I kept choosing life after being violated by my pastor

“Before long, I began to notice strange, questionable behaviors. Phone calls, flirtations, casual references to meeting with married women in the middle of the night. At first, I thought my perception unreliable—after all, he was the youth pastor, the seminarian. And I? A heathen …”

Huge mistake a lot of people make (not just women) — NOT questioning the church leaders (pastors/youth pastors/music ministers, etc.).

But, at the same time, I can also understand why many people choose not to question or examine church/spiritual leaders — because they’re taught not to. Taught that questioning the “spiritual leadership” is rebellion — and, as I was constantly reminded in my youth, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft…

Personally (and thankfully), I was never physically abused by anyone, but I believe I understand how Dr. Scott (the author of the article) was “immobilized” into being subjected to abuse (rape) by a pastor. Many churches teach to follow and not to question — totally contrary to what should happen — openly questioning the leadership in the church.

Religious Rule of Life #11: “Never ever enter a church ‘unguarded’ – look, listen and question everything – especially the pastor.”

So many (if not all) of these sexual abuse scandals could be avoided if people would question the leadership and hold them accountable.

The one and only pastor that I ever heard say not to question “the Lord’s anointed” is a fundamentalist pastor who is sitting in prison in California for sexual abuse. All of my other pastors have encouraged questioning them.