I was hoping that the writers over at Imonk would write about this, but so far, they haven't. So, I will. Several things have happened over the past few weeks. First, some nitwit wrote about how Glenn Beck is a great man of God and some supposedly Christian magazine published it. Link Then on September 28, Pew Research published the result of a study that shows that Christians are painfully ignorant of other religions, and they're also ignorant about their own. Link I could go on ALL day about just that one. Seriously, MORMONS do better on Biblical knowledge than Evangelicals, Mainlines, or Catholics. If you're Evangelical, Mainline, or Catholic please take a second to hang your head in shame right now. Then my Facebook friend, Jon Trott, said " Oh, boy. What do you do when a man who has burned many, many people in the past via a ministry he equated w/ "God's will" for all his hearers... is about to start again with the same thing? Feelin' kind of sick right now." Immediately, John 10 sprang to my mind when Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd and that His sheep know His voice and that they will flee from the voice of a stranger. So, what does that say about the people who follow after preachers of a false gospel like Jon was talking about, and who follow after the voice of people like Glenn Beck?
It seems to me, that the churches - all of them (us) are guilty - have gotten so caught up in politics and fighting the culture wars that they've stopped preaching the gospel entirely. Only 45% of respondents to the Pew Poll knew that the four gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Seriously? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How much more basic can you get? In 1 Corinthians Paul chastizes the Church at Corinth for still not being ready for spiritual meat. If you can't even name the Four Gospels - guess what? You're not ready for any spiritual meat.
"My people are destroyed because they do not know me. Because your priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children." Hosea 4:6, New Living Translation How can the Church in America claim to know the Lord when we go off following anyone who preaches a message that tickles our ears and they cloak it in religious language?
If you are a pastor and you have wasted one nano-second of God's time spewing poltics from the pulpit and there is one single regular attender in your church who is over the age of 6 and with an IQ over 80 that cannot name the Four Gospels then your mouth should be washed out with soap. Actually, you should probably be taken out behind the church and beaten. Too many evangelicals think that God is spelled G.O.P. and some of the mainline denominations are just as bad on the other side, and pastors, you are to blame for a lot of that confusion.
And for those of us who sit in the pews, we're far from off the hook. Jesus said His sheep know His voice, and will flee from the voice of a stranger. How do you learn to know his voice?: "Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11: 16-19 What does that mean? That means blow the six inches of dust that is apparently on all our Bibles off, open the thing, and READ IT. Elizabethian English is not "God's language." Throw the King James in the trash were it probably belongs, and find a translation that you can actually understand. Sorry, but most people living in 2010 simply can't understand Elizabethian English. Some of the words simply don't exist anymore. Personally, I favor New American Standard, New Living Translation, and Today's NIV. God gave us minds to think with. To not use them would be a sin. If we were even casually reading our Bibles, we would know that the Four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Now, as a Quaker, we don't have clergy in the traditional sense. We believe that if we wait in silence that He will speak to each of us individually. Each of us has the right to stand and share what the Lord lays on our hearts. If someone is going off the deep end, each of us has a responsibility to pull that one back. Now, how do we know whether or not what we "hear" is really from him? Robert Barclay said the litmus test is does it agree with scripture. If it doesn't, it needs to be chucked. A friend of mine once told me that "As a Calvanist and a clergyman" that Quaker meetings worry him because we need to hear the gospel and be taught. (members of the C.S. Lewis Society can probably guess who said that) Well, it doesn't seem that a whole lot of teaching and actual preaching of the gospel is happening in traditional churches now does it? I resisted the urge to tell him I think Calvanists have too much starch in their shorts, and threw Barclay up in his face. But, here's the thing - thanks to the Pew Survey (and other surveys by them and Bana) it is apparent that the gospel isn't being preached in too many American churches. Therefore, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves. Read the Bible. Apparently, I could come to any one of hundreds of churches on Sunday morning and read from the Bhagavad Gita and most people wouldn't know the difference. How can you claim to be a follower of Jesus if you don't know what the man actually said? Study church history. A lot of the garbage that is floating around the church has been delt with before. We could save ourselves some serious aggrivation by studying church history, and our doctrine would probably be a lot sounder.
It seems to me, that the churches - all of them (us) are guilty - have gotten so caught up in politics and fighting the culture wars that they've stopped preaching the gospel entirely. Only 45% of respondents to the Pew Poll knew that the four gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Seriously? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How much more basic can you get? In 1 Corinthians Paul chastizes the Church at Corinth for still not being ready for spiritual meat. If you can't even name the Four Gospels - guess what? You're not ready for any spiritual meat.
"My people are destroyed because they do not know me. Because your priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children." Hosea 4:6, New Living Translation How can the Church in America claim to know the Lord when we go off following anyone who preaches a message that tickles our ears and they cloak it in religious language?
If you are a pastor and you have wasted one nano-second of God's time spewing poltics from the pulpit and there is one single regular attender in your church who is over the age of 6 and with an IQ over 80 that cannot name the Four Gospels then your mouth should be washed out with soap. Actually, you should probably be taken out behind the church and beaten. Too many evangelicals think that God is spelled G.O.P. and some of the mainline denominations are just as bad on the other side, and pastors, you are to blame for a lot of that confusion.
And for those of us who sit in the pews, we're far from off the hook. Jesus said His sheep know His voice, and will flee from the voice of a stranger. How do you learn to know his voice?: "Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11: 16-19 What does that mean? That means blow the six inches of dust that is apparently on all our Bibles off, open the thing, and READ IT. Elizabethian English is not "God's language." Throw the King James in the trash were it probably belongs, and find a translation that you can actually understand. Sorry, but most people living in 2010 simply can't understand Elizabethian English. Some of the words simply don't exist anymore. Personally, I favor New American Standard, New Living Translation, and Today's NIV. God gave us minds to think with. To not use them would be a sin. If we were even casually reading our Bibles, we would know that the Four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Now, as a Quaker, we don't have clergy in the traditional sense. We believe that if we wait in silence that He will speak to each of us individually. Each of us has the right to stand and share what the Lord lays on our hearts. If someone is going off the deep end, each of us has a responsibility to pull that one back. Now, how do we know whether or not what we "hear" is really from him? Robert Barclay said the litmus test is does it agree with scripture. If it doesn't, it needs to be chucked. A friend of mine once told me that "As a Calvanist and a clergyman" that Quaker meetings worry him because we need to hear the gospel and be taught. (members of the C.S. Lewis Society can probably guess who said that) Well, it doesn't seem that a whole lot of teaching and actual preaching of the gospel is happening in traditional churches now does it? I resisted the urge to tell him I think Calvanists have too much starch in their shorts, and threw Barclay up in his face. But, here's the thing - thanks to the Pew Survey (and other surveys by them and Bana) it is apparent that the gospel isn't being preached in too many American churches. Therefore, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves. Read the Bible. Apparently, I could come to any one of hundreds of churches on Sunday morning and read from the Bhagavad Gita and most people wouldn't know the difference. How can you claim to be a follower of Jesus if you don't know what the man actually said? Study church history. A lot of the garbage that is floating around the church has been delt with before. We could save ourselves some serious aggrivation by studying church history, and our doctrine would probably be a lot sounder.
posted by Waltzing Matilda at 8:30 AM
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