Here are my thoughts on it. I only share them because it is something dear to my heart...and I only want to seek the truth. I actually posted this on Facebook so I copied it from there, hence the weird format.
- I don't think Jesus had to "bribe people with crap" to follow him. For example the rich young ruler:
- "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Jesus says) "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.' " And he said to him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, " You lack one thing; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
- Seems to me Jesus confronted the man's sin. He didn't jump up and down and market himself so the man would relate to Him and then maybe believe. Nope, sin was the issue. Why are we using sin instead as a way to market and appeal to the masses "get people in the door", then maybe they'll come to know Christ?? And what about John the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus? First of all, the guy was a little weird I'm sure to the rest of society. Since the Bible makes a point to mention that he wore camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey. Doesn't seem like he was trying to fit in to society to win people to God. And what did he preach? Luke 3: 3 And he (John) went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And: Luke 3:7-8 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "you brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance."
- Not saying I know it all by any means...but one thing I do know, the Bible itself tells me to test everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 "Do not despise prophesies, but test everything; hold fast what is good." And....1 John 4:1 " Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." And....Galations 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. And....2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. So I'm just saying that it's not a negative thing to question your pastor and test everything to scripture. The Bible even tells us to test ourselves!
- Oh and one more thing, if you're not willing to ever question your church or a pastor let me ask you this: why not? Because of a loyalty to your church or your pastor? Shouldn't our first loyalty be to Christ alone? If you're never willing to test or question because of loyalty then that's a dangerous place to be. Especially when the Bible tells us to test every spirit, warns us against false prophets, and tells us to even examine ourselves to see that we are in the faith. Do we think false prophets don't exist anymore? Or do we think that they'll always be so obvious to us? I don't know, again the Bible tells us to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. That tells me that false teachers could appear to be a regular, respectable pastor. Not saying that Eric is a false teacher, but I am saying if there are questions arising, it's probably a good time to put things to the test to make sure. And myself included....test what I say....please! I'm just a seeker of the truth, and I've learned that a pastor or a church can't come before Jesus.
- And sometimes controversies are a work of Satan, and sometimes they might be the truth coming out. Either way, test everything.
