Making the Hard Choices

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

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[Del]

On a fishing trip to Tettegouche State Park in Minnesota one summer, a family of ten was having a good time together riding a large pontoon boat down the famous Baptism River. It was hard, getting them all together. Tim had been in jail for drug dealing, Shauna had been living with Floyd for three years, had a child, but left him because of abuse. Floyd actually agreed to come on the trip. Amazing!  Abbey had been a champion swimmer on the Jr. Olympics. And then there were the little ones.

Some didn’t enjoy boating on the water as much as others, but as long as they joined the festivities on the boat, it was fine. Abbey, always brave and restless, wanted to swim more than cruise, so she dived into the gently-flowing water and made it to a sand bar. She victoriously ran along the sand bar hailing her family on the flatboat as if she had won some kind of race.
 
Suddenly, she realized that the boat was picking-up speed as it approached some unexpected rapids. She waded the remaining distance to the shore where she could run much faster and stay abreast of the boat. Abbey yelled warnings to those on the boat who either couldn’t hear her, thought she was still celebrating her victory or simply ignored her “taunting”.

Her protest became more frantic, her voice more shrill, as she saw the boat approaching High Falls at the end of the rapids. Breathless from running and shouting, she watched helplessly as the boat disappeared into the rising mist of the falls. There would be no survivors.

Trembling, and through streaming tears Abbey addressed Heaven, “What more could I have done? Why didn’t You stop them!” If she could have, would she have “miraculously” stopped the boat, somehow, before it reached the rapids? Should she have, thus, risked offending those who, in their ignorance, were having such fun? To simply do nothing was clearly not an option.

She stood on the cliff overlooking the falls, feet severely bruised form running along the rocky shore, legs scraped and cut from jumping over fallen trees and breaking through buckthorn bushes. Maybe she should have just stayed on the boat...and entered eternity with her family.

Maybe…

What would you say to Abbey?

[Linda]

I had never heard about this boat accident. Tettagouche is one of my favorite State Parks and the hike to high falls was one of my favorites, in spite of that long stairway down to the base.

What I would say to Abbey is, “I am so sorry. You must be exhausted. I am so sorry your warnings were misinterpreted and went unheeded. You did your best. God bless you for not giving up and doing everything you could.” Then I’d get her some bandaids for the cuts and a drink of water and sit quietly with her and grieve the loss.

[Linda]

Del, I've been trying to read more about the Baptism River tragedy. Do you know what year that was?

[Del]

The "Baptism River Tragedy", as you so appropriately entitled it, is a fiction. It is an allegory of an inevitable event I have committed my life to preventing. As I said in my reply to your inquiry in the other string, you are obviously one of the good ones. If you still care to hear the details behind this story, and in answer to your inquiry, I would be glad to share them.

[Linda]

Thank you for your honesty in telling us it was a work of fiction. It matters to me that people don't present fiction as fact. Frankly, I knew this was made up because I have been to that particular falls. Not only is there no "mist", there is no way a pontoon boat could be launched on the Baptism River because there are no roads on the upstream side of the falls from which to launch a pontoon and even if one could, the river is shallow and extremely rocky and has other waterfalls. The road ends at a remote parking lot at the High Falls trail head. I know this because I hiked it last year.

That said, I don't believe that because something seems "inevitable" one should not try to bring warning. That was why I replied.

I am glad you told the truth about the allegory, because when people present fiction as fact, I start to doubt their words.

[Del]

Linda, the revelation of this account being an allegory isn't the important thing, but, rather the message contained in the allegory. As I am certain you know, an allegory is not a lie, otherwise John Bunyan, George Orwell, et al are in big trouble.

Apart from expressing relief that I was not lying to you, your responses to the substance of the account were perfect. In considering the distress, sadness and anguish of Abbey, you sought to empathize with her and console her. Also, your entitling the episode "The Baptism River Tragedy" was perfect, because I consider the true story behind the allegory to be a baptism tragedy.

In addition, the message of this allegory may be considered, in large part, a response to the statement and question you wrote in the "Re: Mark Darling starting new church" string. You wrote: I noted in your comment that you have not been a member of "the church" for 25 years. I am curious about how you found this site and how you initially became involved with GCC and why you left. Sounds like you were an early member, but your journey has taken you a different direction. The salient features of the short answers would be:

How I found this site - it appeared during my attempts to contact former associates
How I initially became involved with GGC - deep desire to do what we (my wife and I) felt was G-d's expressed will, desire and direction
Why I left - an ever-deepening desire to do what we clearly saw was G-d's expressed will, desire and instruction
The different direction of my journey - let me just say that we now live 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) SSW of Jerusalem, Israel, in the Judean Hills once inhabited by Abraham and Sara

The symbolism and pathos of the allegory: e.g. the excursion, the river, the boat, the family members, the swim, the run, the injuries, the pain, the tragedy, the anguish and the grief, may take a bit longer to unpack. I am willing...if you're still interested.