"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit..."
- Matthew 7: 15-17
From the Guardian
A married Michigan reverend with five children who publicly came out against homosexuality has resigned from his associate pastor job after his profile on the gay hook-up app Grindr was exposed.
There is nothing good to be found in any of this. There is no silver lining in this story. The sad self hating homophobia and hypocrisy of Reverend Matthew Makela was the inevitable outcome of a trajectory in life that Matthew was set on long ago. It is the result of trying to live a double life, half in, half out of the closet. A closet constructed in no small part by the rabid obsession with all things Gay that runs rampant thought the. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. (LCMS)
I am sure there was a point in Makela's life when this could have been avoided, It would have been a road not taken. A moment when he could have been told that as scary as self acceptance is, it does get better. A moment that a faith community which truly followed the teachings of Christ, could have made real. Instead, from the earliest age, Matthew Makela, along with so many others like him, was bombarded with messages from the LCMS of how he needed to hate ... himself.
Messages from the both the pulpits and classrooms of the LCMS of how Gays are "attacking" the church and family. Near constant rants against welcoming and affirming churches and how God will (at some point) destroy those churches for daring to say that God loves everyone.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod suffers from a institutional obsession with homosexuality that, trumps all else, even the message of the Gospels.
- Matthew 7: 15-17
From the Guardian
Reverend Matthew Makela of Midland worked at St John's Lutheran Church where he was called a man who enjoyed 'family, music, home improvement, gardening and landscaping, and sports'. During his time at the church, Makela reportedly made negative statements about the gay and transgender communities and once compared homosexuality to alcoholism.
In a comment that has since been removed from a Midlands Daily News story, Makela wrote: 'I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God. The proof is in the sacrifice He made for all of us who sin... We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. 'We try to help him in his struggle.'
He also made unkind comments about gay and transgender people on his Facebook page, according to Queerty. Screenshots obtained by the site reveal Makela called himself a 'top' who loved 'make out naked and cuddle' as well as 'oral and massage'. He confirmed the Grindr profile was real, according to Queerty. When word of the profile reached church officials, Makela decided to step down.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There is nothing good to be found in any of this. There is no silver lining in this story. The sad self hating homophobia and hypocrisy of Reverend Matthew Makela was the inevitable outcome of a trajectory in life that Matthew was set on long ago. It is the result of trying to live a double life, half in, half out of the closet. A closet constructed in no small part by the rabid obsession with all things Gay that runs rampant thought the. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. (LCMS)
I am sure there was a point in Makela's life when this could have been avoided, It would have been a road not taken. A moment when he could have been told that as scary as self acceptance is, it does get better. A moment that a faith community which truly followed the teachings of Christ, could have made real. Instead, from the earliest age, Matthew Makela, along with so many others like him, was bombarded with messages from the LCMS of how he needed to hate ... himself.
Sadly the story of Matthew Makela is not new. He is just the latest chapter in the LCMS's long story of damaged self hating closet cases.
I am not saying that any of this can excuse Matthew Makela for his actions and choices, and let's be clear they were his own conscious choices. Decisions that have destroyed not only his life, but that of his wife and children as well. As easy as it is to dismiss that destruction, as just another hypocrite getting what he deserves, there is more here to be pitied than scorned. The fact is, the road to those choices was paved in no small way, long ago with the messages of self-hatred and fear that were pummelled into him from childhood on, by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
The great Stephen Fry has often remarked how the obsession with sex, all too common among many of the publicly self-righteous, is similar to those with unhealthy relationships with food. The only people who are truly obsessed with food are the anorexic and the morbidly obese. This in sexual terms describes the LCMS, to its core.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod suffers from a institutional obsession with homosexuality that, trumps all else, even the message of the Gospels.
It is an obsession that continues to claim victims. Be it with the deaths of gay kids driven to suicide, or adults like Matthew Makela, driven to try live double lives of desperate hypocrisy.
This whole sad and sordid outcome is in no small part, the. LCMS reaping what it has so enthusiastically sown.
This whole sad and sordid outcome is in no small part, the. LCMS reaping what it has so enthusiastically sown.
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