Healing Place pastor resigns

Photo by MARK H. HUNTER, Rev. Dino Rizzo, senior pastor at Healing Place Church

The Rev. Dino Rizzo, lead pastor of Healing Place Church, one of Baton Rouge’s largest churches, announced Sunday morning that he and his wife and co-pastor, DeLynn Rizzo, are leaving the church they founded nearly 20 years ago.

“We feel it is best that we step down as pastors today,” Dino Rizzo told several thousand church members gathered in the spacious arena sanctuary during the first of two Sunday morning services.

DeLynn Rizzo stood next to her husband while he addressed the church members.

“We feel God is moving us into a new season,” he said without disclosing what future plans the couple might have.

“Our hearts are forever marked by your faith, your love and your generosity,” Dino Rizzo told the silent crowd.

The Rizzos took a leave of absence in late July at the behest of the church’s spirituality board because they needed “a sabbatical rest for healing, reflection and restoration of spirit, soul and body,” according to a statement from the board.

“Over these last two months, I’ve needed a lot of mercy and a lot of grace,” Rizzo told the congregation.

He thanked his wife, calling her “my rock,” adding, “To those I have disappointed, I want to say forgive me. I’m sorry if I’ve ever disappointed you as pastor.”

“Two months ago,” Rizzo said, “I let my spirit, soul and body get depleted and did not make good choices as a dad, as a husband, as a leader.”

He said they, as a couple with three children, are now on a road of “healing and hope.”

“To keep our family as a priority and to continue keeping on with what Jesus wants us to do, we feel it’s best to step down and resign as your pastors today,” Rizzo said with emotion rising in his voice. “This is our choice — no one has asked us to do this.”

“We truly feel like we have pastored the greatest church in the world,” DeLynn Rizzo said. “We want you to remember this church is not about Dino. It is not about us. It is about Jesus and proclaiming his name in this city and across the world. It will continue to be a healing place for a hurting world.”

The Rizzos received a long and noisy standing ovation as they exited the stage.

“It’s okay to be sad but don’t be overwhelmed by sorrow or try to read between the lines,” The Rev. Chris Hodges, one of the Healing Place Church’s overseers and pastor of Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala., told the congregation.

“I know you want more than what’s being said here today — but can you be OK that the seven of us (overseers) know?” Hodges asked. “We’re going to take care of them and we’re going to take care of you. Trust me.”

The seven overseers, mostly from out of state, attended the service Sunday.

Mike Haman, another Healing Place Church pastor, was named interim pastor. The board of overseers prayed and laid hands on Haman and his wife, Rachel, while the audience stood with hands raised toward the stage.

Many church members expressed shock and sadness with the Rizzos’ announcement.

Monica Fernandez, a church member for three years, dabbed tears from her eyes as the Rizzos addressed the stunned audience.

“I’m sad,” Fernandez said after the service. “We will be praying for Dino and DeLynn. We understand God has a plan for their lives.”

Brian McCollister, 31, said he has been attending the church since 1999, and he wanted to stress the importance of taking the situation at face value.

“There will be tons of rumors circulating, but it’s none of anybody’s business,” McCollister said. “My heart is broken for them and their family. God can see the end from the beginning and this was no surprise to him. The decision they made was between them and God.”

The Rizzos started the full-gospel, non-denominational church in 1993 with a dozen people meeting in a small commercial building along Highland Road.

The ministry now serves more than 8,000 people in churches at 10 locations from Baton Rouge to St. Francisville to Mozambique, Africa.

On Palm Sunday 2010, the church opened the spacious and modern “Arena” on a 56-acre campus located at 1902 Highland Road. The $28 million, 126,000-square-foot building features the latest in technology and seats 3,000 in its multipurpose sanctuary.

Healing Place is listed in Outreach magazine’s Top 25 Most Innovative Churches in America. Its campus was a main source of rest and resources for thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees for many months.

Rizzo is well known for his ideology of selfless service, and his 2009 book “Servolution” is used by hundreds of pastors across the country as a model for their own outreach ministries. He also co-founded the Association of Related Churches, a group of several dozen churches that have planted 135 churches in 33 states in the last few years.

Comments

1) Comment by JonDeaux - 26/09/2012

http://www.mycultlife.com/tag/kaycee-morgan-smith/

2) Comment by beowulf1962 - 22/09/2012

Now as to Dragon’s statement “… in the case of 90% of Christians, we are smarter than you” – Really? Dragon, -- that’s at best a “gratuitous assumption.” -- And, obiter dictum, this type of illogical gratuity describes much of what Dragon and 777 have asserted on this site. They have made pompous ipse dixit statements because they think they’re by definition, smarter than us cretins (videlicet, Christians) and thus don’t have to provide proof of their assertions. – Anyway, though I would allow that, on average, if one randomly selected say 100 atheists and 100 Christians, performed IQ testing on all, summed and averaged the group IQs, and then compared the summed averages, the average IQ of the atheist group would be higher, I’m not sure what this finding would prove. To assert that because one group is more intelligent than another, everything (or even most of) what that the more intelligent group asserts is correct and everything (or even most of) what that the less intelligent group asserts is incorrect, is a patent non sequitur. Again, you two, illogical. These aforementioned groups are different quantitatively, but not qualitatively. “Athiests vis-à-vis Christians” is not “humans vis-à-vis dogs.” We Christians have a few neurons also. So stop patronizing and argue the points. Also latent in Dragon’s aforementioned gratuitous assumption is the idea that because someone is an atheist they are therefore intelligent. Well, by golly, I guess I’ll apostate myself, become an atheist, and voilà I’ve gained 50 IQ points. Wow, another quod erat demonstrandum for you two. I could teach a borderline IQ high school dropout to hold the same opinions that you two do. However, the idea that he is then going to go back to school and eventually graduate from Harvard is preposterous. Making an assertion and then asking me to accept it because you are an atheist, and therefore, by virtue of what you believe, smarter than me, is another logical fallacy (I should be keeping a tally of how many you two have exemplared). Namely, argumentum ad verecundiam – an irrelevant appeal to authority. In this case, the fact that you two are atheists does not, per se, give you the right to “hold court.” Your arguments should rise (or fall) based on their inherent cogency (or lack thereof). And 777, your appeal to leading “cosmologists” is fine, but if the expert’s information does not in fact relate to the philosophical question at hand, to wit, ultimate causal reality, then the information is at best a red herring. It’s irrelevant to my question. Anyway, science is contingent. Scientific theories are never final. They are paradigms of reality. Science is inductive and thus never has enough data. But that doesn’t mean that material reality doesn’t, in fact, objectively exist. And if you assert that there are no magical/mystical influences on this material reality, then you have to accept, by deduction, “hard materialism.” My “true dichotomy” is a really a philosophical query. It seeks causal finality – science inherently can’t achieve this finality. But by means of logic, any reasonably intelligent person can deductively arrive at the aforementioned "false dichotomy" fork in the road. …But, alas, you two still haven’t chosen a path. There are only two options...

