The Internet has been buzzing this
week about the arrest of an Arizona Pastor for having weekly Bible studies in
his home. Fox News reported the story and you can read or watch the original
story at http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/11/arizona-pastor-arrested-jailed-for-holding-bible-study-in-home-his-wife-says-it-defies-logic/. Being a long-time pastor I have to admit that
these stories usually catch my attention.
This one caught my attention because I typically have Bible studies and sometimes
they are in people’s homes. If the
government—on any level—is going to be busting pastors for having Bible
studies, well . . . I want to know.
Wanting to know I read the story . . .
. . . and I read a lot of the
reactions to the story. I read
everything from this action being a conspiracy against the pastor to the local
S.W.A.T. team busting down the doors to arrest the offending pastor. The rumors are flying and certain spheres of Christendom
are up in arms, ranting and raving that this is government persecution against
religious freedom. Lots of folks are
jumping on that bandwagon. It has got to
be true . . . hey, Fox News reported
it and the Internet is smoking with it.
There is a reason that I quit watching
television—especially news-- beyond the college football season . . . you can't
trust it. Whether it is Fox News or CNN or ABC it has been
years (lots of years) since you could get the news factually, non-biasly, and
without some sort of slant. Most news
now-a-days is not news—it is editorial or opinion pieces—especially on the
national level. When I watch the news I
want what Detective Joe Friday used to tell people on Dragnet: “Just the facts,
ma’am, just the facts.” I just want the
facts and to be allowed to form my own opinion.
I have learned to take most of what is reported with a grain of salt and
to do my own homework to find the facts.
Now I am not dumb enough to believe
that Fox News reported all the facts
on this story. Nor am I willing to be spoon
fed any news story from any source as being the gospel truth. I am also not so lazy that I cannot do a
little research on my own to discover the whole story—or as Paul Harvey used to
say, “And now . . . the rest of the story!”
This was one of those stories that was screaming to be researched some
more. Things weren’t as they seemed when
reported by the media . . . it sounds like this pastor needs to go back to
school and learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a good citizen.
Apparently the city did have a beef
with the pastor . . . a legitimate beef.
It seems that the pastor was not honest about his intentions going all
the way back to when he got a building permit to build a recreation room on his
property. A 2,000 square foot recreation
room. That is a pretty big rec room—bigger
than a lot of folks’ homes. Then he
furnished the rec room with a pulpit, high tech equipment (microphones,
projector, the whole nine yards), and seating for over 70 people. Then he held his “Bible study” there . . . in
the rec room . . . like thousands of others do throughout the United States and
beyond. Man, from the pictures I have
seen and from what I have read, this guy’s so-called rec room was nicer than
the sanctuary where I preside over weekly worship –I mean where we gather
weekly to “re-create”. The pastor was
not honest from the very beginning. This
was never intended to be a rec room.
Probably the best summary of the whole
story is found on John Wootten’s blog called SOMETHNGNESS. Wootten has
done his homework and done it well—complete with documentation. He shares a whole bunch of information
(facts) that Fox News failed to
report in the name of good journalism.
Wootten --like me—stated that his first reaction was to defend religious
freedom. Liberal or conservative,
defending religious liberty should be embraced whenever it is being stomped
on. At first glance that is what this
story reeked of . . . in the end it reeked of something else and it was not
religious liberty. You can read Wootten’s
blog on this story at http://johnwootten.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/update-on-arrested-arizona-pastor/.
In the end this was not a story about
religion being stymied by the government . . . not a story about government dictating
how people are to live their faith. It
was a lot of sensationalism meant to get a reaction and stir up trouble for the
sake of ratings. The reaction was
exactly what Fox News wanted knowing
that most people are not going to do the necessary homework to get the whole
story or the facts. You don’t think
so? Well, consider this, up to this
point in my personal blog I have
mentioned Fox News eight times—you can’t
buy that sort of publicity! The end
result is that people are talking about Fox
News and it is making all followers of Jesus look ridiculous as the facts
come out.
I agree with what one person stated in
the original story . . . if the law is going to start busting Bible studies in
people’s homes as illegal gathering, then they need to start busting all those
other dens of inequity happening in our communities across the nation. Bust those Tupperware parties and get them off the streets! Bust all those Amway pushers and keep our streets clean! Nail them all! Shoot!
That sounds funny . . . and stupid.
Get the facts before jumping to conclusions . . . what any of us hear is
rarely the whole truth. I think I can
safely say that if you or I want to hold a Bible study in our homes that we are
quite safe and within the boundaries of religious freedom . . . but then again,
if we build a 2,000 square foot rec room complete with all the furnishings
necessary for a comfortable church to have our weekly study . . . well, we had
better be on the lookout for the local S.W.A.T. team!
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