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.
Christ set up His Church on the Apostles to be sacramental. The sacrament of marriage like all sacraments must be cooperated with. Unfortunately many Christians think salvation is a one time magical thing.
dude really ? being a sinful human ain’t easy ??? its the easiest thing in the world. being remorseful now thats the tough one.
Egad, it’s Pajama Pastor!
Seriously, that’s one pretty sick dude. Sounds like he made the mistake of believing his own propaganda.
Jesus didn’t promise us a rose garden. Paul didn’t preach prosperity.
Those who do are liars and con men, but we knew that already.
Sounds like this guy is one con man whose con finally caught up with him.
I can’t believe in a God who would allow eternal torment of His creation, either. I guess I’d be a ‘universalist’.
I think the belief in an actual hell has created far more mental and emotional illness than it has discouraged sin.
I noticed that, as well. He seems to think God owes him something for his “good behavior.” What, pray tell, does almighty God, who sacrificed His only Son through an excruciating death to atone for our sins, owe any of us? A great job, a happy marriage, no strife or troubles in our lives? I don’t think so. I feel sorry for this man, because as many times as he read the Bible, none of it seems to have penetrated to his heart.
We walk away from God every day and sometimes for days or years. He waits for us.
He’ll wait for this man too.
Yes. But, I cannot wonder if he did not take the money and run. He had mega-church dollars funneled through book royalties to take with him.
Last I saw him he was heading back beyond the Wall.
but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,
= = =
In your vows, just what did YOU promise it would be?
His affair had devastating effects. The power unleashed in marriage is real and right down to the soul. Those churches that highly treasure marriage are far more on the right track than those who treat it lightly.
Ran across a Calvary Chapel clone near my new house. They have 4 services in an absolutely astounding building. The building is in brick and stone and seems patterned after an old English Catholic Abbey. In any case, stunning.
Four services, 2 of which are basic and 2 in depth. We tried out the basic, and it was a bit of singing and a good sermon which truly followed the scripture. 45 minutes and not a minute more.
We’ll hit one of the deeper services as soon as wife returns from grandma, daughter, granddaughter trip to Florida.
It is supposed to be verse by verse expository.
Started hitting the strange and was mad God said no.
Kind of a familiar thing actually. Accountability sucks.
I would like to hear your impression of that service.
Will do
That number is to low.
I think he missed the foundation of being a Christian. Accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior.
He is not walking away from anything! He was never there to begin with. Christianity gave him a cushy job as a pastor and a position of power, which he abused.
Unrepentant sinner A weed in the garden.
“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.”
Hmm, am I reading this wrong or does it sound like he was expecting Jesus to fly down and make a personal appearance just for him?
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