Christians, Hate, Nakedness, and Namecalling

Hate is a powerful and destructive force, and though I am sure I don’t need to tell anyone that, I think it bears repeating from time to time.  This last weekend, one of my blogging friends, David Hayward, of nakedpastor, was “fortunate” to have his blog and his person reviewed by one of the watchdogs of blogging’s Christian right (I use that word with tongue firmly in cheek).  Ingrid, of Slice of Laodecia, has instituted a new feature on her blog called Meet the New Pastors.  In her latest post in this series, she subjects the Naked Pastor to the kind of judgmentalism of which any good Pharisee would be proud. 

She writes, and I quote at length:

Today’s feature is the Naked Pastor. . . Here, Naked Pastor describes who he is. Bear in mind that this man is actually leading others.

“I confuse people because sometimes I seem conservative, sometimes liberal; sometimes serious, sometimes foolish; sometimes evangelical, sometimes heretical; sometimes open-minded, sometimes stubborn; sometimes creative, sometimes destructive. I don’t know. This blog is meant to be an expression of myself. I guess it’s up to you to figure me out, because I’ve given up a long time ago.”

He also says that he is an artist “trapped in a pastor’s body”. He expresses his view on art by saying, “I love art, including fine-art nude photography and other kinds of art that explore the beauty and wonder of the human body. Some of the art my friends do is nude, erotic or naked. Whatever. I appreciate it all. So you will be seeing more of it on my site without apology.”

For those of you who wonder at the sensuality that is common among emerging pastors today, the references to morally filthy movies, the use of foul language, the defense of erotica, etc., it all goes back to Romans, Chapter 1. These verses directly apply.

21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Notice the direct correlation between denying God for who He is and sensuality. We have in the emerging church many who do not acknowledge God for who He is. They are not thankful. Their minds are then turned away from the wisdom found in Christ and their foolish hearts are darkened. That’s where the fleshly emphasis comes in. That’s why you have pastors promoting movies directly in violation of God’s clear commands. That’s why pastors are glorying, not in Christ and His beauty, but in the naked human body. They worship the corruptible, the image made in the likeness of the Creator, instead of the Creator Himself. There’s an old fashioned word for this—it’s called rebellion. We will see more and more of this, I predict, as the emerging church spins further and further out of control. Once you leave the moorings of God’s sure Word, you are lost to the fog and dangerous undercurrents of a culture at war with God. Friends, that’s a perilous place to be.

Now while I clearly disagree with Ingrid’s assessment of Naked Pastor and her exegesis of Romans 1:21-25, her review of David and his work does not directly contain hate-filled invective.  Yes, she basically calls David foolish, fleshly, idolatrous,  and outside sphere of Christ’s body, the church.  But she does so without name-calling (I am laughing even as I type this).  She bases her opinions on her particular understanding of the Bible and Christian morality, and she is entitled to her opinion, no matter how narrow it might be.  Some of Ingrid’s “minions” however go much further than she does.   The ensuing comments on her post included the following:

Dannygirl Says:

One more thing. looking at “Nake Pastor”’s Art and friends. One conclude, inf at all honest, he is not Christian at all. God is not in all their thoughts. Total self gospel. From Heretical to apostacy to down right blaspheme.

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Belle Says:
Well, since nobody else is going to say it, I will: He’s a pervert. He’s somebody I would never allow myself or my children to be in a room alone with.

I GUARANTEE ya he has more swept under his rug than he’s willing to let us have a peek at…. yet. This is nothing more than a testing of the waters.

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Connie Says:
He’s a spiritual schizophrenic and brandishes the Bible occasionally to let you think that he is a real pastor. Remember, Jesus said the false teachers will come and if they didn’t have an audience or more like idol worshipers they would dry up and blow away.

Satan’s job is really easy, and I dare say the more biblically illiterate the churches become the easier it is for guys like him to make a living playing the people of their congregations for fools. And shame on him for using “artistically nude photos” to lure weak people (male mainly but female too) into the evil one’s lair.

May the Lord help him. May we never forget to pray for these lost souls and those they are leading astray. And may God’s Holy Spirit Who does the convicting convince these folks of their sin and need to turn around from the path they are on and come to saving faith in Him.

