The Reconstructed

Light

Sometimes I think people have this unfounded notion that darkness is brought to light by some sort of magic. That we are traipsing through a field and accidentally stumble upon a massive scandal or hidden sin or devilish plot as if it was just hiding out in some pleasant place waiting to be discovered.

I’d like to dispel what should be obvious. When an abuse or scandal comes out it usually is a shock, it usually is hard to believe, usually is met with the stages of grief because we hope for the best in the people we’d like to trust. But what often happens, when we walk in relationship with those that utterly disappointment us is we find that perhaps we did not walk as closely with these individuals as we thought. Perhaps they were not as honest with us as we hoped. They did not walk in transparency, and in fact, they were profoundly good at manipulating us.

Thus, when things come to light usually things go dark first because we assumed the light among us was not darkness. Jesus gives this warning in Luke 11:35 “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” People have the ability to carry darkness in them. I have that ability, you have that ability, sometimes this happens even without our own knowing or introspection because we have not “seen to it.” Instead, we ignored our darkness, refused to confess it, refused to have our hearts and minds searched and have not surrendered our selfish passions to the Lord because we have wanted to maintain our comfort and control.

I have a working theory, you might not like it, and it likely warrants further inspection. But in the world, allegations usually come to light at a persons peak. In the church, allegations usually come when someone’s notoriety or influence is already declining. I think this happens as a result of 1) God’s patience to see if a leader will in fact repent and 2) it can often be hard to call out someone who is claiming to serve God on the upswing of their ascent to “success.” Historically, I think this has been true because people in the church have lived in fear of men representing God rather than having fear of God. As a result, people tolerate abuse from those with spiritual authority. It then becomes easier to bring forth allegations when there are cracks in the armor or when a ministry or organization is losing steam because some doubt is cast on whether or not God is in fact blessing this person or organization.

Also, I think we find as power and influence wanes, the one in authority who has conflated their place of power and influence as god-given becomes more sloppy with their behavior because they have not been able to come to grips with their own shortcomings. Thus when a credible allegation comes against them, their behavior turns toward denial, attack and self-preservation unless their abuse or sin is so blatantly obvious that their image would be more tarnished in its denial.

Some people are smart. Carl Lentz found a way to monetize his sexual sin and suggestions of an abusive culture by publicly documenting his failures and profiting off of it in his documentary Secrets of Hillsong. Imagine that, planting a mega church in NYC off a brand name in Hillsong, achieving financial success, becoming a celebrity pastor, committing a moral failure and having a church exposed for having a reputation of a toxic culture, and then making money off of exposing the toxic culture and talking about your sin. Bro.. the culture was toxic the day they planted in NYC on a brand and an image and not a lot has changed as a result. He is now on staff at a church that is doing the exact same thing Hillsong was doing perhaps with a healthier culture? Who knows?

Sin and Abuse

Here is my point, 1 Timothy 5:24 “The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.” We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Some of us repent, some of us conceal, some of us pretend to repent or apologize but don’t change our heart in the slightest, some of us say we will apologize then change our minds, but it will come to light and sometimes that light yields justice, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes those in leadership are too cowardice to do anything and allow abuse to continue. If you are under that leadership, you should probably leave it. The truth is followers give power to the ones that lead them and if leadership has continually demonstrated a lack of desire to right wrongs, reconcile, do the Christocentric thing, then is it really the church?

There may be something to the thought that leadership in the church attracts a certain personality type that is controlling, manipulative, charming, charismatic but lacks empathy, self-awareness or a communal sense of shared leadership. I think the Western church is misinformed about the role of a pastor and qualifications for those in leadership though Scripture makes it pretty clear what kind of tested character should be looked for but instead churches are in competition with our nuances and methods, with our brands. Oh what an excessive waste of time and resources we have put into our image and the exploitation we have employed all so we would stand out for the wrong reasons.

Abuse is rooted in ego. It’s about what we want the way we want it so we can look good to others. So we can financially benefit, socially benefit and get some satisfaction by how much dominion we have no matter how harsh or harmful we become. We’d rather have our own things, our ownership of our families, our households and have some growing level of power and influence yet Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

And elsewhere in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

We are not our own, and if we are not our own what claim do we have on material possessions or even on others? It’s not to say that we don’t have a level or responsibility of concern or protection for that which we love and cherish. But our actions should be grounded in reality and awareness of our own sin and destructive behavior and be able to identify whether we are walking in love or merely looking out for our own interests.

And if we do sin, can we own it? Can we face it, confess it and turn from it? Because if we cannot then can we be forgiven?

And if people in leadership can’t own these things, how are they held accountable? Does that happen accidentally? That will be the topic of my final post on this issue.