Another Colorado pastor outed
Posted December 12, 2006
Pastor resigns over homosexuality
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:12/11/2006 02:49:00 PM MST
In a tearful videotaped message Sunday to his congregation, the senior pastor of a thriving evangelical megachurch in south metro Denver confessed to sexual relations with other men and announced he had voluntarily resigned his pulpit.
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Douglas County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal.
Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister...
"I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."
To read the full story, go to: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4817067
A hat tip to Laura and Caleb for catching this story.
Archived Comments
The Denver Post article said, "Barnes described struggling with what he believes is the biblical teaching that homosexuality is an abomination."
Barnes, and evidently the religious right, haven't read what the prophet Jeremiah said about the Bible. Jeremiah 8:8 says:
How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us," when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie?
Evidently Jeremiah considers it a lie that "homosexualitiy is an abomination."
Christians should likewise consider Leviticus 18:22 a lie--and probably a whole lot more of the Old Testament a lie.
Pastor Phelps is 77 and try as they may, try as they might, no one can find any dirt on him.
Ok, another gay evangelical story. I guess all the espiscopalians reading this blog can breathe a sigh of relief: this negative story isn't about you guys!
In other words, don't you think that you have become too focused on the in-fighting in certain mainline churches Frank? Surely there are problems, squabbles and challenges not involving gay sex among the evangelical/pentacostal/charismatic communities.......
I don't understand why he doesn't accept that he was "born that way", yet acknowledges having homosexual feelings since the age of five...
That's because all evil desires come from the heart, not the physical body (Jesus, Gospel of Mark, chapter 7.21). Evil is not physical in nature.
How very sad.
There appears to be a steady stream of high profile churchmen who fall. Most seem to involve the leaders of mega-churches, though the Catholic Church has had their fair share of major scandals. What exactly is happening?
The so-called mainline protestant churches seem to be surviving without too many of these high-profile scandals. I can't think of any. Their problems are mainly with negative growth.
Does high growth bring with it high scandal?
No dirt? Yeah, right, Bart. Fred Phelps' entire life has been nothing but dirt and his channelling his hate toward others.
Rev. Fred never talks about his failed career as a lawyer, does he?
He was disbarred in 1979 for perjury and for harrassing a poor court reporter for days on the witness stand after she didn't get him a transcript as fast as he wanted it; he openly called her a slut on the witness stand, and filed court papers which the court held to consist of outright perjury.
I mean, this was nothing more than a mean spirited attack by Rev. Fred against a person who no more deserved it than the man in the moon. I admire anyone for attacking a person or institution who has done wrong, but this is nothing but mean spiritedness and pettyness. And so found the Kansas Supreme Court.
If this is your hero, you can have him.
State v. Phelps, 226 Kan. 371, 598 P.2d 180
(Kan. 1979)
Caleb: we are all known by the company we keep, and Bart just can't help that his best friend Mr. Phelps has "Championed" Fidel Castro and "Praised" Saddum Hussen. With friends like that -Why I am surprised that Bart has anything at all to do with us heathens.
No dirt on Phelps?????? His very being and every word out of his mouth is evil and filth. Oh and I'm not saying he shouldn't be allowed to say those things...I'm just saying I don't agree with it or like it!
I tend to think Phelps is hiding some closeted feelings of his own...."he doth protest too much."
In regards to the nature vs. nurture issue on this matter (and as an applied biologist I've got to go with the scientific evidence), here's an article about an extremely unusual and remarkable group-- conservative gay evangelicals:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/us/12evangelical.html?ex=1166590800&en=70338190b434744f&ei=5070&emc=eta1
I hope that weblink works; if it doesn't, the name of the article on the nytimes.com website is "Gay and Evangelical, Seeking Paths of Acceptance."
Lisa, I, too, have said kind things about Fidel Castro over the years, though I don't think I've ever said anything good about Saddam Hussein. Castro at least overthrew a wretchedly corrupt government propped up by the United States. Of course, Saddam Hussein operated a wretchedly corrupt government propped up by the United States.
What has Rev. Fred ever done but whine and tell someone else they're going to hell?
Why don't you ask The Kansas Comet Gayle Sayers and the dozens of other Black men and women that Fred helped in the 60's and 70's?
