Can we talk about the John Crist situation without Christian bashing?

[DawnM]

I am saddened to hear this latest news.  

https://nypost.com/2019/11/07/christian-comedian-john-crist-cancels-tour-confesses-to-sexual-sin/

 

[Calm37]

I am sad about it, yes. I saw many of his videos only because they would queue up next for me on Youtube after watching something I had chosen. I did think he was funny. The type of humor he is known for, I don't think it survives this. We'll see.

[Ottakee]

Sad but I am glad that he is admitting to his part and appears to be taking serious steps to address this issue.  Far better than many other situations I have seen in the church/Christian circles.

[Frances]

2 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

Sad but I am glad that he is admitting to his part and appears to be taking serious steps to address this issue.  Far better than many other situations I have seen in the church/Christian circles.

Exactly what I was thinking. I’m not a Christian, and I never heard of him before, but he seems to be taking responsibility for his actions.

[easypeasy]

What I read said this had been "going on" for at least seven years. SEVEN YEARS. That's what gets me. For seven years this guy had been living a hypocritical life and no one publicly called him on it. He just kept on making $$$, becoming more famous while marketing himself as a "Christian" comedian. And, yes, I know that Christians are flawed humans beings and "but for the grace of God" and all that.... but this particular type of "Christian" infuriates me. Those who PROFIT off their "Christianity" while knowingly acting against the very morality they flaunt. Gross.

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, StellaM said:

I am not a big fan of the whole 'I'm going to take some time to work on myself' spiel. How hard is it to know that you shouldn't harrass women ? Does it really take a whole lot of introspection ?

 

Yeah, the "I'm going to get help" bugged me. How much help does it take to NOT trade tickets to your christian show for sexual favors?!?!?!?! And he was also harassing women, etc?

Now - if what he means is he is an alcoholic and these things happened while drunk and he's getting rehab to deal with the alcoholism, okay. But be clear on that. Say you need alcohol treatment and will avoid alcohol, not that you are getting "spiritually healthy" in some vague way. 

3 hours ago, easypeasy said:

What I read said this had been "going on" for at least seven years. SEVEN YEARS. That's what gets me. For seven years this guy had been living a hypocritical life and no one publicly called him on it. He just kept on making $$$, becoming more famous while marketing himself as a "Christian" comedian. And, yes, I know that Christians are flawed humans beings and "but for the grace of God" and all that.... but this particular type of "Christian" infuriates me. Those who PROFIT off their "Christianity" while knowingly acting against the very morality they flaunt. Gross.

Yeah. And he said he's been getting ongoing help this whole time. Obviously, that didn't work so well so I really hope he's getting a different kind of help this time! 

It also bothers me that supposedly he makes fun of millennial being weak in his show meanwhile he's going around acting like this? Besides I'm not sure it is Christian to make fun of other people in general. Actually, I am sure. it's not. Making a living by making fun of others is not Christian. 

[SquirrellyMama]

22 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Yeah, the "I'm going to get help" bugged me. How much help does it take to NOT trade tickets to your christian show for sexual favors?!?!?!?! And he was also harassing women, etc?

Now - if what he means is he is an alcoholic and these things happened while drunk and he's getting rehab to deal with the alcoholism, okay. But be clear on that. Say you need alcohol treatment and will avoid alcohol, not that you are getting "spiritually healthy" in some vague way. 

Yeah. And he said he's been getting ongoing help this whole time. Obviously, that didn't work so well so I really hope he's getting a different kind of help this time! 

It also bothers me that supposedly he makes fun of millennial being weak in his show meanwhile he's going around acting like this? Besides I'm not sure it is Christian to make fun of other people in general. Actually, I am sure. it's not. Making a living by making fun of others is not Christian. 

His statement left much to be desired. I'm not impressed. I've always enjoyed his comedy. He makes fun of Christians a lot too, and really, if we can't laugh at ourselves...

Unfortunately, most Christians I know will "not judge" even though this is when we are supposed to stand up and say, "This is NOT ok! This is not what we stand for!"

