I learned a lesson this year at Thanksgiving about proper table etiquette:
If you want to enjoy the entire meal in peace; and
If the topic of religion comes up (and with me it always does); and
If one of your visiting family members asks you, "Have you ever heard of Pastor John Hagee?";
DO NOT blurt out the first response that pops into your head:
"John Hagee is a heretic. He contradicts Holy Scripture by denying that Jesus is the Messiah and preaches that Israel has hope for salvation apart from Christ. Claiming to be a Christian doesn't mean that your opinions are always right."
Apparently, words like "apostasy", "heresy", and "blasphemy" do not make for polite dinner conversation among a mixed company of Protestants these days... although I was told privately by one guest after dinner that my candor was appreciated.
(Terms such as "questionable", "extreme", and "nonstandard" are the preferred descriptions for false doctrine at the dinner table.)
Monday, November 26, 2007
Don't Break Eggs at Thanksgiving
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
ROFL.
I have learned to avoid talking about the person and to criticize the message if critique is in order. Example:
In _Your Best Life Now_, Joel Osteen suggests that Sarah, Abraham's wife, was not able to conceive in her womb until she could conceive it in her mind. The Bible is clear that God made her pregnant with Isaac despite her disbelief.
Dan,
Had I stopped to think, I might have phrased it that way... well maybe not. Restraint is not my strong suit and I have never owned a pair of velvet gloves in my life.
I tried to execute your suggestion. I really did. You see how I pointed out what he said and how the Bible disagrees with him? ...okay, it isn't the same as your loving approach, but it was the best that I could do on short notice with a mouth full of turkey.
Your approach is the Christian one. I do not think the truth was served by the scandal it created. This is a case of Lutheran foot-in-mouth disease where the blunt hammer of brutal reality broke everything in the room. All joking aside, I will do my best to improve my delivery for those who may be unprepared for solid food. I should probably pay better attention to my audience.
...and Hagee's statments are heretical.
Hi Mike and all ,
Perhaps Mr. Hagee "saw the light" and is in the process of acquiring a new respect for the truth? Want some clarifying data from an unexpected source?
Patience and humility...
If you'd like some stunning insights into what's happening with the synchronicity of the recent comet and Nostradamus' Lost Book buzz, then read the article at the following link. I demonstrate significant internal evidence from these Lost Book images that they were indeed dictated by Nostradamus and that they encode much more earthshaking revelations than so far published.
Nostradamus Lost Book Bombshells
Peace...
Pretty funny, Mike. I may have said the same thing...if it were my home and the people were guests. By their presence they choose to put up with me.
But in another's home, I would have probably tried to gently question how valuable and accurate his preaching is...
On the other hand, I definitely think too many people are...pansies these days and our feelings are too fragile.
Seven,
I looked over your material and none of your revelations were new or earth shattering. I have seen this all before; you are not the first to point these things out.
I wish that you would apply your heavy analysis and open mind to the text of the entire Bible instead of using the parts that interest you to support your speculations. I challenge you to approach Christianity with the same patience and humility that ask of me when looking at your religious beliefs.
I am a person who has returned to Christianity. I have many friends who have similar views to yours. I worked in a shop for a couple years that was next to a store that promoted religious views similar to yours.
I do not reject your views lightly or without prior analysis. Your kind of case was made to me many years ago. You are wrong. That is not to say that everyone who claims (or ever claimed) to be a Christian is always right or lives as they should. I think that I have proven that I have harsher words and heavier criticism for those in my own faith than I have for those of other religions.
I am a Christian because of Christ; not because of other people. Indeed, I am a Christian in spite of other Christians and their horrid behavior. I readily admit that I have yet to find a person on Earth that claims to be a Christians who is worthy of that name or has lived up to the expectations that it teaches. If the poor witness of some Christians has left you with a low view of the church, then I offer my sincere apology. My heart genuinely grieves when I hear that Christians have obscured the gospel by their sinful actions. It strikes me specifically because I know that I have been a false Christian in the past. Such hypocrisy is the gravest and heaviest of sins. I fearfully commend my behavior to the mercy of Almighty God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. My poor witness is something that scourges my soul every day. By the grace of God, I wake each morning with a desire to do better.
Humility and truth are both beautiful things, but most humility and truth are nothing more than counterfeit words that hold no lasting value. Real truth is objective in nature; it exists as an eternal constant and is not changed by time or individual point of view. True humility requires a lack of reliance upon the self. Both truth and humility are external principles. These things are not discovered or figured out by the finite mind of man; they are revealed by Omniscient, Almighty God who is the end of all truth: absolute, eternal, and universal.
Post a Comment