Think back at any time you went to a Church on Sunday morning. Were they hateful?
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When I was younger I went to a church with two different pastors. One, I'll just call Pastor A and the other is Pastor B. Pastor A was highly respected. He was super nice, preached on love, acceptance and devotion to God. I actually had him marry my husband and I and everyone respected him. Pastor B was......special....and not in a good way. He took his authority and used it to inflate his ego. He demanded people come kneel before him to be forgiven, he preached fire and brimstone while standing over his congregation and demeaning them. Needless to say, people did not attend the services of Pastor B for long. In fact when Pastor A left many people left the church completely to find another. This is my personal experience. Nearly all other churches I've gone to have not been hateful. My Aunt in a different state is having an issue with her church but that's not a topic I can get to into but again, it's because the leader of that church is being hateful. There are always stories of some churches being nasty, the one most people will toss out is Westboro but they are extremists who do not, in my opinion, actually represent Christians. For the most part, in my experiences it's rare to find a religious leader who preaches intolerance and hate but unfortunately those that do get the attention. 1
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As you noticed, the Pastor who preached fire and brimstone without the Love, soon lost a congregation. Now let me clarify the difference between, teaching there is a Hell that all non believers should be made aware of, with angry judgmental people who go around screaming you are going to Hell for your sins. Speaking of the dangers of Hell is in the Bible and something every good Church should do. A true Christian Church should not shy away from teaching things that some people might not want to hear. But it should always be done in a loving manner. There are what I call false Churches that have transformed their beliefs to fit the new age world's view of life and God. They seek to grow their congregations by denying what their faith teaches on issues of Abortion, Divorce, Gay marriage, Gay Pastors, promiscuous Sex, etc. etc. I always sought out Churches that did not shy away from teaching the Bilbe, but did so in a loving way. Thank you, I appreciate the clarification, it seems you and I agree on this. If it is done so in a manner that isn't aggressive "you will burn in hell bwahahahaa, kneel before me to be forgiven" kind of way then I think it has more impact. Our views on what you consider a false church are a little different but hey, to each their own on that. I think we can both agree that Westboro is a false church. |
