Spurgeon remarked that those content to be a newspaper editor, a grocer, a doctor or a king rather than become a minister did not possess the fullness of the spirit of God. But doesn't God need solid Christians in these trades and professions as well? Isn't one edging away from the oasis of sound doctrine towards the wastelands of gnosticism by downplaying the needs each of these divisions of labor specialize in addressing? The preacher is going to do you little good if you don't have the physical strength to listen to his message (these needs being met by the grocer and the doctor) and you aren't going to know whether or not it's safe to go to church without the magistrate to keep the bandits at bay and the media to expose when the government has itself become the bandit.
A number of Christians have made it a part of their calling to point out the errors of figures such as C.S. Lewis and Charles Finney. From the extent of the fuss made, one could conclude that these influential thinkers shouldn’t even be considered believers at all. Do those registering these complaints ever address the deficiencies in how the application of what is interpreted to be Biblical or orthodox Christianity gave room for those of deficient theologies to rise to prominence? For example, do those warning against Charles Finney ever speak out against the cold aloofness and detachment that would drive some to embrace the excesses of revivalism? Do the critics of C.S. Lewis ever encourage fellow Christians to try their own hands at speculative literature such as science fiction and fantasy?
It was announced from a pulpit that two Christians, burned over 30% to 60% of their bodies in an accident where a missionary flipped a church van, seeking restitution through the court system possessed a nominal faith. Interesting how the missionary in the account is not condemned as a nominal Christian for possibly not helping with the medical bills and longterm care of the victims or for possibly driving like a bat at of Sheol. So if our lives are destroyed by a missionary, are we expected to have a cheesy gin plastered across our faces about it? If you are going to use the above account as a sermon illustration, try to at least feign concern for the injured and not make it all about the missionary.
In regards to a column I posted on evolution, it was commented “We need to be a little wiser in dealing with these issues.” That usually translates as that we should not address the issue at all unless one has diluted a Christian response on matters such as these to the point where it it is indistinguishable from standard modernism or postmodernism.
A study of studies conducted by a University of Rochester research team concludes more intelligent people tend to be atheists while the dimwitted tend to adopt a religious outlook. However, has all of this brainpower enabled the intelligent to develop a way to extinguish the burn of Hellfire in the Afterlife?
In a discussion of the Reformation, a fanatic homeschooler mocked a bishop from around that period that believed the way to resolve the junebug infestation of his diocese was to hold a procession and then to excommunicate the offending insects. When you come down to it, how was that idea any worse than the notion promoted by this very same pastor and activist that a number of Colorado residents have lost their homes in wildfires because of gay marriage being legalized in that state? No proof has been provided that these victims played a governmental role in authorizing this disputed matrimonial practice.
In a critique of Millennials and Christianity, it was observed that people today live their lives in a manner cognizant of what it is they want to reveal about themselves through social media. But how is that all that different than these Amish who react to a matter not by asking whether something is right or wrong but rather out of concern over what the COMMUNITY might have to say about it? Or, to place the issue in a more contemporary context more people can relate to, what Christian hasn’t been less than totally forthcoming as to exactly why they weren’t in the service the previous week or what exactly it was they watched on television the night before?
In an attempt at outreach, a church has decided it will go with all White greeters. How is that really appreciably worse than Southern Baptists so obsessed with minority outreach that the Convention’s current president was selected largely because he’s Black and the numerous ministries in that association now shoving their noses up the backsides of certain ethnicities?
A fanatic homeschooler denounced men that do not make as much money as their wives. But what if that is the only job an otherwise dedicated father can and still goes out to work everyday?
In an attempt at outreach, a church has decided it will go with all White greeters. How is that really appreciably worse than Southern Baptists so obsessed with minority outreach that the Convention’s current president was selected largely because he’s Black and the numerous ministries in that association now shoving their noses up the backsides of certain ethnicities?
In condemning an alleged consumerism that prompts many contemporary Christians to quest for a church that answers a longing that sometimes isn’t necessarily doctrinal or even liturgical, can’t that criticism also be an attempt on the part of church leaders to justify their own second-rate service or product?
Contrary to what a fanatic homeschooler mused, why shouldn't you leave a church where your child is mocked for being overweight?
It is time to rethink the length of your shorts or skirt when what the Lord gave you hangs lower than the shorts or the skirt.
In a townhall meeting, Senator McCain snapped that he was not going to debate or discuss certain aspects of the Syria issue. He should have been reminded that he works for those assembled at the forum and that he will discuss whatever it is that his employers desire.
A dog food commercial shames viewers into compliance by asking don't they want to provide their beloved pet with meals reminiscent of those eaten by its ancestors. To do that, wouldn't one be spending the day scooping up roadkill off the side of the road?
Regarding these wildlife documentaries where the explorers allegedly don't find the animal they are looking for until the final day of the expedition. What assurances do we have they did not find the critter the first day there but simply shot the dialog of that scene as if they were about to leave with the remainder of the program contrived around it?
Syria claims it will turn over its chemical weapons over to international control. Of course, they are such people of high moral character that none whatsoever will be kept back in hiding for "just in case".
And what do you think would happen to the editor of a prominent Russian newspaper that ran a column by President Obama ridiculing that country?
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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