Monday, February 13, 2006
Evil In The Sheep's Pen
We must remind ourselves the Paulks are only two of many whose pride allowed them to thumb their noses at Christ, the Scriptures, and their flocks. I can quickly think of Gordon MacDonald, Jim Bakker, Lonnie Latham, Jesse Jackson, David Hocking, Randall Terry, a multitude of perverted Catholic priests, Jimmy Swaggart, and a dozen lesser known clergy ... shall I continue?John goes on to cite a study that 30% of Protestant clergy have had sex outside of the bonds of marriage.
We must ask ourselves why this happens as much as it does. I think the answer really is in the lack of consequence. They do it because they can get away with it. Why can they get away with it? Several reasons I think
- A misunderstanding of confession, repentance, and grace, and the relationship of those ideas to the management of the the church's affairs. As I said last week, scripture is plain, "I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person" (I Cor 5)
- A grossly misguided desire to protect the image of the church/organization. "Well, if that gets out people will stop coming to XXX Church." It seems to me the image can only be enhanced by the open and honest dealing with the problem. The Catholic church is suffering much more from the cover-up than the sin itself.
- "He said/she said" - a lot of these cases come down to that. So, things get ignored for a "lack of evidence" even though everyone knows it happened. These are not courts of law, nobody's going to jail. This is about someone losing their job, that's all; I don't think courtroom standards need apply. Further is not the church blessed with a Spirit of Discernment for precisely such situations?
A failure to deal with these situations in a straight-up and honest manner belies a focus on the things of this world and not the things of God.
John cites some "famous" examples. How many are known to only a close circle of a few? I can name 3 such situations off the top of my head. The worst part is none of them were "affairs" - they were the clergy using thier authority in some coercive, if not forceful, manner. The non-clergy member of the problem was more victim than participant. And that is really ugly.
Again, I salute John for this brave look he is taking at this very important issue.
Related Tags: church, sexual impurity, sexual sin, consequences, Chrsitianity, Paulks
