I’ve always wondered, why are there those who slam other preachers so outrightly? Even preachers who do so of other preachers in front of their whole congregation?
It’s all over Youtube! While it’s insightful for myself to hear the different takes on certain issues, it makes me wonder whether this is a right thing for churches to do to each other…
Sometimes when i hear of one (preacher, for example) slamming another for something that the latter said that was ‘wrong’ or grey, he then makes everybody believe that the preacher’s whole theology is wrong.. Condemns him, and the church… Won’t that confuse the people belonging to the latter’s church? how stumbling! Many times, the slamming comments you hear are like personal attacks.. I don’t know..
SOmetimes it seems like there’s nothing inherently wrong with what that person is preaching, in fact, I’d probably find someone within our own community, even a leader, saying such things, and there’s nothing morally wrong with that, in fact, it makes a whole lot of sense!
For example, if I were to say to someone discouraged, ‘you need to have faith in yourself ‘ as opposed to this mega church pastor saying those exact words.. I’m certain that someone… somehow will get it taped and start slamming him, saying ‘helllo? his theology is wrong! what faith in yourself! faith in Jesus is what we must have!’ And the next day, we’ll see on youtube, this poor preacher being quoted out of context, and this other guy trying to prove him wrong with as many bible verses as possible!… Ok this is extreme example.. but know what i mean?
Hai… it’s so frustrating! I could well be guilty of that!
This happens a lot especially in mega churches.. sadly… also, more likely than not, these are the preachers who stronger in their opinions and words… they dare to speak.. hmmm i don’t know man..
We do not worship the bible, we worship God.
Each has his own strengths, his own weaknesses man… Unless we are Jesus! Well, we should strive to be like Jesus though! Ultimately who are we to do all these slamming! God’ll be the ultimate judge!
Romans 14 puts it well.
I struggle, do you?
Yup i hear you… on a personal level, it’s definitely hard to stop oneself from promoting our own church’s theology v.s. others’.
All we can do is realise how we might sound (by imagining ourselves on YouTube!) and watch and weigh our words very carefully.
Don’t think it’s wrong to disagree tho =) Unfortunately even the “slamming” you see may be taken out of context - one never knows. After all, iron sharpens iron.
Test everything!
Comment by jon huang — January 18, 2009 @ 11:20 pm
Agreed! We should’nt condemn another preacher even if the preacher is misinterpreting the Word. Instead we should test everything we disagree about with the preacher’s sermon with the Word.
On the other hand, if the preacher is right and the receiver misinterprets the sermon preached and condemns the preacher, then that’s called persecution. Think about the situation Jesus was in when He preached to the Pharisees.
In either cases, it is always better to discuss the Word among disagreeing parties with God as the middle Man, feeding each other with the Love of God. But thats not how it works nowadays right??? Hehhehe
Comment by Moses — January 20, 2009 @ 12:21 am
some interesting food for thought in a talk by mark driscoll on “How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words”. vid’s a bit long, but the notes cover everything pretty well. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/2008/3261_How_Sharp_the_Edge_Christ_Controversy_and_Cutting_Words/
Comment by last/head — January 20, 2009 @ 8:58 am
whoa! tt’s almost a transcript of the sermon!
1.5 hours of mrk discroll.. hmm
Comment by magged — January 20, 2009 @ 8:39 pm
the temptation to challenge sermons or to scrutinize it increases if you’re in theological school… believe me… even my lecturers say so.
it’s innate human nature to want to prove others wrong. even if that person is wrong, i don’t think it’s appropriate to say it in front of the congregation. it has to be said out of love and in private first. though it is very tempting… like how i wanted to challenge the youth pastor from New Crea on the spot when United came last year.
Comment by Ian — January 21, 2009 @ 12:07 am
i wld think so…. it’s tempting ain’t it! especially we realise that we are learning more and more in depth… then we start listening to others’ sermons more ‘critically’!
Comment by magged — January 22, 2009 @ 11:16 pm