After sending you an email yesterday and realizing your schedule, I wasn’t sure if a response would be possible. However, you have taken great lengths to share the severity of the issue and leadership involved. Bless you for you service to the King. Joe Nunn
My heart breaks for Morris and his family, but it breaks more for the young girl who will be forever scarred. Praying she’ll turn it into her ministry. As most question “doesn’t God forgive?” Of course He does, but you still have to deal with the worldly consequences. As with all sin, it doesn’t happen overnight. There was a “first step” at some point. Then a second and so on until the sin has you.
Amen, Shari. The good news is, that young girl (Cindy) is now a strong, vibrant Christian woman who loves Jesus and has done quite well throughout all this. Yes, a lifetime of deep scars, but no bitterness, and much gratefulness that others perpetrators will pause before they molest a minor because they remember what happened to Robert Morris.
Thank you for your courageous stand against child sexual abuse in the church. As a male victim of sexual abuse, I can agree 100% with your mother's statement that people who were victimized sexually as children carry the pain for a lifetime. I was 55 years old before I could talk about what my father had done to me throughout my childhood. And the fact that he was a respected Christian leader in every church we attended only compounded my pain and confusion. Which was he? A perverted individual pretending to be a Christian? Or a solid Christian with a besetting sin? I wanted to believe the best about him. After all, he was my dad. But your mom is absolutely correct. There is something fundamentally wrong with a person-emotionally, mentally, and spiritually-who can doom a child to a lifetime of pain.
My dad was always our pastor's right hand man. Church organist/pianist, ordained deacon and often chairman of the deacons. Bible study teacher. Church bus ministry leader. He was the quintessential Christian lay leader.
I wanted to think of him as the perfect Christian dad, but he wasn't. And any man who could do what he did to a child has disqualified himself from the positions of honor which he enjoyed in the churches where we were members.
Sexual abuses involving children are the most heinous. The response you describe of discipline applied to the sexual offenders is severe. That is as it should be; "Forever Disqualified"
It does bring to my mind the question of how less is the severity when a pastor preys upon a female member of his congregation and attacks her. Too frequently, pastors manipulate situations to intentionally put a targeted female parishioner in a situation that removes their ability to defend themselves.
How much less severe should the response of the church be toward such heinous offenders than that involving children?
Female members of congregations are extremely vulnerable due to the trust they place in clergy. True, they are not children, yet their trust in church leadership, particularly the pastor, or other senior leaders in ministry, renders them only slightly less innocent and vulnerable than a child, but not much.
Yet our church institutions and culture unfortunately seem to minimize such offenses made by pastors and leaders in ministry upon female victims to the point that the offending pastors are given a "pass", or at worse, a slightly embarrassing gesture of disapproval, before allowing the pastor to return to ministry. Too often the leader surfaces again by being involved in ministry leadership without having made any significant gesture of repentance or significant discipline measures having been applied.
This "culture" of protecting and covering for those pastors who have been identified as being sexual predators with some perverted sense of loyalty to them by their peer ministry leadership is almost cultic in nature and heartbreaking to witness.
I wish it were not so. But it never seems to change.
Another aspect of such tragic episodes in Christendom is the complacency, at best, co-conspiracy, at worse, of those in church leadership who are aware of such atrocities and who are do not react with the same level of repulsion, disgust, and demand for accountability as would the vulnerable person who was victimized.
ALL of us should make it clear that we understand the level of such an offense, which should be elevated to the extreme with demands that the predator be eliminated from serving in any ministry leadership position.
The sad reality that such offenders are allowed to return to ministry positions and again accepted as being qualified to be considered as celebrated, credible, leaders in teaching and preaching positions is a sad, but real, indicator that "the church" (as identified by the world, not God) has a significant sin-disease embedded within itself.
(It is crucial to differentiate between the genuine "Church", the "Bride of Christ", consisting of genuinely "born-again" followers of Jesus Christ who are totally devoted to submitting control of their lives every day to their King Jesus AND the "Church" as a worldly institution consisting both of the "wheat" and "tares". The day of reckoning will soon come when The Church will be sanctified and made pure. But not yet.)
