Over the course of a week, America has seen a drastic change in the once closely misheld value system. Our society views status, wealth, and fame as the pinnacle of success. The everyday person is referred to as an Average Joe, with no reverence for blessing that it is to be alive and happy. Instead, the world looks up to the idols and advise that we all look in that direction.
From the death of Pope Francis to the Shannon Sharpe scandal, the idols are indeed falling.
The Controversial remarks made by Pope Francis
Corinthians 6:9-10 reads as follows:
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
According to National Catholic Reporter, Pope Francis states that “God is Father and he does not disown any of his children” https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-gay-catholics-god-does-not-disown-any-his-children. This is contradictory to the above scripture in which God will most certainly prevent them from inheriting his kingdom.
Before I get too deep, I want to be clear that individuals who take up Christian leadership should understand that the world will be looking at them to follow the Word of God with the closest strength given to human kind. A parishioner may have these ideologies and it is up to them to consult God and deal with them however, they are not on the world stage representing the Bible and the God who wrote it.
CNN World reported that when Pope Francis was asked about gay priests, he replied “Who am I to judge” https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/europe/popes-aproval-of-same-sex-blessings-intl/index.html.
In addition, AP News reported that Pope Francis stated that it was a demonic mystery why people felt an unintellectual spirit toward members of the LGBT community in addition to stating that the church was to be the primary moving force in the face of such bigotry and condemnation https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-gay-rights-ap-interview-1359756ae22f27f87c1d4d6b9c8ce212.
This is another contradiction to the faith in which Pope Francis declared to be a leader. In Matthew 18:15-17 it states
If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church: and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Once more, I am not attempting to put Pope Francis in Heaven or Hell, but what I am saying is that we shouldn’t look to religious figures, no matter how great they may be perceived in the earth, as the singular voice and direction of God. There is only one God, and there is only one Son.
Let’s reflect on words recited by Jesus Himself. These warnings against hypocrisy can be found in Matthew 23:5-12 and read as follows:
Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylaceteries (small leather box worn by Jewish men to remind them to keep the law) wide and the tassels of their garments long; they love the place of honor at the banquets and the most important seats at the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’, for you have one Father and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be the servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Though it can be interpreted that Jesus is only referring to the Jewish leaders of His time, we can also confer that this applies to all religious leaders who take it upon themselves to be God on earth. Who take pride in the feeling of importance and superiority to the common man and who strive to be in the position of what their congregation deems as important.
We can take into consideration that in the Old Testament, the people begged of Samuel to ask God for a king. God told Samuel, it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. He goes on to explain that human kings are imperfect, selfish individuals who will always have their self interest at heart and will pursue their own mission at the cost of their subjects.
The Shannon Sharpe Scandal
I had been an avid consumer of Club Shay Shay. I enjoyed his content, I appreciated his southern gentleman demeanor, and I respected that he made it known, on a consistent basis, that he valued honor and integrity.
On September 11, 2024, Shannon accidentally went live during an explicit act. He repeatedly stated that it was a mistake that he would never want to encounter again along with expressing how much he valued himself, his family, and his image.
In retrospect, I believe that this was a warning from God that he needed to change the behavior he was engaged in. Fast forward to April 22, 2025, Gabriella Zuniga, better known as Karli on OnlyFans, filed a $50 million dollar civil lawsuit against media personality Shannon Sharpe as a Jane doe.
According to the lawsuit https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/doe-v-sharp-complaint.pdf, the two met at an LA gym in which Sharpe pursued the relationship with the 19 year old woman. Allegedly, he asked for Zuniga to sign an NDA in which she denied and he accepted. The relationship lasted for 2 years in which the young woman believed they were exclusive and they both moved to Las Vegas for reasons not disclosed in the lawsuit.
During the course of their relationship, the woman began to suspect that he was not as exclusive as he claimed to be and in September, Sharpe reportedly went live by mistake on Instagram. Though short lived, the incident is included in Zuniga’s civil lawsuit as a confirmation that he was not in a committed relationship as she had assumed.
Shannon allegedly raped the plaintiff twice in Vegas and again on a third occasion. The lawsuit also alleges that another woman filed a similar lawsuit citing exclusivity, consensual and nonconsensual rough sex out of New York City, however, I was unable to locate that filing.
Text messages have been released between Sharpe and Zuniga with explicit details about their sexual encounters. It is clear that they had a BDSM type of sexual relationship which is both risky and unhealthy. When engaging in these types of sexual interactions, the line between safety and danger is extremely blurred putting both parties at risk of harm.
Throughout Shannon’s interviews, he has posed the question of why and why aren’t his guests married or in a relationship. He has also made it clear that he wishes not to part with his financial wealth via marriage and that he doesn’t have time to tend to a woman.
It begs the question, would Shannon have been better off married? Would he have been able to avoid this drastic life altering consequence if he chose one woman to devote his life to? One thing is clear, the idea of the wealthy womanizing bachelor isn’t the utopian dream that society has deemed it to be.
(Shannon Sharpe photo 7 Feb. 2025. Nytimes.Com, Emily Kask, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/arts/shannon-sharpe-club-shay-shay.html. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.)
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
Now to the unmarried and the widows, I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
With Love,
Mother Ocia