ETA: I'm not saying that non-Christians do stand for this. It just irks me when Christians won't call it out.

He's a sex addict, ok. I can half accept that. It seems when men get caught in these situations they always become sex addicts.

Kelly

Edited November 8, 2019 by SquirrellyMama

[Farrar]

I had only vaguely heard of him, but to me it sounds like it has unfolded exactly the way that secular celebs have their metoo moments - it's been going on for a long time and the apology is vague, denies the full wrongdoing while saying he's guilty of some lesser offense, and then implies he's going to fix it by looking in himself. Gross. The only place I see Christianity coming into play is in a few months when he inevitably will want redemption - and then I think that plays on Christian forgiveness narratives. I feel like that tendency to forgive one of their own is both one of the best and one of the most easily manipulated and exploited aspects of many Christian communities.

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, Ktgrok said:

Yeah, the "I'm going to get help" bugged me. How much help does it take to NOT trade tickets to your christian show for sexual favors?!?!?!?! And he was also harassing women, etc?

Now - if what he means is he is an alcoholic and these things happened while drunk and he's getting rehab to deal with the alcoholism, okay. But be clear on that. Say you need alcohol treatment and will avoid alcohol, not that you are getting "spiritually healthy" in some vague way. 

Yeah. And he said he's been getting ongoing help this whole time. Obviously, that didn't work so well so I really hope he's getting a different kind of help this time! 

It also bothers me that supposedly he makes fun of millennial being weak in his show meanwhile he's going around acting like this? Besides I'm not sure it is Christian to make fun of other people in general. Actually, I am sure. it's not. Making a living by making fun of others is not Christian. 

 

He makes fun of a lot of people and that part has always bothered me.  

I connected with him because I think he and I grew up in very similar households.  So the humor of poking fun at the evangelical world resonated with me.  But I have heard some political humor and other people he has made fun of and it is bothersome.

[DawnM]

3 minutes ago, ByeByeMartha said:

I think that there are more men struggling with sexual sin today than we are aware of. 

 

Completely agree.

[Hyacinth]

Kind of unrelated...but I read this morning about how U2 had a strict no-tolerance policy when they were on tour for any kind of sexual favors, harassment, using/abusing women. They recognized long before the me-too movement that they had power and influence and they could easily misuse it. The tour manager (I think?) was the enforcer. 

How wise of them. 

I’ve read in a few places that John Crist’s behavior was something of an open secret in his circles. So people around him enabled him. It’s a familiar tale by now. All of the high-profile cases have that similar pattern, don’t they? Sigh. 

Anyway, I hope if he does come back (and I’m a fan of his sarcastic, mocking humor), he does so with a whole lot more than a vague statement about completing whatever rehab with his Onsite buddies and instead commits to some tangible repentance and ongoing accountability.

Maybe the U2 enforcer guy is available. 

[DawnM]

I don't get how he found this many women to agree to this.  There has to be more to the story.   

Please hear me on this, I am NOT "blaming the victim" but agreeing to sexual acts for tickets to something just doesn't resonate with me.  Rock Stars I can kind of understand. They have groopies.

Edited November 8, 2019 by DawnM

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, ByeByeMartha said:

I think that there are more men struggling with sexual sin today than we are aware of. 

if by struggling with sexual sin you mean treating women like objects to use for their own pleasure, and being jerks in general, yeah. 

I struggle with sin to. I struggle with gluttony, for instance. I want food a lot. I sometimes make an idol out of it. But I don't go around grabbing food out of other people's hands, shoving them down and running away. Or conning people out of food, etc.

If he was sitting home masturbating that might be viewed by many as sexual sin. What he's doing sounds like it has veered into assault. Calling it sexual sin lumps it in with two teens in love who have consensual sex a week before their wedding. Or a kid jerking off to the Victoria's secret ad that came in the mail. We need to distinguish between these things. 

Someone who covets is a different thing than someone who commits armed robbery, you know?

[Hyacinth]

28 minutes ago, DawnM said:

I don't get how he found this many women to agree to this.  There has to be more to the story.   

