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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>This is truly strange. The question was asked of
Commissioner Kimmell. Yet it is being answered by Doug Wilson. That alone
should be an example of practical application of “oversight”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>From His Whineyness’ weblog (I really think that he
is losing it) -<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Grease
on the Nose</span></font></b><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Topic: </span></b>General Ruminations<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>The
only thing that is worse than pathetic behavior is pathetic behavior supplemented
with pathetic excuses. Those who would violate the pastoral/church member
relation (on a massive scale) in order to get material for their partisan
mud-gobbing are pathetic. Those who would try to justify such a thing by
pointing to what they <i><span style='font-style:italic'>thought </span></i>they
found as a result are worse, because the attempted defense means that they are
now pretending to have a functioning conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>What do
these dead-catters think they have found? They <i><span style='font-style:italic'>think
</span></i>they have found incriminating evidence that Paul Kimmell is a lackey
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> board of elders. What they
actually have is an example of how all faithful Christians live in the world.
If someone were to come to me as their pastor and say, "my boss at work
wants me to lie to the investigators from <st1:City w:st="on">Boise</st1:City>
who are trying to find out where the million-dollar money hole at the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> is. My Christian faith requires me
to submit to my boss, but it also requires me to tell the truth. What do I
do?" As a pastor, I tell them what their responsibilities are as a
Christian, which would be, in such a [admittedly extreme, hypothetical] case,
to tell the truth. The same kind of thing goes for law, medicine, and auto
mechanics. The church exercises oversight in those areas where the church is
assigned oversight in Scriptures. We therefore require our members to be
honest, faithful, conscientious, etc. We don't tell auto mechanics what auto
part to order, or instruct the surgeon on the technics of heart by-pass
surgery. And we don't tell Paul Kimmell how to vote -- unless the vote were an
attempt to frame iniquity with a law, as the psalmist says. If the vote were on
whether to have Jews wear little identifying stars of David on their clothing,
we would require any member of our fellowship who had a vote to vote <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>no</span></i>. And we would discipline him if he did
not vote <i><span style='font-style:italic'>no</span></i>. This is because
there is a separation of church and state (and ought to be), but there is no
separation of morality and state. If Paul ever wanted to use his office to lie,
cheat and slander, we would address it. To take an extreme example, if Paul
Kimmell ever stole pastoral minutes from the church and used them to attack his
personal enemies, we would deal with that as well. But Paul is a man of
integrity, and he would not ever do anything like that.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Others
in our community, however -- who have the moral fiber of a sack full of wet
eels -- have no intention of being responsible and accountable to others the
way Paul has been. They want to pass around stolen and misappropriated minutes,
full of pastorally sensitive information, and comb through those minutes
looking for dirt on others. We are currently not in a physical position to stop
those who have no sense of shame -- or their slightly troubled apologists. But
we can point out the contemptible nature of what is being done, and note that
one of the chief offenders seems to agree with this -- he is certainly ashamed
of his own name. I would be too.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>If
someone calls these people on the obvious ethical impropriety of what they are
doing, they want to defend themselves through an appeal to <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Watergate</span></i>. What nobility! The republic is
saved!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>What
they are actually doing is harrassing a local church, not to mention every
individual in that church who ever sought help for a personal problem. Instead
of people demanding that Paul Kimmell answer questions on this issue, I really
think the "demand for answers" needs to be turned around. The handful
of bitter people on Blurrsion 20/20, once they have gotten a life, need to
answer these questions. 1. What name did your mother give you? 2. Why are you
embarrassed by this? 3. Where and how did you get the elder minutes? 4. Do you
have any current plans to wiretap the confessional at St. Mary's? 5. Gee, why
not? Lots of useful information there, I bet. Especially with elections coming
up and all. 6. Did you know that you have grease on your nose from dumpster
diving behind Anselm House?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black;font-style:italic'>Posted
by Douglas Wilson</span></font></i><i><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black;font-style:italic'> -
8/13/2004 3:00:14 PM</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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