Saturday, February 23, 2019

Wolves in chamois vestments

What's wrong with some "evangelical" churches–from a Facebook comment thread: 

Rivers O Feden 
Jonathan, I agree. I go to an Evangelical church and the pastor is hardly able to answer theological questions intelligently (or interact with different viewpoints). Nowadays, it seems that they are more about running the business of "church."

Jonathan
I thought you went to a unitarian church?

Rivers O Feden
No, I've been attending and serving (worship leader) at a large Evangelical mega-church for almost 20 years. I also graduated from a fairly well-known Evangelical seminary. :)

Hays 
Rivers O Feden, classic wolf in sheep's clothing.

Rivers O Feden 
The "wolf in sheep's clothing" in scripture referred to someone who didn't believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. It had nothing to do with the Trinity doctrine that you espouse. It's not the case with me either.

The Evangelical church that I attend is backed by a large denomination that recognizes that genuine Christians throughout the centuries have always had differences of opinion about theological issues and matters of interpretation.

Thus, they do not enforce the doctrinal statement as long as there is no controversy that seeks to burden the leadership of the church or lead people away from Christianity. :)

Hays 
Wolf in sheep's clothing worship leader at lupine church in sheep's clothing. Wolves of a blether pack together.

Rivers O Feden 
To be honest, you're the type of judgmental fanatic that would be unwelcome at a Evangelical church like mine. I attend a vibrant Christian church and not an intolerant cult group.

Do you even go to church?

Hays 
I'd be honored to be unwelcome in a church whose worship leader is a unitarian. Sign me up!

Rivers O Feden
Your vindictive attitude is one of the reasons biblical unitarians don't find your input helpful. We'd rather not have someone like you on our side anyway. ;)

Jonathan  
Rivers O Feden, have you informed your church that you deny a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, namely the deity and eternal existence of Christ?

Rivers O Feden  
I went to seminary with half of the pastors at the church (so there is mutual respect). Not all of them are comfortable with it, but the denomination allows for differences of opinion as long as it doesn't cause problems.

I don't serve as a teacher in the church so there isn't any issues with that. The church is also very large (thousands) and financially stable and thus I'm no threat to the business either. They appreciate what I do for the worship ministry and that is all that matters to me. :)

I also understand that most Christians aren't learning theology at church these days (and don't seem to care). To be honest, our church has incredible music and that is probably the main reason people prefer it over other churches in the area where they can get the same message.

I know it would be a waste of time for me to try to convert people at my church so I don't bother. Out of a few thousand people, I wouldn't expect many (if any) to change their minds.

I only know of a handful of other non-Trinitarians in the church (as well as a few Agnostics and Atheists who attend with their spouses). I'd rather spend time on social media where there are people who are actually making an effort to investigate biblical truth and are willing to consider different options. :)

When I occasionally have lunch with the pastors who are friends of mine (and were at the seminary with me) we get into controversial discussions about various theological issues but they've lost a lot of their knowledge of scripture over the years because they really don't use it much in the pastoral roles.

Jonathan 
Rivers O Feden It sounds to me like you shouldn't be on the worship team if you are denying core Christian doctrines like that.

Rivers O Feden 
Fortunately, you aren't a pastor or board member at my church. :)

Jonathan
"Christianity" without the deity and eternal existence of Christ is not Christianity.

3 comments:

  1. What 'evangelical' denomination and seminary are they?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Biblical unitarian" sounds like kosher pork. A contradiction in terms.

    ReplyDelete