Why do we fall?

Have you ever heard this before?  Or how about this?  What about this one?  One last one.

It took me all of 5 minutes to get these links.  How is that? Because it is so easy to find scandal after scandal involving pastors and ministers. All you have to do is Google “Pastor Scandal” and there will be pages of links.

This all lead me to think, why do Pastors and ministers fall?  Considering I am one of them, why do we mess up?  I know the easy and right answer is “sin”.  But, honestly, that sounds like a cop out to me.  Is there something deeper than the simple answer of “sin” that keeps us falling, time and time again?

Is it because of the standards we are held accountable to are too high and unattainable?  Maybe, but the United States Military hold pretty high standards, too and I do not recall seeing as much scandal as with ministers (although they have had their fair share of scandal).

Could it because there is an image of “perfection” that we need to uphold and that for some reason, ministers (whether they are vocational or voluntarily) need to be seen as perfect and can’t show any sign of weakness or problems???

I don’t know the answers, that is why I’m throwing it out there.  What do you all think? And more importantly, what can be done about it when we do fall? Again, I don’t know all the answers but I do believe whole heartedly that when ministers do fall, it CANNOT be covered up. It needs to be brought out in the light. It needs to be addressed and dealt with because any cover up will only cause more harm that anything else. Look back at the Watergate scandal. The scandal only got worse because of the coverup, not the break-in. President Nixon could have survived the break in. He didn’t survive the coverup.

So what do you think? Why do we fall? What has been your experience? Share your thoughts below so we can continue the conversation or you can share on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.