Bob Bixby comments on the sad case of a fundamentalist preacher pretending that he was a former Navy SEAL. In his thoughts, he explores why it is that preachers especially have a need to be special. I think his answer is correct and it offers a chance for all of us to revel in God’s grace for poor ordinary sinners like us.
Here’s an excerpt, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.
A fundamentalist pastor confessed to lying about being a Navy Seal. Why? Why would a pastor lie like this?
Former Navy Seal Don Shipley suggests that part of the problem is just being clergy. You can almost hear the disdain in his voice:
“We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up,” Shipley said. (source)
Jim Moats graduated from Bob Jones University in 1974, pastors a rural KJV-only church and, per the church website, associates with the far-right elements of Independent Baptist Fundamentalism. The story is very sad, but it is telling.
There are so many things to glean from the story. I’ll name a few:
* American evangelicals in general (particularly conservative/fundamentalist evangelicals) put such a premium on patriotism and American exceptionalism that they are particularly vulnerable to a “Jesus-Made-in-America” ideology.
* The American military is consequently so idealized (idolized?) that many clergy inflate their military experience in order to boost an aura of authority and heroism around them for the sake of a much-craved-for respect. (I remember hearing fantastic Vietnam stories from fundamentalist leaders when I was a kid and when I began to read military history assiduously as a young man I started developing a suspicion about the credibility of some of the stories that I had heard. I felt I had been tricked into adulating a spiritual leader on the basis of stories that were, because of my voracious reading in military history, were becoming increasingly unbelievable to me.)
* Fundamentalists, particularly, are prone to yarn-spinning leaders because of a distorted understanding of the Gospel.The reason we embellish our stories is because we cannot embrace the reality of our nothingness. But it is our nothingness that makes God’s grace so amazing. The brother who is being publicly embarrassed right now was caught in a story that he let develop and then ultimately promoted because it met a deep personal need in his life. He needed to feel like he was somebody. Why are you brothers and sisters in the fundamentalist circles who read my blog so offended when I, your brother in Christ, ask a very simple question:
What kind of gospel do you proclaim when your leaders “” your leaders! “” are so afraid to admit error, be real, and be nothing?
Read the whole piece here.