CAM Molestation Issue

[Grace]

Let's remember that technology is a tool and it's not inherently good or evil. It all depends on how a person uses it. If someone is wary of technology they have the choice to either avoid it altogether or learn how to use it in a safe and productive way.

Agreed, it is a tool not a toy. Recently I rode with my hubby to buy a piece of equipment in VA. Having short notice that we were going I had no time to charge my phone, which we planned to use for our GPS. Well it turned out the "older" vehicle we took, the cigarette lighter did not work for charging, hence the phone died. I thought I had a general idea which routes to take, but when we started getting into lots of traffic and there were multiple signs for the Washington DC area, we realized we were headed in the wrong direction. We stopped at a rest stop for a map, but at our age, we both needed a magnifying glass to read it. We were both a bit frustrated until hubby saw a police station and said we will go in and ask them. I was embarrassed, but he told me that they are here to "help and serve" so that is what we did. And help they did, as they looked up were we were going and graciously printed out directions off a google map.

[Josh]

I agree with you Josh that this is in context of hurting children. I agree that some sins are "worse" and more damaging. But Jesus uses these same words in the sermon on the mount relating to lust and adultery. I am just cautioning us to be careful of cherry picking.

Where does Jesus say it would be better to have a millstone hung around one’s neck?

[Josh]

The irony in this whole issue is that while the internet/social media which is lifted up as the means by which this issue is exposed and not "swept under the rug", it may well be the source by which JMast originally fed and grew his lust. I'm not saying there wasn't this kind of sin before the internet but the easy availability of feeding a struggling lust has increased. JMast would have been a young man at the dawn of the internet era, before the dangers were as known and safeguards available...

Pedophilia and being a sexual predator is not caused by the Internet. These problems were widespread before the 1990s, as the Catholic abuse scandals can clear document.

[Josh]

There is absolutely no reason someone under the age of 21 needs a smartphone. I'd argue there's very little reason for one at all that can't be addressed in another way.. I'm 36 and don't have one and get along just fine. My husband, same. If our children have a phone, it will be a shared phone.

Yet communities with very little technology use, like Old Order Amish, still have widespread abuse problems. (And then some don’t have any problem.)

I fully agree most people can live with a lot less technology than they think they can. I went Internet free in Australia for 3 months at the recommendation of someone else and I got along just fine.

[Ambassador]

I agree with you Josh that this is in context of hurting children. I agree that some sins are "worse" and more damaging. But Jesus uses these same words in the sermon on the mount relating to lust and adultery. I am just cautioning us to be careful of cherry picking.

Where does Jesus say it would be better to have a millstone hung around one’s neck?

What I quoted, and was referring to, said nothing about a millstone. If that is the part that was most important to you I'm sorry, I misunderstood.

[Josh]

The context is linked to hurting children.

I don’t have a problem with elevating abusing children to be a sin significantly worse than other forms of sexual sin. Whilst all sins are bad, some cause immediate, permanent damage (such as murder).

The context I meant here was Matthew 18:2 - 18:8.

[Ken]

I agree with you Josh that this is in context of hurting children. I agree that some sins are "worse" and more damaging. But Jesus uses these same words in the sermon on the mount relating to lust and adultery. I am just cautioning us to be careful of cherry picking.

Where does Jesus say it would be better to have a millstone hung around one’s neck?

Crime and punishment and prison existed during biblical times as well. In fact they had even more creative punishments like enslavement and cruel forms of execution in the Roman Empire and even more extreme punishments in Old Testament law. I’m not aware of any place in the New Testament where Jesus or Paul teach that Christians should be exempt from Roman law.

If JMast ever gets out of prison he will forever be branded as a sex offender in government registries. That is a government thing not a church thing. I am less comfortable with the idea of separate church administered offender registries or lists of people suspected of abuse who have not been convicted. I don’t think churches are equipped to manage that sort of thing.

