May 11 2007
Church sued after “slaying in the Spirit.”
[From LSJ.com]
A pastor being sued by a former member of his church testified this morning that he was angry that she filed the lawsuit.
“I was being sued by somebody who I didn’t know was my enemy,” David Russell Williams said this morning in testimony in Eaton County Circuit Court.
Judith Dadd, 52, of Lansing is suing Mount Hope Church, based in Delta Township, and Williams. She says she went to the altar during a July 18, 2002 rally for church leaders and was “slain in the Spirit” according to testimony. She fell backward and struck her head on the floor. Dadd claims she still suffers from the effects of the fall, including depression, memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Read about it here.
[From me]
I guess that is why Benny Hinn has people catching people when he blows on them. 
What’s next?
- Lawsuits because people gained too much weight eating Fried Chicken at church fellowships?
- How about suing over a watermelon seed being stuck in a person’s throat following a summer church picnic?
- Maybe someone can sue a church for an ear infection following a baptism?
- What about suing because you didn’t get blessed in keeping with the stock market after tithing?
- Maybe a suit against the pastor for eye strain because he moves too much?
- How about false advertising during communion because when they give the cup it isn’t wine but grape juice?
What other suits might come in the future?
12 responses so far
I don’t know much abut American law, but what I do know is that yours is an extremely litigious country! Oooh, when Ifinish my degree, I just might decide to work over there….
Be that as it may, though, surely the church had a “duty of care” towards people being slain in the spirit, (whatever that might mean)? What was the floor made of, reinforced concrete? Why didn’t someone catch her?
BTW Look in your email for news about ILLY’S!!!!
Here in Tulsa where our religo-industrial complex cranks out churches where slaying in the spirit is on the menu, we train people to catch them (as Francoise states) and as a bonus often have “modesty cloths” to drape over ladies in skirts, so they are not splayed out over the front of the church in a somewhat less than modest pose.
And that is nothing, we have churches that hit you (while you sit in a chair) as you confess your sin (that church made the papers) and one that doesn’t consider you clean of evil until you have vomited in a bucket. Naturally buckets are kept on hand for the move of the Spirit.
MIT, words fail. 8(
Kevin-
Somewhat less tongue-in-cheek…
What is your take on the news that the family of the VTech killer had asked help from a church for healing/exorcism some time before the killings?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501221.html
How are churches to respond to situations like that one? Nobody’s sued them yet for not helping this young man, but I’m sure there are lawyers out there who would like to. What should a church do when faced with a request like this?
Kat
God help us. I’ve both undergone “inner healing / deliverance / exorcism” and been trained in it. Bottom line is the same as many other gifts available to us, including salvation.
Although Jesus has given us power to be free, the person has to be willing to receive it. This includes being willing to forgive, or “willing to be willing” to forgive, as a primary step. I don’t want to vilify this troubled assassin from Va Tech, but I would be loath to side against the church!
Kat’s proposal/comment is tongue-in-cheek, but plausible in this ridiculously litigious culture. By extension (a big extension) the families of 400 murder victims in Philadelphia where I live should sue the church for not praying hard enough! CBB
Well, this article didn’t give much specificity, but from what it says it appears that the pastor did try to make things right and help the woman with her insurance. It seems to me that she should try hard to make things right between her and the church–even if that means they pay her medical expenses. Suing should be a last resort, especially suing a church!
If you ask me, our culture is far too litigious! We don’t always need overpaid lawyers and courts to help us solve our differences, too many of these suits are filed out of greed.
Kat,
Great question.
1st I won’t criticize another pastor or church because I don’t what all they did. 2nd who in the world would expected what happened. 3rd you never can predict what will happen in a spiritual battle.
I have dealt with some strange situations before. Many of the times the people say they want help but they aren’t ready to really do what is necessary.
A spiritual battle is much more difficult than an addiction. The VT tragedy was just plain sad and I just pray God will give me wisdom & discernment if I’m faced with people like him.
This really happened…
Quite a few years ago, the youth group from the church I attended at that time, went on a yearly retreat to the Gulfshores, AL.
On their way home, they were broadsided by a vehicle carrying a popular college football star. (He was not the driver). The football star was killed.
The fault was entirely the driver of the vehicle carrying the “star”. She ran a red light in order to crash into our church van.
The driver later sued the church! I don’t know what her claims were, but the whole thing was rediculous and caused a lot of time and money to be spent on defense.
She dropped the suit when she realized she was not going to win.
Seems to me that if she didn’t want to hit her head, she should have stayed vertical.
But seriously … as the list of “victims” for “hate crimes” (i.e. the politically correct policing of thought behind crimes) continues to grow, the church is going to become more and more open to lawsuits and criminal action on behalf of those who consider biblical standards to be “hate speech.” There will, at some point, be a government office that reviews sermons in search of “hate speech’ that can be used as evidence of “hate crimes.” It is coming.
I recently posted on the subject, and have received some interesting comments.
http://geoffbaggett.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/when-did-hate-become-an-actual-crime/
You would think if the Holy Spirit had really “slain them” (i have my own opinions about that) He would have “thought” to keep them from hurting themselves.
I am inclined to agree with Tom’s point. I’ve seen people take some hard spills and the “catcher” missed them, and they are absolutely fine. I had a friend smack his head on a pew and was fine afterwards! I’ve heard a rumor that in New Zealand they don’t have catchers since they only want people to fall if it’s for real. Hearsay!
If this woman really knew her Pentecostal theology I would think that she would be suing the Holy Spirit, not the church. After all, she wasn’t “slain in the church,” but “slain in the Spirit.” If I were the pastor that might well be my defense.