Baptist Pastor Not Amused by America's 'Addiction'

AgapePress ^ | October 7, 2003 | Fred Jackson

[kevao]

Organ. Heh, heh, heh. Borkrules said, organ.

[Aquinasfan]

What I would not give to hear a good old fashioned fire-n-brimstone homily from the pulpit. If for no other reason than to watch all the cradle catholics around me pee their pants!

LOL!

[borkrules]

Change it or kill me!

fire, fire, fire!

I need TP for my bung-hole!

Hey, I can bring the Beavis & Butthead quotes mad phat old-skool style too, G.

[r9etb]

What I would not give to hear a good old fashioned fire-n-brimstone homily from the pulpit. If for no other reason than to watch all the cradle catholics around me pee their pants!

LOL!!! My priest (Episcopal, not Catholic) has been front and center in the fun and games in the Episcopal Church lately.

For his last sermon he started out saying how he was going to give a nice, gentle sermon that wouldn't set peoples' teeth on edge -- and then he looked at the Gospel reading for that Sunday: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!"

He got a big laugh, and used the humor to set the stage for a really good, solid sermon.

[wardaddy]

I share a certain sympathy with the preacher man.

[kevao]

I am Cornjulio. Are you threatening me?

[Naspino]

Churches have been using beautiful music for centuries, and a good sermon doesn't hurt none, either.

I went around to a few churches around here a month ago. They were entertaining but utterly useless in terms of learning the word. I get more out of a Shepherd's Chapel lesson in an hour than a sermon in a year.

[borkrules]

That "if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off" was the Gospel this past weekend at our Parish. One of the most difficult, challenging, harsh in a "you can't rationalize your way out of this one and it really should cause some soul-searching" passages in the New Testament. Although I can't recall specifics, I can recall the general tone and tenor of the sermons I heard on these verses during my Baptist upbringing. You just don't forget the general sense you're supposed to get from that passage.

Now that I'm catholic, I got a nicey-nice, smiley face, barely-skim-the-surface homily from our "Monsignor".

Arggggggghhhh!

[borkrules]

< pulls tee-shirt over head, wanders away with arms flailing in the air >

[r9etb]

They were entertaining but utterly useless in terms of learning the word. I get more out of a Shepherd's Chapel lesson in an hour than a sermon in a year.

Can't disagree with you. My personal opinion about places like that is that they're like the seeds thrown on rocky ground -- they feed the new seeker, but they don't offer a lot of depth to those who want to learn more.

[malakhi]

Ping!

[discostu]

He just noticed this? We have a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry in this country. People identify eras by popular songs and TV shows, most households have at least one TV, the primary driver of the computer industry is games. And this guy has just figured out that we're hooked on entertainment.

[TADSLOS]

I wonder if he was the inspiration for this guy?

[vrwc1]

Instead of complaining, why not find yourself a church where the word is effectively and uncompromisingly proclaimed?

[borkrules]

I don't know, complaining is more fun?

Look, it's just good natured griping. It's not full on despair for my church. I mean, its not like we confirmed a gay bishop to conduct homosexual "unions" or anything.

[CajunConservative]

Our southern Baptist church has a good choir and our pastor peppers his sermons with humor. He finds it as a great way to introduce those who do not know Jesus and his love. I just think this guy is jealous that his sermons are probably similiar to Pastor Lovejoy on the Simpsons.

Well my southern baptist church is throwing out solid bible teaching to entice the unchurched, my cell group leader even says that we aren't going to do bible study at the meetings in case some unbeliever is there and it turns him off. Needless to say I see where this pastor is coming from. There is nothing wrong with having good music and a pastor with a sense of humor as long as he is still teaching solid biblical truths.

Let's see we had the WWJD fad, then the Prayer of Jabez fad, now it's the purpose driven fad, who wants to lay wagers on what the next fad will be? Oh wait we're baptists we can't gamble ;-)

[SamAdams76]

This preacher speaks as thought the expectation for "flawless music" in church is something new. Actually I am a big fan of Baroque church music and the music of that day blows the doors off whatever is played in church today. From Bach's cantatas to Monterverdi's Vespers of 1610 to Telemann's church organ music, there was some incredible music in the churchs back in those days.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

They come to church with a "what's-in-it-for-me" mindset. They think of themselves as the audience in worship. But God is the audience in worship. The people are the "actors" and the clergy/leaders are the prompters.

Very well stated.

[Timesink]

[discostu]

Who's your buddy?