I start this thread with a few trepidations. Here are some things I am NOT saying:
1. Some Christians behave badly therefore Christianity is bad/dumb.
2. If some Christians behave badly it must mean Christianity is untrue.
3. The Christians behaving badly in these snippets are somehow representative of all Christians.
It's easy on this fairly conservative Christian site to find threads where the 'bad' behaviour of adherents to other faiths, or liberals, or agnostics, or atheists is held up for disapproval or mockery. Perfectly understandable.
I just thought that it might be useful to remind ourselves that Christians are also prone to extremes or lunacy from time to time. See it as an opportunity for humility and integrity, which is honestly how I intend it.
Here's one:
1. Some Christians behave badly therefore Christianity is bad/dumb.
2. If some Christians behave badly it must mean Christianity is untrue.
3. The Christians behaving badly in these snippets are somehow representative of all Christians.
It's easy on this fairly conservative Christian site to find threads where the 'bad' behaviour of adherents to other faiths, or liberals, or agnostics, or atheists is held up for disapproval or mockery. Perfectly understandable.
I just thought that it might be useful to remind ourselves that Christians are also prone to extremes or lunacy from time to time. See it as an opportunity for humility and integrity, which is honestly how I intend it.
Here's one:
If you’re a “bright” kid, you may want to avoid being near this pastor. He’s not bright, but he is dangerous.
In a sermon that reads more like a swaggering brag after a bar fight, a pastor tells his congregation about the time he had enough with a kid who was too smart to properly respect God, and the pastor’s violent reaction.
The pastor says that while working at a youth group in Calgary, he came across a “smart aleck” kid who irked him. “He was a nice kid, but he was one of those kids who was a real smart aleck,” the pastor begins, already making mock punches in the air, as if reliving the moment. “He was a bright kid, which didn’t help things, right? It made him more dangerous.”
According to the pastor, one day the kid was really pushing his buttons and “not taking the Lord serious,” and so the pastor did what any reasonable adult in a position of authority would do – provided that adult had major anger issues and was in need of professional help: He punched the kid “as hard as [he] could” in the chest. Showing no signs of remorse, the pastor says that he “crumpled” the kid and then stood over him, lecturing him about taking God more seriously.
In a sermon that reads more like a swaggering brag after a bar fight, a pastor tells his congregation about the time he had enough with a kid who was too smart to properly respect God, and the pastor’s violent reaction.
The pastor says that while working at a youth group in Calgary, he came across a “smart aleck” kid who irked him. “He was a nice kid, but he was one of those kids who was a real smart aleck,” the pastor begins, already making mock punches in the air, as if reliving the moment. “He was a bright kid, which didn’t help things, right? It made him more dangerous.”
According to the pastor, one day the kid was really pushing his buttons and “not taking the Lord serious,” and so the pastor did what any reasonable adult in a position of authority would do – provided that adult had major anger issues and was in need of professional help: He punched the kid “as hard as [he] could” in the chest. Showing no signs of remorse, the pastor says that he “crumpled” the kid and then stood over him, lecturing him about taking God more seriously.
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