INTERVIEW WITH DAVE REIMER

What do you think—is “interactive pastoral care” too fluffy?
Most of our guests seem to assume that early Anabaptists didn’t follow the four-step process of Matthew 18. In your experience of conflict and conflict resolution did the early steps never take place or is it possible that the final step, because of its severity overshadowed all earlier attempts to come to a resolution? That the early steps were taken but forgotten about.
Murray states that the Anabaptist ban was harsh though he reminds us that “excommunication” in the state churches was much harsher. How much of Anabaptist harshness can we accept as being cultural and therefore outside of our right to judge?

Harsh But Not Lethal