Comments on: A Sex Offender Among Us

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:59:05 +0000

You have to look at the facts. Is this person on parole? Is this person on probation? Attending the church would this person be in violation of the law? It’s not just about whether they can or cannot. It’s also about whether the church would be contributing to the offender violating his probation or parole.

Anytime there are kids gathered in an area for a specific time it is considered a child safety zone. This offender cannot come within 1,000 feet of this safety zone. Doing so would violate his/her probation.

There are many different ways to be fed the word of God and have fellowship. It doesn’t always have to be Sunday or Wednesday.

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:16:49 +0000

This is an awesome topic for christians to discuss. Anyone who is trying to turn thier life around needs all the support they can get. I too agree that we need to fiercly protect our children. What my church has done is impliment a program of high accountablility on the part of a particular person in our church with such a past.
If a person is willing, (really willing) to repent and live a new life, then they will accept this kind of thing. Strong boundaries, high accountablity and without telling everyone the nitty gritty and getting them all upset. Our leadership is aware of who is and isn’t allowed around the children. No teacher is alone with the kids. Kids don’t go to the bathroom by themselves. Kids are in thier classes with an authorized teacher or with thier parents. And we are always careful what jobs we ask our friend to do..so that he is never put in a compromising position. And above all, those of us who know about his struggles, love him and pray for him!

By: BarryB

BarryB — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:00:04 +0000

This is an excellent discussion and a tough one. I do not make those choices here, praise be to the Lord! I think it is clear that we need to be inclusive of all sinners. However, such a person cannot be placed in service with or near children. I do think the church has the right and responsibility to be aware of such people. All of this said the person in question must be repentant and in a healing process, hopefully fully engaged in counseling. Our volunteers in the Childrenâ€™s Ministry must go through a background check. It is sad that it has come to this, but as you say security of our children is a huge priority. Thanks for bringing up such a topic, nothing is ever solved by hiding our heads in the sand.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:03:22 +0000

That’s a tough one. Being a dad, I would agree that kids’ safety or security should never be compromised. That’s a pretty clear line. I guess it gets down to asking which sins are unpardonable? What about a guy who has a history of openly opposing the church? Even persecuting its leaders? Even putting some of them to death? Should we ever allow him in OUR church?

I saw an interesting quote recently that said, in effect, we know we have created God in our image when he hates the same people we hate. We need to make sure we are considering situations like this from God’s perspective. It might make us uncomfortable to have that person worshiping next to us. We might be insulted to see that person in any kind of leadership – usher or whatever. But what is God’s perspective?

It’s still a tough question. Good food for thought Jim.

- Wayne