Tag Archives: God

The Virtual Pastor: Following a person, or a personality?

Posted on March 29, 2010 | 7 comments

Recently I wrote an article on the subject of the Virtual Church (which you should read before moving forward with this post to see where I am coming from on certain points) and even at the time of writing it I had already been keen on future related posts. I received some interesting feedback as a result and I suspect there is more to come. Nonetheless, it would be unjust to consider that topic while overlooking the virtual pastor, who is by default a component of the virtual-church.

The virtual pastor is not a colorful vector image like those seen in computer-generated animations. Instead, he is the man whose Bible teaching is broadcasted from a church service to another predetermined location, typically a building with ample seating capacity. It is there that a congregation of believers gather infront of a screen to watch the message being given, thus forming a satellite church in the least flattering sense, if not better expressed as church via satellite.

This is a new form of pastoring, one that is hardly compatible with the biblical image of shepherding sheep. A pastor that is not present to tend the sheep is tantamount to a church not present to follow the pastor. Both are a contradiction in terms and defy the nature of their definitions (the church is a gathering; the shepherd is with his sheep).

Virtual methods may work well when they are employed by corporate America, but their regular usage in ministry only perpetuates an already unhealthy church mentality. After all, how should we expect congregants to perceive God’s design for his church when their pastor can serve them through the air waves? Or worse yet, when his job is perceived only to be the delivering of a message, the more common view of a pastor these days?

It all fails to model the personal aspect of a connected body for church life when the closest a congregation can come to their pastor is a digital image viewed from the front row. It goes against the very behavior a pastor would expect from the sheep. At this rate, a congregant may think it just as beneficial to skip service and watch online from the comfort of home. At least they’ll save on gas consumption.

This article is not a rebuke to the pastors or ministries that are making use of technology where there is no flesh-and-blood alternative and as a temporary solution to a logistical problem. I do however find much fault with, and no reason for, a pastor who broadcasts himself to another location. A church must have its own resident teaching pastor. As we will see in a future post, the virtual pastor really isn’t a pastor at all according to Biblical terms. I question both the means employed to reach this end, and the end itself.

Because this topic is rather vast in scope, I will be posting the article in a few or more segments as a mini series. No matter how tightly I may try to write it, putting everything in one post would be too long, or incomplete at best.

Following are some of the issues I intend to cover in subsequent posts. I welcome your suggestions as well.

1. The Biblical definition and function of a pastor

2. The definition and application of ‘virtual’ in ministry

3. The biblical incompatibility of the ‘virtual’ nature with the living nature of church

4. The ethical and practical problems that ensue from a ‘virtual’ ministry

5. The justifications given by some to support ‘virtual’ ministry

6. Better alternatives to the broadcasted satellite church

7 Comments

Posted in Ministry and Church Life, Thought for today

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Gospel According to Elton John: Making God in his own image

Posted on March 18, 2010 | 9 comments

On February 19, 2010, several major news publications around the world, including BBC and  The Guardian, recorded Elton John’s words as he rewrote the historical Jesus. He spoke the following irreverent words during an extensive interview with Parade magazine,

“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him.”

Elton’s comment has it partly right. Jesus was, and is, compassionate. He forgave those who crucified him. And yes, Jesus understood human problems better than any psychologist that has breathed the air of this planet. I might even concede his acknowledgement of Christ’s intelligence, if it really weren’t just another way to say Jesus was merely a very smart man, rather than the Son of God. And this he must say, for Jesus cannot be the Son of God and the homosexual Elton declares Jesus to be.

Christianity has been opposed, used and even misrepresented for centuries. At times political leaders romanced our faith to make a syncretistic powerplay, such as Constantine did in the fourth century. At other times war was blatantly waged against it. But in the quiet, it seems there is a trend afoot. A breed of pilgrims trying to find habitation somewhere between outright rejection of Jesus, and deceptive compromise. All or nothing is no longer a necessary equation. Why must we take Jesus or leave him as he is when we can take him, put a new face on him, and use him to our advantage?

