by Scott77 11 Replies latest social current
Here is a link for this story headline. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101120/ap_on_re_us/us_pastor_facebook_edict/print In retrospective, I wish Rev. Cedric Miller was an elder or a member of GB of JW. I double any of them can master the courage to acknowledge this kind of public confession.
Scott77
Can't see the link. Can you copy and paste the story?
NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP, N.J. – A pastor who said Facebook was a "portal to infidelity" and told married church leaders to delete their accounts or resign once testified that he had a three-way sexual relationship with his wife and a male church assistant.
The Rev. Cedric Miller confirmed the information reported Saturday by the Asbury Park Press of Neptune, which cited testimony he gave in a criminal case in 2003. The relationship had ended by that time.
Miller gained national attention when he issued the Facebook edict this week. He said it came about because much of the marital counseling he has performed over the past year and a half has concerned infidelity stemming from the social-networking website.
The 48-year-old leader of Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune Township had claimed Facebook ignites old passions, and he ordered about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts with the social networking site or resign from their leadership positions.
Miller had previously asked married congregants to share their login information with their spouses — as he does — and now plans to suggest that they give up Facebook altogether. The minister also said he would leave the site this week.
In court testimony he gave in April 2003, Miller said his wife had an extramarital affair with the church assistant. Miller said he participated in many of the sexual encounters and said the assistant's wife was sometimes present, too.
Miller said the dalliances — which occurred in the Millers' home — sometimes took place during Thursday Bible study meetings and Sundays after church. But the minister said the encounters "came to a crashing halt" when several women in the church accused the assistant of having sex with them.
The testimony was given in connection with a criminal case against the assistant that was eventually dismissed. The names of the church assistant and his wife were not disclosed, and Miller told the newspaper that he was concerned that revisiting the incident would "irreparably" hurt some people.
"It has come to my attention that a very painful part of my past has resurfaced," Miller wrote in an e-mail sent Friday. Noting that his court testimony was mailed to his church leaders and other pastors several years ago, Miller said, "This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can."
Miller said people must look at his Facebook directives in the proper context.
"My life as a minister, husband, father and friend has led me to the conviction that I must do all that I can to help as many people strengthen, preserve and repair the often times fragile cords of marriage," Miller wrote.
A message left by The Associated Press for the church's pastor was not immediately returned Saturday.
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Information from: Asbury Park Press, http://www.app.com
Thank you.
Welcome. So what do you think? If Rev. Cedric Miller was an elder or a member of GB of JW, would he master the courage to acknowledge this kind of public confession?
scott77
I doubt it. They keep things hush, hush. Hey, when you get involved like that, it's best just to come clean if you're confronted. It's not like you could hide it if people really want to expose you.
People are human. Clergy are human. They are just as given to temptation as the rest of us. They might as well face it and accept it and keep a humble attitude. I still like the scripture, "Let he that thinks he is standing, pray he doesn't fall."
That is right, true, but the WTS as you know it, imposes a higher standard of living on its members yet it cannot measure up to that. In the end, it tries to hide the problem instead of coming out clean to confess publicly like this church leader. That is my problem.
Scott77
I have lots of problems with the WT org. They try to convince everyone that sin is rare, sin of any kind, inside the org.
You knew this was coming the second he came out with his anti-Facebook stance. It's kinda like pastors who run "ex-gay" missions or preach that "God hates fags" -- you know it's only a matter of time before their meth-dealing boytoy comes out and we get yet another tearful confession on cable news.
I see. Its seems nowdays, public confession is an acceptable fade, a road to public redemption. My question now is: How do we compares that with the JW GB?
Scott77
