Hillary for President!
8 years ago
Monday, September 27, 2010
Happy Monday everyone!
I’ve neglected writing a blog on the Bishop Eddie Long sex scandal for a week now, mainly for two reasons. 1) I tend to stay away from potentially polarizing subjects such as ones having to do with religion or politics, and 2) this scandal comes as no surprise to me. Not that I believe all men and women of God are wolves in sheep’s clothing, but I also know that men and women of the cloth are human beings first – flaws and all.
I really didn’t know much about Eddie Long before all this happened. The only time I heard him speak anything remotely close to a sermon was when he appeared in Tyler Perry’s film Daddy’s Little Girls. Other than that, nothing. I don’t really pay much attention to televangelists or those who preside over megachurches. There just seems to be something wrong with blinged out bishops and pimped out pastors. I’ve been to a couple of megachurches and something just didn’t sit right with me. I understand that a congregation has to financially support the church in order for it to grow, and I believe pastors, reverends, bishops – whatever you call them – deserve to be compensated for their counsel and good work.
But if the pastor is rockin’ diamonds and platinum jewelry, and living in a mansion when that money could go to the homeless, then I have a problem with that.
But this isn’t about my disdain for meganchurches and ministers who push Bentleys. It’s about people who worship pastors more than they do the Lord. I understand that we seek understanding from our ministers, and that our relationship with God is closely tied to the church and those who lead it. We long for that union with God – and in standing in a crowded arena filled with hundreds/thousands of other folks and the Spirit – we have no other purpose than attracting the attention, admiration and love of God through the person who is delivering the sermon.
But in seeking a relationship with God, I believe some get lost – not realizing that the relationship you seek with God is within – not in pleasing your pastor. Many people give tons of money to the church to support their pastors thinking that this is the path to riches and prosperity. But the source of love you seek with God is within, and once you tap into that, you will find a source of love sufficient to fulfill your needs, attract your greatest good fortune and create abundant happiness in your life.
We can all be dazzled by charismatic speakers, charming orators, people who lift our spirits with the rise and fall of their voices. This isn’t to say that you should go to some boring church with a boring minister who carefully maps out your salvation by conditioning you to attend mass, or a praise shouting Baptist church, Bible study every Saturday or singing in the church choir. I’m not here to intellectually defend my faith, or anyone else’s, or tell you not to have faith in your spiritual advisers. I’ve gone to church all my life, learned all the teachings and lessons of the Bible and have loved all of my pastors dearly. But the truth is, in all my years of religious training and in all the sermons preached every Sunday, the one thing I’ve taken from it all is that we only come to God when we seek HIM, not please those who are in the world. That moment of awakening is internal, and once you know who God is, you know who You are…and they are one.
Who knows if Bishop Long is guilty or innocent of the charges filed against him. It doesn’t look too good for him, but we should all be innocent until proven guilty. His press conference, if you want to call it that, gave us no answers as to his guilt or innocence. We just know that he’s going to fight the charges against him. His congregation supported him, which is to be expected.
But we should know that just as Long said himself, he’s not perfect. We put our spiritual advisers on a pedestal and believe they can do no wrong. We don’t believe that they can be hypocrites, preaching against homosexuality while they themselves are engaging in homosexual behavior. We turn a blind eye to issues involving the black church, such as homosexuality, because the pastor says it’s wrong. We think that because he has a wife and children, he can’t be gay. As our counselor, we believe he would never steer us wrong.
But a pastor who would take your money to floss with isn’t above such things if you ask me. And while the age of sexual consent is 16 in Georgia, this doesn’t mean that he is above abusing his power as a man of God. I don’t care if he’s gay, but I do have a problem with hypocrisy and abuse of power, authority and trust.
