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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thank you Corbin. A friend pointed me to your Blog; I tried to
send you a note but couldn’t figure out how. I think your analysis
here is generally a good one. Note that the ‘vows’ I took
were between my household and the entire congregation. This impulsive letter
from the Session of Christ Church was just after I had asked which Sunday would
be best for me to have 10 minutes in front of my congregation—something I’m
sure many in the congregation would have appreciated before I ended this kind
of decade long relationship to them. Removing my membership (did they in
reality even succeed in doing this?) is simply consistent with Wilson’s
and Jones’ determination to keep me away from the other elders and the
rest of the congregation as much as possible; this I think provides some sort
of explanation for you. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I don’t think you could call this excommunication however; they
have been trying to show everyone how tolerant they are with dissent from the
congregation, and they have been making a big show about how they don’t
discipline for this. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
said explicitly on his Blog, in explanation of his action toward me, that he
was trying to mitigate Vision 2020 having fun with anything.
Unfortunately, this just reveals their hypocrisy, since my public criticism of
them is obviously the reason I have been handled this way. Although I was
not excommunicated, releasing me as not a member in good standing effectually
excommunicates me from other conservative churches, since many churches require
that you be a member in good standing somewhere—if a church were to
inquire of my last membership, they would discover that I was released as a
member in bad standing, which would function very similarly to hearing that I
had indeed been excommunicated. I was not given the opportunity to
transfer membership to another church in a reasonable amount of time, and so
this action is, which they know, very ecclesiastically malicious. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>There is a lot of evil here, and I suspect this is just a bit more puss
from what will turn out to be a larger infection than many of us
imagined. And am grateful for Scimitar’s words of counsel today;
while they might be a rebuke for Wilson and associates, they are also
encouragement for others. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And may Wilson and his apologists please come to this public community
forum to defend themselves. Skilled in classical rhetoric and logic, certainly
you can quickly put to rest any falsehoods asserted here. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Blessings,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Michael Metzler<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>How can a Protestant church excommunicate a Christian man whose only
sin is--not<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>upholding "their" membership vows? I thought that
Christ said you weren't to take<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>vows. Let your yes be a yes and your no be a no. It's not
Kirker-ish, but it is biblical.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Shouldn't they stick to the Bible?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>So, Mr. Metzler, what are they going to do to you if you still want to
go to church? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Have two NSA boys bounce you out? And will they expect money from
you, or will<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>you be excluded from tithing?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>What is this Mother Kirk their letter states? I swear to goodness
I thought I was <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>reading a Star Trek fanfiction piece for a minute.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>As a Christian belief, other Christians are to try and restore the
brethren, not place the<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> responsibility to formulate accusations on the person who's
"confused." If you know<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> there is discord, fix it. Don't excommunicate the person
before he has a chance to <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>come to you. Be a man, people! Don't hide behind the skirts
of your friends, Mr. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Doug Wilson.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"We're, now, merely freeing you from our supposed
"tyranny."" That's appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Sarcasm in an excommunication letter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>What is a member in good standing to them? Would they really be
writing a letter<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>of "excommunication" to someone who was in "good
standing" with them?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And I thought the Catholic Pope was the one who excommunicated.
Just what are<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>you trying to confirm to us, Doug?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>--Corbin<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>
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