Victoria Osteen Found Not-Guilty

I just wanted to make a brief comment that Victoria was found not guilty for assault yesterday. I do trust the jury who heard the facts and I, indeed, believe that an assault did not take place. There could have been rude behavior, who knows . . . or cares.

But my point in my previous posting was not about her case. The thing that brought up bad behavior was the local arrest of a youth pastor for raping up to 30 children. He has confessed to many accounts. He seems really sorry for his actions. He made a statement on local news that he has battled his desire for young children his whole life.

But I ask an honest question. What could we do as a church to prevent such tragedies? Certainly in this fallen world we can never prevent all of them. I don't think "screening" church workers better will work.

I really think we must change our sanctification (or our concept of godliness) paradigm. We are all fallen and, given the right circumstances, are capable of doing really bad things. So, we need the church to be emotionally safe (where this youth pastor could have stood up in a meeting, or at least confined among his closes Church friends that he had a problem with be attracted to children.) Then we need honesty. We need to stop playing "I am righteous" game. We need to hold each other accountable. And lastly, we need to always remember that our righteousness is God's righteousness bestowed onto us and has nothing to do with our great behavior.