August 18, 2016
forgiveness must be preceded by genuine repentance from Dan
As for Zen Gardner I can say that forgiveness must be preceded by genuine repentance. We cannot know if someone's repented, only they and God know.
But we can know them by their works. More importantly, Christian forgiveness isn't a "pass go - don't go to jail card" like the Hillary Standard. The forgiven still has to pay for what he's done, as well as give up any position of trust he enjoyed previously.
Another religious celebrity scandal was Father Corapi of Catholic old lady TV show on EWTN. A former female secretary outed a sex relationship she'd had with him which included cocaine. She also revealed is lavish spending on things like a motorcycle collection.
There have a lot of 'Christian' celebrities 'coming out' these days. Catholic Papal Cheerleader Michael Voris of Youtube channel fame spoke a great deal against homosexuality, but he too 'confessed' earlier this year that he'd been a raging queer most of his adult life. The fact is that that bastion of the American gay Catholicism, Cardinal Dolan's Archdiocese of New York was on the verge of 'outing' Voris, so he really had no other option but to take a gamble to save face by re-branding himself a reformed homosexual and not merely 'that Catholic Guy'. Re-branding works in America. It worked for so well for Voris that it actually recharged his revenue.
Please observe that sex scandals don't have the same kind of impact they did even twenty years ago. In 2016 if handled right, it can boost flagging ratings.
Gardner's defensive quotes here strike me as manipulative. Probably a deeply ingrained habit.
Personally, I equate what Zen Garder's handling of exposure with what Michael Voris did with his. He wants to retain his position as holy man for profit. But to my way of thinking, when such people confess it changes their authority, because there is no getting around the fact that they concealed it before. That's hypocrisy at best, and fraud at worst, and in any case manipulative. I think the best example of a fraud that society treated justly was the non-sexual case of Steven Glass [1], the columnist for New Republic magazine that was outed for plagiarism and presenting fictitious interviews as fact in 1998. Not only was Glass finished in Journalism, he was banned from taking the bar exam in both New York and California. That's righteous justice.
I only know the mainstream stuff that came out about the Children of God cult (now called Family International), when they were exposed.
When Berg was a hot media topic, featured on such shows as CBS '60 Minutes', they always brought up his 'Antisemitism'. He made remarks such as "Jews are subhuman demons." In a pamphlet called "They Staged the Whole Thing", Berg wrote that the powerful Jews running both Capitalism and Communism conspired to stage WWII.
"'They staged the whole thing!' No wonder Hitler committed suicide, maybe he found out he was being used!" [1]
It is in this context that must mention that Berg was from a long line of crypto Jews dating back to the 1700's Stuttgart Germany. CBS and the rest never mentioned that while they used him as the poster boy pedophile Christian preacher. The whole thing has Shabbatean/Frankist tells all over it. Most notably, child sex, incest, screwing every member of the cult is mandatory - that's pretty Shabbatean.
Berg's patriarchal ancestors entered a Mennonite splinter group in Stuttgart over a decade before Frank's group infiltrated the Polish Catholic church. I think what's known of Shabbatean infiltrations in 18th century Europe is just the tip of the ice "berg."
Christianity has been a favorite cover for con men and perverts since the beginning. For evidence, read the oldest Christian document that warns the faithful how to recognize predator prophets, masquerading as apostles.
"Therefore, the one who comes and teaches you all of these things which have been previously spoken, accept him. But if he, the teacher, should turn to teach another teaching, so as to release this one, do not listen to him."
The above passage means, there is only one Gospel. Anyone who tries to make you believe another version is a devious liar.
The Didache emphasizes the only genuine teachings of Christ:
"Two ways there are, one of life and one of death, but there is a great difference between the two ways."
"The way of life is indeed this: First, you will love the God who made you; secondly, "you will love your neighbor as yourself." Now all the things that you do not want to have happen to you, you too do not do these to one another."
"My child, do not become strongly desirous, for strong desire is the way to sexual sin. Neither should you be a speaker of filth, nor high-eyed. For adulteries are born out of all of these."
[1] Stephen Glass Wikipedia.
[2] "They Staged the Whole Thing!", 1340:42,43
http://www.exfamily.org/art/exmem/bergs_anti-semitism.shtml#subpart14
