ReformationUnderway

I posted on Saturday concerning a Wall Street Journal article on church discipline. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and pastor Hershael York writes concerning this article that he was interviewed by the WSJ reporter. However, after spending twenty-plus minutes on the phone with the reporter, and referring her to a man who had been disciplined by York's congregation, his interview didn't make it through the editing process. What York has to say is interesting:

So when the WSJ reporter called me, I explained its biblical basis, its practical application, and its obvious benefits. I reasoned that, if sin is indeed harmful, the cruelest thing we can do is leave someone in it. Confrontation must always be motivated by a sense of compassion and a desire for reconciliation. Then, to prove the point, I gave her the name and number of a man whom our church disciplined. His testimony is that he would not even be alive today had we not dealt with him as we did. Within the past week Ms. Alter called and interviewed this man and he told her the whole fascinating story.

He goes on to say,

All of her examples of discipline are negative. She did not include a single example which she portrays in a positive light. For this reason neither Buck Run (the church York pastors) nor I are mentioned in this article because we had nothing but positive things to say. Even the subject of our discipline says the action was not only deserved, but necessary and restorative. Not one word of that testimony is included.

Read York's account of the interview and the resulting article.

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