Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Sell Out!?!?

I was reading an article in the Dallas Morning News religion section a couple of weeks ago and it was about the Eastern Orthodox Church in Dallas. The pastor of the church was at a church fair at Dallas Baptist University and had a booth next to an evangelical church. The college minister from the evangelical church wore a "Dr. Suess Cat-in-the-Hat Hat" with a button that said, "smile, Jesus loves you." This pastor from the Eastern Orthodox Church said that the college minister was a sell-out. Now, this is a pressing issue in my life that I have thought about long and hard. My theology is baptist, I was a southern-baptist youth minister for 3 years, I agree with the direction that the Southern Baptist Convention is going - but the theology from the pulpit is a joke. Most pastors have such simple messages that people never grow spiritually, most converts to the Mormons come from Southern Baptist Churches, I think this is due to the lack of emphasis upon doctrine in Southern Baptist Churches. Worship at SBC churches is meant to entertain and make those who are not believers feel welcome, but those who do not have a relationship with God should feel uncomfortable when encountering a holy transcendent God. I do think that theology should be relevant for those in a contemporary setting and style of worship should be based upon the culture. However, Church should not be entertainment, as soon as we start going to a church because it is cool, or because we like the pastor, or because we feel comfortable there, I think that is wrong. I think the two most important factors are fellowship and preaching of the word/doctrine. Otherwise you do become a sellout.

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