A pastor’s purpose is to point us in the direction towards enlightenment. Pastors, ministers, reverends, bishops, priests, imams, rabbis, sages, seers, mystics – they all suggest various paths to the realization of God…and whatever awakens us to consciousness of the Spirit should be the sole concern of these wise teachers. We share in the divinity of God and echo the teachings of all enlightened souls and saints down through the ages who tell us that we and the Father are one - and that the God you seek is not in a man, but is the one you discover in yourself.
-b
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18 comments:
First Bitches! Praise the Lord!
Anthony, that was funny!
He's goin straight to hell! LOL!
Well said Brooke! LMAO @Latinegro. hehehehe
Wow @Latinegro, the debil will be waiting on youuuu!! Aaaaaamen! I would quote a scripture but I'll leave that alone
look...i am still laughing over the guy who owns the segway company driving one off a cliff...
but i agree with Brooke...Pastors like these seem to care more about Bentley then poor people.
I just dont care at this point about it.
I agree with Brooke, you must have a relationship with God within yourself and not idolize man or things. Too many ppl in churches idolize man and take his word for everything meaning that everyone is going to read and intrepret the scriptures in different ways. We must start thinking for ourselves when it comes to religon, politics, etc.
Black people are always looking for a "leader" rather than realizing we can be the change we want to see in the world. We put way too much faith in humans who prove to be just that... human! I know there are white leaders of megachurches as well, but this whole "worship the pastor" thing seems to be very prevalent within the black church. And don't even get me started on the homophobia a lot of these pastors spew in the black church when the musical "praise" leader is sitting up there totally aflame.
I, too, have a big problem with churches that have ATMs in the lobby and credit card forms in the tithing envelopes. What are we really asking people to do here? How much are we expecting them to give? Borrow against their credit and good name when they really don't have it to give?
I agree with you Brooke about the so-called "pimps in the pulpit." It doesn't sit well in my spirit to see a church in an inner city or in a place where most of its members could never even aspire to have a Bentley or fly between their church campuses in a helicopter... yet the pastor is doing just that. It bugs me to no end. It's one thing if you're a pastor with a gospel album out or you've written some books or something and THAT'S where your money comes from. Otherwise, my side eye is really on you if the church has approved your salary to be that high (which I highly doubt).
And if Eddie Long doesn't take that crappy rug off his head, I'm going to scream!!!
AMEN YOLANDA!!
Brooke, well said!
I can't believe the diamonds, and mansions and planes this man has. And people in his congregation don't see anything wrong with that? Are they THAT blind? Or misguided? or STUPID?
People are sheep most of the time, following others and not thinking for themselves. Especially those brainwashed in the church. Nothing wrong with believing in God, it's the believing in MAN I have a problem with. He is not God, only God is God.
And why is it so hard for some to believe this dude is guilty? I mean, did you see the muscle tees this guy was wearing, taking pictures of himself in the bathroom mirror and texting them to people? I saw all of this courtesy of Witches Brew by the way :) He's flaming, anyone can see it - yet he preaches against homosexuality? What a hypocrite! Any dude with a jheri curl gets the side eye from me.
Obviously, Brooke-Ra nailed it - she always does. But props to Yolanda and Stef too - cuz y'all hit the nail on the head as well! Especially Stef calling people out as sheep - 100% correct, in so many areas of life.
People will believe anything because they WANT to. They'll delude THEMSELVES - and people like Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar and all the rest (and I do mean ALL THE REST) simply see an opportunity to capitalize and do so. Where I live, I DEFY people to find me a Black reverend of a major church who isn't suspect in some fashion...none can. They all make excuses - "that's his past", "pastor is entitled to a good life", "who are you to judge?" - but none can explain what's so obvious to people who aren't in said pastor's flock.
I don't fudge with church for the most part. Too hard where I live to find a remotely decent one that I can't find some fault or issue with that would make me NOT want to be there. Besides, you relationship with the Creator doesn't require you to be around a bunch of people once per week. Millions of people walked this Earth without doing this; Jesus didn't go to worship weekly if you break it down! I don't begrudge anyone who DOES go to church; if I had a good one, I'd probably go.
