A little disturbed...

[Rion]

A few Sundays back, I was browsing radio channels on the way to church and came across a local church broadcast on the radio. I decided to listen to it a bit, but was quite bothered by what I heard.

First of all, it was incredibly political. The pastor kept on about things like Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, etc. Conservatives were talked about as if they were lost souls who completely ignorant of the gospel. He even suggested that such people thought of O'Reilly as the new Moses who had to be obeyed.

Secondly, the pastor was twisting Ephesians 1 to mean that the inheritance that is mentioned is to fight for social change and to stand up against those in power. There was no mention of sin, salvation, or anything, just that they were to confront conservatives in their work places, etc. and fight for "true social justice."

That's rather disturbing to me, and how can a church like this keep it's tax-exempt status?

Mind you, this isn't about left-or-right, I wouldn't stay at a church that spoke that way against liberals either.

 

[QuiltAngel]

Sadly, there are churches which cross that line into politics. I don't know how they keep their status either.

That is one thing I like about our LCMS churches, our Pastors preach Law and Gospel and let the members decide where they stand on politics. I think our doctrine on the two kingdoms help us to keep from crossing the line into politics from the pulpit.

 

[twin.spin]

They do it because nobody has the guts to enforce the law... probably because the anyone who does would be be branded as a racist.

 

[jonmolby]

I used to attend a church like that. Though it was on the more conservative side politically. Some Sundays you never heard Jesus mentioned once, and when you did the gospel was only for unbelievers. I think politics from the pulpit provides a great distraction from the good news becuase it arouses emotions and gives the congregation the feeling that it is important and that it is something that they can make a difference in. Who wants to talk about the gospel when you can't control it and feel good about your effort. My heart aches for my friends in that church. May God open their eyes and hearts.

I think that churches get away with politics from the pulpit because it is a hard law to enforce and is pretty low priority to the government.