"Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can't really get rid of it."
—The Case for Christianity

 

Why is it that I feel the need to expose hypocrisy and sin in the Christian community? I have a friend who seems to be able to blow off serious issues. When I discussed my concern about the long term effects of sexual abuse on some children that had been molested in a church, she said, "I don'treally feel like God is calling me to be concerned about this." Mind you, these were children that she knew.

 

In some ways, this reminds me of the people of the Lutheran Church of Germany during the time of Hitler. Many of those people knew of the atrocities being committed by Hitler but kept their mouths shut. Most likely they were fearful of being targeted if they said anything. But, I wonder, how many lived with guilt about their complicity for the rest of their lives…

 

Once again, why do I feel the need to expose these issues? There is a line in the song, Bad Romance, which says, "Because I'm a freak, baby." Am I freak? Why can't I be like the female friend I mentioned and just not care? Perhaps its because I was raised as a non-Christian. When I came to the faith, I really bought the whole package. I grew up in an area that was known for its shady politics. My father often talked about Mayor Curley, the famed lawbreaking mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He would tell me stories of crooked politicians and seemed to think that it was normal and expected. He would shake his head and call them derisively, "pols."

 

Finally, when I became a believer, I assumed this stuff would find no place in Christianity. I couldn't imagine that shady politics, which would include nepotism, the cover-up of immoral activities by leaders and greed, would be ever be assumed to be a normal state of affairs within the faith. And then, I saw it with my own eyes. I also heard stories from good people like Doug Pittman and Tom Rich and those who would write in on this blog. I read Wade Burleson's eyeopening book Hardball Religion and was shocked by the Mafioso tactics of some who run the Southern Baptist Convention.

 

This is not the faith I found as a seventeen year old teen. It seems as if the SBC, GBC, SGM and other churches and Christian organizations have been taken over by aliens. Minimally, they seem to be run by the mob bosses of old. Things seem little different from the Mayor Curley days of Boston. The church seems no different from the society as a whole. No wonder our young people are getting out! Why not openly view pornography when pastors seem to be doing so? Why not actively pursue wealth in the secular arena? Many pastors and leaders seem to be doing so on the backs of grandma's tithe? Why not engage in violence? Heck, a guy on the International Missions Board pulled out a knife during a meeting (read Hardball Religion). No wonder the secular world views us with disdain.

 

Well, maybe I am a freak. But I feel called to expose this nonsense. Along the way, I have met other bloggers who are also doing the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, God is calling us little guys to stand up to the nonsense and demand accountability. And until the leaders show transparency and accountability to us, the community of believers that they have been "called" to serve,  I feel precious little need to "respect their authority". By the way, don't pull the Matthew 18 thing on us. You have been confronted numerous times, and you have buried the complaints. You are misusing this verse. Matthew 18 is often the last refuge of scoundrels.

 

So, onto this unbiblical resolution. What are they teaching in seminaries these days??????

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all Georgia Baptists respectfully request and expect that individuals who disrupt the fellowship through blogging repent and immediately cease this activity and no longer cause disharmony for the advancement of their own personal opinions and agendas;

 

Well, be it resolved that all Georgia Baptist preachers who disrupt the fellowship of the saints by covering up sin, immediately repent and apologize for causing pain to Doug Pittman and all those who were desperately hurt at Prays Mill Baptist Church.

 

May the GBC immediately resolve to apologize for causing disharmony by using this resolution to "cover-up" the real issue of sin that has never been appropriately dealt with.

 

May the GBC repent of putting the selfish agendas of its leaders over the well-being of the people that they were called to serve with humility and selflessness.

 

May the GBC repent of their lack of effort to bring about healing and reconciliation in this matter.

 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we set our eyes once again on the fields to which we are called to labor, refusing to dishonor God with activities that militate against harmony and good will.

 

Be it finally resolved that the leadership set its eyes once again on the people that it is called to serve, refusing to dishonor God by using hard earned tithes to pay exhoribitant salaries to leaders.

 

May the GBC refuse to dishonor God by using resolutions to bring inappropriate pressure to bear on decent people who were hurt by unresolved sin.

 

May the GBC apologize for orchestrating a resolution that militated against the harmony and good will amongst the Baptists of Georgia . Harmony can be achieved by repentance on the part of servant leaders who first take the log out of their eye before attempting to remove the speck in one of its members by using a bulldozer.

 

This GBC resolution is one of the most ridiculous, un-Christian, devious methods that I have ever seen used by a bunch of cowards who refuse to deal with extremely legitimate issues raised by a lone blogger. They appear to have used this resolution to obfuscate the real issue of sin. This resolution raises serious questions about who is minding the hen house in the GBC. 

 

Ben and Jerry protested outside of the headquarters of Piilsbury when Pillsbury attempted to remove Ben and Jerry products from the supermarkets where Pillsbury placed it frozen items. They carried a sign which said, "What's the Dough boy afraid of?" So, I ask this question, "What's the GBC afraid of?" Methinks there is much more than meets the eye…