Paul's Passing Thoughts

“The elements of the institutional church follow a logical progression: presuppositions concerning mankind; sub-mediation; orthodoxy or sub-truth; the gospel of progressive justification; church government (polity) because authority trumps fellowship; political activism because God’s kingdom is supposedly on earth (if it wasn’t authority would be absent), and the subsequent bad behavior ordinarily exhibited by the divine right of kings, mind control cults, and institutional ownership of truth.”

If a pastor of any church is said to have “authority,” that church by definition is a cult. If a pastor has authority, where does that authority begin and end? While the idea of elder authority is common, any discussion of the parameters is extremely uncommon and such ambiguity can lead anywhere, and does. Why are patterns of abuse across denominational lines identical? What is the difference between leadership and authority? Will the marriage of faith and authority in the church always yield the same results as the marriage of faith and force among governments? What does it mean to say  “Kings are leaders, but leaders in the church are not kings”? And what is “well-behaved tyranny”? What is the biblical  model for organized ministry among God’s people? Does ministry need authority, or cooperation? Join us this Friday at 7:00 pm and join the discussion.  Here is the show link: Blogtalk Radio 4/10/2015 @ 7pm