Sex with troubled underage teen lands pastor in unholy water

He said he was sorry and he was a fool.  His wife begged for leniency and blamed his prostate and low lithium levels for his transgressions.  His congregation prayed. His lawyer pleaded.  ‘He was a good man with decades of good works’, they attested.  In the end, the former pastor was sentenced to 12 years in jail.  His crime? He took advantage of a young troubled teen, entering into a sexual relationship with her that was so deep that he allegedly sent texts to her from the pulpit.  The defendant, Mr. Jack Schaap, was pastor to a mega church of 15,000 members. Interestingly, just over 100 parishioners wrote letters of support and only about 70 showed up at the court.

What’s my take on this? Texting and preaching is wrong? Ok seriously, we wonder why some people are religion-shy, there’s the reason right there.  I realize we are human first before our chosen callings but come on…

 

Related articles

• Indiana pastor sentence to 12 years for sex with underaged girl (wgntv.com)
• Megachurch Pastor Jack Shaap Sentenced To 12 Years For Sex With Teen Girl (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Pastor: Sex With Minor God’s Plan (drudge.com)
• Former pastor accused of telling teen parishioner Jesus approved of their relationship (fox59.com)

 

So Who Is Hoarding All The Luck?

“I have the worst luck”,  is a statement you always hear or even say yourself.  Just about all of us are guilty.  What we don’t say or hear is, “I am so lucky”.

You are running late for an appointment and decide to take a shortcut that crosses a railroad track.  As you raced towards it, the control arms come down, effectively bringing your race to a halt and making you even later.  “Drat it!  This always happen to me!”   What you are forgetting are the times when the arms came down just as you crossed over, blocking the unlucky cars behind you.  You probably didn’t say, “Wow! I am so lucky!” did you? Of course not.  Why not?  Well maybe because we expect our lives to be like that, with everything going our way.

What I’m trying to say is that we always remember the hurt but not so much the pleasure.  We remember the bad stuff that happens to us more than we remember the good stuff.  How could you be the unluckiest person because you never win at lottery or you seem to always catch the red light or train when your best friend who already has diabetes, was recently diagnosed with cancer?  I sometimes tell my friends that I have the worst luck or no luck at all because I never win prizes at events.   What I am forgetting is that my mom and  both my grandmothers are still alive and healthy. ( One turns 101 in a few months).  Not too many people my age can say that.

Next time we encounter a small setback,  maybe we should try to not be too quick to play the ‘woe is me’ card.  We could perhaps remember a time when the perceived setback worked for us, like the train track example.  And if you say you are the unluckiest person and I say the same thing, then who is this lucky person hoarding all the luck?

Just my take.

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If faith without works is dead, how about works without faith?

Many of us believe that all we need to do is believe in God and study the bible and this should be good enough to make us  candidates for Heavenly rewards.  What we ignore is the part of the Bible that states  ’Faith without works is dead.’   To me, that means that I can believe until I’m blue in the face but if I do nothing about it, then my faith is useless.   Dead.  Which makes sense.  Why it makes sense?  Well with genuine faith and belief in Him comes the need to be like Him.  If we want to be like him then we have to exhibit good works.

Now if my faith is dead because I have no works to back it up,  how about if I do good works BUT I have no faith and/or belief in God?  I am a good person, right?  My works show that I am, so where do I stand?  That’s a good one.  One that we hear often.   I think that indeed if I go out and do good deeds, without a doubt, I am a good person.  Not Godly, but good.  So don’t I get some sort of reward for doing good? Maybe a free pass to Heaven?  Well consider this, you have a son who you love very much.  You give him whatever he wants and treat him as good as any kid would want to be treated.   Unfortunately, your son does not acknowledge you or love you.  He couldn’t care if you live or die.  But on the flip side, he is great doing his chores and homework.  He is otherwise a good boy.  Would you be satisfied?  Would his works be good enough to make you ignore the fact that he couldn’t care less about you?

My take.   And you, keep up the good work.

 

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• Faith Without Works is Dead (selfeducatedconservative.wordpress.com)
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Repentant Pastor Made Me Eat Humble Pie

Logo used from 1980–2007, still in use at some Applebee’s locations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s not too often that I go back on my take or eat humble pie so to speak.  This is one of those not-too-often occasions.  My last blog was harshly critical of the pastor, Alois Bell and her Applebee’s adventure.   If you have no clue what I’m talking about, read my blog here.

