Anabaptist Sex Offender Watch List

[Ken]

One is eligible unless one has been expelled for death sins involving either sexual immorality or false doctrine.

Is there a list of "death sins" you can provide? Or is it just sexual immorality and false doctrine? I find this topic interesting and not something I've been familiar with before.

I don’t have a list but it’s in some common Holdeman theological texts. I’ll look that up when I’m home.

Basically, some sins cause an immediate spiritual death and separation from God, like intending to murder someone and then going through with it.

Others don’t, like being angry at your coworker and yelling at them because they just repeated a mistake they’ve been trained to not do and that caused a lot of damage. (To make up a hypothetical scenario.)

Is this something that Holdemans generally talk about and are commonly familiar with? Or is this more obscure theology that would only be invoked in say leadership discussions? I just find it interesting that I've been around Mennonite circles most of my life and have never heard the term before.

[appleman2006]

So I am curious Josh. Was not the founder of the Holdeman church guilty of a "death" sin as you call it. Or was he exempt because it happened before he was a member of "the" church?

[Josh]

So I am curious Josh. Was not the founder of the Holdeman church guilty of a "death" sin as you call it. Or was he exempt because it happened before he was a member of "the" church?

Death sins before one is baptised aren’t included in this, since they happen before the church has “jurisdiction” over you.

In the present day, someone with a history of immorality before they were baptised, who grew up in a Holdeman church, would not be ordained, but not for the theological reasons above.

[Josh]

Is this something that Holdemans generally talk about and are commonly familiar with? Or is this more obscure theology that would only be invoked in say leadership discussions? I just find it interesting that I've been around Mennonite circles most of my life and have never heard the term before.

The term “death sin” is a fairly common term and most discussions I’ve had with it involved people who aren’t ministers or in other leadership roles.

Since one can only be excommunicated for a “death sin”, it’s pretty important to most Holdemans to understand what they are and how to discern if someone is caught in such sin.

[Neoanabaptist]

Trudy Metzger's list seems quite a good idea if it contains all potential sex offenders, i.e. all men who are possibly dangerous. I would propose that some well-known and acknowledged members of the Menno Churches have themselves included into the list - in which case it will be far more simple for others to take part in it.

[Matt]

Trudy Metzger's list seems quite a good idea if it contains all potential sex offenders, i.e. all men who are possibly dangerous. I would propose that some well-known and acknowledged members of the Menno Churches have themselves included into the list - in which case it will be far more simple for others to take part in it.

Wouldn't "all potential" include everyone?

[Judas Maccabeus]

Trudy Metzger's list seems quite a good idea if it contains all potential sex offenders, i.e. all men who are possibly dangerous. I would propose that some well-known and acknowledged members of the Menno Churches have themselves included into the list - in which case it will be far more simple for others to take part in it.

Wouldn't "all potential" include everyone?

Which is why such a list is a really bad idea, if it includes anyone not tried and convicted.

J.M.

[Ken]

Article in my local newspaper this morning about an incident in a nearby school district:

https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/jun ... it-emails/

Teacher resigns (before being fired) after being caught exchanging explicit emails with a student. Of particular note, the article details how allegations and problems are handled by the state licensing board. From the article (emphasis mine):

Washington law requires that superintendents report to the Office of Professional Practices when a teacher has violated the state’s Code of Professional Conduct or lacks “good moral character” to be a teacher, including sexual advances.

When that office opens an investigation into allegations of misconduct against an educator, a red banner appears in the online certification file available to all districts reading: “Complaint being investigated, contact (the Office of Professional Practices).” If the teacher is formally reprimanded, suspended or has their license revoked by the office, that record follows the teacher forever in both statewide and national databases.

Also later in the article:

Evergreen Public Schools has had a rash of staff involved in inappropriate relationships with students in recent years. The school district requires that new teachers and other staff members sit through a 35-minute sexual misconduct course developed by online-learning company Vector Solutions as part of its SafeSchools suite, a program used across the country.

Employees repeat that class on a three-year rotation. They must also undergo annual training with their building principals reviewing district policies, including the district’s boundary invasion policy. That standard, adopted in 2016, broadly instructs district staff not to “intrude on a student’s physical and emotional boundaries unless the intrusion is necessary to serve a demonstrated educational purpose.”

Two examples of policies that church organizations could borrow and follow to help address this problem.

[silentreader]

Off topic, out of context, and yet not completely.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/b ... spartandhp

[Ernie]

Is there a list now and is there more than one?