Home › Forums › Open Discussion › What’s with these guys?
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May 17, 2008 at 6:43 pm #586987
JanSParticipanthttp://news.aol.com/story/_a/minister-caught-in-sex-sting/20080517083309990001
His defense? The devil made him do it? ;-)
May 18, 2008 at 5:24 am #624740
AnonymousInactiveThis is ONE of several reasons why I am not religious. So F***ing ridiculous!
May 19, 2008 at 12:40 am #624741
Bikefor1MemberNew Res, you can also write “Sofa King”. (SNL skit, lol)
May 19, 2008 at 3:28 am #624742
AnonymousInactiveBikefor1 – That is Sofa King funny!!!!!
May 19, 2008 at 5:45 pm #624743
WesMemberDo you mean what’s with pastors doing this or pedophiles in general?
May 19, 2008 at 6:39 pm #624744
flowerpetalMemberI must be slow this morning. I had to search for the Sofa King skit on SNL to figure out how that fit into the responses here. Truly funny; I may have to use it myself.
Pedophiles sometimes put themselves into situations where they can be trusted by children and parents; sadly. It adds another hideous dimension to the crime. The violation of trust scars individuals for a life time. Clergy, teachers, scout leaders, family members. And the seemingly easy access to the internet added a new dimension to this crime.
I am relieved to read that sting operations are set up to catch these horrific criminals. There are those who would argue that this is entrapment when someone portrays themselves as a youth online; and that the victimizer would never have gone down that path otherwise. I believe that way of thinking is sofa king wrong.
May 19, 2008 at 6:53 pm #624745
AnonymousInactiveTo Catch A Predator is sofa king awesome.
May 20, 2008 at 12:16 am #624746
JanSParticipantWes…I think what I was commenting on is that once again we have the leader of a “megachurch”…a fine, upstanding man of faith, a family who is by his side (or was, at least)…a responsible, adult man who has choices just like you…who I’m sure preaches family values…and cruises the internet for children to have sex with, who willingly made the choice to travel 200 miles to have sex with a child. Yes…many men have this disturbing foible…but they’re not all men of the cloth who promote morals and family values, in essence making them, yet again, a hypocrite…he’s definitely a hypocrite
remember ..this is just my opinion…yours may differ..that makes the world go round…but this was just plain wrong on all counts…
May 20, 2008 at 3:06 am #624747
WesMemberSo you created this post to point out that the church has hypocrites? Does it really need to be said? Don’t we already know this? Are there not hypocrites outside of the church too?
Understand I think this is sick and wrong and should be discussed under a broader banner of protecting our children from these kind of sickos.
I think all it has proven that all people are sinful.
Thank you Jan for the explanation.
May 20, 2008 at 3:59 am #624748
AnonymousInactive*Are there not hypocrites outside of the church too?*
Have you visited the political threads?
*all people are sinful*
Will you please refrain from ascribing your belief system to everyone.
May 20, 2008 at 4:18 am #624749
JiggersMemberChalk up another one for organized religion. Organized religion is for fools. Where in the bible does it say you have to belong to a certain group to announce your faith in God? Organize religion is a business first and preys upon weak individuals. Don’t let your kids hang alone with priests.
May 20, 2008 at 5:19 am #624750
JanSParticipantWes…I believe that this particular group of threads is under the title “Open Discussion”…should we let you set the rules here? there are certain things we can bring up, certain things that we can’t? censorship?
I have found the hypocrisy of the religious right very distasteful lately. My thought is…these people should not preach to me, judge me (as you at times do, “me” being the universal me)(actually, as most of us do at times) because I don’t ascribe to their particular brand of religion, while they go down a road that they know is wrong. That’s particularly heinous…and open for discussion.
You may disagree with me or anyone else on here…but it is not your place to censor what’s on this forum…
May 20, 2008 at 5:25 am #624751
TheHouseMemberI am not religious at all, so don’t immediately think I’m siding with Wes but how the hell do you interpret his remark as attempting censorship?
It’s interesting that the left is open to free speech, but when it comes to religious rhetoric then it’s time to censor.
I completely disagree with Wes’s religious stance, but I wouldn’t tell him to shut up any more than I’ve told any of the liberal yahoos on here to shut up.
May 20, 2008 at 6:08 am #624752
AnonymousInactiveWho told him to shut up? I asked him to not define me by his belief system (sinner). He can still choose to do so, I have no authority over him, but I can still make the request.
