I appreciate your efforts to live your faith. I never bought into the story, so I live my life my own way, which probably is similar to yours outside of the religious aspect - try to be kind, lend a helping hand, lend a friendly ear and try to use empathy and compassion for others even when it’s not easy. The only difference is one of us believes a god is watching us do that stuff, one does not.
I would like it if all clergy who didn’t practice what they preach are excommunicated from their profession. Often times that’s not the case. The offending clergy is usually shuffled off to another congregation elsewhere who is not familiar with the person’s previous misdeeds.
I know the Southern Baptist Convention was dealing with a sex scandal of its own recently (700+ alleged victims of sexual abuse since 1998), and their response was about as toothless as the response from the Vatican.
I am in full agreement about not placing humans on a pedestal. I am the same with professions. Are all military, cops, teachers, nurses, clergy, etc., automatically awesome people because of their profession? Of course not. Are most of them? Probably. I tend to evaluate character on a case by case basis, and profession and which god they do/don’t pray to have little to do with said evaluation. Which leads me to lament that I’ve been called a bad or evil parson many times by believers for not believing in the same god as they do. Two way street there, IMO.
First, I would apologize to you on behalf of all Christians, for those who have treated you in that manner. The Bible teaches that we are all sinful and in need of the saving grace we can only find in our belief of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. I am sorry you were treated that way.
Second, if anyone else is interested, below is text directly from the Bible, describing qualifications to be a Pastor/Elder:
1 Timothy Ch 3: "Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer (pastor) desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
Titus Ch 1: "The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
