Sexual Scandals in the Church

[B-A-C]

Robert Morris, Tony Evans, Bill Hybels, Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Baker, Ted Haggard, Jack Schaap, Douglas Goodman, Carl Lentz, Eddie Long, Bob Moorehead, Ravi Zacharias, these are just a few names from a very long list.

The New York Times posted an article in 2022, about over 400 sexual misconduct charges in the Southern Baptist church here in the US. This could be partially exaggerated in an attempt to
make Christians look worse than they are, but there is no doubt some truth in many of these allegations. Anglicans, Pentecostals, Baptists, pick any denomination you like.

Catholic Church sexual abuse cases - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Any way you look at it, it's bad. The statistics are staggering. It seems that almost every church that has been around for any substantial length of time has had some scandal of one type or another.
It's no wonder much of the world looks at the church with much disdain. One of my ex-pastor in the Portland Oregon area was recently found out to be having an affair. ( This started after I left that church, but nonetheless.. )

One of my favorite Christians singers of the 80's and 90's, a man named Ray Boltz, announced he was "coming out" as a homosexual in 2008.
Some entire denominations have embraced homosexual and even transgender clergy. The Episcopal church, the United Methodist Church, the ELCA branch of the Lutheran Church.

Now I'm sure, that these things have always been happening to some extent throughout history. But it sure seems like this last generation has just fallen off the cliff.

Some will say these people were never saved, others will say Satan went after them because they were being successful in ministry. I'm not sure it matters very much.

In the Old Testament, we had David and Bathsheba, in the New Testament we had a man apparently sleeping with his stepmom ( 1Cor 5:1; ) . Depending on which Bible translation you have
even the angels had illicit sexual relations. ( Jude 1:6-7; )

There is more that could be added here, but this is enough. Now that it's out there, what do we do about it? I don't think "the church" is responsible for this really, it all comes down to
individual choices at an individual level.

I noticed, that when David has his affair, God wasn't nearly as mad at the affair itself, as He was that the affair caused "the enemies of God to blaspheme".

2Sam 12:13; Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.
2Sam 12:14; "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die."

I can't help but wonder how many people in the world blaspheme Christians, Jesus, and the church because of some bad decisions certain people have made?

If you read Psalms 51, this was David's prayer of repentance. It seems people can come back from these things, David is called a man after God's own heart in the New Testament.

Gal 6:1; Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
Gal 6:2; Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3; For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Gal 6:4; But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.
Gal 6:5; For each one will bear his own load.

You might be thinking, well I know I would never do that. But the Bible warns against that kind of thinking. Once you think you're too good to sin, that's when the temptation comes.
We need to be praying for our leaders. If you are in leadership, you need some accountability. Protect yourself, there are practices and things you can do to guard against these things.
A married man should never be alone with another woman ( besides his wife ).

I have noticed over the last few decades, that when a preacher quits preaching about the consequences of sin, that almost always means he has some hidden sin in his own life.

Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Report Stuns, From Pulpit to Pews (Published 2022)

The results of a sprawling investigation are coursing through every level of Baptist society, at an already fraught moment for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

www.nytimes.com

 

[hopefulson]

Robert Morris, Tony Evans, Bill Hybels, Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Baker, Ted Haggard, Jack Schaap, Douglas Goodman, Carl Lentz, Eddie Long, Bob Moorehead, Ravi Zacharias, these are just a few names from a very long list.

The New York Times posted an article in 2022, about over 400 sexual misconduct charges in the Southern Baptist church here in the US. This could be partially exaggerated in an attempt to
make Christians look worse than they are, but there is no doubt some truth in many of these allegations. Anglicans, Pentecostals, Baptists, pick any denomination you like.

Catholic Church sexual abuse cases - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Any way you look at it, it's bad. The statistics are staggering. It seems that almost every church that has been around for any substantial length of time has had some scandal of one type or another.
It's no wonder much of the world looks at the church with much disdain. One of my ex-pastor in the Portland Oregon area was recently found out to be having an affair. ( This started after I left that church, but nonetheless.. )

One of my favorite Christians singers of the 80's and 90's, a man named Ray Boltz, announced he was "coming out" as a homosexual in 2008.
Some entire denominations have embraced homosexual and even transgender clergy. The Episcopal church, the United Methodist Church, the ELCA branch of the Lutheran Church.

Now I'm sure, that these things have always been happening to some extent throughout history. But it sure seems like this last generation has just fallen off the cliff.

Some will say these people were never saved, others will say Satan went after them because they were being successful in ministry. I'm not sure it matters very much.

In the Old Testament, we had David and Bathsheba, in the New Testament we had a man apparently sleeping with his stepmom ( 1Cor 5:1; ) . Depending on which Bible translation you have
even the angels had illicit sexual relations. ( Jude 1:6-7; )

There is more that could be added here, but this is enough. Now that it's out there, what do we do about it? I don't think "the church" is responsible for this really, it all comes down to
individual choices at an individual level.

I noticed, that when David has his affair, God wasn't nearly as mad at the affair itself, as He was that the affair caused "the enemies of God to blaspheme".

2Sam 12:13; Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.
2Sam 12:14; "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die."

I can't help but wonder how many people in the world blaspheme Christians, Jesus, and the church because of some bad decisions certain people have made?

If you read Psalms 51, this was David's prayer of repentance. It seems people can come back from these things, David is called a man after God's own heart in the New Testament.

Gal 6:1; Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
Gal 6:2; Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3; For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Gal 6:4; But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.
Gal 6:5; For each one will bear his own load.

You might be thinking, well I know I would never do that. But the Bible warns against that kind of thinking. Once you think you're too good to sin, that's when the temptation comes.
We need to be praying for our leaders. If you are in leadership, you need some accountability. Protect yourself, there are practices and things you can do to guard against these things.
A married man should never be alone with another woman ( besides his wife ).

I have noticed over the last few decades, that when a preacher quits preaching about the consequences of sin, that almost always means he has some hidden sin in his own life.

Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Report Stuns, From Pulpit to Pews (Published 2022)

The results of a sprawling investigation are coursing through every level of Baptist society, at an already fraught moment for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

www.nytimes.com

Not to be offered up as either a reason or an excuse, but as a battle cry to war. The Christian Heart longs for union with Christ and all creation with it. The moment our eyes are removed from the face of Jesus Christ that longing is all the more pronounced. The demonstration is found in Genesis where Adam and Eve with the God relationship broken look at one another and find themselves to be naked. Nothing changed but the relationship between themselves and God and one another. Pornography entered the world at that very moment. From that point on there is a connotation attached to any and every sin that sin stands in the just light of an adulterous relationship to God. With the relationship broken the heart screams for completion with The Lord and His perfection and any placebo harbors disaster taking us on a course far off base and deep into enemy territory. So be aware it is a real war. As Jesus describes it when the strong man stands guard of the house his goods are at Peace but when a stronger comes along he enters the house defeats the owner and plunders his goods. No one is immune. Anyone that would heap coals on the head of the stumbled no matter who they might be becomes an enemy of hope and a burden in the face of the goal of recovery and reform. That should as warriors ourselves, must be our prayer for all. For who do we have the right to cast away? Fear of The Lord and unfettered Love of Him is the core spiritual substance of our armor. How many of us without The Cross of Christ within us would not stand rattled to our core by our past. That place we are admonished to not so much as look back at. Now to play and create a chink within that armor invites our savage and wily enemy the devil who will be certain to exploit it for he is indeed ravenous and the soul of every Christian is his preferred food. He the devil will burn for it and he wants us to agree with his ways and join him as company.