My pastor's sermon of yesterday is I believe the best I've ever heard. It is very timely especially in the wake of President Bush's recent remark: "I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe."
This sermon has been posted online. PLEASE, don't miss this. He explains why we do NOT all worship the same God.
Please listen very closely to this word, and then, if you will, forward the link to everyone on your email list. This is a tremendously important message and I'm hoping it will be heard everywhere.
Here's the link. Advise your readers to listen to the first one on top dated October 21, 2007, entitled "Messianic Ontology For Occipital Clarity, Part 5." Don't let the title scare you, the sermon is in plain English :-)
http://www.fefchurch.org/home2.cfm?Section=Connect&Tab=Sermons&Page_id=36
6 comments:
Well when I first saw that this guy would make President Bush looke like Barrack Obama, I knew I had to listen at least. I don't think there's a definition for how conservative and offensive this man is. Even his congregation calls his sermons 'disgusting' and 'horseshit'. But not because they're liberal, but because they're TOO CONSERVATIVE. Not once did me mention any form of evidence that suggestts that the God that christian pray to and the God that muslims pray to are not the same God. Nor does he try to refute the facts like allah translates to 'the god' aka GOD. Not to mention All three, judiasm, christianity and Islam, can trace their roots back to Abraham, when he spoke to God. So we're supposed to believe that other 'gods' start appearing coincidently when we start to have 'factions' with other relgiouns just because your preacher says so? Well in the humble words of one of the members of your congregation, That's Horseshit.
At first I wasn't going to publish this comment, "just another bit of drivel from some riff-raff out there," I thought. But then I thought better of it - seeing in it an opportunity to say something that needs to be said.
This kind of drivel reveals an undeveloped mind and personality. One can easily imagine that this person was not brought up in a good home and was not taught basic respect for other human beings.
First of all, the writer hid behind the signature "Anonymous," knowing deep within what kind of person this sort of drivel would reveal. People brought up in good homes simply don't speak like this. A person who has reached a place of maturity and decency understands that base drivel renders all of his point useless.
The pastor he assaults with his venom is one who I've heard many times speak of respecting the individual while disagreeing with him. "When involved in debate," I've heard him say, "a cardinal rule is to debate the issue, not the person." Once you assault the person, you've lost the import of whatever point you might have made because you've revealed yourself to be of the baser sort, and most readers will just write this person off as such.
This is the kind of person you just want to feel sorry for, one so unfortunate as to have been brought up lacking basic values of decency toward other human beings.
"The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him." Proverbs 18:17
First--I am the preacher who is the purveyor of the horse--uh--pucky referred to in the first comment. So you are getting this from the, uh, horse's mouth--so to speak.
It is impossible to imagine by any stretch that my critic came at my sermon with any semblance of actual knowledge of not only what I said, but why I said it. Contrary to the suggestion in his/her "ad hominem" attack, I spent 11 weeks--11 careful, cogent and studied weeks--clearly establishing the evidence for what I said rather than merely resorting to the most popular strategy of our day; "Argument by Assertion." In other words, "It's true because I say it's true." Or the corollary this person uses, "It's wrong because I say it's wrong."
Listen for yourself and you be the judge. Your eternity may depend on it!
Pastor Bill Cripe
Faith Evangelical Free Church
Paula, as you know I haven't much time for blogging. I'm swamped with company and work and haven't been posting or visiting, but because of your e-mail I came in to read what you were referring to. I unfortunately do not have enough time on my hands to listen to the sermon, but I have heard your Pastor speak before, and can't imagine why anyone would be enticed to leave such rude rhetoric as that posted in the first comment here. It is obvious to me that he/she feels threatened by the truth, and as most people who are threatened, lashes out without thinking. Your thoughtful response is exactly the way to handle it and I congratulate you! It is also obvious that this person is aware that he/she is acting shamefully, otherwise why post anonymously?
I have had much worse comments posted in the comment section of my blog, but I'm speaking of people who use even more vindictive and vile language than that posted here. They simply don't get published, period, as I won't subject my other readers to them. But your point is well taken, and it would indeed be nice if people could try to correspond with one another, even when holding opposite points of view, without becoming hostile.
God bless you and yours this Christmas Season and always!
If anonymous is going to assert that that PB's sermon is off the mark, then he should enlighten us all by showing us how/where in the Scriptures.
Intelligent discourse is always welcome, mud-slinging is just dirty.
If anonymous is going to assert that that PB's sermon is off the mark, then he should enlighten us all by showing us how/where in the Scriptures.
Intelligent discourse is always welcome, mud-slinging is just dirty.
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