Please hear me on this, I am NOT "blaming the victim" but agreeing to sexual acts for tickets to something just doesn't resonate with me.  Rock Stars I can kind of understand. They have groopies.

Oh, he had groupies. They look different from the Van Halen groupies of the 1980s, but they're out there.

I suspect the women thought he found them special in some way. So it wasn't, "I want these $40 tickets SO BADLY I'll do ANYTHING to get them." It was more, "Oh wow. This super funny and famous Christian man wants to spend time with me. He's flirting with me. It could be fun to start something with him. Maybe we'll fall in love . . . "

[ktgrok]

15 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

Oh, he had groupies. They look different from the Van Halen groupies of the 1980s, but they're out there.

I suspect the women thought he found them special in some way. So it wasn't, "I want these $40 tickets SO BADLY I'll do ANYTHING to get them." It was more, "Oh wow. This super funny and famous Christian man wants to spend time with me. He's flirting with me. It could be fun to start something with him. Maybe we'll fall in love . . . "

Right. And when you add in the Christian label he has, they may even have thought that hey, if he want to have sex with me it MUST mean he wants a relationship, since he's a Christian. 

 

[klmama]

1 hour ago, Hyacinth said:

Kind of unrelated...but I read this morning about how U2 had a strict no-tolerance policy when they were on tour for any kind of sexual favors, harassment, using/abusing women. They recognized long before the me-too movement that they had power and influence and they could easily misuse it. The tour manager (I think?) was the enforcer. 

How wise of them. 
 

Not completely unrelated.  Bono is a Christian.  

[catz]

I have a sibling who was a small time news personality in a somewhat rural community as a young adult.  He would get stalked and followed regularly.  It was SO weird.  Anyone with an ounce of celebrity can and will have their own brand of groupie.  

I've gone out of my way to teach my kids that celebrities are flawed humans no more worthy of attention, praise and adoration than the rest of us.  MANY of those who've attained celebrity have just become media darlings or demons for one reason or another that will sell magazines, generate clicks, etc.  They aren't necessarily more talented and amazing than many that don't get that level of attention.  

[marbel]

48 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

Oh, he had groupies. They look different from the Van Halen groupies of the 1980s, but they're out there.

I suspect the women thought he found them special in some way. So it wasn't, "I want these $40 tickets SO BADLY I'll do ANYTHING to get them." It was more, "Oh wow. This super funny and famous Christian man wants to spend time with me. He's flirting with me. It could be fun to start something with him. Maybe we'll fall in love . . . "

Yeah, exactly. I think pretty much all famous (even famous within a smaller group, not necessarily world-wide famous) people have groupies.  

Many years ago I regularly went to a pub to listen to a guy play guitar and sing. He had a great voice and had a fun stage presence but he was not famous in any sense of the word and not good looking to my eyes.  Still it was pretty typical to hear young women saying stuff like "ooh, I think he was looking at me when he was singing [some particularly meaningful line from a love song]... do you think he likes me?" And women would flock around him during breaks and after he finished, hoping for... something from this small-time singer.  I was quite sure that any number of them would have been willing to have sex with him in hopes of something more. 

It was always pretty amazing to me. 

Please hear me on this, I am NOT "blaming the victim" but agreeing to sexual acts for tickets to something just doesn't resonate with me

Yeah, that's not for me but I wouldn't find it surprising that some people might agree to sex for tickets. A brush with fame, however, fleeting, plus the possibility that the guy will fall in love with her?  However slight that possibility is. Some people really do think celebrities are super-special and having an association would make them super-special too.

Edited November 8, 2019 by marbel

[Bluegoat]

Quote

I have a sibling who was a small time news personality in a somewhat rural community as a young adult.  He would get stalked and followed regularly.  It was SO weird.  Anyone with an ounce of celebrity can and will have their own brand of groupie.

 

Yes, it is weird, but I've seen the same sort of thing.  And in other settings with men in authority in some way, university professors, or in the army men who are higher in rank, or famous authors.  It seems to be something that appeals more to women than it does to men, male groupies are the exception in my experience.

