Weak or Wicked?
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 4:17PM Over the past few years I have heard people give opinions on the failures of others, particularly those who have served in visible leadership positions in the church, as I once did. I have not been privy to what people have speculated in regards to my failures, but I have heard what has been said about others. It goes something like this, ' I can't believe 'Ernie' could do such a thing, he knew exactly what he was doing and yet he still went out and ministered. No wonder 'Pastor Joe' is so upset with him, he gave him a platform and was betrayed by him'. When you hear it you understand what the person is saying and in some cases that may be true, but I think there is another explanation as well. In fact when I heard this being stated I responded by saying, 'Well I guess that's true, if, 'Ernie' is an evil man. But what if he was simply weak?"
Not only have I experienced failure personally, I have known others well who have and frankly I can understand how they got to a place where they were able to act in a duplicitous way. Let us say that there is a person who is highly gifted, sought after and whose ministry is fruitful. Then let us say that this person is also has areas that are broken and unrecovered in his life. A person in such a state often finds themselves in great conflict when it comes to understanding how they can be at the same time 'blessed and gifted by God' and broken and susceptible to sinful behavior. The truth is the people around such a person for the most part become so enamored by giftedness that they ignore character issues, many times turning a blind eye to things that indicate that all may not be right. This too can confuse the gifted who for the most part they feel as if their brokenness is evident to all, yet no one seems to be to terribly concerned, which feeds their deception. By the way I'm not excusing anything here I'm simply trying to explain something.
So you have this gifted and fruitful person and I use fruitful intentionally because I am assuming only God can bring forth good fruit, which feeds the delusion of the gifted, yet broken. This person is losing the battle over sin in one arena, yet seems to be winning the battle over Satan in another! So this person is goes about their life and a temptation comes forth and they succumb to the temptation and sin. In the aftermath of the sin they feel great remorse, guilt and shame; they confess their sin, making promises to God that they will never act in such a sinful and evil way again. Soon thereafter they are placed in a position to minister and do so with great affect and with apparently bearing wonderful fruit. This can cause the person to believe that this is a sign of God's forgiveness and His favor and they feel greatly relieved and comforted by this fact, until......they are tempted again and succumb again! The pattern doesn't cease and ultimately the person is ‘found out’ and or ‘caught in sin’ and in many cases are written off as being liars and hypocrites, deceivers and such. When in reality they are weak, broken and confused, needing the Body to cover them in love and mercy, restoring such a one gently as the Bible says. I didn't say for the Body to 'cover up' for them, I'm not advocating ignoring disqualifying behavior and enabling the broken one. What I am advocating is, well, what the Apostle Paul advocated, 'When someone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual (you who are relying on the Spirit for your holiness) restore such a one with gentleness AND be careful least you fall into temptation yourselves.' The temptation is to judge ' Ernie is a wicked man, he knew what he was doing, therefore it is acceptable for us to act out our anger and take punitive action against him'. We can also succumb to the temptation to punish, of which there is no such mandate released to the church in the scripture.
The truth is most of our leaders do not fail in a vacuum; they generally don't get into a place where they have become delusional, calling wrong right and right wrong without some enabling behavior by those around them. It takes everyone’s co operation in most cases. But when a leader falls we generally like to let them fall alone, isolated as if we had no part in their failures. Which I doubt is true in many cases.
Hey if a person is evil and their intention is to deceive others, to abuse others, to exploit others, that is another thing altogether. My guess is that in most cases we have people like David, a man after God's own heart, or Peter, who of course would never betray Jesus, who on the one hand are people called by God, used by God, blessed by God, yet their own weakness leads them to deceive themselves and allows them to deceive others even if that wasn't their intention.
If someone is wicked we have clear instruction as to what to do with them and by the way even then we aren't the ones administering punishment, we are to turn such a one over to Satan for the destruction of their sinful nature. But if that isn't the case, if they are weak and caught in sin, then we have another clearly outlined mandate in scripture, 'restore such a one gently'
Wicked or weak, that is the question?
Reader Comments (5)
"we are to turn such a one over to Satan for the destruction of their sinful nature"
That is a very interesting statement Carl. This is the first time I have ever heard a Chistian refer to this roll of Satan, aka Lucifer. You are also the first Christian I have heard that separates the individual soul from the acts they do. This sounds almost theosophical."Lucifer" also means Bringer of Light. Could be that when "Satan" temps us He is only reminding us that we have some weaknesses that we need to work out. Of course I am only speaking from a Gnostic point of view.
I would love some other feedback on these comments, frankly I don't understand the point of what is being said. Although I do allow for comments from people who don't want to use their name, I will only dialogue with people who do.
I understand how it could make you or anyone uneasy when it comes to people not using their name and I don't wish to make you feel that way. I have had problems on the net before , it was a stalking from someone who thought I was his runaway girlfriend, it was a little creepy.
I was a camper at Quaker Meadow camp many years ago when you where a counseler. A crazy mixed up little girl with long brown hair. Well ok.....I am Leslie. It is good to see you again Carl.
I do not have a lot of time to discuss this right now because I am at work. But I would like to continue this discussion later, that is if it is ok with you. I will will not take it personal it you do not.
Okay, I recieve your comments in my email, so if you wish you can reach me at carltuttle@carltuttle.com, that is pretty public, that way we can continue to interact.
Quaker Meadow camps were so great, I have fond memories of those time. In fact the first 'camping'experience of my life was there, wich Bruce Heying who comments on this blog.
I'm not sure which Leslie you are, but I would like to know feel free to email me.
carl
Hi Carl,
Well I have made an attempt to send an e-mail. My computer is giving me alot of problems and has been for a long time. If the e-mail got through there will be four copies (opps). If not then I will post it.