Osler's Razor

I very much enjoyed the article you linked. While watching the trial I felt myself sympathizing to some extent with Vanessa, but I couldn't put my finger on why because she had done so many very clearly wrong things in this story. I like the perspective of the author of the article, and while Vanessa certainly isn't blameless maybe it makes her actions a little bit easier to wrap your head around.
 

What a sad story in which everybody loses, especially and most prominently the victims. Certainly, pray for those girls, all of their grandparents, and loved ones, including their mom who was killed. Their dad has a life sentence, but so do they as well.

And pray for their dad too. It is not easy to say, to think, or to do but prayer is about much more than thinking or feeling.

The article was mostly spot on (Texas pronunciation Dear Editor).

There is one point made at the beginning though which we could examine a bit further:

It involved sex, lies, premeditated murder, pornography and a clergy member. It should have been a work of fiction; it should never have happened in real life

This is a terribly sad case in which there are no winners and there never shall be. But, why should it have never occurred? Unfortunately, we know that these things happen in the general population. People lie, people commit premeditated murder, people abuse power. And if it happens in the general population, then why would it not happen with clergy.

Clergy, of any faith, are no better or worse than other people. What happens in the culture and in the world shows up in the Church and synagogue, and specifically, in the clergy.
 

This post hit home a bit for me. While the situation wasn't anywhere near the severity of what Matt Baker did, it involved a leader abusing the power of his position. When I was in undergrad, a student leader was exposed for sexual misconduct. In the days following this revelation we discovered that he also had been lying about actually being a student, and convincingly (he would often show up at my or friends' apartments with a backpack and talk about exams, etc.). It turned out that he was a pathological liar that abused his position of authority to prey on vulnerable young men. When all of it came out, it was completely stunning. He had such a convincing facade that it seemed unthinkable that he would be capable of the things he did.

It shook my faith in human leadership to the core. We are fallen, fragile creatures. The temptation to abuse power that comes with authority is so great... And while it doesn't always rise to the level of Matt Baker or my situation, power still has the potential to cause great hurt if we don't guard ourselves against it. I think that the only way that someone doesn't abuse it is by recognizing that they are fallen and weak, and only by completely trusting in God for His provision and protection can we overcome that temptation.

While the situation did shake my faith in people, I feel that my parents prepared me well for the situation. They taught me to always be asking questions, to search the Scriptures for myself and not just take a pastor at his or her word. I think that healthy skepticism really shielded me from some of the hurt that it might have caused had I not had that training. Because of it, my faith in God was never shaken; in fact, I think that the events only strengthened my faith in Him, and reinforced my belief that only through Him can we overcome our own shortcomings. Of those that fell prey to the leader, I know that most, if not all, remain active in various churches and held fast to their faith while they worked through what happened.

Ultimately, he was removed from membership of the church here (the church followed Jesus' instructions in Matthew 18), but contact was maintained while he got help so that they could monitor his progress and eventually restore him to the church. That never happened. I don't know exactly what happened next, but I know that a few years ago there was a lawsuit in California against him and a church for the same sort of thing. It pains me to think that there wasn't more done to ensure that he couldn't do the same thing again. But then, he may have been able to fool those who were caring for him into thinking that he was better; in that case, I don't think anything could be done. At any rate, I'm thankful that the damage he did here wasn't more permanent.
 

Osler,

Dean Garland's piece is indeed quite good.

The link you have is now broken (because of the recent redesign, I assume). Here's what should be a working link:

http://www.wacotrib.com/opinion/Diana-Garland-guest-column-Dont-call-it-an-affair-Call-it-abuse-of-power.html