 

 

[TABmom]

I am sad about this. I think he is hilarious and I was planning on going to one of his shows next year. I don't know exactly what his sin was. If it was assault he should be prosecuted. If not, well, I don't see why he should "step down". He's not a spiritual leader- he's a comedian. We don't need to have higher expectations for comedians like we do for pastors. He makes fun of Christians because he is one. He's part of our world and he has funny insights about it. I know many people who think he is funny. I hope he's already filmed the netflix special and that doesn't get canned. 

[Bluegoat]

12 minutes ago, marbel said:

Yeah, exactly. I think pretty much all famous (even famous within a smaller group, not necessarily world-wide famous) people have groupies.  

Many years ago I regularly went to a pub to listen to a guy play guitar and sing. He had a great voice and had a fun stage presence but he was not famous in any sense of the word and not good looking to my eyes.  Still it was pretty typical to hear young women saying stuff like "ooh, I think he was looking at me when he was singing [some particularly meaningful line from a love song]... do you think he likes me?" And women would flock around him during breaks and after he finished, hoping for... something from this small-time singer.  I was quite sure that any number of them would have been willing to have sex with him in hopes of something more. 

It was always pretty amazing to me. 

 

Gosh, this just made me remember.

I don't know if he is a celebrity in the US, but in Canada we have a reality tv guy called Mike Holmes who is a contractor and his schtick is coming to homes that have been screwed up by immoral or incompetent contractors and fixing the problem.  He's a middle aged guy, nice enough looking a guess, sort of big and he has a soothing voice.

Anyway, he appeared one day on our local CBC lunchtime call in.  It's usually an expert who gives callers advice on something, car maintenance, pet training, gardening, whatever.  Callers will vary depending on what the topic is, as you'd expect. Mostly the experts aren't famous, beyond possibly have written a little book, they are just local people.

Anyway, the day MH was on, all of the callers were women, and they were just gushing and so, so weird. They also totally filled the lines for the whole program. Very much damsel in distress looking for a strong white knight sort of thing. I felt almost embarrassed - I get the appeal but I can't imagine talking to someone that way in a million years, much less on a public radio show! I got the impression he was used to that sort of thing but the host was a little gobsmacked.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Bluegoat

[SquirrellyMama]

5 minutes ago, TABmom said:

I am sad about this. I think he is hilarious and I was planning on going to one of his shows next year. I don't know exactly what his sin was. If it was assault he should be prosecuted. If not, well, I don't see why he should "step down". He's not a spiritual leader- he's a comedian. We don't need to have higher expectations for comedians like we do for pastors. He makes fun of Christians because he is one. He's part of our world and he has funny insights about it. I know many people who think he is funny. I hope he's already filmed the netflix special and that doesn't get canned. 

I think he should step down for a while, even if it is for his own good. Obviously, what he's been doing for the past 7 years hasn't been working. He needs to work on his own mental health if this is truly an addiction. 

Kelly

[TechWife]

3 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

His statement left much to be desired. I'm not impressed. I've always enjoyed his comedy. He makes fun of Christians a lot too, and really, if we can't laugh at ourselves...

Unfortunately, most Christians I know will "not judge" even though this is when we are supposed to stand up and say, "This is NOT ok! This is not what we stand for!"

ETA: I'm not saying that non-Christians do stand for this. It just irks me when Christians won't call it out.

He's a sex addict, ok. I can half accept that. It seems when men get caught in these situations they always become sex addicts.

Kelly

There was no mention of repentance in his statement. Maybe he's not there yet, but it's something we need to be aware of going forward with him.

I'd never heard of him until this story broke.

[alisoncooks]

How sad. I did enjoy a lot of his humor. I hope he gets *real* help.

[katilac]

7 minutes ago, TechWife said:

There was no mention of repentance in his statement.  

There is: I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m responsible for my actions and I’ve repented and am taking full ownership. I realize it will be difficult for some people to ever forgive me, and I accept that as a result of my bad decisions and actions.

[alisoncooks]

(Also, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought for sure this was going to be about him coming out. He's always pinged my gaydar...)

