“This was not the fault of Living Hope by any means.”

I am sorry, but I beg to differ. The man who ultimately committed suicide was obviously deeply conflicted, which led him to create two separate lives — and two separate personas — that could not ever be reconciled. When that dual existence fell apart, so did he.

Living Hope reinforced this internal conflict every time he attended. All of the ‘love’ they offered couldn’t change their fundamental message: he was worthy of eternal damnation simply for being who he was. On the basis of nothing more than tradition, they were trying to reshape his psyche and his spirit, and they inevitably failed.

Were they solely responsible for his death? No, of course not. But should they be entirely absolved? No again … at the end of the day, they did not give him ‘living hope’ — instead, they offered a desperate man false hope. They, and the evangelical community at large, helped push him to the end of his rope. That responsibility should not be lightly dismissed.