Tulipgirl's blog continually raises the issue of Ezzo's controversial child-rearing teachings. So I linked to her site in the title of this post.
We only took "Growing Kid's God's Way," thankfully, and were not exposed to his regimented breastfeeding schedule masquerading as early moral instruction, but I do have a friend who had to hospitalize her fourth son because of following Ezzo's feeding schedule.
Whether it is poor medical advice based on faulty theology (Jesus cried on the cross and the Father didn't immediately intervene, so babies can learn to cry it out to get on that sacrosanct schedule), or else teaching parents the only way to relieve the guilt from a child is to properly spank him (more faulty theology, to be sure), Ezzo's legalistic ideas and Scripture twisting pervade all of his materials with Christian references in them.
He has been under church discipline from John MacArthur's church, and from a subsequent church, Living Hope, from where he was excommunicated.
I think it is very sad that his current church does not see the former disciplinary actions as anything to be concerned about.
I am glad for those who continually speak out against false teachers, and Gary Ezzo is one of them. Click on the post title here and take a look at Tulipgirl's wrtings.
The Log Blocking the Trail and Other Musings on Life, God, and Pretending to
be Nonchalant
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As of midnight tonight, I’m guest posting at Kids, Twins and Laundry Bins,
my friend Elizabeth Esther’s never-dull blog. The title of this post is
trickil...
1 hour ago
5 comments:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences, and participating in Ezzo Week.
It is great that you feel strongly enough about your parenting experinces to write about them here. I encourage you to stick to your own experiences and stay away from the lies being propogated by others on the Internet concerning the Ezzos and the GFI material.
Please read the truth about Gary Ezzo and Grace Church (John MacArthur's church) HERE.
Tulipgirl is even named in the article linked above. You can see the page that she removed from here blog as mentioned in the article HERE in the Google Archives.
The current church leadership at Seacoast has investigated the allegations about Gary Ezzo. Not only does Gary Ezzo's current church (Seacoast) believe in the program, two pastors and several elders actual teach the classes. I know because I attend the same church and I have asked specifically about the support of our church leadership in offering these programs.
Hank, we've known each other online for. . . what. . . over a year now? While we've disagreed, I would say that we have a cordial enough relationship that you could have come to me and ask me about this first. After all, you are the one who was emphasizing "Go to the other person first. . ." in a conversation we had not too long ago. You could have very easily come to me.
What is represented on the page to which you link misrepresents the situation. And since you are stressing the importance of staying away from "lies being propogated by others on the Internet"--don't you think it would be wise to get your facts straight first?
You have my e-mail address--I've left it on your site several times, even recently. You know where my blog is.
Grace and peace,
Hank, hi,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I have been thinking about what you have said, and to a certain extent I understand . . . discussing the disciplinary issues gets murky, because both sides can weigh in with differing perspectives, and only the principals were there and know the truth. I have read your link, and still tend to believe Grace and Living Hope's version of things, but I can see where this kind of thing can get into a lockhorns type of issue.
For this reason I will keep further comments based on the teaching materials alone, which are widely distributed, or talk about what I have learned from people I know who have been on the programs, or from sources that are reputable commenting on the programs (such as Dobson), or from my own experience.
I mean, if I take very short quotes or make spot on synopses of the actual materials and discuss them, that can hardly be called lying.
In fact, come to think of it, most of what I read about Ezzo on the net isn't about the discipline issue -- it is about the actual teaching, or people's personal experiences with it, both pro and con.
It's so hard to discern what's productive and necessary and what's just peripheral and non-productive in such discussions. Sigh.
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