3) Comment by beowulf1962 - 22/09/2012

777: The problem with the assertion that I have presented a "false dichotomy" is that you haven't proven that my aforementioned dichotomy is false. You've asserted it's false without demonstrating that it’s false. Am I expected to accept your assertion of false dichotomy ipse dixit. I believe you’re wrong. You’ve missed the point. It’s a true dichotomy. There is no tertium quid available to bail you out. My dichotomy identified two cosmogonic paradigms: (1) a strict materialist model, i.e., monism (which I think you support, although like most atheists you are unable to consistently adhere to strict materialism and often let God, read metaphysical speculation/mysticism, in through the back door) and (2) a dualistic model – which of course asserts that the universe cannot be fully accounted for via strict materialist explanations, to wit, there must at least be a primum mobile (like Aristotle's energeia or Plato's Demiurge - basically a first or prime mover). The problem with monism (which even Hawking - and for that matter Bertrand Russell - allows, cf infinite regress) is that it cannot arrive at causal finality and therefore devolves into irrationality. Because causality is linear, causality or motion must be finally attributed to a first cause, which logically cannot itself be moved, i.e., the unmoved mover. Quantum mechanics is a good example of the tendency of monists (i.e., atheists) to drift into metaphysical speculation. The adherents of QM assert that the “behavior” of the particles (or entities) that they study cannot be predicted and that “chance alone” must govern at least some of said particle behavior. Such an assertion crosses the noumenal line. Chance has no ontic standing in monistic formulations. By definition, in a strict material universe, chance cannot be arranged. All is predetermined by the adherence of the material to physical laws that govern matter and energy. The fact that QM scientists haven’t accurately paradigmed particle theory doesn’t mean there isn’t hard material reality at any level of investigation. That’s what materialism means - inherently. And that is what you (777) are asserting – even if you have trouble admitting it. If you are a monist, then as John Searle points out, “free will” can’t be arranged. The only option available is a universe that is itself “God.” It must be reflexive and eternal. That is, for the universe to exist without causation, it must have always existed. Thus it must have a cycle that starts with a “big bang” and ends with a reflexive collapse back to an über-singularity that then restarts the cycle with a new bang (maybe this is Solomon’s “vanity of vanities”). The cycle is thought to be about a 30-billion-year phenomenon (see “Ghosts of Vesuvius”). Per said theory, you and I were having this identical blog colloquy about 30 billion years ago. As La Place pointed out almost 200 years ago, if an omniscient observer knew the charge and direction of all particles (material) in the universe, said observer could predict and retrodict all of the future and past. To reject this model is to reject materialism/monism and retreat into mysticism. For if you believe that the strict material universe always existed (and was uncaused) the only other possibility would be that the singularity of the big bang existed as such forever and then without cause one day “decided” to explode. If you’re going to try to use other universes to opt out of this materialist dead end, then those universes (which I would assume are also honest and upright monist entities) have the same causality issue. You can formulate as many “leaking universes” as you want, but as long as you deny metaphysical realities, you cannot resort to deus ex machina, voilà escapes. If you believe in a strictly material universe, causality hangs over your theory like a Sword of Damocles. I accept the metaphysical option by faith. And you 777 accept the strict materialist (viz., monist) option by faith.

4) Comment by tbean - 21/09/2012

Matt. 7.1 http://apprising.org/2012/09/17/there-does-seem-to-be-more-to-the-resignation-of-dino-rizzo/

5) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 20/09/2012

And of course you can judge yourself. We all do this everyday to push ourselves to do better. The thing some people can't do is forgive themselves when they have failed. A compounding a mistake makes it harder to get past. Maybe Mr. Rizzo is too deep entrenched emotionally in it right now but a true friend would not hold his when he's wading around in mudd, they wouldn't wade around in it with him, instead they would pull him out of it even while he was kicking and screaming.

6) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 20/09/2012

When the church preaches about adultery, lying, refusing to forgive they themselves have opened the door for the discussion. They don't have the right to close it when the duscussion becomes about them. The gossip and fingerpointing comment is hypocrisy.

7) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 20/09/2012

I never said you were ignorant or complacent although I did make a crack about a blue pill. That was bad form and I shouldn't have said it. For that I apologize. I do believe this article was about what happened with Mr. Rizzo and I don't believe that expecting or pressing leaders to be accountable or at least give their congregation the full story is gossip or finger pointing. I will always push for people to do the right thing and if that is inferred as gossip or judging then so be it. For the record I believe if he is truly sorry and not just sorry he got caught then he should be. I do not stand in judgement of him and his past mistakes but when he and the HPC overseers are in the middle of making another one I believe they should be called on the carpet.

8) Comment by PascalsWager - 20/09/2012

I'm not sure why you think my silence on the subject indicates ignorance, acceptance, or complacency... Just because I refuse to air my feelings about the way things were handled does not mean I am brainwashed or unaware of the facts. But think about it; what good would it do for me to speak my mind about the things you are pressing me for? All it does is provide more fodder for the already outrageously angry posters here... My point remains: Healing Place Church is about Jesus and being the hands and feet of Jesus to the world. To comment on anything else is unproductive gossip and finger-pointing condemnation. Who am I to judge anyone? I can't even judge myself.

9) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 20/09/2012

And I should hope you do not attend HPC because of one person. What would have impressed me would have gone something like-Mr. Rizzo fully acknowledges whatever happened without using fancy pretty words. All the insidious details are not required but full accountability and acknowledgement would have been nice. Mrs. Rizzo would gave openly forgiven him and offered the same open forgiveness to the young lady. The Rizzos would have taken this try sad experience and learned from it and offered that new found ensight to help other people who may have or are going through the same thing. For that I think the congregation would be justified in giving a standing ovation. I know dream on right. How naive can I be. It's sad that they have taken a bad situation and made it worse. But what's really worse is they don't even realize. Or they don't respect their congregations intelligence enough to think they would see it.

10) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 20/09/2012

@PascalsWager Again I agree everyone makes mistakes and deserves forgiveness. I also believe that when a person makes a mistakes they should own up to it completely. Bo sugar coating-just get real and takes steps to correct it. As lead pastors The Rizzos put themselves in a position of guiding their congregation and therefore the congregation is entitled to answers. It also really bothers me that this congregation has demonstrated a huge outpouring of support for The Rizzos on various blogs but I have seen little to none for this young lady. It seems a little bit like a double standard. It also comcerns me that the congregation was asked to be ok with not knowing. As you say since people are nit perfect including the rest of the overseers. Should the congregation blindly follow them? If the church and The Rizzo do not address how this appears how can they ask the congregation to be led by them? Like I said before this is an opportunity for HPC to lead and they are hiding asking people to close their eyes. It takes a real man to fully own his mistakes, true leaders do not hide in times of turmoil, and true Christians practice foregi eness to everyone not just the ones they adore.

11) Comment by PascalsWager - 20/09/2012

This article on Ragamuffin Soul's blog says it better than I ever could. There's no such thing as a perfect person in church or outside of church. If we all waited until we were perfect to serve or lead, there would be no leaders or servants at all. I'm not going to comment on the allegations against Dino Rizzo; I'm just going to reiterate that he is not the reason we are there. http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/2012/09/hookeraddicted/

12) Comment by tortboy - 20/09/2012

Slow clap for TigerDragon. . . take a bow dude. Brilliant.

13) Comment by TigerDragon - 20/09/2012

I think this will have to be my last post on this subject as trying to debate a Christian is like trying to debate a five year old throwing a tantrum. Basically what Christians always say with sometime eloquent argument and sometimes asinine arguments is that science does not have all the answers so they must be right. We know science does not have all the answers and it may never have all the answers, but it seems like a better option than believing in talking snakes and angry angels. That is the choice you have, you can follow science and search for answers with a logical method, or you can believe that a man in the sky created the universe from nothing, and then created a son that was also him and a vapor spirit so he could then torture himself to death so he could forgive your sins. They believe that all the answers are in a book written by partially illiterate peasants 2,000 years ago which we have no original copies of. They also want you to forget about over half of the book in the form of the Old Testament because it is filled with really crazy stuff. Well they do like to keep some of the Old Testament in practice, but just the parts they like. The parts that let them hate gays and suppress women, the stuff they really like. They don’t mind that the bible actually has a lot more to say about how you should treat your slaves than it has to say about gays, but don’t worry about that. Yes, the bible is full of wonderful truths about talking snakes, 650 year old men building aircraft carriers, people turning into salt, angels threatened with being raped, burning bushes that talk, you know things that make sense like that. Christians can feel free to stick with that, it’s American and you are free to believe what you like. Just continue to ignore the cumulative knowledge of all of mankind, it means nothing. Ignore that religions are regional and manmade, ignore commonsense. Rest assured that the truth was it all started in a garden with a talking snake.

14) Comment by loup_garou - 20/09/2012

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15) Comment by krl777 - 19/09/2012

Anyway, beowulf1962 and PascalsWager are playing a deceitful game. They want to pretend that there are two basic choices -- to believe as they do, or to be an atheist, and the atheist has to believe at least as many remarkable things as they do. They must be at least dimly aware that there are, in fact, thousands of mutually incompatible creeds on the face of the earth. You can believe what they believe, or any of a hundred other fanciful myths, many of which are known to be inspired by hallucinogenic drugs, and many of which present Pascal's Wager on their own behalf -- believe in them or be condemned. This is one of the tricks of the trade for every religious shyster -- if you don't believe what I believe, you are evil, immoral, and condemned for eternity. Whatever you believe, you are condemned according to somebody else's religion. So Pascal's Wager is self-defeating. It only has an appearance of credibility for those too ignorant or lacking in imagination to know that multiple incompatible creeds present the identical challenge, which therefore cannot possibly be met, and is best ignored. As are its proponents. Reading these posts, I'm afraid that people will get the idea that defenders of religion are uniformly ignorant, fuzzy-headed saps. They aren't all, just some of the ones represented here. If you find your heart sinking at the quality of thinking displayed on behalf of religion here, go read Karen Armstrong or Garry Wills.

