The other night at Bible study one of the women shared about how she was getting her grandson (who has just graduated from high school, so he is a young adult) to come to church. He is currently unemployed so she is paying him gas money to come to church--and for every friend he brings he gets an additional amount. She said, "I ran it by Pastor and he had no problem with it."
Well. If HE has no problem with it, if HE can't see the problem with it, then I don't even know where to begin. I mean, that's just mind-boggling. No, I didn't say anything. What could I say? Because I already know the answer: Philippians 1:18. Yes, says Paul, there are people out there who are preaching Christ out of impure motives but who cares? As long as Christ is being preached, that's what's important.
Really? I don't think so. And I don't think that anyone who has ever come out of an encounter with a destructive church or cult (and there are some really horrendous ones out there) would take such a sanguine view of things either. If Pastor truly believes what he told this person then maybe he'd better take another look at his calling because it sounds to me that he's sold out.
It is PRECISELY because Christianity claims to be the sole Truth, the sole way to God, and all others are on the road to eternal damnation, that this sort of thing upsets me. It is PRECISELY because the stakes are so high that this is important. If Christianity--especially the kind he preaches--is correct, then this is the most important issue facing humankind. The most important decision anyone can make. And pardon the vulgarity, but you don't **** around with this sort of thing.
But apparently it is all right to scare people into believing, especially little kids. It is apparently all right to use money as an inducement to attend and get others to attend. It is apparently even all right to stretch the truth on occasion and make comments about "nonbelievers" that are patently untrue. Because when you are up there in the pulpit you have a lot of power. Most people are going to take what you say as Gospel and not look into it further. Until the day you are so unlucky to have someone walk in and challenge you.
He talks about atheists. Well, I know a few. I have not heard of any of them stooping to such tactics as described above. The atheists I know have a great respect for the truth, where-ever it leads. They don't play games with it.
Don't these people like my friend realize that by doing these things they are devaluing the thing they claim to value most? Don't they understand that once a person's suspicions have been aroused that he or she has been manipulated, taken advantage of, exploited, that it may be too late to stop the chain of events that wind up in that person rejecting Christ once and for all? It seems that if they genuinely believed what they claim to believe they would strive to see that that would not happen. Instead, I see a casual carelessness. "It doesn't matter what motives, as long as Christ is preached . . ." Why on earth would Paul say such a thing?
No one who genuinely cares for the truth would ever say a thing like that. NO ONE. The scientific community does not tolerate fraud among its members. They KNOW the damage that messing with the truth can do. So then why doesn't the Christian community demand the same kind of accounting from its members?
Well. If HE has no problem with it, if HE can't see the problem with it, then I don't even know where to begin. I mean, that's just mind-boggling. No, I didn't say anything. What could I say? Because I already know the answer: Philippians 1:18. Yes, says Paul, there are people out there who are preaching Christ out of impure motives but who cares? As long as Christ is being preached, that's what's important.
Really? I don't think so. And I don't think that anyone who has ever come out of an encounter with a destructive church or cult (and there are some really horrendous ones out there) would take such a sanguine view of things either. If Pastor truly believes what he told this person then maybe he'd better take another look at his calling because it sounds to me that he's sold out.
It is PRECISELY because Christianity claims to be the sole Truth, the sole way to God, and all others are on the road to eternal damnation, that this sort of thing upsets me. It is PRECISELY because the stakes are so high that this is important. If Christianity--especially the kind he preaches--is correct, then this is the most important issue facing humankind. The most important decision anyone can make. And pardon the vulgarity, but you don't **** around with this sort of thing.
But apparently it is all right to scare people into believing, especially little kids. It is apparently all right to use money as an inducement to attend and get others to attend. It is apparently even all right to stretch the truth on occasion and make comments about "nonbelievers" that are patently untrue. Because when you are up there in the pulpit you have a lot of power. Most people are going to take what you say as Gospel and not look into it further. Until the day you are so unlucky to have someone walk in and challenge you.
He talks about atheists. Well, I know a few. I have not heard of any of them stooping to such tactics as described above. The atheists I know have a great respect for the truth, where-ever it leads. They don't play games with it.
Don't these people like my friend realize that by doing these things they are devaluing the thing they claim to value most? Don't they understand that once a person's suspicions have been aroused that he or she has been manipulated, taken advantage of, exploited, that it may be too late to stop the chain of events that wind up in that person rejecting Christ once and for all? It seems that if they genuinely believed what they claim to believe they would strive to see that that would not happen. Instead, I see a casual carelessness. "It doesn't matter what motives, as long as Christ is preached . . ." Why on earth would Paul say such a thing?
No one who genuinely cares for the truth would ever say a thing like that. NO ONE. The scientific community does not tolerate fraud among its members. They KNOW the damage that messing with the truth can do. So then why doesn't the Christian community demand the same kind of accounting from its members?
