You reap what you sow.
On Tuesday, San Francisco police announced they had arrested five men in a child porn bust. According to an article published at SFgate.com, one of the men was a Lutheran pastor named Rev. Steven Sabin of Christ Church Lutheran in San Francisco. Sabin is accused of possessing a cell phone and a cloud storage device with, “hundreds of child pornography videos and images depicting juvenile minors being sexually abused,” San Francisco police said in a written release.
The child victims of this latest case are a sad reminder of the state of the American church. Digitized images of children being sexually abused in the possession of a pastor, signal that the problem is systemic. The shepherds have turned on their most vulnerable sheep. When St. James warns, “Not many of you should become teachers…” I believe the Apostle has the doctrinal fidelity and moral behavior of leaders in mind when promises that, “we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1)
Christ Church Lutheran is affiliated with the very liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). The same church is home to the foul-mouthed, porn-defending Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. Bolz-Weber took heat earlier this year for her statements defending the use of what she called, “ethically sourced porn.”
Co-laboring in this denomination Rev. Sabin and Rev. Bolz-Weber both professed the same liberal, progressive brand of “Christianity.” Is it too much of a leap to see how the ELCA’s aberrant theological views led to the acceptance of pornography and the disdain for human dignity? Is it then very difficult to see how these same beliefs that devalue our fellow man could create men like Rev. Sabin who sexually prey on children?