Lawsuit filed against Oral Roberts University

[NathanATX]

Since ORU was on the Equality Ride tour this year and because my response includes acknowledging my time as a gay student at ORU, I'm posting this thread in this section.

ORU is in the throes of a major scandal right now. They are being sued by several professors for wrongful termination. You can read the actual lawsuit here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/c...ils_vs_ORU.pdf And here is the news article: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic..._A1_hrpim50508 If you scroll down into the comments section, I'm #2.

Here is my response:

My name is Nate Black. I attended ORU from 96-97, and left because of needing to recover from major surgery.

I'm gay. Always have been, always will be. But it wasn't safe to be gay at ORU. It wasn't safe to be Catholic. It wasn't safe to be anything other than the "ideal" evangelical christian person. So we all (classmates/wingmates/etc) got used to presenting this faux-image of who we were...hiding our faults, weaknesses and our flab.

And that's what the Roberts' have done. They have created this intense mega-Christian image that they could never live up to. And now some Truth is starting to shine through the facade. I'm not saying that God is punishing them, but rather that the universe is correcting them, realigning them. God always brings balance back.

You know, inspite of their contribution to my suffering as a gay man... and the impact they have had on thousands of lgbt people... I can still say that I love and respect them. I loved being at ORU. Yes, I still have student loans after just one year of school there. Yes, I have been wounded time and again by the actions of this school. Yes, I was horrified by what they did to my pastor, Bishop Carlton Pearson. But I know... that in spite of all the mess... in spite of all the mistakes... these are wonderful children of God. In spite of all the bad, they still blessed me.

Now we're all on the brink of another evangelical meltdown. If it's not Ted Haggard, it's an abusive pastor hitting his wife in the church parking lot. Or it's the church covering up for pedophile ministers. Or the pastor's wife is stealing from the church's coffers.

These things aren't just happening because people are weak and make mistakes. And they're not happening because some all-powerful 'devil" is tempting the "chil'ren of God." They are happening because religion, namely christianity, as we've created it to be, isn't working anymore.

People are no longer satiated with dogmatic rites and rituals. We're no longer willing to ignore the questions and concerns we have. We see tremendous hypocrisy and lack of integrity... and we don't see ANYONE speaking up about it. The religion we have today simply does not resemble the person and principle of Jesus.

Each of us is responsible for letting our churches lose their focus on loving people, helping people and healing people. We have traded our personal call to be God's love in the world for a fancy preacher who tells us we need to give more so the world can be rescued from a monster God waiting to burn sinners in hell.

We don't resemble Christ.

So, yeah, it's easy to look at the Roberts family and condemn them. But are you or I truly any different? Have we been good stewards of all the energy, time, money and resources God has given to us? Are we complacent to let our neighbor suffer? Do we even hear the cry of the hungry? Do we judge and condemn others who believe differently instead of thinking about God's love for them? Are we over concerned with our own image, our own goals, our own lives? Do we use people? Are we honest? Are we compassionate? Are we fair?

The Roberts family is being called to integrity. We can judge them, defend them, or whatever. It might be more useful to turn that spotlight on ourselves.

I think we have a few beams to pull out of our own eyes.

peace,
nate black
nateintulsa@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/barchurchtulsa

[Daniel]

Reading the comments at the end of the article is an eye-opener in itself. You take quite a bit a heat. The talk of Satan this and Satan that made me think I was at Evangel again, which, as you know, is a hop and a skip away from Tulsa.

And I'm curious- what happend to your pastor?

[NathanATX]

He was pastor of one of the largest, most successful churches here in Tulsa. That is until he was at home one night watching television. Someone was doing a special on Africa and he saw a young Muslim man who was starving to death... and he thought "God how could you send him to hell?" That question began the unraveling of his pentecostal/charismatic/evangelical faith. He could no longer reconcile the concept of a loving God and and a God who would torture His children in an eternal hell, regardless of the reason.

And he began to talk and preach about his metamorphisis... and lost everything. He was Oral Robert's "black son"... they were incredibly close. He was on the board of regents at ORU. And then they learned he wasn't preaching "hell" anymore and they kicked him off the board and disowned him. Most of his congregation left, he lost the campus & church he had built...

He's been through incredible loss because of his integrity and his unwavering belief in a loving God.

Here is the church's website, and on sundays at 1pm central time, they stream the service live on the internet. (You might see me at church!) http://www.newdimensions.us

Here's some video of his teaching...

http://www.youtube.com/ursaved

[glbt_equality]

Brilliant, Nathan! I think you hit the mark. As a culture, we seem to have forgotten what "Christ-like" is supposed to mean.

[sailaway58]

Anyone surprised?