400 church leaders tried Ashley Madison to fuck around

Selena Gomez

The Hopeful Reality of Church Scandal

“At least 400 church leaders (pastors, elders, staff, deacons, etc.) are clients of Ashley Madison.”

They got scammed of course … Because Ashley Madison is essentially a scam with 90-95 percent (or more) of the users men, and women all but non-existent. 
Kaley Cuoco

Humbled by recent events, the church has an opportunity to shine even more brilliantly.
Karen Swallow Prior
The church is no stranger to scandal. But the potential breadth and depth of the Ashley Madison hack seems begging for a whole new category.
In late August, computer hackers released to the public stolen data from a website designed for people to have extramarital affairs. The slogan of the Ashley Madison site is “Life is short. Have an affair.” But the site has since been revealed as essentially a scam with 90-95 percent (or more) of the users men, and women all but non-existent. The information the hackers released included 32 million names, credit card numbers, email, and mailing addresses along with preferences of customers on the dating site.
Emilia Clarke

Days after the news hit, Ed Stetzer, executive director of Lifeway Research, predicted, based on “conversations with leaders from several denominations in the U.S. and Canada,” that “at least 400 church leaders (pastors, elders, staff, deacons, etc.)” would resign by the week’s end.
Of course, only a few of the casualties from the Ashley Madison fallout will make headlines, as did one prominent church leader this week. R. C. Sproul, Jr., wrote a blog post containing his admission that he had visited the site, registered his email address, and left the site, “never to return.” As a result, the board of Ligonier Ministries where Sproul served (and where his father and founder is board chair) suspended him until next year.
Lucy Pinder

This news was the latest in waves of sex scandals in the past two years. The revelation that Josh Duggar, a former executive director with the Family Research Council, was also a client of Ashley Madison was, perhaps, given previous revelations of sexual impropriety, less surprising. But claims that the clean-cut father of four young children engaged in violent sex with a stripper are quite disturbing.
Recent weeks also brought the fall of yet another prominent church leader, Tullian Tchividjian, who resigned as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church as a result of an affair. Earlier this summer, a missionary admitted to being involved in child pornography. Last year, Bill Gothard resigned from the ultra-conservative para-church organization he founded in the wake of allegations of sexual abuse by more than 60 women. Less than two years ago Vision Forum founder Doug Phillips resigned after an extramarital affair.
And these are just the sex scandals. Add public reports of addictions, arrogance, bullying, divorce, financial corruption, plagiarism, slander, and suicide, and the church is left with an alphabet soup of humiliation and shame.
And these are just the sex scandals. Add public reports of addictions, arrogance, bullying, divorce, financial corruption, plagiarism, slander, and suicide, and the church is left with an alphabet soup of humiliation and shame.
Or is it?
It’s easy to despair when the Bride of Christ proves hypocrite and harlot all at once. But God’s judgment is a mercy. He chastens whom he loves.
A blessing well disguised
A well-worn axiom in the business world says that a crisis is an opportunity. For the church, the crisis of a scandal offers something even better than opportunity, and that’s refinement.
The Scriptures are replete with passages about the refining work of God, both in the lives of individual believers and in the church as a whole.
Those who have been caught in a scandal can heed the words of Hosea 6:12: “He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence.”
Olga Kurylenko