[katilac]

1 hour ago, Hyacinth said:

So it wasn't, "I want these $40 tickets SO BADLY I'll do ANYTHING to get them."  

Not to mention that the tickets can cost far more than that: 

Currently, the maximum price for John Crist tickets is $928, a price that could apply to the best John Crist tickets available.

https://www.vividseats.com/theatre/john-crist-tickets.html

[TechWife]

4 minutes ago, katilac said:

There is: I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m responsible for my actions and I’ve repented and am taking full ownership. I realize it will be difficult for some people to ever forgive me, and I accept that as a result of my bad decisions and actions.

Ah - thank you. I had completely overlooked that somehow, even as I was looking for it specifically. Now it does remain to be seen if he lives a life appropriate to repentance, but this is a start.

[ktgrok]

46 minutes ago, TABmom said:

I am sad about this. I think he is hilarious and I was planning on going to one of his shows next year. I don't know exactly what his sin was. If it was assault he should be prosecuted. If not, well, I don't see why he should "step down". He's not a spiritual leader- he's a comedian. We don't need to have higher expectations for comedians like we do for pastors. He makes fun of Christians because he is one. He's part of our world and he has funny insights about it. I know many people who think he is funny. I hope he's already filmed the netflix special and that doesn't get canned. 

If he was coercing women using his influence as a comedian into sexual acts, then it is entirely appropriate he step down if only to prevent that continued behavior. Plenty of things are wrong that are not possible to prosecute. I'm not talking higher expectations than i have for the average person - I expect all people to not use their job to solicit sex, and that if they are doing so they may end up not in that job anymore. 

And this isn't a one time "oops" - he admitted he's been doing this for seven years. If he can't control himself while doing this job he needs to do something else. 

 

[Bluegoat]

I'm a little unclear about what actually went on here, from the article.  The calls and texts aren't described all that much, so it's difficult to say how bad they might be.  That sort of thing could be very minor, or very serious.  And I'm not sure about the ticket thing, clearly from a standard Christian viewpoint that's a problem, I'm not sure it is so much from a secular one.  Transactional sex is legal, and while I have serious issues with sex for money, I don't know that sex for tickets to a comedy show is quite the same, the pressures aren't the same.  It's unhealthy IMO but is it a legal issue?  I'm also not sure which is the stuff he is admitting to and which is the stuff he isn't.

[Catwoman]

57 minutes ago, katilac said:

Not to mention that the tickets can cost far more than that: 

Currently, the maximum price for John Crist tickets is $928, a price that could apply to the best John Crist tickets available.

https://www.vividseats.com/theatre/john-crist-tickets.html

 

Forget about the comedy show. For that price, I want John Crist to come paint my house. 

 

[BlsdMama]

14 hours ago, Frances said:

Exactly what I was thinking. I’m not a Christian, and I never heard of him before, but he seems to be taking responsibility for his actions.

I also don't know if his career will survive this and it's because most people differentiate between:
 

1. I did this and I am so sorry

vs.

2. I got busted for this and, oh, by the way, I am so sorry.

 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I think he's done. You can't have your entire schtick be about mocking your demographic of origin for its hypocrisy, while having been a hypocrite, yourself, the whole time. It's an overall fail.

I say this as a former (very mild) fan who did think he was funny. I wouldn't have paid to go to his show, but I watched his youtube videos...so it's not like I'm a card-carrying, profitable fan who will be missed...but for those of us who mildly liked him, what we liked was the premise that religious insufferability is an unnecessary show, when most people are just people and all alike, and you don't have to be religious to be good.

However, we still think you have to be good, to be good. KWIM? We are not going to be fans of a bad guy. Always glad when people reform, if they do, for their sakes and ours. But a lot of us (especially women), while we want everyone to be well, are still going to look for our entertainment elsewhere, in the future.

 

[SquirrellyMama]

55 minutes ago, Lang Syne Boardie said:

I think he's done. You can't have your entire schtick be about mocking your demographic of origin for its hypocrisy, while having been a hypocrite, yourself, the whole time. It's an overall fail.