To refresh you, Pastor Alois went to dine at Applebee’s with some friends and when it came time to pay the bill, she was charged 18% gratuity.  She was not  impressed and showed it by writing, “I give God 10% why do you get 18%?”  A waitress finding it  insulting and comical felt that it was internet worthy and posted it online where it went viral.   She, the waitress, was promptly fired when the Pastor called the restaurant voicing her objection to the alleged invasion of privacy and breach of customer trust.  Well me being my opinionated self, jumped all over it and berated the pastor for being a cheapskate for trying to shortchange the poor waitress.

Later, I saw an interview that Pastor Alois Bell did on the Fox network.  I watched it in its entirety and within the first couple of minutes, I realized that I had been too quick to crucify the pastor.  She was very open and apologetic and being a good reader of people, I knew she was legit.  She did not show up to the interview wearing a brand name suit with hair and nails done.  She looked like your regular woman in the next pew.   She was down-to-earth and real.  Alois saw the lesson that her action presented.  She admitted her human frailty that led her to do what she did.  We all make mistakes.  Even I do.  And did.

Alois, you keep on doing your thing.  You seem like a nice person.  You erred but we all err but not all of us say sorry.  I am sorry for being so quick to judge and sentence you.  After all, who the heck am I to cast the first stone?

 

Watch the pastor’s apologize on Fox:

Pastor apologizes

Related:

Cheapskate pastor

Casting the first stone

Bus driver gives own shoes to homeless man

Official logo of Winnipeg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Winnipeg, the daily news is scary.  Stabbings, muggings, shootings, all sort of acts of violence and criminal activities.  That all changed yesterday when a transit driver pulled over, abandoned his bus and gave the shoes off his feet to a homeless man.  What a selfless act!  The good Samaritan did not want the accolades that would accompany such a gesture and has opted to remain nameless.  If only we could duplicate this, what a wonderful world it would be.  Apparently, his passengers were moved to tears by what he did.

Note:  (Sept. 21 update) Bus driver Kris Doubledee finally came forward to admit he was the good Samaritan.  His story gained worldwide media coverage and this morning, he will fly out to New York to be on CBS This Morning. I hope his story helps to awaken something in us that drives us to do selfless acts.

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• Winnipeg bus driver gives his shoes to man in need (cbc.ca)
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• Video: Winnipeg bus driver gives shoes to barefoot man (theglobeandmail.com)

Casting the first stone

A Mexican standoff. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”   We all know this Biblical saying.  But imagine what a boring world it would be if we subscribe to it.   None of us are without sin, even if we do not kill, we may lie.    Sin is sin, isn’t it?   if I am to judge my kleptomaniac neighbor, he also has the right to judge me, so  what we have here ladies and gentlemen, is a Mexican standoff.  No stones will be cast today.  You may now proceed to your homes.

In this day and age, casting the first stone is a luxury not readily affordable.  There is a race to get to that first stone and prizes are awarded.  Well at least so it seems.  Everyone’s fingers are pointed at everyone else but themselves.  We see the guy creeping on his wife but our own spousal abuse is overlooked.  As long as we are not cheating, it’s all good.  Sin that is highly visible takes precedent over sin that is behind closed doors and that makes it easier for the closeted sinner to cast the first stone.

Isn’t it funny that casting that first stone is almost the same as being the first one with the correct answer?  We all want to be the one who outed the sinner.  ’I caught him red-handed’ is a triumphant cry, worthy of a trophy but our hands stay in our pockets for fear that they too might be seen to be red.

So why is it so much easier to cast the first stone even if we do not fit the criteria of a qualified stone caster?  Why is it easier to ignore our own failures while pointing out those in others?  Is it even possible for us to first look at ourselves before we look at others?  I fear not.

Exercising and testing your faith

One of my Facebook friends uses her statuses to testify about her love of God and her relationship with him.   Her statuses are all to glorify him and I have yet to read one that was just about her.   I have always admired her for giving props where it was due.  As a local entertainer,  it would have been easy and excusable for her to exalt herself  but she chose to put God on the pedestal instead.  As I often do when I am touched by what someone did or said, I made sure to let her know how refreshing her statuses were to me.

Reading her last couple statuses however, I got the impression that she was going through a personal struggle of sorts, one that was apparently pushing her faith to the limit and raising questions about God’s plans for her.

Today, her status read, “ Sometimes, I wonder what GOD is doing …when things that make no sense happen in my life. When a problem arises … without any warning.This is when my faith is tested and I am tempted to give up. But, then I remember that … “Faith is being sure of what I hope for and certain of what I cannot see.” Re-assuring me, that even when problems arise, GOD is fully aware of my situation … and HE will work out everything for me … in His perfect time”.

