Pastor to Pastor

Yet again there is a pastor in the news for both preaching against homosexuality AND facing accusations of inappropriate sexual encounters with someone of the same sex. This case is actually way more upsetting to me personally than the Haggard case for several reasons...

1) Abuse of Power. This pastor is accused of manipulating young male parishioners into sexual acts with him. So not only was he living with unspeakable hypocrisy, but he chose victims that he thought would be forced to keep his secret. Like any abuse case, he preyed on the weak because in weakness there is silence.

2) Denial. At least with Haggard, when he got caught he fessed up and resigned. Not that I loved his plan for gay rehab, but at the least he accepted his secrets seeing the light of day with humility and embarrassment. This new case has not shown the same kind of reaction. He is currently promising to put up a fight against his accusers and is calling them liars. In fairness, he has the right to innocence until proven guilty ... But can you think of a single case where these charges turned out to be fabricated? Right now the victims, instead of moving into recovery and counseling, are having to defend their trauma and face accusations of lies and intentional destruction.

3) You're not helping. There is already the VERY false myth out there that pedoflia and homosexuality are linked. Let me be really clear about this - NO, THEY ARE NOT. Those are two very different issues. One is matter of preference and creation, and the other is a criminal sexual disorder - only parinoia and ignorance create an automatic link between the two. So to hide your sexuality and resort to young males in your congregation... not a help to the cause of truth and justice.

4) The larger problem: letting fear prevent truth. It is about time that this same story stop getting repeated. If you are preaching that God is about love and grace, then why work so hard to cover up who you have discovered you are? Just because you preach that homosexuality is a sin doesn't make it go away. We are who we are, and God knows that from the second we are created. To try and hide and suppress how we were created or who we love is just asking to end up drowning in lies and scandal. Nothing good ever comes from lying to ourselves, and usually ends up in lying to others. The God that I follow is way better at loving me than I am at loving myself, and part of my daily walk is to try and accept the grace that is offered to me. So why feel the need to condemn others and lie to yourself when God is waiting to love you and help you feel whole? The truth is like a swing, the harder you push it away, the harder it comes back and smacks you in the face.