Unfolding My Story: Real, Live Examples of What I've Been Saying
Simply put, neither my mother nor I had a good reason to make up the claims we have made, so they have resorted to personal attacks to distract from the wrongs being done. They are attacking her because while it is easy enough to try to discredit a young seminarian like myself with unfair stereotypes, it is much harder to explain away why a life long member as well liked, caring and gentle as my mother would assert the things she has over the past year.
If they fail to poison the well, people might actually openly read the evidence I offered that demonstrates the things I claimed. Because they know I have evidence of the great wrongs occurring at that church, they have done everything they can to discredit us — and continue to do so even a year later.
My reliable sources throughout the church continue to alert me to the pastor's ongoing campaign of slander against my mother and I can imagine someone heard one of his remarks and decided to set me straight by informing me of how I could become an authentic man by recovering from my alleged “overly bonded with mother wound.” Apparently, if one's mother defends her son when people are slanderously attacking him, that means she is overly bonded with her son.
Ironically, this person trying to show me how I am not manly enough was not manly enough to post with a name, while I have put my name on everything I have written. That was the problem all along: I was willing to put my name to my claims and the pastor and leadership were not willing to do the same without non-disclosure agreements.
So, why are they attacking now? I believe they have again ratcheted up their attacks in recent weeks — for example, talking about the “the Butlers” in the context of “Satan attacking the church” at an administrative meeting last Monday — in an attempt to distract from more ominous allegations coming forth towards the church.
They have to demonize us and then associate everyone who dares challenge the pastor with us or people might start to question the mounting evidence that something is terribly wrong. Not only have numerous long time members now left the church over the pastor's abusive actions to them, now a young woman has come forward publicly alleging that when she was sexually assaulted as a minor by another one of the youth at that church, the pastor covered it up and ignored state reporting laws requiring him to contact authorities in such a case.
Rather than investigate this serious allegation, numerous people in the church have worried about whether “the Butlers” put her up to writing that. We did not — we were not even aware of her plight before she posted the review on the church's Google Maps page — but, what if we had? Would her alleged experience be less troubling if someone else injured by the church had nudged her to speak out about it?
They need to focus on me and my family because that allegation is so thoroughly disturbing. So, they put out new slanders, try to blame my family for pretty much everything going wrong and post anonymous links to self-help styled booklets on how I should become a real man.
Would they be willing to write “their side” of the story publicly, signed with their names? I doubt it, because they know I have evidence backing my writing, even if I have withheld publishing it in an attempt to avoid publicly exposing the identities of those who attacked me. They know I even offered to submit to a polygraph test to authenticate my story. They know I continue to write and feel passionately about this because they know others are being hurt and that I have a burden to speak out for those being hurt.
No matter how much they may deny it, they know the truth. For the good of the Church, I pray it will burst forth before anyone else is harmed.
Previous Posts on this Subject:
Sign Up
It does not add a lot of functionality just yet, but if you would be willing, would you please sign up for an asisaid Account? I am testing my newly minted user sign up and authentication system, part of the “project” I've been working on this summer.
Once you get your account and sign in using the sign in form located above the box to leave a comment on any entry, you'll notice that the comment area will show you signed in rather than giving you boxes to fill out with your name and so on. The information you normally would have typed (or that could optionally be stored in a cookie) will now be stored on the server, associated with your account profile.
It doesn't sound like much, but it required some hefty architectural changes to my codebase.
Thanks to any willing “beta testers.” 20 asisaid points for giving it a whirl.
Microsoft, Macs and Seminarians
The AP reports:
Increasingly, companies are giving their employees a choice to either use Microsoft Windows PCs or Apple Inc.'s Macs, the analyst said. And, increasingly, employees are choosing Mac over Windows. To boot, Chowdhry said 70 percent of college freshman are entering school with Macs, up about 10 percent to 15 percent from a year ago.
I think this is quite likely true. I have observed this phenomenon during my entire seminary experience. Since 2007, when I arrived there, I have noticed that each incoming class of students has brought with them an increasingly high number of Macs. It may not have been a majority at first, but in the last few years, between new students coming in with Macs, along with middlers and seniors getting new systems, the glowing Apples about any classroom denote that Macs are clearly now a significant majority.
What is even more notable about this is that seminarians are not exactly known for having a lot of funds or — perhaps more relevant — expectations of large incomes post graduation. If they are willing to throw in a bit more cash for a more reliable computing experience, I think that the overall picture of Apple in academia is promising.
Especially in fields where computer platforms are less likely to be mandated (such as ministry work), I think it seems reasonable to expect that today's students will continue to use Macs into the future, barring any major changes to the landscape of computer operating systems.
Is it too much to wonder if Windows could become the next WordPerfect? Yes, probably. But, with Mac OS, iOS, Chrome OS and Android all chewing away at different parts of the Windows market and estimates like these indicating who has the next generation's market share and mindshare, I think we could be headed into a future where non-Windows computers are not immediately considered “alternative” and foreign.
Better Facebook
Better Facebook is a FREE user script that plugs into your browser and adds a lot of great enhancements to your existing Facebook account!
I've been using Better Facebook since the Safari Extension Gallery came out and highlighted it. So far, I'm finding some of its additions to Facebook quite handy. (It also works on Firefox, Chrome and Opera, by the way.)
A Year
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
So true.
Amoco is Dead, Long Live Amoco
Reuters reports:
Some BP gas station owners in the United States want to drop the BP name and return to the Amoco brand to recover business hit by public anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
I predicted this some time ago, but failed to post it online. Too bad. I do expect BP will pull a Worldcom and rebrand with their less tarnished, previously subsumed and retired brand sometime in the next year or two. I wouldn't expect it in the next couple of months, though. Doing it too soon would risk dragging the Amoco name into the mud, or in this case, oil.
Unilever Offers Homing Prize
Laurel Wentz writes:
Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international “Dirt is Good” positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.
I'm not sure this is going to prove a good idea.
Sometimes to Get It, You Must Live It
Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church
I am sure I did not fully appreciate the title of Philip Yancy's excellent book when I read it two years ago.
Unfolding My Story: Why Christians Must Act
A year ago today, I spent most of the day on the phone. Fear knotted up my stomach as I looked towards the meeting scheduled the next day with my old pastor before one of the deans at my school. One of the mediators at the company the old pastor sits on the board of was trying to pressure me into signing a dangerously vague legal agreement and suggesting I would get myself in trouble with the school if I did not (which wasn't true, but was still unnerving to hear suggested). By this point I had watched as the pastor and those helping him mercilessly attacked not just me, but twice as cruelly had begun to try to undermine my mom.
Every time another person's story comes to light and I hear the fear, the pain, the brokenness that I experienced come to surface in another person — another victim — I know more than ever two things. First, if only Christians would take action against churches gone wrong, this would not happen. Second, as a Christian, I am amongst those who bears responsibility to act, as I will explain below.
