The fact that some churches decide not to report certain crimes is a sad state of affairs within Christianity, said Pastor Mark Driscoll of the Seattle-based Mars Hill Church during a recent sermon.
“There’s a difference between a sin and a crime. A sin is something that Christians are supposed to handle with the presence of God. A crime is something that we need to report to the authorities,” Driscoll said at last Sunday’s service. “One of the saddest things that’s happened in recent years is, regarding Christianity, certain churches or traditions of Christianity have decided that when a crime is committed, they don’t report it and they hide it.”
Driscoll gave his message as part of his sermon titled, “Jesus Reconciles Us,” in which he asked, “How should Christians deal with conflict?”
During his sermon, he related how he knew of one pastor who had a person coming to him and confessing how angry they are and that they are “thinking of killing this person.”
“Call the police. Don’t just try to deal with it as a church issue because that is a legal issue,” said Driscoll in regards to what the next step for the pastor should have been.
He also said that he has seen women whose husbands were abusing their children not call the police because they “didn’t think it was okay to get the officials involved in the case.”
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