Preacher Matt Chandler To Take Leave of Absence Following Inappropriate Online Behavior
This post has been edited since publication to add additional content.
Chandler is the same guy who tried to shame and pressure a woman into staying married to her perverted, pedophile husband, he sort of mocked Christians with doubts by dismissing their position as being a sexy trend, and he’s given some very questionable advice to Christian single adults over the age of 30 who’d like to be married but who’ve not found Mr. or Ms. Right yet, and who are considering marrying outside the faith.
A lot of online chatter I’ve seen about this indicates many people do believe that there is something “sexual” about Chandler’s banter with a married woman (that’s right, both Chandler and the woman he was direct messaging are both married to other people), despite the church’s statement to the contrary.
Take note that both persons in this situation are MARRIED – very often in secular and Christian culture, single adults (especially women) are regarded as threats to married people, who are actively seeking to sleep with married persons. Quite often, it’s the opposite: married adults seek out affairs with singles or with other married people.
Married Christians need to maybe impose some kind of “Billy Graham Rule” of married people shouldn’t be alone with other married people.
This incident just goes to show yet again that men lack good judgement, lack self control, and cannot be trusted in leadership positions in churches; churches should get rid of the “man only” rule and put women in charge going forward. 😘
Contrary to the usual conservative rhetoric: marriage does not make a person more godly, mature, ethical, or loving than being single. Let this be example one thousand on my blog so far!
Marriage apparently did not prevent Chandler from making a questionable action towards another married person (this is assuming there was something sexual or otherwise “off” with his texts to the woman).
From the reports, things are so vague, it’s hard to tell exactly what happened.
The Billy Graham Rule is stupid, so if this ends up being a harmless case of a married church guy making small talk with a married lady, and he had no ulterior motives, I don’t have a problem with that, except for the church’s over-reaction to this situation.
That is to say, unlike 99% of married (usually Christian) people out there, I don’t think platonic friendship between a married person and another married person (or a married person and a single person) is impossible or inappropriate.
So, if this ends up being an over-reaction to a platonic, private chit chat between two adults (who happen to be married), I will eye roll so hard my eyeballs will fall out of my head.
But it’s hard to say at this point exactly what is going on.
(Link): Matt Chandler To Take Leave of Absence Following Inappropriate Online Behavior
Excerpts:
by Dale Chamberlin
August 2022
On Sunday (August 28), The Village Church (TVC) announced that Matt Chandler would be taking a leave of absence from preaching and teaching following an inappropriate direct messaging relationship with a woman who is not his wife.
While not romantic or sexual, Chandler described the messaging relationship as being characterized by “familiarity” and “coarse and foolish joking.”
Chandler further described his online behavior as “unguarded and unwise,” and his leave of absence is both “disciplinary and developmental.” He further expressed his agreement with and submission to the elder board’s decision, which came after an independent, third-party investigation.
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