According to Evangelicals, God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. God is the creator of all things, the ruler and king of the universe. He is the first and the last, the alpha and omega. Nothing happens that isn’t according to God’s purpose and plan.
However, when these beliefs are challenged with examples such as child sexual abuse, all of a sudden, this God is helpless, powerless, and non-existent. When clerics sexually abuse, molest, and rape children, who’s to blame? If God is as described above, then he, ultimately is to blame for crimes committed against children. He could stop preachers from sexually molesting children, yet he is indifferent to their plight.
Some Evangelical preachers will argue that child sex crimes happen because of human sinfulness. “For all have sinned,” the Bible says. What sin or sins did children commit that justifies them being sexually assaulted by so-called men of God? I can’t think of any. Preachers who sexually molest and abuse children prey on their innocence. Recently, Evangelical megachurch pastor Robert Morris was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl; abuse that continued afterward for several years. The victim/survivor did nothing to invite such unwanted attention from Morris. Some Evangelical degenerates will suggest that she came on to Morris or seduced him. Really? I have five granddaughters who are around the victim’s age. I can’t imagine any scenario where one of them could or would come on to or seduce a grown-ass man — especially a preacher. It takes a vile, warped person even to think that a child is culpable for what a child molester, predator, or rapist does to them. You are a disgusting human being if you think otherwise. The adult in this story is ALWAYS responsible for their behavior.
Recently, Evangelical apologist Jim Denison wrote a post titled How the Gateway Church Scandal Is Leading Many to Question God’s Faithfulness. Specifically, Denison attempts and miserably fails to answer the question “Where was God when this horrific abuse was occurring?”
But my point today relates not to Christians who are justifiably angry and disillusioned with other Christians. I am focusing instead on non-Christians who are asking why they should consider our faith when many of our faith leaders have acted in such horrific ways.
We claim that our God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving. If this is true, he knows what is happening when a Christian leader abuses a child. In fact, he knew this would happen long before it did. His omnipotence would seemingly enable him to act in any way he wishes. And the fact that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) would compel him to defend such innocent victims.
Why, then, doesn’t he?
Indeed. Why, then, doesn’t the Evangelical defend and protect innocent victims?
Denison says the “human free will” is the reason God stands by and does nothing when Evangelical preachers grope, penetrate, and rape children:
My immediate theological response is to point to the fact of human free will.
God created us to love him, and each other (Matthew 22:37–39), but real love must be a free choice, so God has given us the freedom we can use for good or for evil (cf. Deuteronomy 30:19–20; Joshua 24:15; Revelation 3:20). If the Lord prevented every sin, we could not be free. One could argue that if God protected the victims of clergy sexual abuse, he would have to protect the victims of every crime of any kind, rendering freedom null and void.
Set aside for a moment whether humans have free will. What act of the will on the part of victims plays any part in their abuse? If Denison wants to use free will as justification for sex crimes, who committed the crimes? Not the victim. No, the only person using their free will are offending preachers. It is disgusting to suggest otherwise.
Dension argues that if God prevents clerics from sexually molesting children, he would have to protect all victims of sex crimes; and to do so would violate human free will. So, God does nothing so all children, everywhere, have equal opportunity to be sexually assaulted. Cue, “What a Mighty God We Serve.”
Caring, compassionate people are throwing up about now. All that matters to Denison is holding true to his peculiar theology. We saw similar degenerate thinking from Dr. David Tee. I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years. I spent twenty-five years pastoring Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB), Southern Baptist, Sovereign Grace Baptist, Christian Union, and nondenominational congregations. This sort of thinking is foreign to my experiences in Evangelicalism, both as a member and a pastor. Forget the Christian/Evangelical part of the equation. I suspect most of the non-Christians who frequent this site consider Denison’s and Tee’s justifications morally bankrupt. And surely most Christians do too.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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