My “What the Church Needs to Know” article was pretty blunt. Among other things, I said I was SICK AND TIRED of hearing covid policy pushed from the pulpit. And worse, I was horrified hearing pastors call covid deaths in their churches “tragedies.” I called it heretical. Christians don’t view death as ‘a tragedy,’ especially when it’s one of our own brothers or sisters. “I have fought the good fight,” said the Apostle Paul, facing his impending martyrdom; “I have finished the race.”
Paul taught that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Gain, not tragedy. From a theological perspective, my article was inarguably right. Christians believe GOD is in control. Not covid. Not Fauci. Not Klaus. And God’s choices are, by definition, not tragic. He works all things together for good, for those who are called according to His purposes.
Most Christians who read the article were encouraged, or even electrified, and scads of them rapid-printed the whole thing for their pastors. But a minority — say, ten percent — were outraged. They felt like I was being WAY too hard on pastors. They felt like I was unfairly calling pastors ‘cowards,’ because I had reminded them that Revelation teaches that cowards will be the very first ones God heaves into the burning lake of fire.
And the critics felt like I was being disrespectful to the dead people’s relatives, when I reminding readers that we actually believe to die is GAIN, and it’s not tragedy. Critics allowed maybe I was right but thought I was minimizing what the survivors were going through. And they felt like I went way too far when I said it was “heretical” to label a 90-year-old parishioner’s death as “tragic.”
To these critics, my own brothers and sisters in Christ, even though I only cited facts and inarguable theology, I was doing it in a way that they felt was not very Christian. I was being a bad example! Instead, they argued, I should use loving persuasion to bring the pastors around, gradually, over time, instead of “shaming them.” They cited the golden rule (the same rule atheists were using right then to guilt believers into accepting masks and jabs).
In other words, the critics didn’t like my article. They thought it was disrespectful and un-Christian.
Well, I disagreed with the critics. I thought respectfully correcting brothers before they make big mistakes WAS Christian. I lovingly responded that the critics could benefit from spending less time in the World and more time in the Word, and offered to coordinate a respectful theological debate about it anytime, anywhere. Nobody ever took me up on that.
I also offered to represent any church that was facing government sanctions for staying open, free of charge, but nobody took me up on that one, either.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Paul taught that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Gain, not tragedy. From a theological perspective, my article was inarguably right. Christians believe GOD is in control. Not covid. Not Fauci. Not Klaus. And God’s choices are, by definition, not tragic. He works all things together for good, for those who are called according to His purposes.
Most Christians who read the article were encouraged, or even electrified, and scads of them rapid-printed the whole thing for their pastors. But a minority — say, ten percent — were outraged. They felt like I was being WAY too hard on pastors. They felt like I was unfairly calling pastors ‘cowards,’ because I had reminded them that Revelation teaches that cowards will be the very first ones God heaves into the burning lake of fire.
And the critics felt like I was being disrespectful to the dead people’s relatives, when I reminding readers that we actually believe to die is GAIN, and it’s not tragedy. Critics allowed maybe I was right but thought I was minimizing what the survivors were going through. And they felt like I went way too far when I said it was “heretical” to label a 90-year-old parishioner’s death as “tragic.”
To these critics, my own brothers and sisters in Christ, even though I only cited facts and inarguable theology, I was doing it in a way that they felt was not very Christian. I was being a bad example! Instead, they argued, I should use loving persuasion to bring the pastors around, gradually, over time, instead of “shaming them.” They cited the golden rule (the same rule atheists were using right then to guilt believers into accepting masks and jabs).
In other words, the critics didn’t like my article. They thought it was disrespectful and un-Christian.
Well, I disagreed with the critics. I thought respectfully correcting brothers before they make big mistakes WAS Christian. I lovingly responded that the critics could benefit from spending less time in the World and more time in the Word, and offered to coordinate a respectful theological debate about it anytime, anywhere. Nobody ever took me up on that.
I also offered to represent any church that was facing government sanctions for staying open, free of charge, but nobody took me up on that one, either.
☕️ THE MIRAGE OF JUSTICE ☙ Friday, January 13, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
A response to C&C critics; sudden and unexpected SADS; anti-vaxx doc makes the BBC; breaking news on Biden's document snafu; and a new official U.S. government UFO report. In other words, weird stuff.
www.coffeeandcovid.com