Should church leaders (paid and volunteer), and specifically pastors, be held to a higher standard than other Christians?
Before you comment, consider the various scriptures which designate all believers as priests or ministers of the Gospel, regardless of their vocation. (1 Peter 2:9, 1 Corinthians 4:1, Revelation 5:10 should be sufficient)
I know where I’ll be on Sundays at 5:00 pm (CST) beginning August 16th.
North Point Online Promo from John on Vimeo.
http://NorthPointOnline.tv
If you don’t follow The Resurgence Blog, you need to. Great posts from a variety of writers like Mark Driscoll, Tim Smith, Matt Johnson, Bob Thune and others.
Anyways, Matt Johnson has written a series of posts called Thoughts on Music for the Media-Gorged and while they’ve all been great, part 5 really spoke to me. One point Johnson made was especially relevant to me, and that is how many Christians take a hardline approach to music and claim that you should only listen to Christian music and that listening to secular music pollutes your mind and soul (can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the “garbage in – garbage out” explanation). Which of course Johnson rebukes by showing how, “if Paul hadn’t “polluted” his mind with pagan poetry, he wouldn’t have had sermon material to work with when he spoke on Mars Hill in Acts 17.”
Johnson also points out that scripture does not give us freedom for freedom’s sake, but that “mature Christians in step with the Spirit can cautiously engage thematically raw music, while not allowing a blank check mentality for sin.”
But that’s just a taste of what Matt Johnson wrote about. Check out part 5 and also the complete series.
Great discussion going on over at Ragamuffin Soul. What biblical/theological/doctrinal issue(s) are you tired of hearing people bicker about?
For me there’s quite a few. Not that I hate talking about these things; friendly discussions are one thing, bickering is a whole other subject. One which ends up causing division.
pre-destination vs. free will
alcohol
secular music vs. Christian music
church styles
church sizes
I could keep going. But you should visit Ragamuffin Soul and join the conversation.
