An internal conflict of values.

September 24, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat over other men’s sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance.” – 1 Corinthians 13:5–7 [New English Bible]I do not like to gloat over other people’s sins, and yet the news keep putting them in front of my nose. They wind up in this blog for pretty much the same reason each time — not because another person’s failings make such delicious gossip, but because the people whose failings and egregious acts catch my eye are the ones who have claimed to be so sanctimonious. They have in fact been the enemies of the truth, especially in areas of sexual truth.

“Bishop” Eddie Long in Atlanta is making news today not for pastoring an independent mega-church of 25,000 (hence his self-appointed status as bishop), and not for wearing expensive jewelry and claiming that God wants such wealth for his followers, but because of allegations from some young men in his congregation that he seduced them into sexual acts. As of this afternoon, four men have stepped forward, and I think each of them was 18 or younger at the time the sexual incidents took place. As of today, two lawsuits have been filed against him.

According to the Associated Press coverage, Long has preached against same-sex marriage and prodded his youth to be sexually responsible. If the allegations are true, the word hypocrisy comes to mind once again.

“Bishop Eddie Long’s boys’ academy guided teens through their “masculine journey” with lessons on financial discipline and sexual control, right down to a little card the students had to carry in their wallets reminding them why they shouldn’t have sex.”Long himself, though, has been accused of contradicting those virtues. The bishop — who’s been an outspoken opponent of gay marriage in the past — is being sued by two young men who attended the LongFellows Youth Academy and say Long used the program to groom them for sexual relationships.”I wrote this on February 2: “But what are the credentials of Christian ministers, period? Many well-known preachers have run through Bible colleges while others have advanced degrees. The procedure by which any particular local church, or national denomination, certifies one to be competent to lead Christian churches and to speak for God, are vastly different form place to place, denomination to denomination. The lack of a uniform high standard doesn’t merely allow the wing nuts to use the title “Reverend” with their name. It has also allowed unqualified people who are also sexual predators to gain access to the vulnerabilities of innocent people, and who are manipulators and thieves to help themselves to huge sums of money.”Okay.  I would guess that most conservative religious figures who rant and work against gay and lesbian people are not sexual hypocrites.  They probably are heterosexuals who live in stable heterosexual marriages. But there are a lot of prominent figures who keep popping into the news, and this is because of “contradicting the virtues” they publicly preach. Hypocrisy.

These particular religious leaders who turn out to be closeted homosexuals or bisexuals “on the down low” may feel compelled to preach the evangelical, right-wing party line about homosexuality, and preach it more loudly to keep the veil of respectability pulled taught over internal conflicts which are badly frayed.

But if I am loving toward others, and do not “gloat over” their sins, yet delight in the truth, how should I or any other thoughtful LGBT Christian react to this? (It would be easy to ignore; Georgia is a long way from Los Angeles.) What is truth, spiritually, when it can be manipulated by respectable appearances? When it can be “handled” through publicists and attorneys? When it can be explained away, as Ted Haggard tried to do when his homosexual hypocrisy was exposed?

Most important, as I raised on February 2, is the palpable lack of accountability in many “indynondy” (yes, I coined this for independent non-denominational) churches the first slip on the slippery slope of truth?

 Long is not the first indynondy pastor who has lived lavishly without the financial accountability of a parent denomination or a genuine bishop overseeing what the congregation and its leaders are up to.

The bigger problem—obfuscating the truth—is when clergy found and cultivate a personality cult. Rev. Long must have some strong personality traits to take a congregation from a few hundred to 25,000 in two decades. But when you have a significant following which hangs on your magnetic personality, then almost anything you seek to do will get an enthusiastic “yes” out of your fan club. After all, you built your congregation out of those who admire or are drawn to your personality.

But this is where truth becomes difficult to discern. Long’s parishioners who really support him are now questioning what is the real truth of his personality. charges of hypocrisy is only one facet of these questions. It is one thing to set high values and then fail to achieve them, such as preaching generosity and then being greedy. It is quite another to preach heterosexuality and sexual responsibility and then live a secret life. That is more than mere hypocrisy, it is a Lie. Who is the real Rev. Eddie Long?

One AP news story quotes someone from Long’s church:

“I wish the bishop would come out and make a comment and speak to us,” said Lance Robertson, a longtime church member. “We want to hear from him. I think the world wants to hear from him. Right now, in the court of public opinion, it does not look good.”

— Pastor Dan Hooper

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