Knight said:
The issue is...
Was the spanking Bob gave his stepson actually child abuse? And what are these unknown "other things" things that Bob Enyart teaches that are in error as you suggest? And as it turns out when you finally gave some examples of these "errors" you didn't even have the courtesy to address my response!
Ok....
The spanking Bob Enyart gave his [not son at the time] was child abuse if it was done out of anger and if he did not explain to the kid what he did wrong. It was child abuse if he indeed broke the skin and made welts that lasted long enough for police to take pictures later and use them as evidence in court. However, I have been unable to find the photographs on the net of the actual injury, so I am afraid I can't provide proof of my own. However, someone obviously thought it was child abuse, and in our country, child abuse is illegal. God tells us in Romans 13 to obey the government, and since Bob broke the law and got caught, he deserved to serve his jail term. So while the Bible says corporal punishment is ok (which I agree with) we are also to obey the government God ordained over us, which has laws protecting children against excessive abuse. I don't believe spanking a child is abuse as long as there's no evidence that the government could possibly use to convict someone. Therefore, it's my opinion that we should use corporal punishment, but to be careful. Therefore, we uphold the Bible, and we obey the government, which is also in the Bible.
I found an article in "Westword" that detailed Bob Enyart thorugh this story. I don't know how reliable this press is because Westword described itself as an alternative newspaper. However this was the most detailed account I could find, and it stated that there was broken skin, several welts, and the belt was even damaged in the beating. The boy's brother called the police. The paper also said that Bob lead people to Christ while in jail....that is to be applauded. The article also says that Bob gleefully makes money at his son's expense. I am not putting complete stock in this paper since it is an alternative paper, but from this we can glean two things....
1) Stephen's brother was concerned enough to call the police, and
2) There was damage to the belt and apparently enough injury to the boy to warrant this investigation which lead to a conviction.
As for what else I disagree with? There's no scriptural support, but I think he focuses way to much on homophobia and I think he should not be advocating overthrow of the US government. While I do agree with you, Knight, that a theological monarchy is the Biblical government of choice, that is not what God as placed over us right now, and we are called by Romans 13 to be in submission to the government that God has ordained over us. We are given the right to vote in the people we like, and since that is part of government we should do that. And we can speak and peacefully protest, but not overthrow. If I am misunderstanding his writings here, let me know. But this is how I feel. I think he should focus more on leading people to Christ and teaching Bible and less on slammnig gays and writing strange essays about overthrowing the government. I see a lot of good in Bob, but I think some of it is misguided.
So Knight, is this affecting your eternal destiny? I don't think so. Are you in serious error? Probably not. You seem to be more focused on theology, and that is good, in my opinion.
Well, I believe this sufficiently covers it. It reponds to your post that I didn't write to earlier. I hope this helps you see where I am coming from.
d