16) Comment by krl777 - 19/09/2012

Looks like beowulf1962 is all bent out of shape since I pointed out the false dichotomy. The hypothesis that matter from parallel universes "leaks into" ours was put forward by modern cosmologists -- I'm not offering personal speculation here. The point is that every explanation for the universe which we just dream up seems pretty ridiculous, whether it is eternally existing matter, or matter created ex nihilo by an immaterial being called a "God" who turns out in most religions to be just a projection of a human being. Science, however, does break us out of our armchair speculations, showing that the universe is expanding, and presenting us with the prospect, true for all we can tell, that it exploded from a singularity. Yes, these all sound like strange stories, but the ones told by modern physics and cosmology have a purchase on observed reality which the old "creation by a big immaterial guy out of nothing" myth doesn't.

17) Comment by beowulf1962 - 19/09/2012

So parallel universes "leaking" into ours is an explanation? No. Metaphysical bondo to cover your lack of theoretical integrity. You're engaging in an infinite regress. Inherently irrational. And a dodge. How about this Latin phrase: ad hominem. 777 and Dragon don't want to address how inherently idiotic the concept of self-existent matter is (ad argumentum) so they spend their time attacking Bible stories and Christians (ad hominem). I didn't bring up any myths. But here's one: world on a turtle's back - you know "turtle's all the way down" - and you're going to need a lot of turtles to hold up all those parallel universes (I think Hawking's up to 87 parallel universes now).

18) Comment by TBCReformed - 19/09/2012

Hi again TD, thanks for your thoughtful rebuttal. My position is not circular logic because it can be proven apart from the Bible that mankind inherently has a moral compass, thus giving external evidence that what the Bible says about man is true. I don’t have to use the Bible to teach you that it is wrong to murder. Also, it is a straw man argument to say that I have given the quoted bible verses whatever meaning I like. Tell me, how would you interpret this verse? “You shall not murder.” There are principles of communication just like there are principles of physics (which are both a reflection of God’s character) and we must follow them when interpreting the Bible. This is commonly referred to as the grammatical-historical principle of interpretation. Because of this, you and I are able to write back- and-forth and clearly understand what we are trying to convey to each other. I happen to agree with your statement, “Regardless of where you live and regardless of your religion you pretty much know what is right and what is wrong.” It actually proves Romans 2:14-15, that even those without the Law do instinctively the things of the Law. Even though we “pretty much know” we do not always do what is right and what is wrong, which is why our consciences accuse us. Even when we perform good works such as feeding the poor, education, etc. there is still a motivation of selfishness that says “look how great I am for doing all these things for others.” That is the difference between moralism and Biblical morality. That guilt cannot be written off as a symptom of natural selection. There is enough evidence in creation to validate the righteousness of God to all men, regardless of religious or cultural background, which is why God will be just in condemning all men on the day of Judgment. God may have revealed the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, but it has always been binding upon all men; thus, when Cain killed Abel he sinned against God. There are many moral similarities in religions, but there are also many moral differences. Some religions actually promote adultery and polytheism which is why God condemned the nation of Israel for following some of them. It is impossible to believe in any other deity and yet keep the Law of God, per the first commandment (krl777). God revealed the fullness of this moral compass, the Law, to reveal His holiness and to point those whom He wills to hear it to their need for Christ. Of course, the longer we continue to suppress this reality the harder our hearts become to the truth, which should be fearful for you. It burdens me to know that you have received the Word so clearly all these years and yet have rejected Him, and appear to now be on a crusade to free others from this “crutch”. The freedom that you now feel from no longer being bound to the Law or the Gospel is a result of that hardening, which is they the Scripture warns repeatedly, “Today if you hear His voice do not harden your heart.” The irony is that true freedom is actually experienced by those who delight in the Law of God, because they are not condemned by it and are now free to keep it without fear of it and serve at the pleasure of God as we were created to do. God will always have a remnant, according to His predetermined plan, even if 99% become atheists. Besides, the atheist movement will help to make the true church, which is as healthy as ever, more visible and weed out the pretenders.

19) Comment by krl777 - 19/09/2012

Although PascalsWager reeks with his own condescension towards non-believers, I am actually sympathetic to some of the points made. If there is any kind of God, PW is more or less right to say, "If you or I could even begin to understand God, He would cease to be God." [end quote] That is, if there is anything that answers to even a substantial part of the usual description of God, that entity is probably as incomprehensible to us as nuclear physics is to an ant. Well and good. But then we have a choice. We can accept the consequences of that God being incomprehensible, and quit invoking that incomprehensible God in all the grubby little details of our lives. Or we can assume that a mind-blowing, deeply incomprehensible God decided to reveal itself in a book chock-full of all the fumbling myths and fantasies of our infantile species. The first option seems more reasonable to me. For some reason, PW chooses the second option. The problem with the second option is, if you're not careful, it puts you in company with those who conceive of God not as some incomprehensible grandness, but rather, as a tyrant in very human form, jealous, obsessed with power, obsessed with sex, just like any human tyrant. The fundamentalist's God is, in fact, just that anthropomorphic tyrant.

20) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 19/09/2012

@PascalsWager Would you care to address what appears to be the church lying, covering up, turning their back on one of their youth and running her out of town, and the lack of Mr. Rizzo taking full responsibility and accountability for his actions? What is HPC trying to protect? Their image? Their offerings? As a much older lead pastor he clearly failed this young lady. I'm curious to know if he is as concerned about her well being as he clearly is his own. I agree that everyone makes mistakes and deserves compassion when they are at their lowest. What I don't agree with is him not fully owning his MISTAKE and receiving a standing ovation while she was said to be lucky they bought her a plane ticket and didn't make her drive out of town. Mr. Rizzo being asked to or voluntarily stepping down sends the opposite message of forgiveness and compassion. It sends the message that if you mess up bad enough and it makes them look bad then you are tainted and no longer valuable. It's too bad this could have been a real growth experience for Mr. Rizzo and HPC.

21) Comment by TigerDragon - 19/09/2012

PascalsWager – I hate to say it, but in the case of 90% of Christians we are smarter than you. You can argue all day long that a snake talked Eve into eating an apple, or that a 650 year old man built a boat the size of an aircraft carrier in his backyard, or that a man was born from a virgin was killed and came back to life. Arguing for those things just make you sound dumb. Face the facts, Atheist are winning the fight and we don't spend billions of dollars to brainwash our children. Our numbers continue to grow at a record pace. Christians and others continue to leave behind their ancient beliefs when faced with what is almost commonsense. Christians will continue to kick and scream that society is going to hell all while society continues to roll along. The Christians have been trying to stop free thought for so long now it is really what they specialize in. Things that would have made you a heretic hundreds of years ago are now considered commonsense. Christians can continue to hate gays, and fight women's rights but just keep in mind, they will eventually lose out. As long as you insist on rounding up a bunch of kids and telling them about talking snakes and 650 year old men building aircraft carriers in their backyard you will lose. Children today just are not that dumb. They can read and understand science, and they don't want to hate gays or anyone else for that matter. They just want to live rational logical lives and that means forgetting about ancient books and crazy religions. There is more truth in a first grade science book than there is in the whole bible. Christians are so scared that society will fall apart that they will continue to push the same crazy beliefs on their children no matter how ridiculous they sound. I promise you that long after Christians are the minority in this country people will still take care of the poor, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. It is what people do and they don't need an invisible man in the sky watching them to do it.

22) Comment by krl777 - 19/09/2012

A Muslim can formulate Pascal's Wager just as well, for belief in Allah through the words of the prophet Mohammed. Don't fundamentalist Muslims think that infidels (all non-Muslims) will be condemned? So, PascalsWager, do you worship Allah through the words of the prophet Mohammed? If not, why not?

23) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 19/09/2012

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24) Comment by PascalsWager - 19/09/2012

I think what beowulf is shrewdly trying to say is: an atheist's beliefs are no less incredible than those of a Christian. Indeed, it takes a heck of a lot more faith to believe in the eternal existence of matter than it does to believe in intelligent design. More importantly, without much effort, he has disproved your hasty assessment of all Christians, believing them to be mindless idiots who have never bothered to question their own existence or their beliefs. I get so sick of this derisive condescension by atheists and agnostics. Being a Christian is not the equivalent of volunteering for a lobotomy. It's insulting how you people talk to, and about us, as though we are poor, pathetic, miserable souls who have no clue how stupid we are. I've got news for you: I'm not stupid. I have considered the options, weighed the facts, and I've made an informed and intelligent decision to follow Christ. I don't drink the proverbial kool-aide and I couldn't care less what you think of me. The very fact that you think I do care is simply indicative of your own narcissistic world-view. I choose to follow Christ and it's the best decision I've ever made. I won't argue Pascal's Wager since you all think it's a "fire insurance policy" argument [Right. That's why it's still considered a profound philosophical theory taught in every collegiate Philosophy class today. Whatever.]. And I am not going to answer your every criticism because, as beowulf has so astutely pointed out: there is an equally arguable criticism for everything YOU believe, as well. What I will say is this: 1) If you or I could even begin to understand God, He would cease to be God. That might sound banal and unimaginative, but it's a profound truth. If you could step outside your ego for even a millisecond to consider the possibility, you would realize this statement's inherent truth. Imagine there is a God (and I believer there most certainly is): do you really think, with your very limited, human brain, that you could ever make sense of Him? If you do -- or you think you should -- then you're bordering on extreme egomania, my friend. If something or someone has the ability to create everything in existence, then why would its created beings ever be able to "understand" it? It's kind of sad how highly we humans think of ourselves that we constantly insist: "If it doesn't make sense to me, it doesn't make sense at all!" Seriously? "Professing to be wise, they became fools..." (Romans 1:22 NASB) 2) Just because you don't believe something, doesn't make it any less true. Seriously. I can tell you that this is a brick in my hand and you can argue against my assertion, all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a brick. You can't change Truth by refusing to believe it. And just because you've imagined yourself to be intellectually superior to every Christian on the planet, doesn't make it so. "Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise." (1 Corinthians 1:27 NLT) 3) God is not mocked. You may laugh and point and insult all you want now, but be careful. The Bible actually speaks to this. When you stand before God on Judgment Day -- and you will, whether you believe it or not -- you won't be able to claim you "didn't know." Because everything you say and do are recorded for posterity. Choosing to believe you are superior to me and my beliefs is not the same as not knowing. That is why I believe every Christian should study and question and challenge their own faith. We need to know WHAT we believe and WHY. I do agree that too many of us don't do that, but ultimately, it's irrelevant. 4) I love how the world loves to paint Christians as "judgmental" and "hateful" when the most judgmental and hate-filled comments on this board are from atheists and agnostics! You judge us far more than we judge you. And really, who are any of us to judge anyone? Last time I checked, I wasn't perfect and I highly doubt you are, either. 5) I hate how this "scandal" has tarnished the reputation of an amazing church. It's sad how the devil uses our own weaknesses and pride to make us blind to the unfortunate consequences of our actions. It happens every day. But let's be real clear on this: It doesn't change the Truth. Whatever a pastor does or doesn't do, has no bearing whatsoever, on the Truth of Jesus Christ. Just because fallible humans fill His Church doesn't make Him fallible. We are human. We are stupid and we make mistakes. We get prideful and greedy and forget Who we are supposed to represent, but that, in no way, changes Who God is. So it really doesn't matter what you think or how you see us. We have never professed to be perfect or anything close to it. We just try to do what's right and love others and serve our community. And we will keep doing just that. But be careful about rejoicing over this unfortunate ordeal... Again, the Bible is pretty blunt: Do not gloat when your enemy falls; "when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." (Proverbs 24:17-18 NIV) This church was not about a man. It's about Jesus. It's about being Jesus to a lost and hurting world. It's about feeding the poor, caring for widows and orphans, reaching out to victims of human trafficking, helping those with addictions, comforting the sorrowful and that's what it will always be about and that's what we do. And it's what we're going to keep on doing. And all are welcome. Even those who think they are smarter than us. ;)

25) Comment by TigerDragon - 19/09/2012

In response to beowulf1962. All of what you said is more or less correct. My question for you is that simply because you can find flaws or holes in logic and scientific theory do you want to throw it all out? I find that most Christians find the questions to be too difficult so they just defer to the “it must be god” conclusion. So if science can’t find all of the answers we should just stick with the “talking snake in a garden” theory? When faced with question about existence we don’t know the answers and people are not comfortable with that so they just say that god did it. That is not an answer at all. That just creates more questions. Just because I can’t answer the big questions does not mean that I am going to fall back to the safety net of religion. I would feel like a total idiot if I went back to believing in a talking snake, a burning bush, a 650 year old man building a boat the size of an aircraft carrier in his backyard, a virgin birth, a resurrection, parting the sea, etc. The bible sounds more like a Harry Potter novel than the inspired word of god. Surely if there were a god he would find the bible to be amusing. I think his response would be something like, “I created a universe of endless complexity and wonders and you guys boiled it down to a talking snake in a garden and other childish stories that led to thousands of years of murder and atrocities in my name.” As to my use of the name TigerDragon it has everything to do with an inside joke dealing with LSU football and nothing to do with the occult or metaphysics. I am not a theist and have no interest in the occult.

26) Comment by TigerDragon - 19/09/2012

. In responce to TBCreformed. Your argument is typical of a Christian apologist. Try to use some fancy bible verses and give them whatever meaning you like. It is circle logic. I will try to write this in clear easy to understand language that everyone will understand. As to the bible and the 10 commandments and your view that they are somehow linked to god's desires for us, that is just total nonsense. Regardless of where you live and regardless of your religion you pretty much know what is right and what is wrong. You don't need any religion to know that murder is wrong. Christians always make the argument that without religion we will all turn to crime, murder and immoral behavior. They will argue that god's laws are what keep us in line. I think it is much simpler than that. People create religions and we create the moral guidelines because they help us prosper as a civilization. So our religions reflect our values they don't create them. We create religions and we create rules in those religions because those rules have served us well. With or without religion good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things. It just takes religion for good people to do bad things. Simply put, we as humans know what is good and what is bad, we don't need to create some man in the sky watching us to keep us in line. People around the world Christian or not know that murder is wrong, so when they create their religions they place their moral beliefs in those religions. Religion is manmade and the moral dictates of religion are manmade because they reflect our society’s values and help us prosper as a civilization. Have you ever wondered why most religions have more or less the same moral dictates? It is because all of them were created by men that through human experience had a good understanding of what behaviors helped civil society and what behaviors hurt civil society. I for one don’t need god or religion to know what is right and what is wrong, and neither do you.

27) Comment by Chucky - 19/09/2012

Will Science Someday Rule Out the Possibility of God? By Natalie Wolchover | LiveScience.com – Tue, Sep 18, 2012 good article about the beginning of this universe

28) Comment by krl777 - 19/09/2012

@beowulf1962: All I did is point out your false dichotomy. I didn't propose an answer to your question, "Why is there anything?", so your denunciation of my "turgid explanation" shows either that you didn't really read my post, or you are desperate to avoid the actual issues it brought up. After pointing out that you had offered a false dichotomy, I proceeded to substantiate that claim by sketching several scenarios about where the universe came from, all of them taking what we know through modern science as a starting point, but all of them completely speculative all the same, as I acknowledged. Each of these scenarios has as least as much merit as the two which you presented as the only two logical possibilities. Thus, I demonstrated that your previous post was bunk. That's all I did. Sorry that I didn't manage to solve the mysteries of the universe. I will have to content myself with merely pointing out the virtues of knowing how to think clearly if we are to address these deep questions with any credibility. Wielding a few phrases of Latin is no substitute for thinking.

29) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 19/09/2012

And where is the outpouring of love and support from this congregation for this confused naive intern of theirs. I've seen plenty for him and absolutely ZERO for her. That's why I used the words hypocrits. Clearly she was possessed by an evil demon sent by the devil to seduce their great leader. Ridiculous! Since HPC isn't saying this I will-Hey young lady if you're reading this you clearly messed up but I hope you are able to forgive yourself, learn from this, and move forward. You are not a bad person and are just as valuable and worthy as Mr. Rizzo.

30) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 19/09/2012

Oh yeah and let's no forget the church instead of using this as opportunity to really guide their congregation hid and covered it up more than 2 months ago. It's hard to imagine that me a regular person off the street who doesn't attend HPC saw the writing on the wall when he took his sabatical but the church had absolutely no idea. They are lying a sin which is a sin supposedly just like homosexuality and adultery. Maybe the biard should ask themselves to leave too.

31) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 19/09/2012

I wish everyone would get back on point. This isn't an article about whether your beliefs are right or wrong. Be secure enough in your own thoughts that it doesn't matter whether anyone else agrees. What I have read in this article and on the blogs is that this man and young woman failed themselves and that this man instead of owning his mistake chose to run and hide and the woman was blamed and run out of town. It's too bad fir Healing Place b/c this could have been a real learning experience for them and Mr. Rizzo could have used his experience to actually help other people who've screwed up (no pun intended) and gotten themselves in the same situation. Unfortunately when his God gave him the opportunity to really lead by using whatever wisdom he might gain from this experience he chose to run.

32) Comment by beowulf1962 - 19/09/2012

krl777: So, because I didn't give you a tertium quid, you're retreating into skepticism. Monists always turn skeptical when cornered. The fact that the universe can't be fully explained by us does not mean it can't be explained. Your turgid explanation is filled with the sort of metaphysical speculation better suited to a theology symposium. Again, why is there anything?

33) Comment by loup_garou - 18/09/2012

If Reverend Rizzo wants to screw young interns he should have chosen another profession. I can think of dozens of lucrative and even glamorous professions where this sort of behavior is a matter between a man and his wife and no one else. The problem here is that these preacher folk make careers of being morality police but they themselves cant keep it in their pants. The shame!

34) Comment by mycultlife - 18/09/2012

Does anyone wonder how much HPC paid media to keep quiet?

35) Comment by mycultlife - 18/09/2012

@CountryBoysCanSurvive She's really hot!

36) Comment by krl777 - 18/09/2012

beowulf1962 exhibits a strikingly impoverished imagination. "But why does anything exist at all? If their was ever nothing there would be nothing now. Ex nihilo nihil fit. So the apparent existence of matter and energy (id est, material reality) suggests one of two possibilities: (a) a self-existent creator or (b) eternal creation." [end quote] So we have either the preferred answer of standard monotheistic creation out of nothing, or what is intended as a ridiculous alternative. The truth is, we don't really know where the universe came from, or why or how it got started. Galactic red shifts indicate that there was a singularity punctuated by a massive explosion. The status of time as an independent variable in fundamental physics is unclear, so it is possible that there literally was no time before the big bang. Questions such as, "What was there before the big bang?" or "What caused the big bang?" may be literally meaningless. As for "eternal creation" -- Who knows? We don't really know what "empty space" is, but it looks increasingly likely that it is far from empty. Even the offered ridiculous alternative has vaguely plausible physical instantiations in modern cosmological theory (with matter/energy "leaking over" from parallel universes). The idea that a non-material personage created the universe out of some sort of act of free will (which is itself probably an illusion) is not an improvement in the plausibility department. In fact, it gets a free pass from our native, primitive tendencies to impute agency quite spuriously to things that happen around us. Again, we don't really know where the universe came from. But the idea that it was created by a God, although cognitively easy and cheap for us, is, on reflection, one of the least merited of the explanations that we can entertain. We have, in fact, absolutely no conception of what that would actually mean. On closer thought, we have absolutely no conception of what such a God would even be -- non-material, yet mucking about in matter to no end. The Christian God doesn't have to be thought of in such unsophisticated terms. Yet they are invariably the terms adopted by the loudest apologists for the faith.

37) Comment by beowulf1962 - 18/09/2012

Hey TigerDragon: Couple of things: 1. I agree as to possible problems with Biblical texts. Although, you should add that the "scholars" you refer to adhere to a scientific approach to the Bible which implicitly assumes that almost all pre-modern books were the creations of men relying heavily on myth and folklore. If their underlying assumption is that the books were written sans inspiration, then the analysis will ineluctably reach the conclusions you've outlined. The outcome of such analysis is determined a priori. It's preordained (no pun intended). That's not to say such a conclusion is therefore incorrect (or correct). Also, me thinks your certitude is a little overplayed. You posit this "dead all over like rover" stance. But why does anything exist at all? If their was ever nothing there would be nothing now. Ex nihilo nihil fit. So the apparent existence of matter and energy (id est, material reality) suggests one of two possibilities: (a) a self-existent creator or (b) eternal creation. The idea that the universe has "always existed" is no more rational than the concept of a self-existent creator. Can material create itself? Do you believe in spontaneous generation? As to lack of memory of existence prior to birth - that's an Eastern concern (viz., transmigration of souls). Consensus Judeo-Christian theology assets a finite soul beginning at biological conception. 2. Why "TigerDragon"? Your moniker ironically suggests dualism. I find that most atheists are fascinated with the occult. They are fascinated with the noumenal realm. Why dragon? If we are just "atoms in the void," why are you using a metaphysical animal as your handle. I think your "metaphysical slip is showing."

38) Comment by TBCReformed - 18/09/2012

TD, the Bible teaches that the Law of God is written on the hearts of all men. Specifically, it says that even those who have not received the Law (Gentiles) “do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them…” (Romans 2:14-15). Knowing this, I can appeal directly to your conscience. You know in your heart of hearts that it is wrong to steal, to lie, to commit adultery, to not set apart a day of rest and worship, to commit murder, to covet, etc. even though you may deny them. Each of the 10 commandments represents a category of moral law, which means that the 6th commandment, “You shall not murder” includes things such as anger and hatred for others as Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount. There is something in our conscience that tells us these things are wrong, even though we suppress the Law as hard as we can, it is still there. It is in you, me, and all of mankind and we can’t escape it. reason and science can't explain this away. That is a very logical argument for why the Bible is true, and why it can be trusted as the revealed word of God. God’s moral Law is His standard of righteousness, it reflects His holy character, and when confronted with the Law as revealed in Scripture (to those whom God chooses to give the Bible to), it is purposed to show us just how sinful we are. The Law and the Gospel are appeals to the conscience which testifies that the Law is just. Unfortunately, this is not taught in most churches today but is clearly taught all throughout Scripture beginning with Cain and Abel. BTW, God could have preserved the original manuscripts if He chose to do so, but then there would be many who would worship the book rather than the God of the book. The message is the same, Law and Gospel. The fact that someone could grow up in the church and even be an ordained minister and still never truly be saved to begin with testifies to how truly depraved we are. Hebrews 6 warns against cases like yours, but remember, as long as there is "today", if you hear His voice do not harden your heart.

39) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 18/09/2012

@TigerDragon they've swallowed the blue pill, are back asleep, and can't hear you.

40) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 18/09/2012

Honestly though I really didn't expect anything different. The people I know and have met from that church preach they are good Christian families implying anyone with different beliefs are less than them, lying and manipulative, and more interested in superficial ***** like how nice the chandeliers in the bathroom are than actually being decent forgiving people.

41) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 18/09/2012

But i guess that nitwit on mycultlife is right at least they paid for her plane ticket instead of making her drive out of town????

42) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 18/09/2012

You'd think Healing Place would know that it's never the crime that's your undoing it's the coverup.

43) Comment by FreeThinker01 - 18/09/2012

Actions speak louder than words. Anybody else think that if they were truly a healing place for a hurting world then they may have circled their wagons around the naive MUCH younger woman and try to heal her? But alas they decided to pick and choose who to heal and dispose of the one that corrupted their prize pig. Hypocrits! And if he was any ither dumb smuck off the street then I agree he doesn't owe it to his congregation to actually take full responsibility and acknowledge what he did. But he is the supposed spiritual leader skirting responsibility and not owning his mistake.

44) Comment by Being_Stupid - 18/09/2012

I have a direct relationship with God. No middle man needed.

45) Comment by Being_Stupid - 18/09/2012

God is real.

46) Comment by docsquared - 18/09/2012

Santa Claus isn't real. The Easter Bunny isn't real. The tooth fairy isn't real. God isn't real. Deal with it.