This sick and perverted image of a homosexual Jesus comes as no surprise in light of Elton John’s aggressive gay rites tactics. Would he have said Jesus was a heterosexual? Perhaps. But only if he could have given it the right spin to make it advantageous, such as “Jesus was a straight-but-narrow-minded, unsympathetic religious fanatic.” However, because he was compassionate, understanding and forgiving, he was gay.

Such absurd and irreverently brazen remarks about Jesus, at the very least, should be challenged in the public arena. Unfortunately however, few voices have squeaked their way past the threshold of the front door of the press. Could it be that God’s people have nothing to say about it? Not likely. The problem is we usually don’t get to talk into the really BIG microphones. Those are reserved for the delusional. The label given by The Guardian to the few Christians who were heard, and justifiably outraged, was, “the Christian lobby” who is “not known for its tolerance of diverging views.”

I have a heart for the homosexual community. My intention is not to go after them, rather it is to bring balance to the table and clarity to the definitions that are so often carelessly used by liberals and conservatives alike. So at the risk of being labeled intolerant, let me say that the spin put into the statement made by the Guardian about diverging views makes it sound as if all views ought to enjoy diplomatic immunity and be held by everyone in some sort of royal honor. But what exactly is a diverging view?

According to the Oxford dictionary, to diverge is to leave the path you are traveling and then take an alternate route that goes in another direction. Now, I think diverging views can be great for sightseeing on a blue-skied Sunday when you are not trying to get anywhere in particular. But if you have a destination in mind, you can’t travel the southbound side and expect to head north. You just wont get there. Assuming, of course, that the place actually exists. The Jesus of Elton John did not exist.

There are absolutes in life, and to uphold them is not intolerant at all. It’s reasonable. We live daily by such absolutes. After all, would the math teacher tolerate a student’s view if on the exam he expressed it as 2 + 2 = 7? Nonetheless, with the direction society is heading, we may just get to the point where there is no wrong answer. To say otherwise would be intolerant.

So, to give audience to remarks like Elton John’s, and then call intolerant those who backlash, is not only intolerant in itself, but it is unfair and most especially unreasonable. It essentially says that history, and in particular the history of Jesus, is open to amendments. It assumes that opinion is just as valid as fact, even more so if it is an emotionally charged, divergent one. Folks, let’s not allow opinions to hijack the truth, no matter how famous their source.

9 Comments

Posted in Thought for today

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Antisemitism 400 years before Hitler

Posted on March 11, 2010 | 7 comments

In a recent post, “An Amazing Day in a Jewish Ghetto,” I promised to write more about the synagogues we toured and the history of the Jewish people living in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, Italy, during the 16th century. Several things stood out to us among all that we heard and saw, but the most surprising fact was that antisemitism did not begin with Hitler’s cruel and tyrannical campaign.

Jewish Ghetto, Venice

Center Square in the Jewish Ghetto, Venice, Italy

Although one could argue that prejudice against the Jewish people began the day God chose Abraham, we find a definite starting point for Italy’s history. In 1516, the Senate of the Republic of Venice and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, ordered the Jews to live together, segregated and away from the city center. The area they were forced to occupy was known as getto, a Venetian word meaning “foundry” where metal was cast. This is where our modern word ghetto was coined, and the reason it has the connotation of a neighborhood where minorities dwell. Click the photo on left to enlarge it.

Forced to live behind metal gates, they would be locked in at nighttime. Only the Jewish doctors could come out after the evening curfew. During the day, everyone had to wear red or yellow hats so they could be identified as Jews in public. They were forbidden to take part in construction work, for all the builders had to be part of a guild, and no Jew was deemed worthy according to the non-Jewish. It wasn’t until Napoleon arrived and took charge of the city in 1797 that the gates were removed and the Jews were permitted to move about freely. Still, they did not enjoy full integration until the late 19th century.

In my next post we’ll look at just a few more interesting details regarding the Jewish synagogues and the social classes that caused them to divide. If you think you’d like to receive notice when that or other new posts come out on uThinkology, you can easily subscribe here on the side bar to the right.

7 Comments

Posted in Thought for today

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,