Here is a story on FB that the author, “Pastor Jesse”, begged people to share. She is referencing a story about a murder that has transfixed part of the Christian interweb. Let’s read along.
“All week I have been following the worship pastor who killed his wife.
“I have watched parts of the trial. I sent the song he wrote for the mistress to my husband so he could also follow. I’ve seen clips of the guy and his girlfriend leading worship together. I’ve heard the text messages being read out loud. I’ve put together the timeline.
“My defence attack would have been: “The mistress did it.” Well, that is what I think they should have done. Yeah, I’ve gone a long way down the rabbit hole.
“There is something so delightful about the hypocrisy in this. How they were the perfect family, and he was on American Idol. How the mistress texted about killing the wife. How he wrote a song to the mistress that sounds suspiciously like a worship song.
“Delightful. I actually wrote that word. I’m leaving it in because it’s true.
“Here’s what I think the delight is. If he’s the monster, I’m not. If their perfect family was a lie, mine looks pretty good by comparison. Every clip I watch, I get to feel a bit more like one of the good ones.
“But…… I know what it is to stand up in front of a church looking more together than I am. I know how easily the Sunday version of me and the Tuesday version of me drift apart. That gap is where all my worst stuff grows.
“And somewhere in all my following/judging, I forgot there is a woman who died. There are children. Real ones. Not characters in my true crime of the week. Not a mystery for me to solve.
“Jesus told a story about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One stood up tall and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.” The other stood at the back, couldn’t even lift his eyes, and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:9-14)
“Jesus says it was the second one who went home right with God.
“I have spent this whole week being the first guy. Looking all good up the front. With a soundtrack.
“So I turned it off. Not because the trial didn’t matter. Because it matters too much to be my entertainment.
“I’m praying she may rest in peace. I’m praying for her kids. And, the hard ones… for him and the mistress.
“And for all of us who fall short and still stand up the front.
Bless you,
“Rev Jessie
“PS: If this landed for you, would you share it to your story? I know, it’s vulnerable. But it’s how this finds the people who need it most.”
There is a sad reason that Obadiah can’t share the link to the story, because, frankly, there’s more than one “pastor’s wife is killed” story around.
But there’s a second reason: this piece is about not getting sucked in by the let’s-dig-into-every-gory-crime-we- which is a great way to monetise the internet. This deep diving into crime is a sub-branch of the algorithms that live on stoking outrage.
And Christian sites are not immune.
Obadiah asks: how often do the heresy hunters on the net pray for the people they denounce? We should criticise our brothers and sisters through tears, but only if there is a true need for rebuke. If churches are going astray – and they do – our first reaction should be grief. Grief before outrage.
We develop an appetite for outrage.
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AI, not just a town in the Old Testament: Now here’s a dilemma that faced Obadiah on the weekend. A couple of people on our Facebook page accused an author on The Other Cheek of writing a story using AI. Another person mailed in the results of an AI screening tool, Pangram, that indicated 100 per cent AI content. The author denied the Facebook accusations, not upset but firmly. And the commentators did not push back. It was a gentle, Other Cheek conversation. Obadiah’s thought was that to take it further would be to accuse our writer of lying.
Obadiah knows that his narrative way of writing annoys people who like a quicker read. And AI-generated text can go on and on. So Obadiah can see why some people, having read too much AI stuff, might draw the conclusion here was more of it.. But as the person who edits some of the quirks out of the writing, Obadiah thinks it’s just a case of a similar style to how AI writes.
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Hmmm: It occurs to Obadiah that he does not know if that pastor Jessie story was AI. It might have been, but Obadiah is not standing behind it like an The Other Cheek article, but as something from the net. Like the next item.
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Can we laugh at ourselves? LGBTQIA leader/advocate Anthony Venn Brown posted this, and Obadiah laughed. Obadiah wonders: was that a sin?
