Holy Crap! Bye. Bye.
Well, my goodness.
The Rev. Bill Hybels is resigning as chief pastor of the 25,000 member megachurch, Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago.
Happily no sex with animals (see below) was involved but sex with congregants and employees was.
Amusingly, Hybels started off saying that all the claims were lies.
Hybels had previously called the allegations against him “flat-out lies.” He also had said that the multiyear effort by former senior leaders of the church to push for an independent investigation was nothing but “collusion.”
Yeah, that collusion stuff is a nifty new word.
And then there’s the other men in the church.
Jim Tofilon said he believes Hybels was a victim of the #MeToo bandwagon.
“It’s very destructive,” said Tofilon, who has attended the church since 1991. “It worked. It destroyed an old man’s life. Nothing good came out of it. I hope people making the accusations feel satisfied.”
Yeah, damned ole Eve – she made this mess.
Thanks to Carl for the heads up.
these christians and their family values! the only 2 things they value are tithes and where to park their penis
1I don’t think the good Rev. Bill Hybels needed help from the #MeToo movement so he could ruin his life… it seems like he took care of that pretty well #AllByHimself.
2Note to Jim Tofilon: Just because it didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
What, it takes a LOT of women to protest against unwanted sexual contact to overcome ONE old guy’s opinion?
Go get “sanctified” you guys.
3Somewhat O/T, but am I the only person who sees these mega churches as the modern day equivalent of the “marketplace” as in ” be not like the Pharisees and hypocrites that pray publicly in the marketplace but go into your home, go in the closet, close the door and there, in the darkness, pray unto your Father…”?
Seems that an awful lot of “Christians” have a bit of difficulty following even the simplest of instructions as to how to behave.
4ALL preachers are LIARS…that’s all one needs to know!
5If the KKKristians actually had family values and revered traditional marriage as they claim, they would have voted for Hilz.
6I’d like to point out that Willow Creek Community Church, like so many so-called mega-churches is non-denominational AND … wait for it … evangelical! Ta-da. Although I know nothing of the Church I would opine that it is a cult of personality, rather like Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple. I just hope the auditors don’t find a ton of boxed Kool-Aid packets in Bill Hybels’ old office.
7Bob Boland, Pharisees may be the right word for them (and yes, it’s New Testament), but I’ve come to think of them as publicans–you know, the tax collectors and money changers who cheated the people to the point that Jesus drove them out of the temple. I don’t know what political party they were from, but from their name, I think I could guess.
8I like to trot out the term “Publicans” whenever some peckerwood can’t get through his head that the adjective of “Democrat” is “Democratic.” As long as they keep calling it the “Democrat Party,” I may as well call them Publicans. Or Pharisees. Or moneychangers in the temple. All of those pretty much apply. And no, they haven’t read more than ten or twelve verses in their Bibles. That’s why we atheists score a lot higher than evangelicals on tests of scripture knowledge.
9Maura, that was just about right on. Good comment.
L.Long, “ALL preachers are LIARS…that’s all one needs to know!”
Um, factually yes, because they’re you’re basic human being, hopefully with a first rate thealogical education and a commitment to try to do their best. There are some preachers out there who are really good people, completely appalled by the evangelical bigmouths.
Today I was talking with some religious types, including a couple of Ph.D, holding university profs, and the prevailing feeling is that there will be very little of evangelicalism left by the end of the 21st century. I don’t mean that’s what’s going on only in my little group, but among scholars who study, teach and write about religion. The pseudo evangelists like Falwell and Graham and White and Robertson are killing it off.
I’ve always been a Mainliner, Lutheran/Methodist/UFC sort, but i don’t rejoice at the end of evangelicalism. By the way, our consensus was that it won’t be completely gone, and the remnants will be the strongest healthiest bits to rebuild an authentic faith in.
In fact, the sense is strong that Christianity’s influence and numbers in this country will continue to diminish, probably at a rate that will pick up speed. I believe that will be good for the faith. As the enticements of power and wealth face, a more genuine and authentic faith that actually looks chiefly to the Gospels will remain. We expect to see a renewal of Christianity that will be a great improvement. Well actually, none of us will probably see it. A hundred years from now the early stirrings of regeneration might become noticeable.
(I have an MDiv, retired rev, a great deal of post degree study with some really smart people. Lucky for me.
10Sorry Debbo but trying to be some version (usually delusional) of ‘good people’ does not mean they don’t lie, ALL preachers lie!
11A lie…a statement made that has no proof or evidence of truth.
“If you murder you go to Hell” Sorry but there is NO evidence for Hell, like all of christianity it is a fairy tale, A falsehood, A LIE!!! ALL PREACHERS LIE! Don’t care about “How good they TRY to act”… And telling kids you are going to hell for (insert thing) is NOT GOOD and is a LIE!
That is why Pence won’t be alone with a woman; because they will lie and accuse men of sexual harassment. Why would a woman accuse him for no reason? It all goes back to Eve.
12I took one look at this frat-grandfather type and 1.) He probably can’t remember his bad behavior or even his good behavior as his little gray cells misfired long ago or 2.) he only wishes!!!
13No wonder the evangelicals pooh pooh all the sexual allegations against Trump: they all do it too.
14I once worked as a CSR (Customer Service Rep) for an online porn-dealer. Our main base of customers was in the Deep South, and the nastiest calls I got from guys who wanted to talk dirty to a strange woman were all with Texas or Alabama accents. I’m just sayin’…
15Debbo – a little O/T but what the heck. When evangelicalism began picking up steam in the late 80’s/early 90’s I came to a tentative conclusion that we were experiencing a repeat of the Millenialism that occurred in Europe around the time of the first millenium where many people were absolutely certain that the end of the world was coming “any day now”. Religious hysteria peaked just after the beginning of the ten hundreds and continued almost to the eleven hundreds.
So far I have no reason to revise my original conclusion. Just hope we can survive as a country long enough for this insanity to diminish.
16L.Long – I must take issue with your definition of a lie as
“a statement made that has no proof or evidence of truth”.
That sounds more like a definition of faith, which is belief without evidence.
IMO, a lie is a statement which the speaker knows or believes to be untrue. And everyone does it, to some degree.
I don’t necessarily disagree with your opinion about religious leaders, but with your terminology.
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