When no one else would take the cases of courageous Black youth who were arrested during protests, Fred heeded the call! He took the criminal cases free of charge and the civil cases on a contingency. It made him one of the most hated men in Topeka when he got a court order enforcing Brown v. Board of Education. Wealthy Whites including lawyers and judges didn't want their kids in the same classroom as Black children which they called "Negroes".
To this day, Fred and the WBC have never said that it is a sin to be Black. He has expressed (correctly) that it is a sin to attach homosexuals to the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr. By that same token, Black leaders that allow the sodomites to "piggy back" onto their cause are committing sins.
As far as Saddam goes. Fred Phelps was welcomed in Iraq and allowed to protest by Saddam. Saddam didn't set out to pass laws banning WBC like this "freedom loving" country has done.
Castro has also passed strict laws against sodomy. Any Christian nation should applaud that. Rather we drop our jaws in shock and anger.
Pastor Phelps is a fine man and it won't be long now until he takes his place among the Saints of Heaven.
LIke James Thurber would have put it (and did, about Jack Smurch, with the exception of one word), Lord, let not a follower's prayer go unanswered.
So, Bart, I take it from your comments that you have no defense for Rev. Fred's beating up on a poor defenseless court reporter, committing perjury, and getting disbarred for it.
As far as Rev. Fred helping enforce Brown v. Board of Education, let's look at the facts. The Brown case was decided in 1954. Although Rev. Fred claims that the fact that he arrived in Topeka the day it was decided made him believe he was destined to be a civil rights lawyer, it took him ten years to graduate from law school, which he did in 1964.
By 1969, his law license was suspended; apparently he got it reinstated some time between then and 1979 when he was disbarred. So, that doesn't leave much time for legal do-gooding, particularly when he apparently spent so much of that time beating up on helpless people like the court reporter in question.
As far as his being "a fine man," I see no evidence of that whatsoever.
And it's interesting that your and apparently Rev. Fred's analysis of any situation or person turns solely on their tolerance for Rev. Fred. You've said in the past that the legislature of Kentucky should be condemned -- not because they're a bunch of incompetent reactionaries, which would be a legitimate complaint -- but because they passed a law against Rev. Fred.
Rev. Fred condemns Jerry Falwell, not again for being a reactionary buffoon, but because he said that Rev. Fred was insane, which may be the most truthful statement Falwell ever made.
You praise Castro not because he overthrew an evil dictatorship backed up by the CIA, but because he passed anti-gay laws. You even praise Saddam Hussein, about whom even I can think of nothing positive to say, other than his reign was probably better than the civil war we have there now, because he allowed Rev. Fred to preach there.
I mean, is there nothing else in your world besides homophobia and Rev. Fred?
I like "Lost". You want to take several minutes out of your life putting that down?
You know what? To Hell with that court reporter! How do you know that she didn't have it coming?
I've dealt with my fair share of stupid judges, clerks, and prosecutors. Back in October I had to argue with the judge, the prosecutor and the clerk that there was no fee to expunge the record of a case that was dismissed or resulted in an acquittal. Conversely there is a fee of $25 if you are expunging a guilty verdict or plea.
All three of these people told me that I was wrong, that there was a fee for expunging a case that was dismissed. The judge was rude, and wouldn't take a minute to blow the dust off his KRS Statutes and read them. The prosecutor was equally stupid.
Turns out it didn't matter because he granted my motion and signed the order and the circuit court clerk knew better, and I got what I wanted.
But those three goofballs DESERVED to be "beat up". I have no doubt that the judges and lawyers of Kansas hated Fred Phelps for his work with Black people which you claim never happened.
I guess you could care to explain why Gale Sayers lies for Fred and why the NAACP gave him several awards.
Yeah, that's right, Bart, the victim deserved it. I guess the Kansas Supreme Court, the Kansas Bar Association, and the lower courts were all wrong, but you and Rev. Fred are right.
If Rev. Fred did help the civil rights movement (which he has now apparently disowned), good for him. But what little good he did (if any) has been overshadowed by the bad that he's done since.
Hey Bart: Could you and Mr. Fred Phelps picket the unfair wal-mart stores? That way all that energy you seem to be typing with your little fingers will be put to good use.
Lemonhead... are your hands broken?
No Bart: My hands are not broken, just busy putting lights on Christmas trees and decorating the house. We also have been giving presents to needy people,seerving the homeless food, and all the nice things I have not been able to do in the past-because I was always working. That is why I figured that since you and Mr. f. phelps do not do trees and things, that you might be able to get a picket line up in front of wal-mart for all the worn out and neglected workers. you know do something productive with your hands, and give your mouth a rest.
