A pastor is suing his Austintown, Ohio church to get his job back. Reverend Mark Musser says a church elder falsely accused him of practicing witchcraft.
“I believe I’m suing something that was done un-Christ like and evil in and of itself,” says Reverend Musser.
Sounds like a case of good versus evil, doesn’t it? Why do we have to make people into demons, or accuse them of something like witchcraft when we disagree with them?
One of the tenets of my faith, as I understand it, is that all people are created good. It takes the total erosion of a person’s moral and ethical character to earn the epithet of “evil,” as far as I’m concerned. Are there evil actions in the world? You bet.
But all too often, we jump to the conclusion that the action and the person are one and the same.
This pastor in Ohio sounds like someone who was leading in a direction that at least one elder didn’t care to go. I wonder if the charge has any merit at all. And if it doesn’t have any merit, what was the motivation behind the charges to begin with?
This is a chance for us all to reconsider our positions with the people we care about–and a few we don’t. When we disagree with people, let’s be brave enough to say so. There’s no reason to concoct stories, to throw around slander, or bad mouth people in general.
Stick to the facts. Condemn the actions. And offer grace to the Children of God who make mistakes. And be sure to remember: That’s a much larger group than you might think.
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