Independent assessment is a sin?

A few of my comments on a sermon by Terry Virgo featured over on Adrian's Blog
were actually published, but this response to Robert has not:

"robert:

Somewhere in my loft I have a cassette of Terry addressing an apostolic leaders' conference from some time in the 80s or early 90s (in a broader context than NewFrontiers) in which he speaks from the verse which talks about "being of one mind" and in which the emphasis was on the importance of congregations (and church movements) being of the same mind as their leaders.

He introduces the talk by mentioning the then slogan of the Independent newspaper ("it is - are you?") and continues by saying how much today's society values independent thinking and how much that is against Paul's thinking.

I can understand your thinking, but in my experience it's not so much a question of being able to leave if you feel your ability to think is in danger as being forced to leave should it transpire that your "independent assessment" carried out in all good faith has unwittingly placed you at odds with senior leadership and their agenda - something which this sermon could easily be used to support."

(Link to post here).

What I find ironic (and saddening) about this is that it effectively proves the point I'm making in the post. Adrian asks for reactions to his posts and gives an appearance of discussion - but as soon as things become too hot to handle (in the sense of straying too far from the party line) then debate is shut down without any notice whatsoever. I find that deceptive.