Is The Church's Credibility -- Gone?

I knew the reputation of the church 'had taken a hit' recently.  

But I didn't realize how bad until I saw a portion of Meet The Press on Sunday. 

As Chuck Todd, the program's moderator described the recent cascade of Roman Catholic atrocities in Pennsylvania, Todd turned to the program's panel and asked:  

"...I'm curious of the larger societal impact. And this is an evangelical movement that has turned the other way on this president and what he's done morally, a Catholic Church that you can't trust morally with your kids even if you believe in them in your own beliefs. And what does that do to organized religion in this country?..."

Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for the PBS News Hour, responded:  

"...I think it makes people more and more wary of going into churches or going -- and looking at pastors for some sort of moral direction. For a long time...I think what the lesson here is that you really can't trust anyone..."

And for a good reason.  As one 'stacks' recent scandals related or connected to, the church -- it's not just damaging -- it's damning.

• The Catholic Church, in Pennsylvania alone "...covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over...70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and law enforcement not to investigate it...The report...found more than 1,000 identifiable victims...The report said there are likely thousands more victims whose records were lost or who were too afraid to come forward..."https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylvania.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer
• Bill Hybels, the mega-pastor, of mega-congregation, Willow Creek Community Church participated, for years, in multiple boundary-crossing episodes with women.  The most dramatic was Hybel's groping of his executive assistant, along with numerous other accusations "...by several other women, including co-workers and a congregant, of inappropriate behavior that dated back decades...[involving]....lingering hugs, invitations to hotel rooms, comments about looks and an unwanted kiss..." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/us/bill-Hybels-willow-creek-pat-baranowski.html
• Karl Barth, the legendary theologian, has long been connected to his secretary and assistant, Charlotte von Kirschbaum. But recently, the intimacy of their relationship became apparent through the 2017 release of letters between Karl and Charlotte.  The letters are revelatory, expressing a level of emotional intimacy, normally linked to physical intimacy, not just companionship. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/october-web-only/what-to-make-of-karl-barths-steadfast-adultery.html

Given this preponderance of the evidence, how are we to proceed?

Step #1 - No Excuses

What I chronicled, above, is a tragic failure of church leaders of the highest, most dramatic magnitude.  

Period. 

It is also a marque, 'in your face' reminder, that any of us -- including the brightest and the best -- including pastors -- including leaders -- including role-models -- are fully capable of self-deception and grievous, flagrant sin.  

Scripture tells us to expect such yielding to our own foolish, 'lying' hearts.   

• "...The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?..."  (Jeremiah 17:9) 

• “…A deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”  (Isaiah 44:20) 

• “…The pride of your heart has deceived you,  you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’  (Obadiah 1:3)

And so, a new, intense, passionate season of deep, profound confession, is in order.

Translated: we need to weep and wail in the face of horrendous sin and deception -- imploring God for forgiveness and mercy.   

Pope Francis statement, issued recently, in the wake of the shattering revelations from Pennsylvania, is a starting place:

“…With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.  

I make my own the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger… [who] identified with the cry of pain of so many victims and exclaimed: “How much filth there is in the Church -- and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]! How much pride, how much self-complacency!....We can only call to [Christ] from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie eleison – Lord, save us!..."  (emphasis added) ”http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html

Step #2 -- Express Snake-Like Shrewdness, Not Just 'Dove-Like' Innocence

I've always loved Matthew 10:16 --  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  (Matthew 10:16).  Though this verse calls us -- clearly -- to live in the tension between discretion and trust -- we tend to skew this scripture, majoring in dove-like innocence, downplaying the necessity of snake-like shrewdness.  

But recent headlines blatantly call us to jettison such imbalance -- regaining a heightened tension between both trust -- and -- alert discernment, discretion...even, suspicion. 

I am in the process of applying to be an auditor at an outstanding, historic, Catholic seminary.  As I worked to complete the application -- this very day -- the registrar sent a final form for me to fill out: a "...Disclosure & Authorization to Release Information form (for a criminal background check)..."  

At first, I was taken back, even offended.  But then I 'connected the dots' with recent headlines and realized that such a requirement was more than warranted and necessary. In fact, this particular school has been asking for such a document for some time, even before recent scandals, as a wise and full expression of Matthew10:16 and other texts.

The call to snake-like shrewdness reminds me of the classic accountability questions of Chuck Swindoll:  

1. Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?

2. Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?

3. Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit material?

4. Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?

5. Have you given priority time to your family?

6. Have you fulfilled the mandates of your calling?

7. Have you just lied to me?   (emphasis added)

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2008/may/accountability-questions.html  

For we do lie to each other -- and -- to ourselves.  Thus, heightened, discernment, even suspicion, is warranted.

Step #3 - Acknowledge: God Will Never Stop Calling Forth His People 

Our failure to honor God -- does not stop God.  

Frankly, God often moves on -- in light of flagrant, consistent, unconfessed sin -- calling and using other persons, groups, and churches.  

Thus, for every scandal -- there is -- nevertheless - scads of faithful individual and religious groups -- 'on their knees' -- where God is -- nevertheless -- active, alive and real. Remaining.

Thus... 

• Don't reject God -- because some people fail to obey and honor God, in Christ. 
• Don't reject Church -- because some churches fail to obey and honor God, in Christ.
• Don't reject Religion -- because some religions fail to obey and honor God, in Christ.

Rather, keep journeying with God, the Church, Religion -- finding your next calling -- among people and groups -- who -- indeed, are -- discerning, yet innocent -- confident, yet confessing -- gifted, yet humble -- fully in touch not only with the Divine -- but also -- their propensity and probability to deceive.

Such an approach is not cynicism or negativity, but sanctified, biblical realism -- bathed in the persistent scriptural reminder:   

"...that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin. (Romans 3: 23-24, The Message).

Thus, our credibility is gone -- only when our awareness of our propensity for sin is gone.

We have no reputation, and no future -- when we express no confession, of the filth of our natural, carnal, sin-full, reflexive ways.

Make no mistake:  the current rash of horrific headlines gives us every reason to be reeling.  No doubt!

But they also give us a strategic opportunity to be confessing -- revealing the way forward -- for any individual or organization facing the sin and scandal, that will always be part of human life.

Granted: many will not be impressed or convinced, as we proceed amid the scandal of recent days.

But I do believe, we'll be surprised by the eventual impact of a people of God -- newly humbled -- 'on their knees' -- before a God who clearly holds us accountable.

But also, provides a way forward, where there appears no way -- nevertheless -- through His Redemption -- and -- in His Time.

For, frankly, everyone will need such an option, at some point in life.

Thus, our modeling of its possibility -- even in the filth of our sin -- provides a valuable contribution to hope -- in spite of the unspeakable horror -- that does come to life.