Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Disqualifying sin or incomplete sanctification?

That is my question regarding the C.J. Mahaney situation. Actually it is not really a question in my mind. I have read the massive document dump which reveals that C.J. Mahaney is - get ready - a far from perfect leader of a large ministry.

Take time to read Jesse Johnson's post on the current situation with C.J. and Sovereign Grace. I couldn't agree more with Johnson. For the life of me I could not find a sin which in any way would disqualify C.J. Mahaney leadership in ministry. What I did see was a pattern of morbid introspection of other people's sins. There are many, many churches who would love for the sins revealed in the 600 page document regarding C.J. to be the greatest sins of their pastor.

2 comments:

Mark W. said...

Agree with your conclusion Todd. These are issues CJ should be working through with those he has breakfast with, not his pastoral team.

My head spins - this is like having our unexpurgated elder board minutes posted online. In my mind the accuser just disqualified himself from ministry. CJ may have his pride issues (who doesn't?) but the poor judgment from Detwiler boggles the mind.

And their ecclesiology? "Apostolic team???"

Todd Pruitt said...

Precisely Mark.

As I waded through those laborious documents with Detwiler's rather exotic interpretations I kept wondering what all the fuss was about.

So C.J. Mahaney is a uniquely gifted but sinful man. Of course he will need brothers who will speak into his life in order to help keep his pride in check.

But c'mon! C.J. can get defensive when criticized?! He didn't tell one group of guys every detail he told another group of guys? He did not report to one group of guys every criticism another group of guys expressed? He didn't like it when someone criticized his wife's book? I blush at even having to type these tales of unbridled and profane ribaldry!

I love Sovereign Grace and have benefited from them greatly. But if they would dispense with this modern apostles notion and "words from God" then much of the current problems could be easily fixed.