I'm wondering about my preacher...
For our Christmas service (which actually turned out to be the last-one-before Christmas service, even though it was held on the 23rd -- don't ask), we get a sermon in which we're told that the Gospels were "just sermons written down for other audiences, centuries gone" and that "little of what they say about Jesus should be taken seriously".
Oh yeah, the Virgin birth was "just a fairy tale"*.
I'n beginning to feel like the two soldiers from a joke I once read. They attend a sermon in which the chaplain tells them bluntly that "there is no hell or any other afterlife." (which our preacher also seesm to believe, to judge by what he says in his sermons). Afterwards he asks them if they'll be attending the next service.
"'Deed we won't," one tells him.
"What?" the preacher asks. "Why not?"
"Well, preacher, it's like this," the other one says. "If what you say is true, then we're just wasting our time sitting here. And if it ain't, then you're a fool to say it."
Really, if the man believes in nothing in our faith, then why is he wasting his time and ours by being a preacher? And if he does accept an afterlife, the existence of the individual soul, and all the rest, then why does he talk like he doesn't and we shouldn't?
I'm beginning to wonder just what the standards are in the Evangelical Lutheran Church for becoming a pastor. They don't seem to be set very high. Or maybe this is normal for a preacher interested in nothing but the Social Gospel.
* -- That's sure what it sounded like he said or meant, anyway. Maybe he's just a lousy communicator?
Oh yeah, the Virgin birth was "just a fairy tale"*.
I'n beginning to feel like the two soldiers from a joke I once read. They attend a sermon in which the chaplain tells them bluntly that "there is no hell or any other afterlife." (which our preacher also seesm to believe, to judge by what he says in his sermons). Afterwards he asks them if they'll be attending the next service.
"'Deed we won't," one tells him.
"What?" the preacher asks. "Why not?"
"Well, preacher, it's like this," the other one says. "If what you say is true, then we're just wasting our time sitting here. And if it ain't, then you're a fool to say it."
Really, if the man believes in nothing in our faith, then why is he wasting his time and ours by being a preacher? And if he does accept an afterlife, the existence of the individual soul, and all the rest, then why does he talk like he doesn't and we shouldn't?
I'm beginning to wonder just what the standards are in the Evangelical Lutheran Church for becoming a pastor. They don't seem to be set very high. Or maybe this is normal for a preacher interested in nothing but the Social Gospel.
* -- That's sure what it sounded like he said or meant, anyway. Maybe he's just a lousy communicator?