Dignity In Death

Recently a story about a Tampa, Florida Baptist Church hit the airwaves.  One of its members had died.  The family was preparing for the funeral that day, when all of the sudden the minister called to inform them that the funeral was no longer welcomed in their church.  The invitation to have it held there was rescinded.

You see, some of the church folks started to complain about the deceased because they found out he was gay.  The pastor made the decision that since they just found out the guy was gay in the obituary that it would be an abomination to hold the funeral there.

While I realize a church is free to do what they want to do inside their four walls, I'm also free to point out how wrong their actions can be, especially in this case.  In this particular church and example, I can think of many things in the bible that they disregarded in coming to this decision.  If you think for a moment or two, I'm sure you can come up with the same list.

Of course, I'm sure that for everyone who dies and has a funeral in this church, they ask a series of questions.  Hopefully they ask everyone else before a funeral, if they have ever done something that the church disagrees with because God forbid they would just differentiate between some things and not others.   I'm sure the questions would be like the following examples

Haunted By Ghosts Of The Past

It was just a search that turned up a You Tube video.  How on earth could that be that difficult to view?  Of course, I didn't even think about that when I came across it.  I didn't even think about clicking on it.  It all happened and began playing before my mind realized that my fingers had clicked the play button.

Haunted by ghosts of the past, will they forever wrap me in chains?  I could reference the video here, but I just don't want to give it any credibility.  It would be my luck that it would go viral and everyone would see it as normal.  Actually, to most people, it may look rather normal and I may be the one that looks like the fool.  Yet, if you knew the whys and wherefores and particulars behind it, there would be nothing wholesome about what I saw in this video.


Haunted by ghosts of the past, will my mind ever forget?  I've come a long ways in healing, but when you've seen what my eyes have seen, the body and mind never forget.  If they do, I've not experienced that level of healing yet in my life.  You see, the video depicts something religious that to many may look like the person in it is truly humble and changed.  Yet, I've seen this scenario play out more than once by too many.  You do the dastardly deed, molest the child, abuse the wife and then you repent your sins to Jesus.  You get saved and rededicate your life to Christ and if it is bad enough, you even get "baptized" once again.  You claim you never really had Jesus in your heart.  Its a scenario that has played out over and over again in the life I have witnessed.  Wrap it up in a bow and put it under the tree for Christmas!

Baptizing A Child Molester

Lord help me to not let my anger get the best of me.  Notice, I'm not saying "Lord help me to not be angry".  We're done past that point of no return.  I mean, after all, when I read the following, there is not much else I could do to stop that train into anger-ville.  It was on autopilot and it had already left the train station before I could even begin to put the brakes on.

Here's what got me very emotionally angry this morning - it was a post I saw.  I'll keep the name out of it, but the person that it belongs to, knows full well what is going on.

And before you decide to send me hate mail saying I'm bashing churches or religion, take some extra time and read my book and other articles on this blog.  It will help put this in context.  I'm not trying to bash anyone's religion, only what was done to me in the name of religion. Yes, I do realize there is a difference.

Forgiveness Is Not What I Was Taught

Through my searches on the internet, I found this great video about Forgiveness.  Forgiveness for me was taught in the Baptist Church but it was their view of it, not necessarily what forgiveness means.

It was used more as a weapon of control, after the monster beat my mom and whipped the daylights out of us.  It was used as a weapon of control as we sang praises in church while the monster sat close by after the night of showing God's love to us in our bedrooms.  I could go on of course, but hopefully you get the idea of how forgiveness was taught in our home.

I still remember one time in a church service after I was recovering from paralysis that they had me come to the front of the church.  They asked me to pray and forgive the monster.  At that time, I was not even sure what I was praying for.  I actually think that it meant more to the people who were praying over me than it did to my life.

Abuse In Religion

Interesting report by Anderson Cooper about Scientology (See video below). While we in no way can tell who is telling the truth and who is lying, religious institutions try to silence the messengers. They are very effective at this. Unfortunately, too many followers of religions willingly go along with this which is very sad.

Just like in the Catholic church where sex abuse by the hands of these priests and cover ups by the Pope is coming to light, many church denominations have members who harm children and others. The Catholic church is leading the pack right now in this but it isn't just them.

Our family was part of the fundamentalist sect of Baptist Churches (GARBC - General Association of Regular Baptist Churches) while growing up. This sect was so strict that one could not go to a high school dance, or to a restaurant that served alcohol or even sit closer than 6 inches to someone of the opposite sex. They were always preaching that if you did anything that would cause someone else to stumble, you were responsible for what that person did. They would not even allow boys and girls to swim together and when you went swimming, you almost had to wear a three piece suit. You had to wear swim wear that was not revealing along with a tshirt and until you got into the water, you had to wrap your legs with a towell. This is just some of the things that they practiced and preached. I could go on for a long time about this sect of Churches. The environment in this Church fostered the ability for things to happen to me. To much was done in the name of God's Love that has haunted me for years.

I still remember my father coming back home from a Lowell Lundstrom seminar where he supposedly asked if masturbation was wrong or right. This of course is what he told me that he asked at a marriage seminar put on by the Lundstroms. When he got back home, he of course enjoyed speaking about it with me as a very young boy. While it was disguised as "educational", it was nothing of the sort because it was a way for my father to get his jollies. I don't blame Lowell Lundstrom of course but my father used religious methods and places to further his sick practices. While I'm sure this doesn't sound nice to hear, it is part of what I experienced.

So when I see these places like the Catholic Church or Scientology or others stand up and act as if they are being victimized by the accusers, I really want to go and see if they have any functioning brain cells. How many child molesters and abusers do you know have actually owned up to what they did? Probably the number is very low. Yet, these child molesters and abusers twist the facts and turn the accusations back on the accusers. That is what they are good at. That is how they control and manipulate their victims. This is normal operating mode for these people. In fact, I would be surprised if they did anything different.

However, just because the perps try to distort the facts and twist things around, it doesn't mean that they are correct. It is very difficult to come out as a victim on any of these things and often takes years of work to get to the point where someone is able to do that. Victims don't easily speak out because of the shame, guilt and because they were taught to stay silent. That is how these religious organizations get away with all they do.

It is a poison that is feeding on our society and our world. The body and the mind of the child was not meant to experience or endure these things. If we don't work to stop these things and expose all that is going on, than we are just as responsible for what happened. To stay silent and not protect others is not human. If we don't wake up in our world and our society before it is to late, than we will have brought a generation of darkness upon the earth.

This report by Anderson Cooper is very good and valid. I'm glad he is doing it and I applaud his courage in shining the light of truth on organizations that are excellent at silencing people. In case the video does not show, here is the link to Anderson Cooper's report on Scientology.

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