Evil Pastors

AN INCOMPLETE POST - MAY CONTAIN SPELLING ERRORS, INCOMPLETE/CONTRADICTORY THOUGHTS.

ORIGINALLY STARTED IN JULY 2017.  

WILL POST AUTOMATICALLY ON JULY 1, 2023 IF I DON'T DO ANYTHING OR IF I DIE BEFORE THEN.

A friend of mine recently posted this (An Open Latter to My Parents' Pastor, Carrie Surbaugh, 07/13/2017) on Facebook. Surbaugh came out last year as a lesbian after years of trying to deny it. She has been active in church her entire life and even recently preached at her church. Her parents have been very involved in their church. But now, after some very public condemnation from the pulpit, her parents feel that they must leave that church.

There was a smattering of comments in response to his post and I felt compelled to weigh in (when am I not?).  I wanted to later share it with Lori but couldn't find it and worried they'd deleted the entire post.  Finally found it a few days later.  Posting a version of it here.

This (Carrie's letter) is a sad letter. Nearly every church I have ever attended has demanded we take a "side" on the issue - either homosexuality is (a) a sin or (b) it is a sin and you're sinning for trying to say it isn't and you should leave because you're not being honest and you don't agree with us.

I'll be honest. For decades I've wrestled the whole notion of whether homosexuality was a personal choice or something someone had no control over, any more than they could choose (at birth) their parents, their gender or their race.  But it was only a theoretical question.

For a long time I was on the other "side" of this argument - for that's what it is - the church demands we take a "side" and then we are either welcome or unwelcome depending on the church. I believed homosexuality to be a sin.

We seize upon this "sin" (if it is one) and hold it up as separate, distinct, more grievous while we all continue in sins of our own. Confident in our salvation, quick to shame and condemn this one particular sin because it's one we ourselves can never see ourselves engaging in.

And that's not love. If you believe it is a sin and someone can be saved from a life of it (hush, I'm trying to make a point), we don't do that by casting them out into the darkness. We do it by showing the light and love of God and making a sinner decide "I want that life."

A person has to be pretty out of touch not to know that those who don't identify hetero struggle, often in silence.

To preach against this sin from the pulpit isn't a charge the "sinner" to repent, it's a wink and a nod to the rest of the congregation that it's ok to continue to be hard-hearted.