Even though she surprised me with the line, ‘tempted to give up’, I was happy to see that she remembered what faith was all about.  Too often, we as Christians forget that like non-Christians, we are also prone to temptations, disappointments and other heartbreaks of life.  Having a deep relationship with Christ does guarantee us immunity.  It helps us to face  and overcome these setbacks. With faith, we know and believe that God will see us through.

As I commented on my friend’s status, faith is like your muscles.  It also needs to be exercised.  So think of temptations as the weights that our faith must carry to get a workout.  Without these hardships, who needs faith?  How would we know if we have faith if it’s not exercised and tested?  I can say I am a great at math until I am actually tested and prove I suck at it.  So too, we can say we have faith but it’s time to test it, we have little or none.

God never promised us a bed of roses.  He never said, ‘Follow me and you will live a stress-free life with everything you want.’  If we keep this in mind, we will be ready for the next hiccup or road block that comes our way.  We will say, ‘Oh here comes another test.  Let’s see how I do on this one.’  Remember, we have never seen a problem that HE couldn’t fix.  And really, if we REALLY DO believe in him and have faith in him, there is no room for worry as faith and worry cannot co-exist.

How strong is your faith?

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• because he trusted God, and had faith. The faith of a mustard seed. (transientreflections.com)
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‘Playing’ Jesus

A mega church in Winnipeg is attempting to make church more appealing by re-enacting biblical events in a contemporary form.  Their Easter messages are delivered using props and costumes of popular figures and movies.   This past Easter, their Message was entitled ‘Batman: The Dark Night’.  The ‘actors’ including the pastor, were all in full and authentic costumes.

Now I am not sure how I feel about this.  Reading the comments, not too many are ready for something such as this.  Blasphemy is used a lot to describe it.  I can see how something like this could attract people to the church but what happens next Sunday when the biblical stories are delivered raw, uncut and without the trimmings?

I am old school.  To a point.  Tell me the story of Jesus the way it is.  Don’t package it in colorful wrappings.  I don’t want to imagine him as the Dark Knight, no matter the good intentions.  But that’s just me.  Like I said, I am old school.  I do however, enjoy contemporary worship over the traditional hum-drum hymns singing.

On the flipside, Jesus did use parables to drive home his points.  The Bible is filled with stories that he used to make us understand.  So maybe what the church is doing is not all that bad.  If even one soul is gained through this, then who am I or you to talk?

Read all about it here

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Why Me Lord?

Reblogged from Musings Of A Daddy:

• 

I AM BLESSED!  Yes, very blessed.  All around me, there is pain, suffering, disappointments, loneliness , you name it. Just talk to your friends or watch the news at any given time and you will see what I mean.

In the midst of all this chaos, I find myself standing like a tree that has withstood a devastating hurricane. Blessed.  My biggest worries are finding a lost scarf, what shirt goes with my pants, which cereal should I have or should I use the laptop or Ipad.  

Read more… 75 more words

Making The Bible Hip

A year or so ago, I was given a book  ’The Message‘ from some guy on the street.  As I thought it was just a book inviting me to his church, I paid it no mind for some time.  When I did decide to read it, I was mildly surprised to see it was actually a modern-day translation of The Bible.

Now being old school, I initially thought it was blasphemous to make The Bible hip.  How dare they!  As I continue to read, I found myself actually having an easier time being in The Word.  The translation made it more readable. More hip so to speak.

You may be thinking, It is blasphemous! The Bible is God’s word and does not need to be hip! Some things could get lost in translation.  I do see your point but then I ask, Is there an original Bible out there?  I have lost count of how many translations are there so what difference is one more? I am sorry but with the way our youths are going, I can’t see them being excited to sit down and read a book written in old English.   If one is not spiritually ready, The Bible can be hard to stay focus on.  The ‘Thee, Thou, Art etc can be a turn off.  So how refreshing is it to read it with a modern twist?   ‘Where art thou? My soul longeth for thee’ just doesn’t capture the reader as  ’Where are you? I really need you’.  Same meaning just more appealing to the reader.

I am not pushing any denomination here.  God and him alone is my denomination.  I just think that The Message really does a good job of making The Bible more appealing to younger readers (and not so younger readers) with its use of every day lingo.  As long as the real message is not lost or tainted in any way, I’m all for it.

Just my take.

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