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Hi Paul and thanks for your observations.
I have no interest in throwing stones: the last thing I want to see is Kingsway destroyed. On the contrary, it's because I want to see Kingsway thrive and excel that I am highlighting this issue. I and several others raised these questions with Kingsway privately long before they were raised in public, but Kingsway failed to address the issue constructively.
As followers of Christ do we not have a duty of care towards our brothers and sisters in the faith to challenge them when they go astray? Do we not have a responsibility to highlight hypocrisy when we see it? Is this not what you now believe yourself to be doing in challenging my challenge to Kingsway?
You are right: we all need to examine ourselves. I am painfully aware of Jesus' teaching about those with logs in their eyes attempting to remove splinters from others' — but does that teaching take away our responsibilities towards one another? Should we remain silent when we see the "Tower of Siloam" about to collapse on our neighbours' heads?
The tower may have collapsed on the old STL — but does that mean we should stand back and allow another tower to collapse on Kingsway? Should we not rather be there amidst the rubble helping dig the survivors out?
If you haven't done so, Paul, please go read my post "In Defence of Kingsway":
http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2010/06/14/in-defence-of-kingsway/
I say again what I essentially said there: Kingsway are not the enemy. I want to continue trading with them and I want to continue supplying their product to my customers — but they need to work with me, with all of us, to make that possible.
(Since you have posted your comment on both polls, I am posting my response on both).
"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone
I believeGod is speaking to us through the words of Jesus about the tower of Siloam:
4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
If we gave a contemporary application to these verses, it could read like this:
Do you think that Kingsway are more guilty than us booksellers? I tell you, no! But unless we repent we too will be judged. In the same way, do we think that the Christian bookshops and STL that had to close last year are more guilty than the rest of us? I tell you, no, but unless we repent we too will all perish.