May 20, 2008 at 7:21 am #624753
JanSParticipantthe way I see things here…I never asked to censor him. Wes brought up why should I even bring this up here. It was newsworthy…this is an “open discussion”..I had an opinion about it. Perhaps I misinterpreted what he said…it’s happened before..it seemed that he didn’t feel that it was something that should be mentioned here…and I thought that wasn’t up to him, being as it’s an open discussion. It’s goes back to the beginning of these forums, I think. If the subject matter isn’t to your liking, I suppose that the CHOICE is to change channels, not jump on me for making it a discussion.
OK..I’m done here…
May 20, 2008 at 2:24 pm #624754
WesMemberJiggers, rhetoric? Really? Anything more reasonable?
Jan, I don’t think I said that you shouldn’t bring this up, but obviously, by your own statements you are trying to show the hypocrisy with christians, which I thought is secondary to this guys crime and was suggesting this be the focus of discussion.
So was it your purpose to start a discussion about how sinful people in the church are?
JT, by definition of sin, then all are sinful. The definition is breaking any of God’s laws or the ten commandments. So by that definition we all are found guilty. You don’t have to accept it and I don’t expect non-christians to believe this.
Also, so tone is noted here, I am not mad nor offended I am just asking the questions and definig my comments.
Thanks House for adding some reasoning.
May 20, 2008 at 6:56 pm #624755
JanSParticipantwes…you misunderstood…it’s not about all christians….just those that hide behind the “banner”…..who LEAD the megachurches and are not who they tell you and me to be….or the politicians who LEAD, by advocating one way, stand up and state beliefs one way (and sometimesinfluence and pass laws), and then break those very personal beliefs themselves. I suppose I hold them to a higher standard and shake my head…these are grown men, with choices..they can’t all stand behind “sickness’…they don’t have some big boogieman standing over them twisting their arms to do these things…they put themselves out there as moral compasses…that old saying “methinks they doth protest too much”…so please don’t misunderstand…this isn’t about the christian, spiritual, religious or non-religious or whatever who just live good lives knowing right from wrong , this is about the guys who LEAD that way, and make those choices…hypocrisy.This guy was a pastor…he knew better…but it isn’t just because he’s a pastor…it’s been ultra-conservative politicians, too. It has nothing to do with his being a “church person” per se..it’s about his position in that church.
I deplore this behavior in anyone..but particularly those who seek to influence by “preaching” the “moral” way.
That definition of sin? That’s your interpretation of God’s laws, 10 commandments, the bible, etc…it may not be everyone’s..just a thought…religion/beliefs etc can be complicated, can’t they? You interpret one way that works for you…your neighbor may interpret another way that works for him/her. Neither is wrong..just different.
May 20, 2008 at 9:17 pm #624756
WesMemberJan, I understand now thank you.
To respond to your last comment, I believe the interpretation goes to the author or writer and what they meant by it. If you wrote a book about a dog and used the word dog, and someone interpreted as an elephant, who would be right? You of course, you wrote it and you meant dog. So although people can interpret things to what they want them to say, you can know the truth about the authors intention and true meaning behind it. So in short, I agree this can happen but the Bible makes it very clear that sin is breaking God’s law. If I wanted this to work for me, then I would say I am not sinful like JT, that would obviously be easier.
You have to see past the relativist ideology, to see that there are absolute right and wrongs.
May 20, 2008 at 9:45 pm #624757
AnonymousInactiveTrust me Wes, it would be *easier* to believe in god and never have to think for myself again.
May 20, 2008 at 9:48 pm #624758
WesMemberJT, Please explain to me how believing in God equals never thinking for yourself again.
May 20, 2008 at 10:08 pm #624759
AnonymousInactiveI would get to live my life according to my pastor’s, priest, Rabbi’s, interpretation of a book. I have a question. God has the answer. End of thought process. No need for research.
May 20, 2008 at 10:14 pm #624760
WesMemberExcept researching what the Bible does have to say on the topic and then to think it through rationally to see if it makes sense. Also, read my explanation to Jan above about interpretations.
Would it be a fair interpretation of your comment if I thought it said, “The Bible is the best resource for all of life’s answers! End of story.”? Is that what you were implying?
May 20, 2008 at 10:23 pm #624761
AnonymousInactiveI’d like to respond intelligently, but your statement doesn’t really make sense to me. Are you trying to say christians will interpret things in whatever manner suits their argument?
May 20, 2008 at 10:28 pm #624762
JenVMemberproud athiest weighing in here. This is all about someone putting themselves in a position where a child trusts them – and abusing that trust. It could be a priest, a rabbi, daycare provider, party clown or a US Congressman….it’s all the same.
May 20, 2008 at 10:41 pm #624763
WesMemberJT, I am not saying that at all. I am asking you if I took your statement out of context or really believed it said something else, that is, not what you had implied, would I have misinterpreted it?
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