How often do you think folks go with option #2 on my list?:
Quote:
2. Do you ignore it, and let it go, and pray that God would correct him/her assuming you yourself are not the one truly in error?
If this approach is taken, how much further in to error do you passively permit the pastor to go? Unfortunately, I know so many people who will go down with the ship and its captain before the abandon it instead of getting on board with truth (or what is believed to be truth).
Assume you are listening to your pastor preach, and then suddenly he makes a statement that you believe is contrary to the actual meaning of scripture (though he uses scripture to justify his position and you have scripture to justify the position you have, which is completely opposite of his/hers). You may be just as well informed of a position in which your pastor is taking a completely opposite stand on, but you feel he is in error.
1. Do you politely schedule a meeting with the pastor and discuss the disagreement over the teaching and try to come to a mutual understanding without trying to convert one another to each others' position?
2. Do you ignore it, and let it go, and pray that God would correct him/her assuming you yourself are not the one truly in error?
3. Do you leave the church without any explanation, because you can't believe that someone would be so ignorant as to make non-biblical remarks from the pulpit?
4. Or option #4 (fill in the blank how you would hand it if the aforementioned options are not feasible to you)
It's largely circumstantial for me. Some pastors are very uncomfortable with being questioned. I had a pastor I was on first name basis with that I would have heated discussions with all the time because he believed some pretty weird stuff (at least as far as I'm concerned.) The discussions were never really bad for our relationship, it was like iron sharpening iron. Unfortunately he continued to say some weird stuff from the pulpit and in conversation. Stuff like, whenever you sin you lose the Holy Spirit, one of the secret names for the Holy Spirit is the name "that" because Peter said "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He condoned the magic hair doctrine in conversation and practice. He believed that if someone in the church was in sexual sin that the rest of the church would get physically sick. He got this from the passage "for this cause many are sick among you and many sleep" which clearly teaches that those that take communion without discerning the Lord's body may incur hurt upon themselves, thus, teaching something way different than what he was proposing. Salvation justification ultimately came from your works. When my heart caught on fire for the doctrine of justification by faith and I explained it to him he said that he didn't know how to respond and never heard anything like it. I love the guy. Things like this is why I don't believe that questioning a pastor is wrong. I do, however think that they should be "entreated as an elder" as Paul wrote, meaning, you should approach them with respect. I, admittedly have not always exuded as much of this as I could at times, but, I do think that it is the best way.
It depends on what is said. There are times that my pastor has asked me what was said wrong. I try very hard to not show a reaction, but he can still tell (that is frustrating).
__________________
I am an Apostolic Pentecostal. Apostolic in teaching, and Pentecostal in experience.
Whatever method one uses in "challenging" a pastor I think the spirit, attitude, and motives of the one doing the challenging are key.
If one is confronting their pastor, or anyone for that matter, out of a sense of superiority or to cause conflict intentionally then they are just wrong.
If one approaches the matter with meekness, sincerity, and in love then they can be assured that whatever the response they will not be at fault.
__________________ "I think some people love spiritual bondage just the way some people love physical bondage. It makes them feel secure. In the end though it is not healthy for the one who is lost over it or the one who is lives under the oppression even if by their own choice"
Titus2woman on AFF
"We did not wear uniforms. The lady workers dressed in the current fashions of the day, ...silks...satins...jewels or whatever they happened to possess. They were very smartly turned out, so that they made an impressive appearance on the streets where a large part of our work was conducted in the early years.
"It was not until long after, when former Holiness preachers had become part of us, that strict plainness of dress began to be taught.
"Although Entire Sanctification was preached at the beginning of the Movement, it was from a Wesleyan viewpoint, and had in it very little of the later Holiness Movement characteristics. Nothing was ever said about apparel, for everyone was so taken up with the Lord that mode of dress seemingly never occurred to any of us."
Quote from Ethel Goss (widow of 1st UPC Gen Supt. Howard Goss) book "The Winds of God"
Whatever method one uses in "challenging" a pastor I think the spirit, attitude, and motives of the one doing the challenging are key.
If one is confronting their pastor, or anyone for that matter, out of a sense of superiority or to cause conflict intentionally then they are just wrong.
If one approaches the matter with meekness, sincerity, and in love then they can be assured that whatever the response they will not be at fault.
AMEN
Although, personally, I think "challenge" is the wrong word - possibly, "question". ???
__________________ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Although, personally, I think "challenge" is the wrong word - possibly, "question". ???
I agree that "challenge" seems confrontational. Like you I would have used "question".
The funny thing is that someone could be correct on the basis of their "challenge" but violate so many Christian principles in making their challenge that they are as wrong as the person they are challenging, just in a different area!
__________________ "I think some people love spiritual bondage just the way some people love physical bondage. It makes them feel secure. In the end though it is not healthy for the one who is lost over it or the one who is lives under the oppression even if by their own choice"
Titus2woman on AFF
"We did not wear uniforms. The lady workers dressed in the current fashions of the day, ...silks...satins...jewels or whatever they happened to possess. They were very smartly turned out, so that they made an impressive appearance on the streets where a large part of our work was conducted in the early years.
"It was not until long after, when former Holiness preachers had become part of us, that strict plainness of dress began to be taught.
"Although Entire Sanctification was preached at the beginning of the Movement, it was from a Wesleyan viewpoint, and had in it very little of the later Holiness Movement characteristics. Nothing was ever said about apparel, for everyone was so taken up with the Lord that mode of dress seemingly never occurred to any of us."
Quote from Ethel Goss (widow of 1st UPC Gen Supt. Howard Goss) book "The Winds of God"
I agree that "challenge" seems confrontational. Like you I would have used "question".
The funny thing is that someone could be correct on the basis of their "challenge" but violate so many Christian principles in making their challenge that they are as wrong as the person they are challenging, just in a different area!
This is SO true - CCI, you are becoming wise in your old age.
__________________ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
In some cases a pastor needs to be confronted, because too often they go unchecked and feel as though they have a license to say whatever they want to by virtue of being an oracle of God.
It's all situational. In most cases, pastors who who something contrary do it out of ignorance and don't need to be cornered and made to feel defensive, because it was an honest mistake on their part and I'm sure they will have the integrity to learn from it.
Then there are the rogues who feel like they are infallible and unteachable. Those types need to be confronted, cornered, challenged, and made accountable.
We once had a Pastor who disagreed with another Pastor's ministry. He made the statement: (paraphrased) "If he's right (the other ministry), then I might as well take my 55 years of ministry and throw it down the drain".
My question would be this: Why would one ministry be right and the other "wrong"? Are the hands doing the work of the feet? Is the brain doing the work of the heart? Isn't the body supposed to be working in concert together as long as it is practicing Biblical Scripture?
Linear Mode
