WHEN Times editors assigned me to the religion beat, I believed God had answered my prayers.
As a serious Christian, I had cringed at some of the coverage in the mainstream media. Faith frequently was treated like a circus, even a freak show.
I wanted to report objectively and respectfully about how belief shapes people’s lives. Along the way, I believed, my own faith would grow deeper and sturdier.
But during the eight years I covered religion, something very different happened.
In 1989, a friend took me to Mariners Church, then in Newport Beach, after saying: “You need God. That’s what’s missing in your life.” At the time, I was 28 and my first son was less than a year old. I had managed to nearly ruin my marriage (the second one) and didn’t think I’d do much better as a father. I was profoundly lost.
The mega-church’s pastor, Kenton Beshore, had a knack for making Scripture accessible and relevant. For someone who hadn’t studied the Bible much, these talks fed a hunger in my soul. The secrets to living well had been there all along ”” in “Life’s Instruction Manual,” as some Christians nicknamed the Bible.
Some friends in a Bible study class encouraged me to attend a men’s religious weekend in the San Bernardino Mountains. The three-day retreats are designed to grind down your defenses and leave you emotionally raw ”” an easier state in which to connect with God. After 36 hours of prayer, singing, Bible study, intimate sharing and little sleep, I felt filled with the Holy Spirit.
At the climactic service Sunday, Mike Barris, a pastor-to-be, delivered an old-fashioned altar call. He said we needed to let Jesus into our hearts.
With my eyes closed in prayer, I saw my heart slowly opening in two and then being infused with a warm, glowing light. A tingle spread across my chest. This, I thought, was what it was to be born again….
This is a very sad story. Note that what disillusioned the writer were people that professed to be Christians, but didn’t walk the walk.
He should have listened to the eskimo in jail.
Jim the Puritan,
How very true.
I was struck by the fact that this afternoon I read Philip Yancey’s book, [i]Disappointment With God,[/i] and how much of this story sounds like that particular book. The timing of this story after reading that book has got my attention.
Based on what the writer investigates, I can understand his dilemma. The Catholic sexual abuse cases and the frauds at TBN are some of the worst case scenarios out there misrepresenting Christ; however, there are more than enough examples of God’s love and grace to build up one’s faith. I find it interesting that he references Saddleback church and its 15,000 attendees but apparently did not investigate it to see what good things God and believers are doing. I also imagine the environment where he works does not help his faith either.
The writer puts his finger on one thing that troubles me greatly, which is the legitimate pastors such as Greg Laurie that go on TBN. By doing so, they give legitimacy to the “Prosperity Gospel” which is directly contrary to the real Gospel. These pastors have to know that they are sojourning among the wolves and false prophets, and yet they do it anyway.
Some of these huckster televangelists get me so angry I wish I could reach in through my TV set and grab them by the throat. The sorts of things they are preaching (“Buy Your Miracle Spring Water Now and Watch the Miracles Happen!” “Plant a Seed of Faith by Sending $1000 to This Ministry And God Must Return It To You Ten-Fold or He Will Be a Liar!!!” “Simply Speak the Word of Faith with Conviction and You Must be Blessed With Financial Prosperity”) are outrageous, and to me are as bad if not worse than the sorts of things being put forward in TEC. At least the heresies in TEC are based on supposed compassion, not greed and taking advantage of people’s financial desperation.
I fear that the writer is confusing (allegedly) religious humans with God.
All of the instances of betrayal he reports are of humans being perverse, sinful, and evil. Not God. Of course, “discovering” that people are perverse, sinful, and evil isn’t news. If I were a reporter, I wouldn’t want to cover a beat that only disclosed non-news either. The writer needs to take a different approach – be a religion writer who focuses on God and God’s working through His broken, fallen worshippers.
When I read this moving article I thought of Simone Weil, a secular French Jew who had a powerful experience of Christ in her life and came to believe in him. She loved the Catholic Church and frequently attended its services, especially prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Yet she refused to be baptised, because of her distrust of the Catholic Church’s use of power.
I am a Catholic priest myself. I love the Church and the ministry which is my privilege and God’s gift. Yet the scandals have wrought terrible damage. I can only hope that it will be a purifying experience for the church. Above all one feels for the families who have been through such terrible suffering. This can never be God’s will.
BTW I was struck in the article by the prominent role played by lawyers. One criticism of the Church in this scandal has been that too much attention has been paid to lawyers and too little to pastoral care. Regarding suffering: On the one hand we live in a world that is in God’s providential care. On the other hand, we live in a world where there is natural law and free will. God’s care for the world surely has to allow for the latter as well.
Finally I notice that the writer asks the question of why bad things happen to good people? I am surprised that no one seems to have referred him to Rabbi Harold Kushner’s wonderful book (written after his teenage son died) Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.
It’s interesting that two or three stories above this one is one with the title “Being born-again does not make you a Christian”.