TRUST ONLY IN GOD
I hate to be negative but this situation in Nobles, Georgia has popped my cork. Dead bodies stacked up in sheds, scattered in the woods, left to rot - a tragedy beyond anyone's imagination.
Everyone is puzzled; government officials, friends and families of the deceased and most of all, babbling newspaper reporters.
In describing Ray Brent Marsh, the perpetrator of this great crime, the media makes the breathless comment that this ogre is treasurer of his church. This is written with great heaviness as if to say, "How could this be?"
Oh, horrors! The man who did these terrible crimes is the treasurer of his church!
I am always amazed when naive people equate church membership with goodness, as if people who join a church are suddenly bleached pure as snow and made sinless.
Pilgrims, I have known wife beaters, embezzlers, adulterers, child abusers, murderers, thieves, gossips, and blasphemers who were all members of churches.
I sat in a prison cell with a member of my church who had choked to death two young women and then sat with their bodies for 24 hours until police broke in and arrested him.
I have known a sweet older couple who counted the church offering every Sunday morning for years and took exactly $100 a week from the gifts their brothers and sisters gave to the congregation.
For some people church is a cover, a simple way to fool people. If you're a wife beater, what better way to convince your spouse of good intentions? Being a member of a church is a fine and clear way of appearing honorable and wholesome, especially when you are the world's greatest scoundrel.
Giving church people and leaders our complete trust is an old and foolish American tradition.
It takes responsibility away from ordinary people, such as ourselves. When we hand authority to church leaders to stop child abusers, for instance, then we can take a long intermission and feel confident the problem is taking care of itself.
To be sure, we have seen how church leaders sometimes overlook the indiscretions of priests and ministers who have an inclination to sexually damage young people.
Look at the situation in Boston where Cardinal Bernard Law has protected pedophile priests for decades. Now he claims to understand that a scolding from a bishop does not erase this frightening tendency to destroy young people.
Cardinal or not, Bernard Law is a part of this crime, and he ought to resign and dedicate the rest of his life to protecting little children.
The same is true for Protestant church leaders who protect ministers who are hurting people. Where does it say in scripture that church leaders are above penalty for mistreating people? If a minister habitually damages people and congregations, removal from clergy ranks is the answer.
When you see church leaders doing wrong, they need to be called to their promised task. They vowed to preach and live the gospel. When they don't, we shouldn't be surprised. We should be resolute.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted 2-20-02