MK forum

A pertinent question being asked these days is, "Is it ever acceptable for Christians to sue another Christian?" That's a good question, and deserves a careful answer.

However, with regard to the suit recently filed against NTM, a more important question might be, "Is NTM my brother/ sister in Christ?"

I say this because the "defendant" is not a person, not an individual, but New Tribes Mission, Inc., "a Florida Corporation."

Corporations can buy and sell, own property, open bank accounts, contract for services, hire people, pay taxes... in short, do many of the same things that human beings can do.

Can a corporation have an opinion? Love? Believe? Be saved? Get baptized? Be lost? Go to heaven? Hell? Be imprisoned?

In short, is a corporation a person? Is it possible for a corporation to be my "brother in Christ?"

I don't think a corporation can be considered a "brother in Christ". In fact, it is for the purpose of avoiding individual responsibility that people form corporations. So, no, the corporation New Tribes Mission is not your "brother in Christ".

Also, the Bible gives some guidelines for dealing with conflicts with our brothers, the personal->elders->local church escalation process, which could be argued is better than a lawsuit, testimony-wise, when we have beef with a brother. However, here there is no such personal conflict, but rather a sin issue (or issues) that have not been dealt with, and there is no local church that will deal with them (or whose authority NTM would submit to--but imagine how 1 Corinithians 5:1-13 would read if Paul had written it to NTM).

Now NTM may be made up of brothers in Christ, but if it acts (or acted) as a whole in a pretty unbrotherly manner, and the problem cannot be addressed biblically for the reasons above, what other option is left but to sue?

The "brothers" went against the laws of God and the laws of man. Do you remember Luke 20:25--And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

I think that is an important verse to keep in mind. Sometimes it is necessary to submit to earthly authority TOO. The issue is NOT that NTM dismissed the perpetrators. That is what they should have done. The issue is that they DID NOT report the crimes to the authorities in either the countries where the crimes occurred nor in the USA. Additionally they worked to cover up the heinous crimes. How would you feel if they had covered up a murder, dismissed the person, and never reported the crime? Are they liable? Should they be sued? What if the murderer went on to murder more people? Wouldn't NTM be liable?

Another few verses in Luke might be helpful when considering the inaction of NTM toward the innocent children. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? --Luke 10:30-37 Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" He said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Who was NTM behaving like with regard to this child abuse cases? The priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan?

Bottom line, in my opinion, is that, unfortunately, NTM didn't act properly and report the crimes to the authorities, and to add insult to injury, sort of blamed the victims rather than helping them.

Render unto Caesar.....

assuming the answer to the question is that there are times when it is right for Christians to sue other Christians, that is not the end of the inquiry. the "rightness" of bringing a lawsuit does not excuse the potentail wrongness of certain behavior during the course of those lawsuits. in other words, bringing a lawsuit, even if rightful, does not exempt the plaintiff from the obligation to tell the truth in all things, etc., etc.

Good point, Thai MK. Of course, your observation is applicable to the plaintiff and the defendant alike. Being sued does not give one the "obligation" to deceive any more than suing does.

In fact, your point applies with equal force to every area of everyone's life - whether they are engaged in litigation or not.

I may be missing something here, but why is this even a debate? Surely this is one of those matters about which each of us should be fully settled in our own minds, a la Romans 14? Why is anyone debating what another brother in Christ should or should not do? To our own mutual master in heaven they stand or fall. Scripture guarantees they "will stand" for God is able to make them stand.

And am I reading correctly that Thai MK is assuming that the people who have brought a lawsuit against NTO are lying? Are you serious? Surely I am reading you wrong. You can't possibly believe any one would put themselves through the horror of recounting the details of their abuse and humiliation all over again, in public, and are just making stuff up? What kind of low opinion do you have of your fellow MKs,that is if you are accusing them of lying? Why would anyone do that?

That kind of twisted manipulation is the stuff of soap operas. It doesn't happen in real life. In real life people live with the scars of abuse for the rest of their lives,and the vast majority of them never fully recover. A huge step in that recovery is confronting the abuser, and most people never find the courage to do so. And why not? Because not being believed and being accused of making up lies is too painful to face as a possible consequence. It is being abused all over again. Better to fade away unnoticed than possibly face continued injustice and apathy about what happened to you.

And posts like yours show that it IS a very real possibility. That is IF I am understanding you correctly and you are indeed insinuating that the brave woman who filed a lawsuit against NTO is lying.

I really hope I misunderstood you.

shadowspring, I am certain that Thai MK is not implying that Jane Doe #7 is lying about being abused.

We all believe that she was abused by Les Emory. I know I do.

The lawsuit was not filed against Les Emory. It was filed against NTM.

Whew! So happy to be corrected. I would hate to think any person daring to speak out about abuse from the past would be considered suspect by other MKs.