System of Accountability

Saggy woman, interesting code name by the way: won't ask. I have been burned in the past by allowing myself to uphold expectations in mentors that are unfair. It seems, common sense would suggest we find someone who has proven themselves and kinda lean on them. This is a great system as long as the mentor and pupil maintain reality that both are to be governed by God and both will fail and allow for that. But, when failure comes the scene ususally picks up again with someone having to repair the emotional setbacks created by the failure. We in our humanity can never be what many of us strive to be: error-less. This is the major reason some religions have such false approaches; they depend on man to be what Jesus already is: an advocate.

I realize I am speaking to a sincere individual in you and know I am not trying to be pious, but the straight and narrow path never really is straight. Life, for lack of a better term, stinks at times. We can try to explain it away, but that straight path comes with an awesome price. Anyone who disagrees, hasn't been through the fire much.

Just getting to read the impressions and thought of other christians in this forum, encourages my heart to realize not all have bowed the knee to Baal.

Keep on keepin on: it's definitely worth it. If it aint, boy am I gonna' be suprised.

I originally posted:
Is it wrong to ask someone to ask you tough questions to make sure you are staying good in those tough areas?

Originally posted by Thomas Cassidy:
This assumes the questioner (inquisitor?) has all the answers and is doing everything exactly right. To me, who is even older than Dr. Bob, that smacks of insufferable self-righteousness.

My reply:
Thomas, I'm not suggesting THEY make up the questions. For example, let's say I have problems in the area of lust (a fairly common occurence amongst men). If I've shared with this FRIEND (they are not a person off the street sent to condemn me for my sins) the problems I have had, and ask them to ask me if I've failed in any of those regards again. It helps me keep myself better accountable with God. Because when I mess up, and don't deal with it, it's going to come up next time we talk. Not that I should have a problem getting right with God after each screw up, but maybe they have experience or insight in how to avoid things which trigger the problem(s). This sharing type of accountability is not the heavy-handed judgemental accountability that you and Bob seem to think I (and others) have been suggesting.

Originally posted by Thomas Cassidy:
Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

My reply:
This is the verse I'm going to cling to IF Wycliffe rejects me.

Grace, Peace, Mercy, and Love,
Mark Tompsett
(mtompset@ican.net)

Spam, as I said, excellent principle to abide by.

Dr. Bob, Dr. Cassidy, and others--the principle of accountability, as I personally understand it, is not to "condemn" or "judge," but to assist and help grow. No intention to indicate that someone else holds all the answers. None of us can claim that. No intent to say that the pastor has to be reined in because he didn't cross the street properly.

But if the pastor, or anyone else in the congregation, is doing something that is clearly not biblical, or goes directly against biblical teachings, shouldn't we step up and "hold that individual accountable" by asking them what they're doing?

I personally have a friend who had a collection of Playboy magazines; he saw no problem with having them, as he held onto them only as a collection, not as something he looked at repeatedly for fleshly pleasure. A fellow church member was offended by his collection, and my friend got rid of them because of that (causing a brother to stumble). However, he still to this day doesn't feel like there was anything wrong with having them.

How would you respond to him?