Comments on: Paul Negrut Accused of Plagiarism

By: Catalina Hughes

Catalina Hughes — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:27:09 +0000

Hi there,
I am like most Romanian baptists a careful listener of dr. Negrut’s sermons and have been blessed by them etc.
Plagiarism is, however, a very serious matter especially in an academic setting and is basically NOT without consequenses ever. Especially when commited by an academic.It is unclear from this account of matters wether dr. Negrut has or has not plagiarized. It would definately not suit his caracter and it probably was negligence after all. (unfortunately we dont have any account from dr. Negrut himself)
On the other hand, I am shocked by the comments of some of the students from the institute(above) who seem to minimize the issue of plagiarism.It looks like this aspect has not been emphasized in their course and I believe, as far as I remember from when I was living/studying in Romania that it is hardly mentioned in academia generally there.
This is not at all the case in the west espeacially in research etc. I hope this incident will raise awareness in this sense rather then more lenience and acceptance of plagiarism.

By: Baptist Press Article on Paul Negrut and Plagiarism « Kingdom People

Baptist Press Article on Paul Negrut and Plagiarism « Kingdom People — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:10:34 +0000

[...] the article. View the full Baptist Press story here and view my previous post about this situation here. To see this article in Romanian, click [...]

By: Ghitza

Ghitza — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 09:48:31 +0000

Though some questions still remain for me…I agree with Marius Manci in his message above:
“Let’s not even give attention to this issue any longer…” May the good Lord sustain and strengthen brother Paul in his work (and correct where necessary) and I hope and pray that one day his accusers will reveal themselves and have fellowship with brother Paul.
After all – forgiveness is a most wonderful Christian teaching and reality.
Gheorghe

By: trevinwax

trevinwax — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:56:22 +0000

I don’t recall being told we couldn’t copy the course materials. I copied them, as I did most of the books/materials that I used for study in Romania. It is possible that the administration wished that the course would not be copied, but I didn’t know that and so I copied them on the xerox machine.

By: Ghitza

Ghitza — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:45:55 +0000

Trevin. Thanks for the answer.
You did not answer any of my questions – but I respect your position and I am in broad agreement with it.

However – do you have a copy of this course?
If you do – how did you get it?
I ask to see if it is true that the course in the library was NOT to be copied.
You can e-mail me if it easier for you.

Blessings,
Gheorghe

By: Marius Manci

Marius Manci — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:14:31 +0000

Once again we are exposed to the how imperfection progressed ever since the fall of the human being! Though I am not reffering to brother Paul Negrut! I am reffering to those who wanted to make a charlatan out of him (out of Paul), through an accusation of the worst kind (for an intellectual) which when dissected reveals bad intentions on the accuser’s part! Even ethically speaking, when we are to “judge” the act of Negrut versus the act of the accuser, we still arrive at the answer that Paul Negrut wanted what is good for The Kingdom , yet the accuser had no concerns whatsoever about The Kingdom, perhaps this in itself tells us that if the accuser were of The kingdom, the member wouldn’t fight against his/her own-that would lead to self-defeat, the fall of an empire. Let’s not even give attention to this issue any longer, because that way we would satisfy the “accuser’s craving” to see the downfall of a man of God!Personally, I was never one of Negrut’s students,((though I am a “student of Ethics”) I live in the States, but I have been one that have found a lot of good in the messages that God put in his mind to deliver it to his people.Negrut is preparing the future generation, the accuser is trying to shortcircuit the progress made- Negrut is doing God’s work, who’s work is the accuser doing?

By: trevinwax

trevinwax — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:21:16 +0000

In response to Ghitza,

A professor in New York who has spent a lifetime studying cases of plagiarism and advocating ways to stop it contacted me recently about this case. He wanted more information regarding the course materials and the way the course was described.

I offered him all the recollections I have, and at the end, he told me that the would not be able to use this case in his research because it was not a true case of plagiarism. He based this mainly off the fact that the accusers had remained anonymous and that the course had never been claimed by Negrut or sold by the Institute.

I am going to stick with the opinion of a plagiarism professional and believe that this is not a true case of plagiarism. As I closed my original post – “Negligence, yes. Plagiarism, no.”

By: Ghitza

Ghitza — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:25:31 +0000

I do not believe that Paul Negrut plagiarized – at least not intentionally. In fact – I defended him before one of his harshest accusers (by e-mail).

