Posted on 07/28/2008 5:49:39 PM PDT by Terriergal
Blog Shut Down by 'Christian' Apologist's Threat Contact: Pastor Dustin Segers, Coalition of Concerned Bloggers, ChristianResearchNetwork.com, 336-848-7197
MEDIA ADVISORY, July 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Pastor Dustin Segers submits the following and is available for comment:
How safe are our blogs? That question was raised again when on the evening of July 26, 2008, a popular religious blog was shut down by an Internet service provider. A complaint filed by Christian author and apologist, Richard Abanes, claiming that one article on the religious opinion site, Apprising.org, had slandered him, caused the web host, IPower, to send its publisher, Ken Silva, a 48-hour warning to remove the offending piece or be taken down. In that the piece was not believed to be slander at all, but rather religious and theological opinion, he refused to be forced into censoring his site by Richard Abanes. The site went down.
There are serious implications here for all bloggers, regardless of what sort of blog they publish. Anyone who has a complaint about your views can claim that you have engaged in slander and the ISP Terms of Service usually allow for the companies to remove your website if you don't take the material in question down. The First Amendment means nothing in these cases. ISP's cannot and will not explore the claims of slander and simply notify bloggers to remove whatever is causing the problem. This opens the door for anyone to censor what a blogger writes online.
Everyone who values the right to read and publish blogs on the Internet has a vested interested in the issue. There is growing concern in the blog world over this, and a number of servers are popping up that offer "First Amendment" hosting. These are web hosts which require a court order before they will remove someone's website. Their day has clearly come.
It is sad. Too many professing saints of the living God are asleep regarding spiritual Truth, trusting sinful man to lead them without checking the Scriptures to see if they be led rightly. In the end, such will be without excuse.
Exactly, why what the Warrenites are teaching is not looked at through a Biblical Lense (or backstop) leaves well meaning people wide open to being led along the wide road.
IMO that is very dangerous for them.
If the author of the blog had some harsh things to say about Abanes and Warren, then he certainly was not slandering CHRISTIANS.
Thank you so much for posting the article (which I have now safely saved) so we can all read it!
WHAT??? These aren't Christians or most Americans main areas of focus or concern.
This is the new "religion" and Rick Warren is the false prophet leading the way!
Have you seen this?
YBPDLN ping List Ping
Thanks to Terriergal and Jan in CO for bringing this to my attention.
I have a friend I have been witnessing to for years, who started attending a PDL church because, as he says, they never talk about sin and the services are a lot of fun. As I continue to share the gospel and the need to repent of our sins and turn to Christ for forgiveness, he just says “I like my church's message better.”...sigh...(This is the same church that on Sundays will occasionally have cars from dealerships parked out front with sales stickers advertising the cars and dealership like they do at Costco. We have some friends who left the church because of this practice.) I'm sure everyone can share similar stories and experiences.
2 Peter 3:14-18
I have personally witness destruction of congregations from this movement. Not to mention that I was summarily dismissed from my local church because I refused to drink the koolaid.
I highly recommend James Sundquist’s book, “Who’s Driving The Purpose Driven Church?” to anyone who has not read it yet.
Resty, i think you're confusing Richard Abanes with pollster George Barna.
Barna is a member of Willow Creek church in the Chicago area. Abanes is/was a 'worship leader' at Saddleback Church in California.
Easy to make the confusion, the churches are similar in all of the wrong ways.
%Calvinist_Dark_Lord;Terriergal
My awareness of Richard Abanes is from those here on FR that like to use RA books to bash the LDS!
nice to hear from CDL
Never read any of his books.
well I have issues with the LDS but yeah interesting that he can publish stuff like that but can’t take it when someone publishes something that picks HIM apart.
other books
“Redefining Christianity: Understanding the Purpose Driven Movement” by Bob DeWaay
“Ashamed of the Gospel” by John Macarthur
“More than a Purpose” by Marshall Davis
“Driven Away By Purpose” by Daniel Chew
“Deceived on Purpose” by Warren Smith
that’s off the top of my head.
No problem.
What I don’t understand is how Chris Rosebrough can turn the tables on Abanes and threaten him, but then accept Abanes’ non-apology and now everything is hunky dory between them (well, according to Abanes).
http://richardabanes.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/lawsuit-response-abanes-to-chris-rosebrough/
Even Lewis had his shortcomings.
You should check out some of the articles at cicministry.org and see what you think of those. I think he’s pretty good.
why do no conservative candidates get invited to Saddleback? OH I forgot....the conservative candidates are kept hidden in the closet.
Isn’t that what most blogs are for? Is Ken allowed to publish his own viewpoint?
For example: “I think you have engaged in libel and defamation with that post, therefore you should be sued.” Is that constitutional?
I have Bob DeWaay’s book and it is very educational. He is also writing a book exposing the heresy of the Emergent Church movement that should be good. Talk about your good researchers, he really dots his i’s and crosses his t’s.
I met Bob and he is one of the most humble soft spoken Brothers I’ve ever met. His whole goal is to open people’s eyes and uphold the name of Christ and solid Biblical doctrine. Wish there were more of him in our churches today.
Hear hear!
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