XXX Church Pastor: Anthony Weiner Is No Joke
New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner's most recent "sexting" scandal has become comedy fodder for some, but one pastor says the former congressman isn't a joke, he's an addict.
Craig Gross, pastor and founder of porn addiction help website XXXchurch.com, wrote an article for CNN in which he addressed the situation involving Weiner, who recently admitted to sending explicit messages to a 22-year-old woman using the pseudonym "Carlos Danger" even after he resigned from Congress for a similar scandal.
"These are not the actions of a clown. This is not something to make fun of," Gross wrote in the article. "This is a serious, family-wrecking, soul-crushing, career-destroying addiction."
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Gross went on to explain that, in his experience ministering to sex addicts, the biggest part of helping them with their struggles is accountability.
"Accountability is about having people around you whom you are intentionally open and honest with, people who will consistently challenge you to live up to the standards you've set for yourself," he wrote. "It's about helping you to make good choices and live a freer, richer life."
In an interview with The Christian Post, Gross said he was motivated to write the CNN article after hearing a comedian on E! Entertainment Television's "Chelsea Lately" say Weiner's situation is sad and that he may be an addict. Although Gross doesn't expect jokes about the former Congressman to stop altogether, he wrote the article to express his concern, telling CP: "This guy's got a serious problem."
Weiner said in a press conference Tuesday that his sexting habit is a thing of the past, but Gross says he would like to see the politician get out of the public eye for a while and get into counseling again.
The pastor says Weiner should take some time to address his struggle and work on his marriage. He also says he understands it could be difficult for Weiner to put his career on hold to address a troubling area of his life, but in other troubling circumstances he might be asked to do the same.
"If he was sick fighting cancer, or fighting some other kind of disease, someone would say, 'Hey, relax. Work on that,'" said Gross.
Politicians tend to make their personal lives appear pleasant and put together, Gross says, or try to make it seem like they have put bad habits and situations behind them, even if they haven't done so. Because of their positions, Gross says, politicians, pastors, athletes and other high-profile people may have a hard time finding a good accountability partner.
"I meet a lot of pastors that go, 'Man, I don't have anybody that I can really let in because then I might lose my job' or 'I'm supposed to look like I've got it all together,'" said Gross. "If you're running for mayor, can you really trust somebody with your dirt that's not going to leak this out to the news?"
The first thing he suggests for those struggling with sexual addiction is to find someone they can be open and honest with, because "without that…you're in a lot of trouble." They should also give permission to those trustworthy people to hold them accountable, and should establish some accountability guidelines with them.
Gross, in addition to his work with XXXChurch.com, is also an author. His upcoming book, Open: What Happens When You Get Real, Get Honest and Get Accountable, focuses on how accountability can help people to experience the freedom of living secret-free lives by being open and honest with others. Open is set to release Tuesday.
