Last Sunday, another Christian leader resigned from his church after admitting that he had sex with men. This time it was mega-church pastor the Rev. Paul Barnes of Denver. According to a New York Times article: "Mr. Barnes said he had often cried himself to sleep, begging God to end his attraction to men."The Barnes case follows the well-publicized resignation of evangelical superstar the Rev. Ted Haggard, who apparently loved crystal meth and sex with beefy gay prostitutes as much as (and perhaps more than) he loved Jesus.
I think Carrie Underwood and all of America can agree: Jesus really needs to take the wheel of some of these congregations before these pastors drive their churches straight to Ikea, a Cher concert or that "glory be to God" hole at the highway rest stop.
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Read more about gay evangelicals who, thankfully, are comfortable with their sexuality at this link.
Also, we here at The Cup of Joe hope that whatever religious faith you celebrate, that it brings you joy, and peace, and hope, and calm, and many wonderful things, and that it helps make you a better person, and that it helps make the world in which we live a little better place, and that it doesn't cause you to cry at night tears of shame and self-hatred, and that the last thing you think about before you go to bed is maybe something nice and kind about the past 24 hours and not begging and pleading to God to change the way he created you.
OK?
1 comment:
In all fairness, I must note that The Rev. Barnes also reportedly avoided politics in his sermons and did NOT preach from the pulpit about the gay marriage amendment bans in Colorado.
If you're a praying person, you might want to remember this poor soul in your prayers.
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