47) Comment by HMaltravers - 17/09/2012

I knew this guy was a phony from day-one.

48) Comment by acct85 - 17/09/2012

TD. I did mean it has nothing to do with denomination instead of religion. I am a Christian. And I do have inner peace and a comfort of where I am going when I die. You will not change my mind. I grew up southern baptist also. So we have one thing in common.... Image that

49) Comment by TigerDragon - 17/09/2012

Acct85 in response to your post I just can’t help but point out a couple of things to you. First I was raised a strict Southern Baptist and I am a former ordained minister just to give you a little background information. You stated the following, “I believe that if someone has heard the love of Jesus and that the one and only way into Heaven is believing that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for all my sins and your sins and you confess and ask Jesus to live in your heart you will go to heaven and religion has zero to do with it!” Really, you basically just quoted me John 3:16 which is the fundamental tenant of Christianity and you want to say it has nothing to do with religion? That quote has everything to do with religion and specifically Christianity. Secondly you said that, “I do not believe people go to hell that have never heard the good news that Jesus is the only way into Heaven.” Show me in the bible where it says that, I would like to see it. If that is what you believe then you are not Christian. The bible is very specific about who gets into heaven and who is left behind. I hear Christians say things like, “Well we all believe in the same god and we will all go to heaven.” I am sorry, but the bible never says that anywhere. If that is what you believe then you are not a Christian. The whole point of my post is that you have all of these good people who dedicate themselves to these churches and they are shocked when men in authority take advantage of that authority. I have never met Dino and really know nothing about him other than he is a man like any other. If he has a pulse, then he lives with temptations. So when he fails to live up to people’s expectations people get hurt. Instead of believing in a book that is so full of contradictions and impossible expectations, why not search out truth and inner peace within yourself? For anyone who has every really studied the bible it is hard to be intellectually honest and come to the conclusion that it is anything other than fiction. Yes, it is based on a historical time period that is real, but the facts are not there to back it up. To put it in terms most people can understand, it is no different than any other historical work of fiction. It is based on a real time and place, but the rest is just an embellishment of folk lore and oral tradition. Most elements of Christianity have been recycled from past religions. Jesus was not the first god to be born of a virgin, that same story had been used a number of times before his time. The resurrection was certainly nothing new, it had been being used in religions long before Jesus. Christianity really brings nothing new to the table and it still perpetuates hate and intolerance and I refuse to take a “Fire Insurance Policy” view of Christianity as you suggest that I do.

50) Comment by Chucky - 17/09/2012

After the end of the world God said in heaven “ let all of those in Hell join us in Heaven ' Those in Heaven protested saying it was not right that they had followed the law and that those in Hell had not. In the blink of an eye all of those in Heaven found themselves in Hell and all in Hell found Them selves in Heaven. ( Sufi story) Good luck Rev.

51) Comment by acct85 - 17/09/2012

TD.... I am a Christian but I will not blast you in ur belief because you are correct...God is a loving God. So suppose you are right and we die and we just decay and that's it...then you and I will be equal if you will....but suppose I am right and you are wrong? I do not want to see you go to hell If I am in Heaven I don't believe I will know who is in hell. I believe that if someone has heard the love of Jesus and that the one and only way into Heaven is believing that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for all my sins and your sins and you confess and ask Jesus to live in your heart you will go to heaven and religion has zero to do with it! The return in believing just way out weighs what you believe and I believe this world is so spectacular it had to be from a great creator and not evolution from an organism. So we will agree to disagree but I pray that you would just open your heart and mind to the possibility that I am right. I do not believe people go to hell that have never heard the good news that Jesus is the only way into Heaven. But I do believe a lot of really good moral people will reject him and end up in forever damnation and no that does not make me happy but the point is that they rejected his love so he will reject them.

52) Comment by Grateful - 17/09/2012

I am a member of HPC and have been for 14 years. I do not believe that we need to know all the details to forgive. Dino and his family don't owe any of us anything including an explanation. They are aware of what is being said and airing their personal challenges and transgressions will not stop the gossip. People will be people. Neither Dino nor D'Lynn has ever held themselves up on a pedestal or put themselves above anyone and if you think different then you don't know them. The only pedestal they may have appeared to be on is the one that each individual person created in their own mind and they are not responsible for that. They didn't ask to be put there. They have never demanded or required anything from me in return for anything they have ever done for me or my family, never withheld mercy or grace because my tithe did not meet their expectations. I have never heard either one of these people use the word "I" or "me". They are the most selfless people I have ever met. The only thing these two people ever tried to do was raise up Christ, be kind, and share joy.It is these things I will think of when I think of them. What a cynical world we live in.Why must we beat down each other? Life is hard enough. He is just an ordinary man. They are just an ordinary family trying, like all of us, to move forward. Whether you choose to believe in Christ or the bible or not, what is to be gained in celebrating this family's pain? HPC, under Dino and D'Lynn's leadership, has offered my family hope when there was none, and kindness even when some of my own family could find none to offer. They've never judged or condemned me in my own transgressions, faults, and/or failures, never chastised me, never gave up on me. I am certainly a better person because of my affiliation with this church. HPC helped me to teach my children to love and show compassion not just to those who only share HPC's beliefs and not just to those I deem worthy, but to all mankind. Long after we all have forgotten and moved on with our lives, this family will still be dealing with this. I can only hope that they all find peace and healing.

53) Comment by Chucky - 17/09/2012

Well you have surprised me TD. I thought you would at least do something like from Genesis ' the earth was made before the sun' or from Leviticus about not eating fowl and the bat is included. KubFinRickCher Historically the Bible has been found very accurate and the more archeology that is done the more is proven. Being more Wicca at this point in my life I was just curious as to the 'errors 'of the bible and not when or how it was written. Blessed Be.

54) Comment by TigerDragon - 17/09/2012

acct85, I strongly believe that when I die I will decay. I don't believe in an afterlife as there is no proof that one exists. Just like I don't remember the billions of years that happened before I was born, I don't anticipate missing the billions of years that will take place after my death. Christians may claim that they know what happens after death, but we all know that is just speculation. I always ask people if they remember before they were born and they always reply that they don't and how would they. So it seems pretty simple to assume that death is no different. You die, you are gone. There is nothing sad about it, just an eternity that you don't know you are missing. What would really be sad is if heaven were real and you had to spend an eternity in heaven knowing that 90% of the people who ever lived were burning in hell because they were either born in the wrong place or were perhaps gay, or Baptist, or Catholic or Muslim are whatever other petty circumstance Christian's believe place you in hell. Christian's would have you believe that everyone else but them will be in an eternal hell because that is how god wants it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I could be happy in a heaven that discriminates against everyone that does not think like me. I don’t think I could spend an eternity of bliss knowing that a good person was being tortured in hell simply because he was a Hindu and not a Christian. I think they love their children just as we do and that they don’t deserve an eternity in hell because they weren’t Christian or perhaps weren’t the correct type of Christian. I would hope that if a god existed, he would have a little more compassion and be a little more open minded than we are.

55) Comment by acct85 - 17/09/2012

TD...what do u think happens to u when u die?

56) Comment by acct85 - 17/09/2012

I go to HPC and I know Dino and DeLynn. DeLynn is the absolute sweetest person you would ever meet. Dino has made a terrible mistake that is forgivable. I do feel like he should be more specific to the church. I am not willing to eat the Cheerios and ask no questions and just move forward. I believe in accountability; he is human but he is held to a higher standard when it comes to these moral issues....it's just the way it is. I believe he has a giving heart. As for them being wealthy....well I give my tithe (which is biblical) to God not HPC And I know some will blast that statement but as long as I am a good steward and I give from my heart I have done my part giving to the local church. If that church is not a good steward of monies received it is on them not me. With that I have peace. No church or charity is perfect so should we just not give back? If my heart is so hard that I can't give with a cheerful heart then I shouldn't give. It has to be a personal commentment to Christ not a church. HPC ask you to give over your tithe if you have a surplus for the month etc toward the building or missions etc....you then have the brains to not give by emotions but because you actually have a little extra to give There has at times been too much preaching on money; I know my heart so I give As I am led. Some may think they HAVE to give. Moving into the new arena I think really made them preach constantly on money so the needs could be met of some 100 employees etc. HPC has done so much good for the hurting, addicted, homeless, abandoned, jobless, etc.... In the name of Jesus which we should not forget. I am asking that Dino give his church the real reason he stepped down and THEN I will stay! I can forgive! But I will not stay in a nontransparent church that is trying to hide indiscretions. That is one of the things we loved about Dino...he always said he wasnt perfect just like any other human. Please do the right thing and tell us what all has happened so this church can move on without secrets. And not have to sift through all the rumors.

