Duplicity?

Sadly, I have many events in my life that have made me question the validity of "organized religion."  I do not say this to start a debate on whether there is a God, or if he created the Heavens and the Earth.  I definitely will leave that to each individual person to decide.  What I find troublesome is the hypocrisy that you may run across with the institution of the church and those who tend to function within it. 

This all stems, I am sure, from a fairly...ok why sugar coat...a flat out nasty, disheartening, and ugly experience with a church that I was a very active member in.  That went down so poorly, that I realize that this may completely cloud my judgment of the institution of the church.  But here are a few examples that lead me to believe that my decision to stay away from it is a fairly wise choice.  Realize...I am not downing the beliefs of the church, or its validity in existence...I am completely confused with the individuals who linger within.  You will, hopefully, see my point. hypocrisy

A man who is a control freak, emotionally abusive to his children, and unwilling to take responsibility for his past "indiscretions" in his prior marriages and other various blame shifting to avoid responsibility....standing up and teaching bible study, studying to be a someday paid minister, and being recognized as a leader in a church.

A man who is living with a woman, has been proven to be abusive to his ex-wife and his children, who makes no attempt to work, and better yet even files for mental disability in an effort to continue to be unemployed, and makes an almost daily ritual of getting drunk to the point of passing out...being given, on a regular basis, the weekly offerings donated to a church by its members. 

A member of a church board verbally "bitch slapping" a disabled person who is a tenant of the house they rent from the church and telling them they have to kill their dog or move out in three days.

A woman who is so wrapped up in herself and her own wants that she blatantly disregards the wishes of her own son (who is so obviously desperate and miserable living with her) and uses God as her crutch for her own piss poor behavior.

Now let me make this clear...I have no issues with drinking, having a great time, cursing, living with a person prior to marriage, and all of the other things that some would call "sinful" in nature.  Who am I to judge someone's lifestyle and determine if it is "too sinful?"  My issue lies with the fact that if you put yourself on display, take a position of leadership, or present yourself as someone of great moral character to a point of "I am holier than thou, you are but a sinner," along with that comes great responsibility.  If you are going to stand on the basis of "I attend church every Sunday" or "I am going into the ministry" or "God never makes mistakes" I believe you have to have some sort of common sense if not decency about your behavior.  And yes, I will hear the ever present argument of "A church is a place made up of imperfect people, so it will not be perfect."  With that I do agree.  But if you stand as an active member, demanding respect and credit for being so, I believe that you need to go about your business in a different way than your typical person walking around on this planet.  You put yourself in the shoes of a minister, you need to behave as such.  You say God is in control of your life and never makes mistakes, well you have a certain responsibility there as well.  If you are going to act as a member of a board of a church, you can't go around being a bully.

Look we all want to be good people. We all want to make a difference.  I know I do.  But I won't stand on a premise and demand respect because of it.  I will stand and be strong in who I am as a person, believing what I believe, and not cramming that down someone's throat as a badge of "You have to respect me because God says you do."  I will respect a good, kind, decent person....flaws and all....and I will love you for it.  But what I won't respect or love is a person who makes excuses for their piss poor behavior and takes no responsibility.  And when they do that standing on the premise of WWJD...it kinda gives a big screw you to Jesus himself.  I am not sure I want to be on the receiving end of that smack down.