disservice because it deprives them of the full context of the verse. As Dr. Pratt points out, Paul defines what "trivial cases" are in the next verse -- "matters pertaining to this life." While certainly there are some very weighty issues here on earth, they are all trivial compared to the upcoming judgment of the world and even the angels, at which point some will be eternally cast into hell.

Now, I can't completely blame Mr. Sundquist for coming to this conclusion, as it is echoed in the Matthew Henry Commentaries, though it must be noted that the 1 Corinthians commentary is not written by Matthew Henry as he says - instead, it was written by other ministers, because Matthew Henry died after writing the commentary on Acts. However, conservative scholarship in the past few hundred years has differed from the Matthew Henry commentaries (though, I do agree with the commentaries when it says, "Christians should never engage in law-suits till all other remedies have been tried in vain"), and I do think Mr. Sundquist is misunderstanding the heart of this passage. It's not just an arbitrary rule made by God against bringing "trivial" cases to court; it has to do with the unbelievers' inability to judge truth.

9 comments:

allofgrace said...

graceupongrace,
It was one of Dr. Gaines' supporters who mentioned his son attending a Calvinistic school..and expressed her disappointment about it. I haven't seen any posts there expressing a desire to see Dr. Gaines make more mistakes. I've also been personally called an idiot by one of his supporters, and it was intimated to one poster by this same person who called me an idiot, that they must be fat. Today another Gaines supporter came on posing as a BBC employee to try and deliberately mislead other posters...then justified it by referring to all the "lies" told on the forum. My point is...I think there's been plenty of vitriol on both sides of the fence. And quite frankly, the standing ovations every time he takes the podium and the "support the pastor no matter what" syndrome are bordering on idolatry. I'd gladly state to you by email, outside the forum, what my concerns are, and everything I would tell you would be based on verifiable facts.

graceupongrace said...

allofgrace,
The point was brought up by Billie regarding the Calvinist school but I saw others who are not supportive of Dr. Gaines who were deriding ECS because of its Calvinist doctrine. And one poster explicitly said he/she hopes Dr. Gaines will continue to stumble so he will have to resign, and at that point a couple posters noted his/her fault with verses in Proverbs. I will go dig for it if you want me to, but it was a couple weeks ago and considering the nature of the forum it could take awhile. You'll just have to take it on faith.

I agree there is vitriol on both sides of the fence, but there are no shortage of sites criticizing Dr. Gaines, but no one seems to point out some of the hypocrisy at the SB forums. Surely you see my points do have some validity? I don't mean to paint with too broad a brush, and I did note in my post that there are good people (on both sides) on the forums.

But I do hope you saw truth in some of my insights? And maybe have a comment at least on the main point of the post, which was about lawsuits among believers?

graceupongrace said...

Oh, and send me an e-mail if you wish about your own concerns.

allofgrace said...

graceupongrace,
A large portion of your post had to do with the forum and it's contents...if you say someone posted that they hope Dr. Gaines stumbles then I'll take your word for that..I just personally have not seen it..as for lawsuits...on most issues I would agree...for certain though, the way the PW issue has been handled could well expose BBC to a lawsuit/s. Since I haven't personally seen a situation till now where lawsuits between believers would be an issue, I can't really speak intelligently to that..I know what the passage that you cite says, but in our time, the technological, legal, and ethical landscape is changing so rapidly it raises a whole set of questions not encountered before...I'm not saying that the scriptures no longer apply because of that...just raising the point that it surely makes things at least appear not as cut and dried as it used to be, and creates a lot more to have to navigate through... I don't always like what's posted on the forum either..or the manner in which it is posted..I've deleted a few of my own I didn't like. Nice blog btw..interesting material.

graceupongrace said...

allofgrace,
Thanks for the comments as always.

"Since I haven't personally seen a situation till now where lawsuits between believers would be an issue."

A recent case which you would probably be interested in involved R.C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries which filed a lawsuit against a former employee for libel and defamation. However after the reaction from the Reformed community about whether a lawsuit against a fellow believer is biblical, they decided to withdraw the lawsuit. It happened just a few months ago, you can probably find a bunch of stuff on Google about it.

allofgrace said...

graceupongrace,
I hadn't heard of the Ligonier suit, but I'll take a look at what info is available. Ligonier is a parachurch ministry, but I think much of the problems in churches today, at least in Baptist churches, is due to sloppy church government. I was looking forward to and expecting your thoughts on the church governance and discipline thread on my blog. If you get the chance I'd like to hear your views on that issue. Blessings.

