Shaming The Naked Church

ACCORDING TO JESUS, Love Covers.  What? A multitude of sins.

One of my all time favorite verses (because I need it) and one I am reminded of when I go to expose someone else’s sin as if if the concept of falling short of the glory of a perfect God is foreign to me.

Ha.

On last night’s show (episode 46) I touched on something I want to expound upon here. We covered an industry that has landed my home city of Atlanta, Ga on the map of  ‘top 3 in nation’; Strip Clubs.

I also mentioned a Pastor I’ve engaged on social media who chose to shame women into putting their clothes back on lest they contribute to the sin of lust that men struggle with. ( as if women don’t) Oh, AND the sin of needing to be idolized through hoarding the attention of man. Holy Jesus. (FYI, every woman longs to be desired, read Song Of Solomon much?)

Aside.. Islam is a perfect example of clothed women not being the problem. Middle East has highest incidence gay porn in world and their women are fully clothed. I digress. 

As someone who could write a book on this subject ( and have) I have to tell you, there’s nothing like shaming people, particularly while serving in a role of Church leadership, that can get these undies more twisted. Nothing.

Having my own personal experience with the lust of others and their need to ‘take’ what isn’t theirs, followed by my own subsequent less than stellar choices based in impropriety, I can tell you, shaming the ‘pervert’ and the stripper who are beguiled by the same devil (the father of things perverted aka lies) and in need of the same Jesus, isn’t the answer. Period.

See, here’s the thing, that very Pastor has to change his own underwear, daily ( we hope) Both spiritually and physically. So to somehow shame women AND men I might add, is simply, wait for it.. the infamous Monica saying.. UNNECESSARY. Imagine if Jesus had said to that infamous woman caught in adultery, “You whoreish woman! How dare you tempt that man into adultery!” But that’s truly not how the story goes. Sigh.

The man was MIA in that scene, but I have to consider Jesus’s heart for our affinity for sin when speculating what might have been said to him. I imagine he would have taken the opportunity to remind him that women are to be covered with respect, love, adoration, amongst other things. Jesus would have called the man into fellowship to learn of him and his ways in order to be a more efficient covering for the woman instead of defiling her.

He would have taught him a more beneficial way of existing ( in the light) as a human being birthed for good works, not darkness. He would have covered him. In what? His Love. His Truth. His liberation from the bondage of sin.

I was taught that all addictions stem from a desperate need to be loved. We ALL have the need to be loved, but this type of desperation comes from a hole in the soul of the addict. It doesn’t matter how it manifests. Sin is sin. Full Stop.

The religious ones of today are seduced by that same Pharisaical spirit of the Bible, to condemn people to Jesus. It should not be so. Some think they are somehow sparing people eternal damnation when they shame or fear them into the letter of the law. But the letter never led to life. It brings death. Which is exactly what Jesus died to fulfill. The law. The Spirit of the law however, leads us into righteousness, by meeting us in our stripper heels, g-string and all OR on in the dimly lit screen we fulfill our insatiable fantasies through between 3 & 4 a.m. praying no one is watching. But someone is. Our Father (Jesus & Holy Spirit)

The creator of all living spirits sees all. But through the eyes of a Father who created ‘man’ for himself to take pleasure in and women as peripheral vision to that same man who may see things myopically at times, as he provides and protects what he has been entrusted with. He sees your addiction, your inability to modest, your propensity to lie, cheat, steal, gossip, etc.. and His Word still covers and calls us to repentance and mercy. Daily.

Our Creator, Father, Abba, Savior, Comforter, Friend, Counselor, sees the woman caught in the snare of seduction and the wounded spirit, psyche and heart that led her there and he covers. He covers her in the blood of his love, Jesus. He stands with arms as wide as he does for the woman who remained physically pure. Notice, I stressed physically. Because purity is a matter of the heart. Take Rahab for example. Her heart was pure toward God, even as a sex worker and what was that counted as toward her? Righteousness. He saved her entire family and even brought our very own savior through her.

The wounded need love and reparation. If you aren’t a part of that heart and mind and you call yourself a pastor or minister, you should seek God about a renewing of your spiritual faculties. Perhaps you yourself, struggle with lust and have little mercy for yourself in this area so you find it necessary to kill others with your law. It should not be so. He calls us all to repentance. Daily. For some of us, that means letting go of our inability to receive his mercy and cleansing no matter how many times we stumble back into something we hate. But he is faithful.

Jesus despised the shame and so do I. He bore my guilt and sins and there’s nothing I could do more than humbly ask him to renew me in those dark recesses I turn to for comfort, control, love and acceptance. He can and will fill the void. We need each other to overcome our addictions. Don’t you think it’s time we start being a safe place for the world and the body alike?

Covering someone in love doesn’t mean we green light their sin. It means we trust God with the outcome.

xo,
Monica