Especially, having been that BIG of a hypocrite!

Kelly

[Annie G]

4 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

 

Gosh, this just made me remember.

I don't know if he is a celebrity in the US, but in Canada we have a reality tv guy called Mike Holmes who is a contractor and his schtick is coming to homes that have been screwed up by immoral or incompetent contractors and fixing the problem.  He's a middle aged guy, nice enough looking a guess, sort of big and he has a soothing voice.

Anyway, he appeared one day on our local CBC lunchtime call in.  It's usually an expert who gives callers advice on something, car maintenance, pet training, gardening, whatever.  Callers will vary depending on what the topic is, as you'd expect. Mostly the experts aren't famous, beyond possibly have written a little book, they are just local people.

Anyway, the day MH was on, all of the callers were women, and they were just gushing and so, so weird. They also totally filled the lines for the whole program. Very much damsel in distress looking for a strong white knight sort of thing. I felt almost embarrassed - I get the appeal but I can't imagine talking to someone that way in a million years, much less on a public radio show! I got the impression he was used to that sort of thing but the host was a little gobsmacked.

Dh and I recently watched a couple episodes of his show late one night when we couldn’t sleep. We both had that same feeling that the women on the show treat him like a knight in shining armor.  We both got such a weird vibe from it.  The women acted like he was their ideal husband- he listened, he didn’t blame them for how their house looked, he was soothing and he made things right for them. And went beyond that to do extras just to surprise them.  Yeah, I guess I can see that maybe the show is intended to promote that idea. 

[Ottakee]

1 hour ago, Seasider too said:

 

This is what bothers me- not that he has and admits a problem - we are all flawed. I am very troubled by the thought that many knew about it, and decided to simply back away. 

No calling out a brother in sin. 

No running towards the victims to render aid and prevent future victimization. 

Shame on all of us who call ourselves Christians yet allow circumstances ripe for abuse to prevail. 

THIS.   I am not sure if what he did crossed the lines of abuse/assault or not....BUT, if others knew of this behavior and let it continue, they hold part of the blame.

Check out the book, WHAT IS A GIRL WORTH by Rachel Denhollander.   So telling about how the church isn't much, if any better, in handling these cases.

[Frances]

2 hours ago, Seasider too said:

 

This is what bothers me- not that he has and admits a problem - we are all flawed. I am very troubled by the thought that many knew about it, and decided to simply back away. 

No calling out a brother in sin. 

No running towards the victims to render aid and prevent future victimization. 

Shame on all of us who call ourselves Christians yet allow circumstances ripe for abuse to prevail. 

But this seems extremely common for famous people who claim to be Christians. Even aiding and enabling various types of sin, not just not calling out the sinner and not helping the victim. At least he admits he has a problem and did wrong. While I think what he did is disgusting and it’s probably true that he’s only repentant and apologetic because he got caught, I still have to give him credit for even admitting he was wrong.

[SquirrellyMama]

Something more than one person has said, and I've thought also is that he's only coming out with this because he got caught. 

What would it look like for him to come out with the truth before being caught? Do we really expect people to admit to wrong doing without the motivation? Would you? Would I? That really isn't the norm...

Are there examples of people doing rotten things and coming clean before being caught?

Again, I'm disappointed. It was sleazy, immoral, reprehensible. Just some thoughts. 

[Bluegoat]

5 hours ago, StellaM said:

 

Can only speak to the bolded, but yes, male authors (sometimes not even that famous!) expect younger women to fall over them, and sometimes younger women do. 

I don't think that's sexual sin; I think it's often sleazy.

Often manipulative.

Promises are made and not kept, usually to do with the younger woman's work.

I should write a list: poets I said no to.  C'mon, one was so confident about the effect of his standing that he didn't even bother to check his teeth before propositioning! I don't know about other girls, but I found it hard to take a man seriously when he's got green bits stuck in his teeth. He'd clearly had success with his 'you have promise, come over and talk about it' spiel before though.

Anyway, it's a thing. Not just in Christian or comedy circles. Or rock star circles.  There was an article in one of the big US papers this year or last about a young female author who deliberately got into a relationship with an older, more famous man, for the career help.

