12 Questions You Should Ask Your Pastors
When confronted about why he did not report child molestation, Rick Sinclair replied: “I find in this particular area that it’s a matter of personal judgment.”
If a pastor argues that reporting child sexual abuse is a matter of personal judgment, the congregation has the biblical duty to ask further questions. It is essential not only to ascertain whether it’s safe to remain at the church but also to ensure that all vulnerable people are protected.
Christian Fellowship Center attendees and concerned community members should ask Rick Sinclair, Mike Tomford, Jamie Sinclair, Ben Levendusky, and Daniel Paladin the following questions:
How many letters have you written to judges asking for a lenient sentence for child abusers by describing the criminals as “likeable, warm and self deprecating”?
How many women have you told to stay with their husbands after those husbands molested their children?
How many times have you blamed wives for not providing enough sex when their husbands rape children instead?
How many times have you instructed a husband to get his wife drunk in order to take her virginity?
How many women have you told to stay after their husbands beat them and threw them down the stairs?
How many times have you appeared in court to support abusive husbands and fathers?
How many teenage girls have you blamed for their abusers’ crimes?
How many times have you lied to the police when the people report the screams of your beaten children?
How many times have you threatened women who try to leave the church?
How many elderly men have you allowed to stalk and harass teenage girls at church?
How many rapists have you allowed to fill youth leader roles without telling parents that their children were being taught by predators?
How many men are currently attending church services with a chaperone? Who are these chaperones?
Listen carefully to the answers that your pastors give to these questions. What do they say and what do they not say? How do they justify their choices? If a pastor is arrogant enough to claim that reporting abuse is a matter of personal judgment, that pastor’s personal judgment is decidedly untrustworthy.