However – I do have some questions – the first 2 coming from the interchange with one of his accusers. They made me think about this and I would like to ask Trevin and perhaps Caius Obeada for their opinions.
1. Would Paul’s position as an academic (and perhaps even his job) have been compromised for such a mistake if this happened in the USA?
2. Is it true that there were students who were exmatriculated from Oradea for a lot less? In other words, if someone submitted a work with such a flagrant mistake (he mistakenly did not cite only a few paragraphs on one of his papers- and his excuse was that he is not good with computers etc) – would he be forgiven and not kicked out of the school without much discussion?
3. This is my personal question (the previous 2 come from a discussion with an accuser). If there was mistake of ‘tehnoredactare’ – and I believe it was – why didn’t anybody ‘take the fall’? Why isn’t this person pointed out (his name and position) – and why does he not come forward and say: I made the mistake and I am sorry? I believe if this happened – it would help very much pastor Paul’s position and defense.
Besides – I seriously doubt that anybody would ‘crucify’ the person who made the computer mistake (in case thate excuse is given for not revealing the one who made the computer mistake). The fact that this ‘computer person’ who made the error has not been pointed out (and he did not identify himself etc) – throws a shadow of doubt on his existence (at least that is what I believe).
4. Is it legal/ethic to copy someone else’s work without previous approval – even for internal library use? I know it is Romania…but still – this is an ethics course
5. Also – if there was just a computer error – why would brother Paul ask Scott Rae (personally) for ‘forgiveness’?
6. Is it true that this course – with the computer error – has been in the library for almost 6-7 years? (1999-2006). And is it really true that you were NOT allowed to copy it (like brother Paul says)? From what I know (I personally have a friend who took this course) – there are students (many/most?)who have COPIES of this very course (including Trevin?). In this case – that would contradict what Paul said in his defense (if it was possible to copy this course). He said that the course could NOT be copied.

Again – let me make it clear that I do NOT believe that brother Paul intentionally plagiarized – and I believe that the people who brought this mistake forth should have contacted him first, and they perhaps are disgruntled (for one reason or another) and would like to see him fall.
However – since they brought this up – it brings up some questions – and even though I sympathize with Paul’s predicament, I do not think that these questions have been satisfactorily addressed and answered.
What do you think? I am talking especially with Trevin and Caius.

Many blessings too all,
Gheorghe

By: A group of Baptist believers

A group of Baptist believers — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:13:34 +0000

Pastor Paul Negrut is one of the greatest man of God which Romania has ever had. He stood for the truth in the communist period and -as I know him for more than 20 years- I can affirm that he stands for the truth now in freedom… The “group (or the person) of Baptist believers” who wanted to discredit pastor Negrut doesn’t have any chance to follow their bad plans as those who know Paul Negrut knows that integrity is one of his strength.
I know that God will honor pastor Paul for being unjustly accused, if not here on this part of the earth, for sure on the other…

A different “group of Baptist believers”

From Romania

By: Nelu Vat

Nelu Vat — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:09:35 +0000

Hi Trevin,

I was so happy to see the great things God makes through you. Be blessed you and your family!

Because you’ve been in Romania and you know the situation with the several “disciples” who proved in the end no to be God’s ones, please pray for Paul Negrut and his team of pastors and professors from Emanuel University of Oradea.

They need our prayer, and we are responsible for helping them in prayer, for them to be able to do the same good job they’ve done with us when we were students. We are results of God’s work through their ministry, and looking at the results, our lives or to the lives of other alumni, we can definitely say it was a good ministry.

I think that the one of the verses in Zechariah shows what’s happening now in the Baptist Church in Romania: “smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7).

Those who are throwing with dirt in them are covered by dirt. Some of them, like Alin Cristea (he is of those that wrote to you on the topic “Paul Negrut Accused of Plagiarism” ), fortunately, I know personally (I’m saying fortunately because knowing their situation I’m more motivate to pray for God to clean their mind and life and stop doing evil).

These are the last days and the lord of darkness is using all the means necessary to stop God’s work. My big disappointment is that people that should encourage us and train us in fighting evil (ex. Danut Manastireanu and many others) fail in their ministry. In a way it is also my fault because as a sheep I should had prayed more for the “shepherds” because they are in the front lane not me, so they are “VIP” targets.

God be blessed for his disciples and disciple makers, and my His hand be upon them and their families.

Best Regards,
Nelu Vat