nakedpastor: Fear the Question

[Christoph]

 

 

Sent to you by Christoph via Google Reader:

 

 

nakedpastor: Fear the Question

via Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta on 4/30/12

 

 

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[Grumpy Lutheran]

I wonder why it is that they fear the question. Is it because they
have no answer? Is it because they think they should have an answer?
Does the question threaten their identity as the bringers of God"s
word? And what is wrong with saying "I do not know?" Surely pastors
and believers have been taught that they cannot fully know God. Have
they?

Karin

On May 1, 4:52 am, Christoph <cdon...@gmail.com> wrote:
>   Sent to you by Christoph via Google Reader: nakedpastor: Fear the
> Question via Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta on 4/30/12
>

> Things you can do from here:

> - Subscribe to Friendly Atheist using Google Reader
> - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
> favorite sites

[janine symons]

christoph

for some reason your links are not showing up.

possibly it is my browser - safari on a mac.

anyone else having this problem?

and thanks for continuing to post, i track them down anyway.

j

On May 1, 4:52 am, Christoph <cdon...@gmail.com> wrote:

>   Sent to you by Christoph via Google Reader: nakedpastor: Fear the
> Question via Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta on 4/30/12
>

> Things you can do from here:

> - Subscribe to Friendly Atheist using Google Reader
> - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
> favorite sites

[Karin Strehlow]

I'm all right Jack and also on a Mac.

Sent from my iPad

[Ads]

My guess is that if we question anything which we once believed to be true, we have to reconcile everything in our own mind that we have ever said or done contrary to our new belief. An example from my own life, a person who I know quite well had a closed-mind approach to boat people (aka refugees). When her son started to date and then marry a refugee to Australia, she then had to firstly deal with the situation before her eyes and then with all of her previous ignorance on the subject - the comments she made in passing, but more importantly the feelings she once held to be true.

This in turn brings up feelings of "well if this is not true, what else is not true". People start to question their entire being. I think this is fundamentally a good thing, but is completely overwhelming especially if you have the power to influence a number of people, such as pastors. I think this is where Neil was at when he started the blog. It happened to myself when I started university. You can see why they say ignorance is bliss!

Sent from my iPhone

[Karin Strehlow]

Hi Ads

You make a good point, we all need to challenge our assumptions and belief systems, and yes, that can be traumatizing and upsetting. And yet, isn't that part of growing up? Isn't that what Christ called us to do? I think the "I was blind but now I see!" refers to that thing. Because when we are blind and unaware of our ego, our ignorance, our bigotry, etc. we do a lot of harm to others. Don't you think that this person who had to change her feelings re refugees is now a much better person for it?

Karin

Sent from my iPad

[Ads]

I like how you had to prove your worthiness with a 'Sent from my iPad' message at the end (or is that just my envy!)

I wholeheartedly agree that this person I mention is a much better person for it and has a new inner calm (at least with that subject) and if she were a Christian I think she would feel closer to God. If that is the case, is this how we need to approach change within the Church? Appeal to the vulnerability of the pastors who run it? Agree with them that it is scary to question, ponder and eventually change. I think the only other option is to influence mass opinion which is a bigger challenge.

Sent from my iPhone

[Christoph Donges]

I like how you had to prove your worthiness with a 'Sent from my  iPhone' message at the end (or is that just my envy!) 

--
bitcoin: 1HHKwJdd8vmdZg25tWhUqHhdgQQS7dgxq5

[Karin Strehlow]

How can someone with an iPhone be envious of an iPad? I have been told that there is a way to get rid of this message. Shall try and find it, lest I be accused of being a temptress who leads people into damnation. Btw, my life has completely changed since I got my iPad. It is a wicked sinful tool, and me such a poor helpless sinful creature. Lord have mercy :-)

Sent from my iPad

[Karin Strehlow]

Hi all of us selfish people with I-tools. Let's change our settings

K

Sent from my iPad

[Karin Strehlow]

Done! I am no longer the source of people's envy!

Notice no more sent from my iPad, but it was sent from my iPad.....

[Ads]

Haha. Just caught up on all the messages. PS Mine is gone too!

[Tapio]

I think the dynamic here is similar to that in the New Testament where the Pharisees dared not ask Jesus any more questions - in trying to trap Jesus they were finding themselves trapped - They were the leaders of the "church" in that time and to accept the teachings of one that ate and drank with sinners threatened their world. I have asked a whole series of simple questions on the blog and the list in various ways and never (that I can remember) had a single question answered. I guess they were a trap of sorts and I guess they seen them as such - rather than face the difficult questions I think they "rest on the word of God"......not unlike the Pharisees who "rested on Abraham as their Father". The idea of WO or gays in the church is just too scary.

[Christoph Donges]

From my study, the  Pharisees were not the leaders of the church. If you have sources that they were I would be interested to see them,

--
bitcoin: 1HHKwJdd8vmdZg25tWhUqHhdgQQS7dgxq5

[Tapio]

May be I am speaking from ignorance, not sure where they fell in the hierarchy of leadership - having said that Pastors are not really leaders of the church either. What were the Pharisees?

[One Heretic]

I always thought that the Pharisees were a party holding strict right
wing fundamentalist beliefs. While they had no official position in
the church many of the scribes came from this party. In a way they
were very much like the right wing fundamentalists in our own church
today, and while they may not be the official leaders, they did and
continue to exert great influence on the church as a whol

> bitcoin <http://www.bitcoin.org/>: 1HHKwJdd8vmdZg25tWhUqHhdgQQS7dgxq5

[Grumpy Lutheran]

Hey Tapio

I think you may be onto something with this. I think that some of the
pastors in the now defunct list felt that the questions that Chris and
myself were asking, we're questions designed to trap the church. Our
motivation for asking questions was continually being challenged. I
don't think that they ever got the point that Chris for example,
genuinely wanted to have those contradictions in scripture explained.
So maybe pastors really do feel that questions are designed to trap
them or the church in some way

K

[janine symons]

my very first post to the list, a fairly simple question about group
dynamics and
leadership styles, was actually met with a very gruff 'what do you
mean by that?'.

welcome to the list!

j