Are Fact Checkers Displeasing to God?
 

Some Ministers say you can't preach a message anymore without someone questioning your facts...

People always want to question... IS this wrong??

I think it's a bit humorous but I personally like to read the context of the Biblical portion the minister is preaching to see if it's correct said...

Is this displeasing to God?

I recently read of a Minister preaching about the Pig Blood & Bullets story concerning Muslims in WW1....

After reading some history on the General in charge....it seems the story is somewhat a Internet Fable... according to the Historians it probably never happened and would have went against the Generals Character to do so...

That is interesting... but is it wrong to read and check the stories told??

I think it's extremely responsible if we are going to tell a story outside of the Bible it should be something true...

If I preached something INCORRECT I would want to be the first to know about it...

any comments???

I was always afraid to say anything that I wasn't persuaded was true and that I couldn't back up if I were questioned about it. This did tend to make much of my preaching a lot less sensationalistic than others.

I could never top that one guy who had met the Apostle Paul's spirit and stuff like that. He still gets way more meetings than I ever did.

I think that a lot of guys like to just tear through a sermon and have the liberty to say whatever crosses their mind while they're speaking. This involves a serious loss of inhibitions, but much of the program requires that any way. So when someone comes along as a "fact checker" it just causes the preacher to tighten up their inhibitions all over again and they can't get "anointed" like they feel they should.

Basically, you're scaring some of the preachers.

As little Emma would say, "God forbid that a woman should point out any error made by a visiting preacher - even to her husband."

Paul referred to people that do this as "more noble"...We need to be less "careless" with preaching and facts, especially since someone is going to check..it could be a sinner or a saint and knowing that person either was careless or willfully lied, can impact someone else negatively

I think its wrong to assume that the minister is being careless or untruthful, as opposed to either presenting his dramatic interpretation for illustration purposes, or simply presenting his understanding of the scripture at hand. Without being too *disrespectful* myself, some people approach scripture in literal, simple fashion, and they interpret it accordingly. I kind of tire of the *intellectuals* sometimes, simply because they can't ever seem to take anyone (or his words) at face value, and must always be looking for the meaning under the meaning of the meaning.

It's one thing to question accuracy; its quite another to question and then assign bad motives, and procure a negative judgment of a man's character as a result.

Personally, unless there are serious issues at hand, I think you should keep your questions to yourself and ponder them in private. If you feel you MUST express your questions, they should go directly to the pastor, and not to your fellow saints, or worse, be discussed in front of your family, in such a way as to undermine the pastor's positive influence with them.

I'm all for thinkers. I'm also for respect. Balance it out and all will be happy.

I try to be extremely careful about what I preach and teach.

I don't use email forwards for sermon illustrations.

I am not afraid of fact checkers, because I am a pretty meticulous checker myself.

What I am annoyed by are critics and nit-pickers who like to prove how much smarter they are than any dumb preacher.

Motive is the dividing line.

By the way, the noble Bereans weren't trying to disprove Paul; they were seeking deeper Scriptural validationto support him. Big difference.

Another little point some neglect to consider...

Those gullible Thessalonicans became an established church.

Anybody ever read an epistle to the Bereans?

Childlike faith was what Jesus commended most, not theological hair-splitters.

Exactly, they were fact checking. They were making sure of everything Paul said. The issue, which you just can't tell on first glance, is the motive or attitude of those fact checkers

BTW an intellectual does not look for the meaning under the meaning etc etc...An intellectual deals in real facts not hidden subjective meanings

They were noble, but the Thessalonicans had revival.

One should be careful when using outside material for sermon resources because if one is questioned and something can't be proven as fact ,it could cause the ministry to be blamed.

I promise you, Prax, had they been trying to take potshots at Paul, Luke would never have called them noble.