Post by Josh on Feb 18, 2008 16:05:30 GMT -8
No! Your a heretic, and will burn in hell for this belief. Of course I'm joking .
It's sad how often I have seen just that sort of reaction in regard to this debate (age of the universe/ earth, evolution, etc..). There are quite a lot of churches that wouldn't welcome someone for long who held contrary views on this subject.
Some churches grudgingly tolerate people who hold these views, but only, in my experience, if those people don't (God forbid ) seek to teach a class or take on some kind of leadership role.
I found it a bit perplexing as someone who felt called to pastoral ministry to realize that my individual convictions excluded a lot of possibilities for me. I mean there aren't a lot of denominations that are looking for a partial preterist, old earther, pipe smoking, pastor who's [albeit somewhat cautiously] open to the gifts of the holy spirit and liturgical expressions (I could go on).
In such circumstances, one only has a few options:
1. Seek a congregation that exactly fits your "list". Aside from the near impossibility of that , what happens if you happen to change your perspective??? Not to mention what would it do to your soul to only be around people who agree with you all the time?
or
2. Find a church environment that is strong enough (or flexible enough?) to handle a diversity of perspectives on secondary issues.
I'm glad to see option 2 seems to be working, though no doubt it's not always easy to practice the things we believe.
I am always encouraged at Aletheia that somehow we've always attracted people of amazingly diverse theological persuasions.
Anyway, this should probably go on some other thread, but since we haven't had a ton of time yet to talk about this, I'm glad it came up.
Here's to the adventure of learning together and the experience of iron sharpening iron!