None of us knows for absolute certainty that dude did it. But to even be in a position for info and visual evidence can come out to make people wonder...that tells me all I need to know. And I personally think the 8,000 people who attended his service this past Sunday are FOOLS - what more do you need, idiots? Oh, I know - the customary religious fallback "I'm not perfect", or "only God can judge me" - PUH-LEEZ. Oh, I love this one: "let he has not sin cast the first stone..."
GTFOH. I've already discussed the fact that every human being judges every single day non-stop; it's impossible for anyone to be perfect and all facets of life, and that sin line is cool - but so was Samuel L. Jackson's quote in Pulp Fiction. There are a million lines in the bible one can use - I personally like eye for an eye, myself.
Eddie Long going down won't change a damned thing...cuz someone will take over his church and keep the ballin' going, along with the REST of the pimps. However, the points made on this blog are good ones - and very valid.
I am not sure how the rest of the country is viewing this issue but here in ATL - this is #1, #2 and probably #3 news story. Waking up Sunday morning, it was on ALL the local news channels with live coverage of addressing to the congregation.
Brooke, everything stated is very on point, there's no room to add to this blog. I agree 100% and go Vickadelphia (for my fantasy QB)
Nail on the head.
Definitely don't appreciate security kicking people out of the church that were 1)journalists 2)disagreeable.
You don't kick people out of church that aren't causing harm. That's that guilt showing through and his congregation is scared what's next.
If a sex tape gets released of Pastor lacefront digging in dem boyz booty holes, I aint gonna say nathan about Tyler Perry being his good friend. OOps.
Brooke, this post was dead on. Nothing much more to add to what you and Yolanda and Rameer said.
What gets me is people are more upset that he might be gay, and not that he abused his power to seduce young men. Even if the age of consent IS 16, that's still too young to be "consenting" to sex WITH YOUR PASTOR - especially one who preaches against homosexuality. We hide behind pastors in the church when it comes to the issue of homophobia insteading of having a real dialogue about it.
As for all the material things, have you seen this man's house? His cars? And this dude FLAUNTS it! These people are PAYING for salvation, when all you have to do is come to God yourself...in your heart...FOR FREE.
All,
Things have been pretty crazy down here. Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody that goes there, and its been interesting.
His address to the congregation yesterday was must see-TV here in ATL.
With all this said, I agree with Brooke. I'm not a megachurch dude, but I feel bad for the people who seem to put so much faith in a regular dude, cuz at the end of the day (guilty or innocent) he is but a man of flesh and blood and not above reproach.
We'll see how all this unfolds.
Dmoe
Great comment Brookey baby. I feel a thousand percent as you do. And let us not kid ourselves, I have no doubt that he is very guilty of at least, poor judgement.
Great comment Brookey baby. I feel a thousand percent as you do. And let us not kid ourselves, I have no doubt that he is very guilty of at least, poor judgement.
This guy is just the others, TD Jakes, etc....it's so obvious and I can't see how people "followers" keep heaping thier ideals on this MAN...I feel like a relationship with a higher power should be just that...not with MAN.....just my 2 cents...& fury...yeah..i agree on the whole Tyler Perry slant as well...
I'm late on this since I missed th blog yesterday, but I agree with everything you said. People need to stop being sheep and followers and think for themselves. Eddie Long is guilty of something, even if it IS just poor judgement.
I personally think he's guilty of everything his accusers are saying he did. Why? Because no black man, straight OR gay, is gonna come out and admit that another man sexually assaulted him. They look at it as shameful, and if he's straight, it'll make him seem like he's gay...even if he isn't because a "homosexual act" was done on him. Nothing against gay people, but straight people don't want to be labled as gay if they are not...least of all black men.
I don't see how people can't tell this dude is gay anyway. Just look at him. Not that all gay people look alike, but dude has an S Curl, pursed lips and wears tight ass mesh t-shirts. Come on now.
Wake up people.
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