All of these things are just sleaze. People using other people. Different to assault.

 

Yes, sleaze is a good word for what you are describing.  

I think in some cases it's not just about the getting ahead business though, it's more like power is a turn on for people, or whatever passes for power in that setting.  It's somehow about status and it really does seem to be attractive, (although I doubt even Mick Jagger could get away with trying to pick someone up with spinach in his teeth.)

[Bluegoat]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

THIS.   I am not sure if what he did crossed the lines of abuse/assault or not....BUT, if others knew of this behavior and let it continue, they hold part of the blame.

Check out the book, WHAT IS A GIRL WORTH by Rachel Denhollander.   So telling about how the church isn't much, if any better, in handling these cases.

 

I wonder though, what you would do to stop it?

I can imagine in a situation like this maybe you would stop working with the person, and tell him why, but I can't quite picture publicly reprimanding someone.  And what is it you would really know, that they were having casual sex with fans?  I doubt all the details would be known. 

You might not like that, but it's also kind of someone's personal life, and is that something you would talk about really?  I know people I work with and am friends with at a certain level, but I'd probably not talk about their sex life even if I more or less disapproved. Even another Christian, in most cases I wouldn't, it would have to be someone I was fairly close to, or had a certain type of authority over/responsibility to.  Possibly I might say something in a non-confrontational way.

[Chris in VA]

I like his humor and I'm sorry he behaved so badly. But gosh, to say he only is sorry because he got caught? That is a pretty awful accusation. There is a difference between being sorry one got caught and being sorry for one's actions because the actions were wrong. I say so what if it took getting caught for him to wake up. I find him truly repentent, i.e., wanting to turn his life around. 

I wonder if he is still with his girlfriend, Lauren Alaina?

Edited November 9, 2019 by Chris in VA

[DawnM]

12 hours ago, Seasider too said:

 

All believers are called to live lives above reproach.

 

Right, but if I have illicit sex (as long as it isn't illegal) I don't lose my job.  This was still more than that.  He is doing comedy about Christianity, with a lot of "Check your heart" comments, which takes on a whole new meaning now.

4 hours ago, Chris in VA said:

I like his humor and Ixm sorry he behaved so badly. But gosh, to say he only is sorry because he got caught? That is a pretty awful accusation. There is a difference between being sorry one got caught and being sorry for one's actions because the actions were wrong. I say so what if it took getting caught for him to wake up. I find him truly repentent, i.e., wanting to turn his life around. 

I wonder if he is still with his girlfriend n Lauren Alaina?

 

He had a girlfriend?  I watched him interviewed on Youtube last year and he said he hasn't dated in years and hasn't had a girlfriend in about 7 years.  

ETA:  Guess it didn't last long:

https://people.com/country/lauren-alaina-john-crist-split-ahead-of-her-dancing-with-the-stars-debut/

Edited November 9, 2019 by DawnM

[sassenach]

23 hours ago, katilac said:

Not to mention that the tickets can cost far more than that: 

Currently, the maximum price for John Crist tickets is $928, a price that could apply to the best John Crist tickets available.

https://www.vividseats.com/theatre/john-crist-tickets.html

I saw him for $25 a ticket over the summer. 

ETA: after reading the original report, the cost of the tickets was completely irrelevant. He basically used the fan's desire for a free ticket to shame them into coming up to his hotel room. 

Edited November 9, 2019 by sassenach

[sassenach]

My perspective is that of a person in church leadership who has walked through a great number of situations where someone in long-term, protracted sin gets "found out." 

First, it's an absolute grace of God that this all came out. John's career has exploded in the last few years and the fact that this all came out on the eve of his Netflix special is no accident. I believe that we're seeing the Lord's good discipline at work here. 

Strongholds cannot be conquered in the dark. I can imagine how someone who is trying to protect a public image could get mired in sin that they're afraid to confess to. I've seen it time and time again with non-famous people, so John's situation and that he's been fighting this for 7 years with no victory, doesn't surprise me. Trying hard not to sin while keeping your sin a secret always ends in defeat.  I hope he is experiencing the relief of no longer protecting a false image. 