Your mother is right! The victims of the perpetrators are often forgotten yet they spend years suffering from the injuries, both physical and spiritual, the endured. Pastors who so seriously offend against those whom they would think of as their flock must suffer the consequences of such dreadful sin: repentant perhapsand forgiven yet not restored to leadership. They may well have caused their victim to stumble and lose their faith. A fearful and terrifying result of their lust and narcissistic need for power. Does the pastorate attract those who seek the adulation of many and the opportunity to indulge their desires at the expense of the vulnerable?
I do not feel sorry for this man nor for his wife who made such unfeeling comments to the young victim. If they had done the right thing and had eschewed the limelight, loving to be in the first place, and rather walking humbly before God, then my reaction would be different.
First of all, I would like to say that I believe Robert Morris is to be blamed in that he continued in his sin for more than four years. He should have stepped away and stayed away from being a pastor back then. If his conscience was where it should have been, as a born again child of God, I believe he would have done that. However, I would like to point out that twelve years old is not actually considered a "child" in many places in the world. Under Jewish teaching, boys are considered men at twelve and girls can get married at twelve if they have reached puberty. "Citing the primacy of the divine command given in Genesis 1:28, the time between puberty and age twenty has been considered the ideal time for men and women to be wed in traditional Jewish thought." I think people are discounting the fact that most girls go through puberty somewhere between nine and thirteen. To continue calling her an "innocent child" is to say that Mr. Morris is not only an adulterer, but that he is a pedophile as well. For us to believe that she was abused, just because this woman now says that she was abused, is to make a judgement call in her favor even though none of these people know her nor do they know if she is telling the truth about being "abused". If she was being abused at that time, why didn't she tell her parents? I remember being twelve and I can tell you for sure, if someone was trying to abuse me I would have reported it to someone right away. Maybe she is telling the truth, but we don't know all the facts, so to brand Robert Morris as a pedophile without more proof is to ruin his life. This girl continued in the relationship until she was almost seventeen which is hardly a child.
After sending you an email yesterday and realizing your schedule, I wasn’t sure if a response would be possible. However, you have taken great lengths to share the severity of the issue and leadership involved. Bless you for you service to the King. Joe Nunn
My heart breaks for Morris and his family, but it breaks more for the young girl who will be forever scarred. Praying she’ll turn it into her ministry. As most question “doesn’t God forgive?” Of course He does, but you still have to deal with the worldly consequences. As with all sin, it doesn’t happen overnight. There was a “first step” at some point. Then a second and so on until the sin has you.
Amen, Shari. The good news is, that young girl (Cindy) is now a strong, vibrant Christian woman who loves Jesus and has done quite well throughout all this. Yes, a lifetime of deep scars, but no bitterness, and much gratefulness that others perpetrators will pause before they molest a minor because they remember what happened to Robert Morris.
Pastor Wade,
Thank you for your courageous stand against child sexual abuse in the church. As a male victim of sexual abuse, I can agree 100% with your mother's statement that people who were victimized sexually as children carry the pain for a lifetime. I was 55 years old before I could talk about what my father had done to me throughout my childhood. And the fact that he was a respected Christian leader in every church we attended only compounded my pain and confusion. Which was he? A perverted individual pretending to be a Christian? Or a solid Christian with a besetting sin? I wanted to believe the best about him. After all, he was my dad. But your mom is absolutely correct. There is something fundamentally wrong with a person-emotionally, mentally, and spiritually-who can doom a child to a lifetime of pain.
My dad was always our pastor's right hand man. Church organist/pianist, ordained deacon and often chairman of the deacons. Bible study teacher. Church bus ministry leader. He was the quintessential Christian lay leader.
I wanted to think of him as the perfect Christian dad, but he wasn't. And any man who could do what he did to a child has disqualified himself from the positions of honor which he enjoyed in the churches where we were members.
Again, thank you for speaking the truth in love.
Sincerely,
Rob Bolton
Stunning. Profound. Transformative. Thanks for your comment, Rob! Love you and your wife.
Sexual abuses involving children are the most heinous. The response you describe of discipline applied to the sexual offenders is severe. That is as it should be; "Forever Disqualified"
It does bring to my mind the question of how less is the severity when a pastor preys upon a female member of his congregation and attacks her. Too frequently, pastors manipulate situations to intentionally put a targeted female parishioner in a situation that removes their ability to defend themselves.