[Sienna]

Our experiences are different. Your experience has clearly been positive and seems to relate much to those on the field. My genuine compassion is towards those missionaries who’ve given their lives out of love and are being negatively affected by this tragedy. To the contrary, the individuals I’ve known are some of those at top levels. You said well, “a few well-meaning but misguided.” The lack of understanding, of what is needed for an individual to change when involved in these actions, is such a gross lack of understanding at so many levels. When this is found in individuals at the top levels it does require a scrutinization of the organization as a whole. Further, what if so many of that era (age group) in our circles have operated in this way for a long time? And what if there are many who want that to change? And, what, or how much, of this is due to An older generation not really understanding the rapid changes that have occurred in our world due to technology and social media, and all the available information?[/quote

Don't fall into the trap of thinking the younger generation is so much more enlightened than the older generation. The older generation today (I'm talking the world at large) were the rebels in the 60's and 70's who thought they were so much smarter than their parents. If you don't like the lack of understanding in today's older generation (as a whole, not individually), don't repeat their mistake of thinking they knew more than their parents (again, as a whole, not individually). I say this as one that's part of the younger generation.

My experience has been that the older generation did understand the rapid changes in technology and were warning against where it would lead years ago. Their assessment was dead on and we now see more and more secular sources sounding the same warning.

I’m speaking of the conservative Anabaptist’s, not the world at large. And I will take as a compliment that it sounds like I’m one of the young generation. What I’ve witnessed and hear spoken seems more of an “isolation” mentality, rather than becoming properly trained and then leading proactively (as demonstrated by this tragedy). I’m at times speechless at the profound lack of knowledge I see in understanding the gap between the world cultural Mennonites create for themselves and that of broader society. It seems like something of an artificial bubble rather than sustainable and relevant. But perhaps I’m wrong here.

[Sienna]

Our experiences are different. Your experience has clearly been positive and seems to relate much to those on the field. My genuine compassion is towards those missionaries who’ve given their lives out of love and are being negatively affected by this tragedy. To the contrary, the individuals I’ve known are some of those at top levels. You said well, “a few well-meaning but misguided.” The lack of understanding, of what is needed for an individual to change when involved in these actions, is such a gross lack of understanding at so many levels. When this is found in individuals at the top levels it does require a scrutinization of the organization as a whole. Further, what if so many of that era (age group) in our circles have operated in this way for a long time? And what if there are many who want that to change? And, what, or how much, of this is due to An older generation not really understanding the rapid changes that have occurred in our world due to technology and social media, and all the available information?

I met the women who designed the sexual abuse prevention program at a missions organization. She and the people who work with her probably get senior citizen discounts. And the training she designed had insights into technology and social media that were new to me - e.g. the fact that a lot of abuse in the mission field comes from teens watching porn and wanting to act out what they see with their peers or younger children.

In the broader society around us, most children are learning about sex and sexuality from their peers on social media, sometimes in anonymous settings, and have ready access to porn. They can easily find various groups of people exploring sexuality in one way or another online. This raises really important parenting challenges.

But there was a whole lot of underreported sexual abuse in "the good old days" too. And I do think older people are capable of learning these things. On the other hand, I agree that it would be good to have some younger people on these teams too, or at least to make sure the teams are listening to them and learning from them.

Was this a conservative Anabaptist woman?

[Sienna]

Ernie, Perhaps this is being hushed by the Menno community because so many Menno jobs are at stake seeing as CAM is the employer of how many Mennos (I think I read 900 somewhere)? Perhaps the true test of American Mennonite Christianity is when their job is at stake?

I don't like speculating like this about people's motivations. People who don't like Mennonites already will of course believe these kinds of characterizations, when CAM likely responded in a very human if imperfect way. Any of us, Menno or not, may have made the same mistakes. And yes the mistakes must be amended and acknowledged. One could likewise question the motives of those who seize on scandals, speculate about conspiracies, and appear to enjoy seeing terrible things brought to light, but I don't think that is a profitable exercise either.

Amen and amen.

I’ve personally walked the very difficult journey of childhood abuse. I do not for one moment doubt the motives of someone who has walked this path and wants to help others behind them. Having said that, the question about job security leaves me asking if you are saying CAM people would not feel threatened if they believed their job was at stake? Or what are you saying? Most, if not all, people feel some kind of defensiveness if their job is put at risk.