Scandals, Forgiveness, Foot Washing and German Baptists

EPISODE – Me and a ventriloquist go to war with Cedarville University!
Prepare for battle, Pkarlgh!  David Pendleton is on the podcast again and he has a tale to tell.  (I’m eating pizza during the first few minutes of this broadcast so you might here some mild chewing and swallowing.)
We start with a gentle criticism this beloved podcast. It’s fine. I can take it.  Then we reminisce about the last podcast where Dave and I engaged in mortal combat and tried to kill each other because of Calvinism.
Then, Dave spends waaaay too much time apologizing for being arrogant.  (You know how we feel about arrogance, Pkarlgh.  We LOVE IT!  We embrace it!) But Dave goes on and on about how he doesn’t know as much about the German Baptist Church as German Baptists. Blah…blah…blah…whatever.
I threaten to break a chair over Dave’s head so he moves on to another point.
He insists that he wants to have a conversation with any GB who’s interested. You can reach him at anythingcantalk.com   He is critical of the German Baptist Church and unapologetically so. Let him know it if he’s wrong!
Criticism is a crucial part of growth.  David thinks it’s important to season criticism with kindness.  I say, “Nah.”
As usual, controversy surrounds my pal Dave. There is just no containing this man. His unbridled enthusiasm for the truth takes him to the German Baptist Love Feast (which isn’t as kinky as it sounds). It is there that all hell breaks loose…
Then we get into Dave’s newest story. He sent Cedarville University into upheaval. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it, Pkarlgh. It was such a spectacular display of sinister shenanigans…sit down and prepare to be SHOCKED!
After his shocking revelation, David admits that he’s remorseful. He attempts to receive absolution for his sins and receives forgiveness…but not really.
So the question of the hour is: “What does it mean to be forgiven?”  Does forgiveness wipe the slate clean?  Or do we still have to pay for sins for which we have been forgiven?
A lady thought about making Dave a sandwich. Then decided not to.
Pendleton thinks it’ll be okay if a GB decides to wash his feet. He doesn’t think the other folks will react negatively. I think he’s wrong.  But what do I know…  I tell him my favorite quote I heard from an elder at my church.
We discuss whether or not it’s appropriate to pray that God changes someone’s mind. Then we get into a fist fight about it and Dave throws me through a window.
Since grade school, I’ve been inspired by George Washington Carver. I’ll tell you why.

Check out this episode!

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2 Responses

  1. I have recently been wrestling with the idea that can you pray for someone that in essence is asking God to intervene in someone freewill. I was looking for examples in the Bible and outside of Paul which I would say is an extreme example and that may not even be a correct example. Then on the other side he is God so I believe he has the right to interfere with my freewill and then maybe I wouldn’t have made some of my bad decisions. I suppose I could become a Calvinist then I wouldn’t wrestle with it but that’s not happening. I am open to the wisdom of others in this matter.

  2. Love listening to the podcast, and Dave as well. I do think that it is quite presumptuous to want to engage in conversation with German Baptists when you interrupt their “ceremony” that they take quite seriously, regardless of it being not in line with scripture. Approach and timing were not taken into consideration, or at least well thought out consideration. One could hardly accuse the West Borough Baptist church from wanting to have a dialogue by protesting at a dead soldiers funeral. Or showing up at a wedding of unsaved friends and then standing up in the middle of the ceremony with a loud speaker and quoting scripture at them for sleeping together before getting married. I don’t think these would be considered appropriate tactics, at least in the sense of wanting to start a conversation or maintain one. That said, I do believe that Dave wants to have a conversation with German Baptists, although something like this doesn’t really help, because interrupting like that only helps the case to the German Baptists that it was a disruptive move, regardless of the motive, and at that point no one cares what you have to say. It is as much as he admitted, he made a “bone-headed” move.

    Which moves into him being banished from Cedarville University. I used to work security and I completely understand this kind of over-reaction to something that really isn’t such a serious infraction. Security guards have literally no power what so ever (unless you work at a power plant where you are issued an automatic weapon). They live in the shadow of a police officer’s uniform. The only thing that they can really do, unless they have an issued firearm, is phone someone who can do something. In most cases they can’t even touch a perpetrator, and usually are encouraged not to. But enough of security guards… Dave feels that the president of the University is not being honest with him, when he tells him that he forgives him, and then they still won’t redact the punishment that has been enforced. That struck me as a little odd. I understand the appeal for grace and possibly being given a second chance. But if the president has come back and said the punishment still stands, I think you need to be a man and accept that. To forgive is not to forget. King David was restored by God after his affair with Bathsheba, but still lived with the consequences of his sin. So I’ll just shoot straight here, it seems Dave is whining that he didn’t get what he wants here and it seems childish to me. He asked for forgiveness and received it, but he wants to be allowed back to Cedarville after interrupting an event. Whose terms is the forgiveness on here? I will say the banishment seems extreme, but it is the choice from the university president, or at least the choice of the head of security, and the president may merely be trusting one of his appointed personnel in this decision. If I had made a decision as the head of a department, and then the president redacted what I did, it would feel as though my job as the head of that department was being undermined or micro-managed. Maybe the President doesn’t want to step on the toes of his security department head. Food for thought.

    At any rate, love the podcast, love the wrestling of ideas that are presented here as well.

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