At the beginning of the interview, the news anchor asks, "What's the pastor saying about this, Sharon?" The response I wanted: something from him about humility and forgiveness and the power of words to accurately reflect the gospel message and his failure to do so in a heated moment.
What we got: If my church members get out of line, they have to deal with me. <sigh>
Later, Standridge "says he is a loving and caring man." Your actions speak differently, sir, and they speak much more loudly than your words.
Having grown up in a church with a pastor who adopted similar methods, this kind of spiritual abuse is a major trigger for me. My heart ached for this congregation when I saw the video of the sermon last week. I hope and pray that they can find peace in their walk with Christ. But my past experience leads me to think that many of them will just leave week after week with feelings of never-ending condemnation because they didn't live up to the "standard" being raised by their pastor. Or they'll just quit church, as the guy referenced in the video did. "You're not worth 15 cents." I'll bet Jesus feels differently.
I was wondering how this got on the internet in the first place….wait a minute…where's Cox??!!
At the beginning of the interview, the news anchor asks, "What's the pastor saying about this, Sharon?" The response I wanted: something from him about humility and forgiveness and the power of words to accurately reflect the gospel message and his failure to do so in a heated moment.
What we got: If my church members get out of line, they have to deal with me. <sigh>
Later, Standridge "says he is a loving and caring man." Your actions speak differently, sir, and they speak much more loudly than your words.
Having grown up in a church with a pastor who adopted similar methods, this kind of spiritual abuse is a major trigger for me. My heart ached for this congregation when I saw the video of the sermon last week. I hope and pray that they can find peace in their walk with Christ. But my past experience leads me to think that many of them will just leave week after week with feelings of never-ending condemnation because they didn't live up to the "standard" being raised by their pastor. Or they'll just quit church, as the guy referenced in the video did. "You're not worth 15 cents." I'll bet Jesus feels differently.