No, I don't think his career will be the same. But I hope that by the time Jesus gets done with him, he wouldn't want his old life back.

As for the "open secret" thing, without being part of that community, it's hard to know what that means or whether he has been confronted. It's possible that people knew he was having sex, but who knows if anyone understood the coercive nature of these encounters. It's possible that people did confront him. Is it possible that everyone knew everything and turned a completely blind eye? Yes, but in my experience that's not how it usually goes down.

It's sad. Sin is always sad. 

[Meriwether]

23 hours ago, Bluegoat said:

 

Gosh, this just made me remember.

I don't know if he is a celebrity in the US, but in Canada we have a reality tv guy called Mike Holmes who is a contractor and his schtick is coming to homes that have been screwed up by immoral or incompetent contractors and fixing the problem.  He's a middle aged guy, nice enough looking a guess, sort of big and he has a soothing voice.

Anyway, he appeared one day on our local CBC lunchtime call in.  It's usually an expert who gives callers advice on something, car maintenance, pet training, gardening, whatever.  Callers will vary depending on what the topic is, as you'd expect. Mostly the experts aren't famous, beyond possibly have written a little book, they are just local people.

Anyway, the day MH was on, all of the callers were women, and they were just gushing and so, so weird. They also totally filled the lines for the whole program. Very much damsel in distress looking for a strong white knight sort of thing. I felt almost embarrassed - I get the appeal but I can't imagine talking to someone that way in a million years, much less on a public radio show! I got the impression he was used to that sort of thing but the host was a little gobsmacked.

I just googled him to see who you were talking about. The first "people also asked" question was "Is Mike Holmes married?"

[sassenach]

https://www.charismanews.com/us/78703-john-crist-cancels-2019-tour-dates-after-reports-of-sexting-harassment-manipulation

Here's the original story that broke this all open. Very detailed and very well-reported. 

[StephanieZ]

On 11/7/2019 at 10:40 PM, Ottakee said:

Sad but I am glad that he is admitting to his part and appears to be taking serious steps to address this issue.  Far better than many other situations I have seen in the church/Christian circles.

What does it mean when you say "admitting to his part"?

What other part would there be?

This seems like a dangerous slip of the keyboard, because it seems to imply that someone else was at fault. God? His victims? Who?

[katilac]

1 hour ago, StephanieZ said:

What does it mean when you say "admitting to his part"?

What other part would there be?

Also, he says that he didn't do everything he's accused of doing. At this point, we don't know if he's being truthful about that or still trying to hide things (confessing only to what he really can't deny).

[Ottakee]

I found this part to be powerful (copied from the link above)

*******************

In the end, Sarah says the key to her emotional recovery has been remembering that one Christian's behavior is not a reflection of the character of Christ. And she holds out hope that Crist can one day be rehabilitated and reconciled back into the body of believers he has hurt—but for that to happen, he must first be held accountable.

"To be using the God that I know and I serve to be able to do this to people is just mind-boggling and so dangerous, and it has to stop," Sarah says. "... But God can use a really terrible situation for good. At this point even, I stand by: If John will do the work and John will truly repent and John will truly change, even John's story could be something absolutely phenomenal that could change lives for others. But until he actually does the work and actually changes, it's only going to continue." 

******************

As the ex-wife of a sex-offender, I have to agree.  Far too often the church just brushes these things under the rug and ignores the work that needs to go into change.  Rachel Denhollander Talks about it in her book, What Is a Girl Worth?  She says it so much better than I could ever do.

[Frances]

5 hours ago, sassenach said:

https://www.charismanews.com/us/78703-john-crist-cancels-2019-tour-dates-after-reports-of-sexting-harassment-manipulation

Here's the original story that broke this all open. Very detailed and very well-reported. 

The woman Kate in the story seems almost unbelievably naive and gullible. Who ever taught her that Christians don’t intentionally do bad things? Talk about being set up to be taken advantage of in one way or another. Has she never heard of sin?