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Newcenturion Says:
A “pastor” with a pre-occupation for booze, tobacco, money, and there is always just hint of sexual immorality. He’s a hedonist that’s for sure, however as someone once said there is more to this individual than meets the eye. There are definitely skeletons in the closet. I suspect we’ll be reading about a defrocked “pastor” from the Vineyard Church sometime down the road.

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Ken Says:
I can’t regard someone as a Christian, let alone a pastor, that boasts about their heresy. As Paul the apostle strived to make sure everyone was sound in the faith, and said to rebuke and then separate from those who were not, it just shows the age we are in, when someone claims to be Christian (and a pastor no less), yet glories in their heresy.

But whatever. I’ll take the Bible’s admonition to separate from such people as the “naked pastor”, and he’d never be welcome in my house or church.

All I can say to these comments is “Wow.”  There’s nothing like a pack of Christian wolves, circling around the body of a brother in Christ, and then ripping him to shreds because his particular understandings of the faith differ from theirs.  Pervert?  Heretical?  Blasphemer?  Spiritual schizophrenic?  Hedonist? Never be welcome in my house or church?  My God, where is the love?  Where is the grace?  Even if you disagree with the man and his views (and of course none of these people have even met David -and neither have I, but I have read his work), must you crucify him with your blatantly unChristlike language?  It makes me sick to my stomach.

Now contrast the comments above with the one the nakedpastor himself left on SoL:

To my sister Ingrid and Slicers. Thanks for the review of my blog. I’m truly honored that my blog even got noticed, nevermind a mention! A couple of things:

Your filters only block words, not pictures. The word “naked” in nakedpastor, a blog where I try to bare my soul and not much else, is what’s being blocked. You probably couldn’t get The Naked Archeologist either, and he just shows ruins and pots. I consider what I show on my site to be artistic and tasteful. We disagree there. I just wanted to correct you on why my site is blocked by porn filters.

Ingrid: I’m surprised you didn’t mention my cartoons! Come on… admit it… you HAD to like some of them. You could’ve written some of them yourself. That’s okay though… you were critiquing one aspect of my blog. But from my artistic style and taste to conclude that my site is “theoretically supposed to be a pastor’s blog” is quite a leap. There’s nothing theoretical about it. It IS a pastor’s blog, no matter how different in taste and expression he is from your image of what a pastor is or looks like. That’s okay too though. I don’t expect full endorsement from everyone.

This is just a slice of who I am. If you read through my site you might discover that we are, after all, brothers and sisters with the same Lord. You would “meet” some people from my church who I consider heroes of the faith… of the Hebrews 11 caliber! It interests me that some of you are so quick to call names like “pervert” and question my call as a pastor or even a Christian. But that’s okay too. I suspend judgment and hope that we can cross kinder paths in the future.

Lord haste the day when we will all finally stand naked before you!

david (aka “nakedpastor”)

Now I ask you, which of the above writers has a more Christ-like attitude?  Who would rather spend time with?  For that matter, if all of the above were pastors, which person’s church would you be more likely to attend?

Of course, I left a comment on SoL myself, twice in fact.  My comment, however, was never published.  So here it is: 

I find the wholesale condemnation of David and his blog “nakedpastor” to be what is sad about some forms of Christianity in the world today. Sure, for those who are looking for stones to throw, David’s “provocative” (and I use this word loosely since he readily defines what he means and it has nothing to do with nudity) use of the word “naked” and his use of art, particularly that featuring semi-nude or nude portraits, provide much ammunition. However, a close look at what he actually writes shows any reader with even a modicum of openness that David is a man who is earnestly trying to follow Jesus and has a heart for the body of Christ, the church.

The throwing around of words like “pervert” and “hedonist” saddens me greatly, as does the statements that David has “skeletons in his closet” that may lead to his being “defrocked.” This kind of talk is much further away from the mind of Christ than anything I have ever read or seen on David’s blog.

I am disheartened by what has been written in both the original post and in most of the comments that have followed. I think Christ is as well.

Hate destroys, and in this case it destroys any semblance of unity that might possibly exist in the church.  I consider David a brother in Christ, and I have found his writing, cartoons and art both thought provoking and inspiring.  I encourage you to read his blog. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say you should buy this man a beer.  After all the crap that has been written about these last few days, I am sure he deserves it.  Further, I would love to be a member of the church in which he serves.  Unfortunately he is in Canada and I am in Pennsylvania.  I wonder if they have honorary memberships for people far away?  I think I’ll ask him.