57) Comment by TigerDragon - 17/09/2012

Chucky, did you not read my post? We do not have original copies of the Bible. We only have copies of copies of copies of copies. In the case of the book of Mark, it is over 250 years after Jesus allegedly died that we have our first full copy of the book of Mark. This means that the most complete copy we have of the book of Mark is a copy of a copy of a copy etc. In these copies we see more and more errors in each copy. Biblical scholars have also documented that the earliest copies were more prone to errors and omissions. The bible was pulled together from scraps of copies of the originals. Nobody knows what the original copies said. So if I were to hand you a book and say make a copy, and then you gave your copy to someone else and had them make a copy and they did the same thing and this went on for over 250 years do you think the end product would be accurate? The verse about being the person without sin casting the first stone does not appear in earlier copies that we have, it only appears in latter variants. So this means that someone added it later on, it was not originally in the bible. The whole point is that the bible is very poorly attested in its early years and much of what you read in it now may have been added later on and much of what could have been in it is lost to history. We simply don't know what was in the original copies because we don't have them. Most Christians still think that the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They were not and in fact, we don't know who wrote them. You may want to live your life based on a book written by unknown authors over 2,000 years ago, but I would prefer to live my life based on something a little more based on solid evidence. The bible is a work of fiction that makes an attempt to explain things in terms that ancient minds would have believed. Today it should be obvious that the book is just full of folklore and oral tradition and it is not something that we should take seriously. We see the trend coming, people in mass numbers are beginning to realize it is not real and they are rejecting it. Today over 25% of teens in American say they question the existence of god. That is progress. We still need to reach the other 75% and we will soon. In Europe over 50% of the French are now Atheists and that number is growing all over Europe. It is a great awakening that will benefit humanity. We as humans can't progress until we put behind our ancient narrow minded beliefs and move on as a people with rational thought.

58) Comment by KubFinRickCher - 17/09/2012

Chucky and Spiderman... Tiger Dragon is dead on. There are no historical or scientific truths in the bible! All of the accounts were written by men who never even met Jesus and were only aware of him because of folklore. I propose you to find proof of Gods existence through actual evidence. Its all a hoax led by the powerful in order to control the poor and uneducated. Secondly, I wish the Advocate actually did some reporting! It's obvious there is a scandal since HPC hasnt released why he actually left. But why isnt the reporter truly pushing for information? Shameful.

59) Comment by acct85 - 17/09/2012

60) Comment by spiderman - 17/09/2012

I really feel sorry for you TD. You poor lost soul. You must have had a very sad upbringing. It's not too late for you. I can tell by your writing how lost and sad you really are. Find a church somewhere before you die, because the only fictitious thing is your sense of reality.

61) Comment by Chucky - 17/09/2012

riddled with errors TigerDragon ? What errors ? may be some things you do not believe but they are not 'errors'

62) Comment by TigerDragon - 17/09/2012

The problem as I see it is that Christians always want to hold people up to a standard that almost nobody can achieve. The bible is a fictitious work created over a period of over 1,600 years by more than 40 authors. Of those more than 40 authors your average 6 year old today has more understanding of how the world really works than any of them did. It is interesting that people sited the bible verse about the person who is without sin casting the first stone. Any knowledgeable biblical scholar can tell you that that verse only appears in later copies of the bible. Earlier copies don’t contain that verse at all and it only appears in a later variant of that book. The fact is any scholar can tell you that we don’t have original copies and we don’t know what was really written in them. We only have copies of copies of copies all filled with more and more errors. The bible has no primary source documentation; it is entirely a collection of secondary sources in many cases written hundreds of years after Jesus allegedly lived. Even if we did know what was originally written it would still be more or less useless as the bible is simply a work of fiction based on years of folklore and oral tradition. The real mystery is why people still want to believe this stuff and why they continue to hold people to account for it. If people were to forego religion all together we would all be a lot better off as a world and country. It’s time people quit believing 2,000 year old fairy tales and open their minds up to real knowledge and learn to think for themselves. You can now all feel free to tell me how I will burn in hell for all of eternity because I don’t believe in your silly book. I would just ask you to do a little research before you base your life on a book that is so riddled with errors it is impossible to know what it originally said.

63) Comment by mcBR - 17/09/2012

Is this a news story or PR from the Healing Place? Did the reporter who wrote this article even ask Rizzo et al. for comment? It is not indicated in this article.

64) Comment by eastta - 17/09/2012

Smells of Arnold Schwarzenegger???

65) Comment by PLac - 17/09/2012

Me and Mrs Jones, we got a thing going on We both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong to let it cool down now We meet ev'ry day at the same cafe Six-thirty I know she'll be there Holding hands, making all kinds of plans While the jukebox plays our favorite song Me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones Mrs. Jones got a thing going on We both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong to let it cool down now We gotta be extra careful That we don't build our hopes too high Cause she's got her own obligations and so do I Me, me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones Mrs Jones got a thing going on We both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong to let it cool down now Well, it's time for us to be leaving Iit hurts so much, it hurts so much inside Now she'll go her way and I'll go mine But tomorrow we'll meet the same place, the same time Me and Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones

66) Comment by betrayedcat - 17/09/2012

I am heart broken. My husband had an affair and we are members of HPC. all, i can say is like we were told, "confess your sins"......its always easier to deal with the truth and not cover up or hide behind a pulpit. Betrayal on so many levels here.

67) Comment by LCP64 - 17/09/2012

Dino never said he was perfect. To the contrary, he often said he was preaching to himself as much as anyone else who needed to hear the message. What I like about him is he is just a real as the next person. He fails, he falls and he gets up. Sometimes getting up is not very easy. Even harder when a bunch of nit-wits are kicking him while he is down. I am as curious as the next about what happened (I'm human) but I respect the privacy of that family. Anyone commenting here who has never met Dino is just taking this opportunity to dog someone. You people are so full of guilt about your own lives that you want to pull others down with you. You want to say "see he is just like me." Well HELLO, that's exactly the point, we all fall short and Dino never claimed to be different. Get a life people.

68) Comment by PLac - 17/09/2012

Who wants their money back?

69) Comment by Captain Obvious - 17/09/2012

" If you want to get rich, you start a religion." L Ron Hubbard

70) Comment by DMJ - 17/09/2012

$28 million??? Good god...

71) Comment by LastManStanding - 17/09/2012

The comments from the HPC congregation are hillarious. You do realize that spending a bunch of money doesnt make you a better person or christian....right? Churches like this do nothing more than allow people who are smart enough to take advantage of people wanting something greater to believe in. See the Catholic Church for example. Take the blinders off folks, the guy made a killing off of you and now he is going to retire in Cabo.

72) Comment by jdubc - 17/09/2012

Dino needs prayer and understanding. At the same time, he and the church owe it to their congregation to be honest as to why Dino is leaving. Many people know what has happened, so why not address it and move on?

73) Comment by Chucky - 17/09/2012

@CountryBoysCanSurvive – Reminds me of some good seminary jokes.

74) Comment by Being_Stupid - 17/09/2012

This preacher seems to really put his church first, and does not put himself above the church. He did not let the power get to his head, like some of these preachers of mega-big churches end up doing.

75) Comment by WhoCares - 17/09/2012

Weirdos

76) Comment by bettergovt - 17/09/2012

Its funny I hear all of these Mary jokes from Catholics but it is not in my Bible.

77) Comment by CountryBoysCanSurvive - 17/09/2012

When Jesus was preaching the Those without sin can cast the first stone sermon, a rock flew out of the crowd, striking him above the right eyebrow. He turned to a woman in the crowd and said "Mother, sometimes you really bother me"

78) Comment by bettergovt - 17/09/2012

Those without sin can cast the first stone. I guess anyone can say whatever they want though. I have no connection to the church. Anytime any Christian church starts focusing too much on men, something like this will happen. Jesus is perfect, no one else.

