THE DEAL: PURCHASING PEOPLE, BREAKING BONDS and ENDING FRIENDSHIPS; Christian Love in Action at the First Baptist Church of Bolivar and the Missouri Baptist Convention Churches
That certainly has proven true at Southwest Baptist University and within the churches of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
(1 Timothy 6:10)
That certainly has proven true at Southwest Baptist University and within the churches of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
This week, after a series of bizarre, written threats and physical abuses, Marie has ended (or, rather, acknowledged the obvious termination of) her friendship with her landlords, Art and Shirlee Martinez, and their adult children, Deeann, Jolee, and Matthew. [See previous posts: (here) (here) and (here) ]
There was a time, not too distant, when Marie considered this family to be as close as kin -- a second family, after the death of her own parents and her sister.
Now, that love and trust is tainted ... and cannot be reconciled.
Though their friendship has endured a myriad of trials and tribulations for almost a quarter of a century; ultimately, it is clear that the family has made a "deal" with the Missouri Baptist Convention and the local church, the First Baptist Church of Bolivar.
What is that deal?
Marie's life has been purchased; she has been bought and sold to the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Apparently, the tacit agreement is that Marie's landlords will be awarded "compensation" for Marie's tenancy -- regardless if Marie should "accidentally" meet her "demise" before completing the supposed "Restorative Justice Process" with Southwest Baptist University, the First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Missouri, and the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Of course, human nature being what it is, this financial arrangement leaves little incentive (or tolerance) for allowing Marie to live.
Predictably, Marie has been forced to suffer systematic assault and peril over the last few months (and, indeed, over the last several years).
As the betrayal became more evident, Marie withdrew from recent negotiations with First Baptist Church of Bolivar, precipitating a bewildering barrage of retaliation from her beloved landlords -- vicious slanders and various forms of abuse, intimidation, threat, and insult.
The Southern Baptist ethic demands abject obeisance and does not tolerate dissidence well -- most particularly from a women (and a disabled and "useless" woman, at that).
Marie will be punished, she knows, for daring to speak, for daring to ask for Justice from the utterly unjust and the vengeful.
We grieve for this loss, not only for Marie personally, but for the Christian community as a whole; for, until this last few years, this family was praised, as providing an heroic example of noble character and self-sacrifice.
This appears, unfortunately, to no longer be the case.
There is much more to say ... and this will be continued later (see next post).