Lindon said...

Wow, Lots of 'grace' in the comments section! :)

I was the one who made the comment about believers suing believers. This was in reponse to a comment someone made (not the victim) about suing the church.

With that said, I saw on the Saving Bellevue site that James Sundquist is mopping the floor with my remarks. :o)

But we are really talking about two different things. I hate to make a long comment but this needs to be clear. Mr. Sundquist writes:

"Furthermore, is Lindon suggesting that the church resolve complicated real property disputes, oil and water rights, divorce settlements, bankruptcy proceedings and their concomitant enforcement, published slander, which often entail civil lawsuits between Christians?"

Let's make a distinction. There are civil cases and criminal cases. Criminal cases are crimes against the state. Rape, murder, sodomizing, etc. Those should definitly be reported and the state will investigate and file charges. The victims, witnesses should most definilty cooperate even if the perp calls himself a brother.

Mr Sundquist continues: Should a Christian lawyer never represent a client who is a Christian if the defendant is a Christian. If so, then all men should simply declare themselves Christians and never have to worry about ever facing the consequences of their actions in this life from another Christian. So much for equal protection under the law, unless the offending party calls himself a brother."

Now wait a minute. If both people are professing Christians, then going to court over a civil matter would not be needed, no matter how complicated the case really is! But, that is not the case is it? Some people are 'professing' Christians who have no fruit. Their orthodoxy does not match their orthopraxy.

Actually, a Christian suing another Christian over civil matters only prove they lack fruit. Where is church discipline?

I have the utmost respect for Mr. Sundquist. His articles helped to bring me out of the PDL movement and I owe him a debt of gratitude.

But, I fear this stance on lawsuits is a strawman to excuse some mighty bad behavior in Christendom. We have Ligoneir filing a lawsuit against a blogger,(Ligoneir has been caught in repeated lies), We have the Bible Answer man involved in a lawsuit. We have Tennessee Baptists suing a seminary. There are many more but you get the picture. Each one of these cases concern Christian ministers/elders/teachers who should know better. Dr. Sproul has taught on these verses himself but then does not practice what he taught in Table Talk!

To sum this up: Criminal charges are a totally different animal. We have a duty to protect each other from murderers, rapists and pedophiles.

But these 'civil suits' are ridiculous between believers. As Paul said, Why not suffer being wronged?

And had Gaines been disciplining according to scripture, Mr. Williams would have been cast out of the church according to 1 Corinthians. And then he would have called Child Protective Services to investigate.

Lindon said...

GOG, I did not read all the comments before I posted. Ligoneir sued a blogger. They withdrew the lawsuit WITHOUT predjudice because they could not find him. They are reserving the right to sue him if they can find him.

They posted a statement (not public, you needed a link) saying they had withdrawn the suit but the Court Clerk in Orlando said that they had actually been in court a day after the statement trying to get the judge to grant their motion to sue even though they could not find the blogger. The judge threw it out. It was about 6 days before they withdrew the suit WITHOUT predjudice. They are still reserving the right to sue.

This was over Don Kistler merging SDG with Ligoneir. The blogger maintained that Ligoneir switched a contract that had a clause stating that Kistler could retain SDG if it did not work out.

What happened? Ligonier fired Don Kistler and kept SDG. No one knows if the contract was switched or not. However, because of the lawsuit, some enterprising bloggers started looking into Ligoneir finances and what they found was not pretty or Christ honoring to say the least. (Oh, all this happened after his son was defrocked by the PCA for misuing a tax number and the emotional abuse of parishoners...because they refused to have their baby baptized)

And allofgrace is right...about structure and governence. Where are para church ministries in scripture? Who are they accountable to if not donors?

graceupongrace said...

lindon,
Very interesting about the situation at Ligonier. I was under the impression that they dropped the lawsuit for biblical reasons because of the controversy at the time. Thanks for your posts.