I have avoided any comment on the recent saga concerning a leading evangelical pastor because I tend to believe this sort of stuff is none of my business and if I ever get called into question I would hope others would do the same for me.
However I have been thinking and want to offer a theory.
As I was reflecting on this yesterday I began to wonder if the things we rail against are actually our own deep seated weaknesses – our dark side – and that is why they evoke so much passion?
The person in question was vitriolic at times in his anti-homosexual stance (don’t ask me to define that!) and ended up being in a male-male sexual relationship.
Maybe it s a reminder that the things we go in hard on are actually the things that we are struggling with ourselves. If I apply that hypothesis to myself I would say that one of my biggest beefs is middle classdom’s addiction to safety and security as well as its knack for ever so subtley subverting the gospel. I know I speak about this regularly, think about it and the choice to name our own community ‘upstream communities’ free laramie project the movie download is a way of confronting it again.
But if I take a ‘naked’ look in the mirror I see that I enjoy comfort, affluence and stability and I struggle with greed and the constant desire for new toys. If it were discovered one day that I had millions stashed away and was living the life of a Kerry Packer I think people would have a right to feel a little deceived.
I don’t make any claims to be a radical simple living person, (like the UNOH crew) but I do try to avoid excess and indulgence. At the same time I lust after it… If it is possible to lust after inanimate objects then I would say that is what happens when I walk along Ocean Drive in Quinns Rock and see the two storey houses with never to be interrupted ocean views… ah…
Pursuing my own shadow side is just as wrong as the other tragic tales we hear but ironically (and perhaps dangerously) I will probably never be dismissed from my various positions for being too greedy!