Shooting our Wounded

[Woody]

"Elder Bradford has said that in the church 'we shoot our wounded'. It is true that sometimes when people are at their weakest , rather than giving them a helping hand, we ask them why they are limping. We can be so right and so destructive at the same time. When rightness is used to accuse others, we have destroyed the meaning of what it is to be right."

Adventist Review July 19, 1990 Robert Falkenberg

"No one buries someone who is still alive, nor does he expel from the house someone in the last stages of illness. Rather, one waits with patience and endurance for him to get better ... Therefore, I desire to be patient with all who are bought with the costly pearl" Klassen + Klassen in The writings of Pilgram Marpeck p. 354

Is our church a FORT or a HOSPITAL ?

"Increasingly I fear, the church is viewed as an emeny of sinners" The Jesus I never knew. Phillip Yancey p.259

[olger]

The goal of a healing center (hospital) is the reinstatement of health and the eventual discharge of a patient.

I like that,

olger

[Woody]

Yeah ... I've noticed that our hospital does a lot of discharging.

[olger]

You wanna live in the IC ward, that's your choice.

God has called us to ride upon the high places of the earth, and if He'll have me, I'm gonna go with Him (Isa 58:12).

have a great week,

olger

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

It makes a big difference if the patient is discharged alive.....or dead.

[olger]

Always alive Sister. "I am come that you might have life, and a lot of it!"

I used to be lame too, but now I can walk, thanks to the Lord.

Keep your eye on the clouds,

olger

[Woody]

As Christians our focus should be to build each other UP not tear DOWN. And I hope that as a church that our LOVE for each other and tolerance for where each is at ... will be our focus.

The Good News is just that ... Good News. And it is good for all ... no matter where we are at with the "works" end of matters.

[aldona]

It makes a big difference if the patient is discharged alive.....or dead.

This thread is starting to remind me of the good ol' days when I was an intern in a public hospital.

Often a patient would be discharged before we thought he/she was ready.

- before they had made a sufficient recovery

- because they were taking up a bed that somebody else needed

- to make the hospital statistics look good

We lowly junior staff, who worked on the wards and were most familiar with the patients' condition, had little say and could be ordered to discharge a patient against our better judgement, by someone higher up the hospital hierarchy.

I could go on and on...the hospital/ church analogies are numerous...

aldona