Add Trinity Broadcasting Network founder Paul Crouch to the list.
You want to see something interesting, go to Google News and plug in these two words: pastor arrested
You'll be shocked at the crimes pastors are committing all over the country - molestation, DUI, murder - you've really got to wonder what's up.
but really... only the Muslims are evil, all of them, as we can't like discriminate between them. And they are all illegal immigrants too, and also terrorists and insurgents, and they hate our freedoms. All Christians are basically good, and can be redeemed through special multi-year interventions coupled with spending billions on important War on Christmas paraphenalia. Gosh, it is the nefarious secular-humanists that cause all these problems.
Gosh, Christian misdeeds not going unreported? Somebody must think Christians are capable of mischief after all!
No Spyder not only the Muslims the Catholic church has gotten and still gets plenty of coverage about their scandals nationaly, because it was a nation wide story. If you don't hear about all these abuses of power it is because most of them are strictly local stories. The trend is worth comment on a larger scale however.
In this season of Christmas I would like to remind everyone not to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Apparently these are guys who believe "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord."
But yes, it's not just sex scandals, but other crimes too, possible fostered by a belief that if "You're evil and I'm good," that nothing you do is wrong. I started thinking about this in the early 90s when I heard of the case in Vicksburg of a Baptist preacher who was having an affair with a married woman. omething went wrong, and one Sunday morning before church he murdered her. Then he went to church, preached a sermon, and after church returned to her house to dispose of the corpse.
Maybe it's just that they believe no matter what they do they can be forgiven.
That's part of the problem Becky.
Leonid, these are the people you were advocating as law-givers? That's the mistake about conflating religion with law, religion espouses a morality, the law enforces behavior.
Chuck
Get real. You want to take the lowest common denominator and judge a whole group by it. Christianity as a whole is a great benefit to this entire world and has changed it for the better. Can we judge other groups on the same basis. If we take the worst examples from the black community or homosexual community and said that was representative of the whole group it would be just as wrong.
Problem is, these aren't examples of the lowest common denominator. These are pastors and major leaders, not just Joe Six-Pack Christians... They are counted among the most prominent and influential Christians in the country. Countless thousands of people follow them, fund them, and do what these people say. They are supposed to represent the highest expression of what it means to be a Christian, and instead they offer the highest expression of hypocrisy.
The fish rots from the head down, as they say.
For any real Christian Christ is the head not any pastor that may preach to them. There are many more good ministers than bad and it is a living faith not confined to a book.
Clay by your logic we can look at the scandals in the Catholic church and not only discredit all of Catholicism, as I'm sure there are some people who would like to, but the homosexual community as well. And don't get me started about politics.
Leonid,
If JC is THE head, then forget about all the rest of the book and read your guy's words, just his. Then come back a say something sensible about law and religion. All the rest of those writers are "just pastors."
Chuck
We all have to cope with people being flawed. We learn to discern right from wrong, what has value for us in our lives and if some one is sincere, hypocritical etc. and how that is a reflection on him or what he believes. Also we need to discern what the Bible means. Jesus is there to guide people in this process so we can live the way God wants us to where we don't need any books to follow.
Unfortunately there are very few words of Jesus as you know. Many Christians rely on Paul for more concrete specific circumstance guidance and there have always been preachers who have abused their power or were corrupt which he spoke about. It's nothing new. There are bad parents, nations, teachers... and I think it is easy to get full of yourself standing in front of others preaching.
So like I said don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Becky touched on one of the problems. You can always be forgiven. This in conjunction with no real solutions but to continue the fight against temptation until Jesus comes floating out of the sky can be twisted into a powerful excuse or even justification. I can be quite critical of Christian doctrine but Christianity has shown itself most productive for the greater good.
I can understand why people are attracted to buddhism. There is a duality which can lead to a similar excuse making but it also teaches working to an end goal that can be achieved even if it takes several lives (not that I believe in reincarnation). In Christianity you work to be a better person but even Paul confessed that not until you die are you free from the sinful influences pushing on your earthly life and there is no glorified boby or liberation until the last day, however you want to interpret that. That's how I've seen it.
Leonid: Chuck
Get real. You want to take the lowest common denominator and judge a whole group by it. Christianity as a whole is a great benefit to this entire world and has changed it for the better. Can we judge other groups on the same basis. If we take the worst examples from the black community or homosexual community and said that was representative of the whole group it would be just as wrong.
I'm struck by how polar opposite this statement of your's is to your earlier arguements against the Imams who were yanked off that jet and denied transportation even after being 100% cleared by the FBI. There you seemed to have absolutely no problem whatever with going with the lowest common denominator. Which I'm pretty certain that Merriam-Webster would define as hypocrisy.
Kevin
The Imams were treated according to their actions which included get seat extenders they didn't need and putting them under their seats (that is fact even if you wont admit it or not). Of course we disagree on this point as some of your fellow PKs disagreed with you. In the course of argument the known actions of terrorists (not the whole Muslim communtiy) were given as reason for requiring such treatment of the Imams. There was the mention of the teaching of jihad which I said made many Muslims reluctant to speak out against terrorists but that most Muslims thought would only apply under much more severe conditions threatening their way of life. I also linked to what I wrote on my own blog to clarify my positon on Islam.
Did I ever say all Muslims were Islamo-fascist terrorists? No.
In fact we judge people on their actions. I was not the one to link to the anti Islam site. Though I can comment on the extent of terrorism, since Muslims I believe are over 1/4 of the world population, it is still a small percentage (of terrorists).
So if you see a Christian minister spending hours on end with a woman married to someone else that should arouse suspician based on what we see here. It doesn't mean all ministers are bad or that Christianity is detrimental in any way on its own, the same wtih Islam.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We all know this. We see it in our elected politicians. We've seen it all through history.
No matter the religion, no matter the country, no matter the institution: if a person or persons are given power over all others, Evil Will Happen. Especially when those who have given up their power also give up their right to think.
It seems to me, Leonid, that we've been over and over this issue of the Imams. Let's let it go for now. I think it was Ogden Nash who said:
A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still.
Don't confuse him with the facts.
Use a double bitted ax.
Sometimes that goes for every one of us with a strong opinion--including you and me.
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