Westboro Baptist Church has picketed Wal-Mart when they began offering same-sex partner benefits.
That's the "Wal-Mart Way".
If these people do not like their jobs and the wage that it pays then there is a simple solution. They should go to work elsewhere.
If no one worked at Wal-Mart because of the low wages and ill treatment then they would soon HAVE to increase wages and improve treatment.
Americans have no backbone left. Workers are not willing to strike or join unions because they are afraid. We are a weak nation of cowards. From the workforce to the military America has lost her greatness.
I guess I don't understand how it's any of Westboro Baptist Church's business if WalMart offers same sex benefits.
I mean, why are you folks picking out this "sin" to round off on people for? I mean, you don't picket companies that give benefits to drunks and adulterers and liars and cheats. Why picket over this one?
I assume Rev. Fred objects to alcohol, but I've never heard of him picketing a liquor store or bar. I assume he objects to pornography, and yet I've never heard of him picketing an adult bookstore or a video store that sells pornographic movies.
Kind of makes you wonder where he gets his priorities.
What other sin is held in such high esteem as sodomy is in America? Brokeback Mountain. Every TV show you turn on. GSA clubs in public schools. You don't see a "thieves' guild" in schools. You don't see a adulterers' pride parade. You don't see the government and the private sector passing laws protecting murderers.
Yet homosexuals have become the sacred cow of America. If Mel Gibson had said something negative about homosexuals... if that goofy "Kramer" had called those guys fags, it would be over. Their careers would be done for. And you don't have to call them fags. You could just say "I think that is an unnatural and unhealthy lifestyle," and your career is over.
Also, no other sin brought down the immediate and devastating wrath of God like sodomy did. And don't try to pretend that SODOM wasn't destroyed because of SODOMy. It don't pass the giggle test!
So that, my friend, is why Pastor Fred Phelps cries out against this sin.
Thank you and I hope that you are enjoying your tree worship.
Okay, Okay: I have been quite-ear infection from Caroling-anyways, when was pornography and Alcohol invented? Was it before or after Sodom?
Bart,
Reading your comments about Christmas and Christmas trees, I do have one question.
Do you have a cross in any of your churches, on your bible, or in your home? The cross was a barbaric form of execution. It was not associated with Christianty at all until the empiror Constantine introduced it. Before then, the most common symbol was the fish.
So if you cannot bear to use a christmas tree, surely you would not dream of making a cross the symbol of your worship?
Mark, absolutely not. REAL Christians do not use any symbols (crosses, fish, flags) in worship. The answer to you question is no.
It is refreshing that someone else knows that the cross is just another form of idolatry.
Bart,
Do you object to all symbols of diety: crosses, metallic snakes, etc.?
Yes Mark. I believe that all "religious symbols" are idolatry. I believe that I answered that.
Any symbol or sign that is held up as "holy" is an idol.
Other symbols are not held in veneration (such as the handicapped symbol, product logos, and so forth), and therefore they are not idols. I hope that's not the ham-handed direction you were going in???
Bart: when you and mr phelps picket a place, just what symbols do you put on your signs-just so everyone know who is going to hell and who is not?
I am not surprised anymore about the church leaders going astray since nobody seems to hold them accountable for their actions and they can just go and lie their way out of it! Perfect example is the pastor of the Cragmor Christian Reformed Church in Colorado Springs. Pastor Steve Alsum lied like a rock and when one tells the higher Church leader all they have to say is “I am very sad that this happened” Or they just completely ignore complaints. The Christian Reformed Church is very responsive if they fear a lawsuit though. More details on this at: http://house-calls.us/Cragmor/Alsum
I wonder how many evangelical pastors will have to resign before church leaders get the message that sexual orientation is "real" and not a choice the person consciously makes.
Here's a man who says he first realized he was gay at the age of 5. Is there a serious suggestion that he made some sort of choice at that age to be gay?
He says that he struggled with his sexual orientation, and as I said about Ted Haggard, surely if anyone could overcome something that was a mere choice, these folks could have done it.
Perhaps had his church been more open to his sexual orientation, he would have been able to have a positive long term relationship with a person of the same sex rather than "acting out" with a variety of men.