Posted on 06/05/2019 11:27:40 AM PDT by Gamecock
Dave Gass, a former pastor who most recently led Grace Family Fellowship in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has renounced his Christian faith as a system rife with abuse that caused him “mental and emotional breaks.”
A representative from his former church, however, has accused him of being an unrepentant adulterer.
Gass reportedly first made his announcement in a series of now protected tweets but not before they were copied and shared across multiple social media platforms.
“After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making,” he began in the thread before moving on to compare Scripture to Greek mythology.
“When I was in 8th grade and I was reading Greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away,” he said.
He explained how he was raised in a “hyper-fundamentalist” Christian home where Christianity “didn’t work. The promises were empty. The answers were lies.”
Even so, he grew up to be a devout Christian who rarely missed church or failed to study Scripture.
“I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.
None of it, however, helped his marriage.
“As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to - marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books - but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said.
He went on to discuss how miserable his life eventually became as his expectations, including experiencing the supernatural failed to match up with the reality he was experiencing.
“An inescapable reality that I came to was that the people who benefited the most from organized religion were the fringe attenders who didn’t take it too seriously. The people who were devout were the most miserable, but just kept trying harder,” he said.
“… The entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just sh*tty to each other,” he continued. “I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.”
He said he struggled so much with his church experience it began to affect his mental and ultimately physical health.
“This massive cognitive dissonance - my beliefs not matching with reality - created a separation between my head and my heart. I was gas lighting myself to stay in the faith. Eventually I could not maintain the facade anymore, I started to have mental and emotional breaks. My internal stress started to show in physical symptoms. Being a pastor - a professional Christian - was killing me,” Gass revealed.
To save himself, he said, he chose to walk away from the church.
“Eventually I pulled the lever and dropped the bomb. Career, marriage, family, social standing, network, reputation, all gone in an instant. And honestly I didn’t intend to fully walk away, but the way the church turned on me forced me to leave permanently,” he said.
He apologized to his former followers and said he still loves those who choose to dismiss him as an “apostate.”
“For those of you who want to yell at me, that’s fine. I know that many will call me an apostate, say I was never really saved, that I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that a hotter hell awaits me. And to you I say I love you. My heart is tender toward you,” he said.
“To those who have been in my congregations or under my teaching/preaching I sincerely apologize. I thought I was right. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I could fake it until I made it. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I love you,” he added.
Justin Thuttle, a deacon at Grace Family Fellowship Church, claimed on Twitter that Gass was not entirely forthcoming about his faith journey and branded him an unrepentant sinner.
“Yes, he was my pastor when he ‘walked away’. He actually just slept with a married women (sic) in the church and got caught. He never repented and they still live together,” he wrote in a tweet last Thursday.
“Last year all the information came to light. The affair happened for almost a year before it was uncovered. So the whole, ‘I did everything right in my marriage’ part was kinda funny until I saw how many people liked his story,” he said.
The Christian Post reached out to the church for further comment Tuesday and a representative who asked to speak anonymously said Thuttle's response is accurate.
"Justin’s input is accurate. I would only add that, to our knowledge, none of the churches where Gass was on staff were megachurches. And after he resigned, he cut off all communications with anyone from Grace Family Fellowship," the representative said.
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I have a LOT of problems with organized Christian churches, but I attend one, teach sunday school and play bass in the worship band.
Christianity is different, though. Church organizations are all a man made, and flawed, attempt to follow Christ as a group. As such, I see them as more a fellowship thing rather than a worship thing. The only thing I can’t do at home that I can do at church is corporate worship. And, truth be told, I can even do that at home, limited only by the amount of room.
But if I don’t like a particular church, I attend a different one.
If only pastors were allowed to marry.
Another “mega church” pastor did something similar, but it is not Christianity he left. It was only a specific, and critical doctrine he left.
Carlton Pearson
There is even a movie about him: Come Sunday
At a very superficial level, parts, maybe. But not in any depth.
marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books - but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be
Books, date nights, workshops? Where are those commanded in the Bible? What about loving your wife like Christ loved His church? Did you try that?
And what were you promised it would be? You take two sinners and stick them together in the same house and you were expecting? Did you love your wife like Jesus loved us sinners anyway?
Two things.
Dude sounds dumb as a box of rocks.
He sounds like he didn’t know Christ or that it’s not a religion but a person.
This man complains of the horrible people at church, well there are plenty of horrible people at bars or walmarts, but i bet he still goes there.
Very dangerous course to take and he should know if he did all the studying he claims to have done. Walking away from Christ means He will walk away from this guy if he shows up at his judgement without coming back to God. Very, very risky.
Life ain’t easy.
Marriage ain’t easy.
Christianity aint’ easy.
Being a sinful human ain’t easy.
Pray for the dude and cut him some slack.
Is he showing up on Grindr ads yet?
I see what you did there. Nicely done sir.
It’s an old analogy, but...
Complaining about seeing horrible people in church is like complaining about seeing sick people at a hospital.
Everyone is horrible. At least Christians are willing to admit it.
Now I have been divorced for 18 years and not remarried, but I don't EVER remember the Bible promising me what my marriage would be. Jesus did his part on the cross for you. . . it is up to you to respond appropriately, and that has NOTHING to do with how happy you are in your marriage.
I kind of knew it. Seen people, including my self, deny God to pursue sin. This guy did it in dramatic fashion, now he’s living “ la vida loca”. Pray for him and others like him.
So what were you promised dude?
####
“As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to - marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books - but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said
Some people did not get “the calling” they just showed up
What a crock of shit! this guy must have gone to school with cankles...blames everybody and everything except himself..
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