79) Comment by Hello Baton Rouge - 17/09/2012

You people donate your hard earned money to HPC (not god) weekly then go sit and listen to Dino talk about how you should not cheat on your wife, steal, commit murder, etc, but when you are faced with the possibility that he did what he told you not to do (after you paid him to do so) the best you can do is come down on the guy who told the truth? Seriously? I don't cheat on my wife and I don't receive hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly while telling you that's wrong. There's this little thing called credibility

80) Comment by teacherguy - 17/09/2012

@Healing Place congregation: it would be best not to get involved in the name calling...stick to Godly principles. I know the hurt is enormous, but react in ways that promote Jesus...the "fools" will walk away from this interaction impressed by your message, or turned off.

81) Comment by CountryBoysCanSurvive - 17/09/2012

Woo Woo way to go Preacher man! She's smokin' hot.

82) Comment by gary - 17/09/2012

He needs to buy some TV time/youtube and cry like a little baby. That could work for him - just check out cable channel 96 here in B R monday through friday 8am thru 5pm - seems like everyone forgave brother Jimmy Swagger!

83) Comment by ABayouBoy - 17/09/2012

@ redavaw1, Your post shows who is truly the "stupid" one here. All of those in the congregation are not giving their money away to the church in order to "buy" their salvation. They are doing it for the most part to "save" the poor, arrogant, fools such as yourself. You are incapable of understanding the "why" of giving, because you are too narrow-minded and short-sighted. Good luck to you.

84) Comment by dday198 - 17/09/2012

temptation is the only thing i can't resist ?

85) Comment by dday198 - 17/09/2012

i only commented once

86) Comment by dday198 - 17/09/2012

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87) Comment by dday198 - 17/09/2012

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88) Comment by TheArtfulDodger - 17/09/2012

Sometimes it's easy to forget that all of us are human beings and sometimes we make bad decisions in this thing called life. Even if rumors are true, he still had part in helping to create an organization that has helped a lot of people not only in this city, but worldwide. I don't go to church, but I'm always hearing how this place helped this family here, or donated stuff there, or reached out to help this community over here. I hope he can find the peace he and his family are looking for and if I was ever to meet him face to face... I would thank him for helping put something positive in our community, something that balances a spiritual vertigo when someone needs it.

89) Comment by redavaw1 - 16/09/2012

You people are religious freaks! You talk about "investing" your money to someone to spread the Gospel. These huge churches are doing nothing but stealing from poor stupid people looking for salvation. You people are STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!! Invest in yourself and do a little soul searching and raise your children to be productive members of society. Get some counseling and save yourself a lot of money! FREAKS!

90) Comment by kerrry34 - 16/09/2012

BarnburnerXL: I attend Healing Place Church. We have invested our money into the ministry of Jesus Christ, and our hours have been devoted to the spreading of the Gospel. Pastor Dino deserves privacy like every other person does. To say otherwise is a shame.

91) Comment by bMac - 16/09/2012

Barnburner XL: You miss the point, my friend. What makes you feel like you have the right to be the one to deliver this "truth"? Your last sentence reveals your motives. In fact, I detect a tinge of bitterness sprinkled with a dash of malice -- certainly not motivated by the genuine motive of seeking "fairness".

92) Comment by bMac - 16/09/2012

RedStickNative: Why is there "little doubt" about that conclusion you so quickly jumped to? Do you have any idea what these facts are? If so, join Barnburner and by all means, make them public! Go ahead, remove ALL (not just a "little") doubt from our minds! I attend Healing Place and tithe regularly, and will sometimes give EXTRA money ON TOP of that! Gasp! Have I (being so WEAK and GULLIBLE) been conned into giving my money to an invisible, black hole? How do you know that I won't get a payoff when I die? Have you ever given to an "invisible product" and died, reaping no rewards on the other side? I pray for you, because you are obviously ignorant on this subject. For Christians, we are storing up our treasure in Heaven (which, IS invisible) and we will reap a HUGE reward when we die, because we put a lower emphasis on the temporary things in this world. And believe me friend, if you die without Jesus, the last thing you'll be worried about is the benjamins.

93) Comment by BarnburnerXL - 16/09/2012

That was 7 questions.... And sorry, but the people want to know the truth. Do you not think its fair for people who have invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to this man to not know?

94) Comment by bMac - 16/09/2012

As predicted, here come the bomb throwers! BarnburnerXL: I won't even dignify this accusation with a response. But I do have one question: did that feel good? You know, the whole defaming a Godly man's ministry and slandering his name? What makes YOU feel like you have the RIGHT to do this? How are you entitled? Do you know Pastor Dino personally? Do you attend HPC? If so, where's the compassion and love in your heart? If not, then I totally understand why it's so easy for you to do a drive-by hit job on a man's reputation without any remorse or pause.

95) Comment by teacherguy - 16/09/2012

If he had an affair with this lady Barnburner speaks of, she was pretty. Reminds me of David and Bathsheba. He is expected to walk a straighter walk because he is a preacher...but the reality is, no one is perfect. The only naive Christian is one that doesn't understand temptations and the struggle to overcome them. Calling his congregation gullible is ignorant by assumung they don't understand the fallibility of a man. A stupid decision should not unravel the good in the man...if this affair rumor is true...my heart breaks for the guilt he must feel, the damage done in his marriage, the disappointment of those who have been in his congregation, and the shame his children must cope with. However...I sure won't point a finger of judgement because given the opportunity...most men stumble in a variety of ways. Also, true Christians are in the business of redemption...so, given appropriate spiritual reaction to any indiscretions he may have had...his ministry has not ended.

96) Comment by BarnburnerXL - 16/09/2012

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97) Comment by LSmith130 - 16/09/2012

I will keep them in prayers. I dont understand why he said "“I let my spirit, soul and body get depleted and did not make good choices as a dad, as a husband, as a leader.” From what I have ever seen. He is a great dad. If Dino has ever had answered prayers. Then why is he giving the Lord house up. I do understand in a way what he is going through. If someone knows more than I. Please email me at LSmith130@email,itt-tech.edu on what has happened.

98) Comment by spiderman - 16/09/2012

Prayers for the congregation as they look for a new pastor. I do not attend HPC but I do know they do a lot of good in the community. It is sad when a spiritual leader lets you down, but we must remember that we are all human. Dino will have to answer for what he has done just as we have to answer for what we have done.

99) Comment by 8point6 - 16/09/2012

Forgive me for being "cynical", however, this article reminds me of jimmey swaggert confessing his sins to his god and his fellow human beings many years ago. All of us need forgiveness. "Go and sin no more"......How many of us do that? I try.

100) Comment by rdm41234 - 16/09/2012

Redstick: I couldn't agree or disagree because, unlike you, I don't have any of the facts and am not in search of them. Your point of view is that of a cynic, which you are certainly entitled to. Yes, 'this sort of thing happens all over the country all the time', but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what happened here. Whatever happened is between him and his god and his family and if repentance is what's called for then so be it. It's not my place to sit in judgment of him for I am human too and am going to screw up from time to time. It's just that I don't think I owe you or anyone else an explanation, unless you are the 'offendee'. Like I stated earlier, people are going to speculate.

101) Comment by RedStickNative - 16/09/2012

The article plainly says “Two months ago,” Rizzo said, “I let my spirit, soul and body get depleted and did not make good choices as a dad, as a husband, as a leader.” There is little doubt this pastor is running from a heinous scandal if facts were made public. What these men want is power and easy money and they are no different than any con man anywhere preying on the weak and guillable. Their product is invisible and the payoff is promised to come after you die and can't get your money back. FYI that's my opinion and you obviously don't have to agree but this sort of thing happens all over the country all the time.

102) Comment by rdm41234 - 16/09/2012

That's his prerogative to move on, God inspired or not. Sure, there will be people speculating about the reasons but I will not be one of them. For those members of this church that are speculating, perhaps you were attending the wrong church and you should move on too. Godspeed, Mr. and Mrs. Rizzo.

103) Comment by teacherguy - 16/09/2012

Is it possible after 20 years in his present position...that he really felt God taking him in a different direction? Is it possible that there is no beans to spill? Just because EVERY such matter has a negative "story" causing such a move...is it possible this one doesn't? There is probably a story, but I hope it is just a normal change in occupation.

104) Comment by eastta - 16/09/2012

What really happened here? Someone please spill the beans?