Fall From Grace of Clergy and Lessons to Be Learned

The mega-church, mega-radio Rev. David Hocking falls from grace (“Santa Ana’s Rev. Hocking Quits Pulpit After Affair,” Oct. 9). This story is not a new one to Orange County. Just two short years ago, another prominent Orange County mega-church minister had to quietly leave for similar reasons.

“Christian men?” we ask. “Holy ministers?” Such immorality that disgusts the masses and hurts many conveys a very simple truth: To err is human--even if you claim a relationship with a supernatural god.

Ideally, ministers should take the less-traveled moral road. The fact remains, nevertheless, that every human being makes big mistakes, and at some point, however minute and infrequent, we all lie, we all steal and we all cheat. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying himself.

The human electrical system has a nasty little short that leads to less than ethical actions. Despite that, many think of ministers as the moral bedrock of society, always standing above reproach, near perfect. That is, a minister somehow contains a holy potion that grants personal immunity from the deadly virus of unethical behavior.

Couple such moral idealism with congregations that make their mega-ministers the god of the church instead of simply the leader of the church, and the problem becomes readily apparent. Congregations often have a focus which goes directly down the center aisle instead of head-on into the heavens. Like slowly rising yeast, the minister over time somehow loses sight of his own inadequacies and almost becomes the very god the church has created.

Whether we exonerate or convict the fallen ministers is not important. The Bible that they preach promises them an austere judgment. Yet, be assured that just as he who jumps off a 20-story building will fall down and go splat, ministers will sadly continue to do the same.

The reason is simple: Everyone of us falls from grace every day. We make big league mistakes in our little league lives. In the end, a certain disgust with fallen ministers has validity. Simply reject those things and refocus on the One who cannot be personified.

JERRY MOLLENKRAMER, Irvine