How much less severe should the response of the church be toward such heinous offenders than that involving children?
Female members of congregations are extremely vulnerable due to the trust they place in clergy. True, they are not children, yet their trust in church leadership, particularly the pastor, or other senior leaders in ministry, renders them only slightly less innocent and vulnerable than a child, but not much.
Yet our church institutions and culture unfortunately seem to minimize such offenses made by pastors and leaders in ministry upon female victims to the point that the offending pastors are given a "pass", or at worse, a slightly embarrassing gesture of disapproval, before allowing the pastor to return to ministry. Too often the leader surfaces again by being involved in ministry leadership without having made any significant gesture of repentance or significant discipline measures having been applied.
This "culture" of protecting and covering for those pastors who have been identified as being sexual predators with some perverted sense of loyalty to them by their peer ministry leadership is almost cultic in nature and heartbreaking to witness.
I wish it were not so. But it never seems to change.
Look up the pastor JP Miller case. He was a master manipulator and gaslighter, leaving women feeling powerless.
Another aspect of such tragic episodes in Christendom is the complacency, at best, co-conspiracy, at worse, of those in church leadership who are aware of such atrocities and who are do not react with the same level of repulsion, disgust, and demand for accountability as would the vulnerable person who was victimized.
ALL of us should make it clear that we understand the level of such an offense, which should be elevated to the extreme with demands that the predator be eliminated from serving in any ministry leadership position.
The sad reality that such offenders are allowed to return to ministry positions and again accepted as being qualified to be considered as celebrated, credible, leaders in teaching and preaching positions is a sad, but real, indicator that "the church" (as identified by the world, not God) has a significant sin-disease embedded within itself.
(It is crucial to differentiate between the genuine "Church", the "Bride of Christ", consisting of genuinely "born-again" followers of Jesus Christ who are totally devoted to submitting control of their lives every day to their King Jesus AND the "Church" as a worldly institution consisting both of the "wheat" and "tares". The day of reckoning will soon come when The Church will be sanctified and made pure. But not yet.)
Dear Wade,
Your mother is right! The victims of the perpetrators are often forgotten yet they spend years suffering from the injuries, both physical and spiritual, the endured. Pastors who so seriously offend against those whom they would think of as their flock must suffer the consequences of such dreadful sin: repentant perhapsand forgiven yet not restored to leadership. They may well have caused their victim to stumble and lose their faith. A fearful and terrifying result of their lust and narcissistic need for power. Does the pastorate attract those who seek the adulation of many and the opportunity to indulge their desires at the expense of the vulnerable?
I do not feel sorry for this man nor for his wife who made such unfeeling comments to the young victim. If they had done the right thing and had eschewed the limelight, loving to be in the first place, and rather walking humbly before God, then my reaction would be different.
First of all, I would like to say that I believe Robert Morris is to be blamed in that he continued in his sin for more than four years. He should have stepped away and stayed away from being a pastor back then. If his conscience was where it should have been, as a born again child of God, I believe he would have done that. However, I would like to point out that twelve years old is not actually considered a "child" in many places in the world. Under Jewish teaching, boys are considered men at twelve and girls can get married at twelve if they have reached puberty. "Citing the primacy of the divine command given in Genesis 1:28, the time between puberty and age twenty has been considered the ideal time for men and women to be wed in traditional Jewish thought." I think people are discounting the fact that most girls go through puberty somewhere between nine and thirteen. To continue calling her an "innocent child" is to say that Mr. Morris is not only an adulterer, but that he is a pedophile as well. For us to believe that she was abused, just because this woman now says that she was abused, is to make a judgement call in her favor even though none of these people know her nor do they know if she is telling the truth about being "abused". If she was being abused at that time, why didn't she tell her parents? I remember being twelve and I can tell you for sure, if someone was trying to abuse me I would have reported it to someone right away. Maybe she is telling the truth, but we don't know all the facts, so to brand Robert Morris as a pedophile without more proof is to ruin his life. This girl continued in the relationship until she was almost seventeen which is hardly a child.
Bro. What policy did your churches have for receiving repentant and believing sex offenders into church membership?