Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Prominent Figures and Ourselves in Perspective

Often we find critiques of ministers or prominent religious figures. I think we should always look at the golden rule and judge any critique we read or write by the golden rule.

"Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself."

Often the teaching of Jesus is clearly broken in the critique of ministers and leaders in the church by other ministers and leaders in the church. They would cry foul if they where pressed on many issues on which they press others.

Maybe the feeling is that the spotlight on more prominent figures means that they are held to a higher standard. The bible does say that ministers are held to a higher standard but I do not think prominent ministers should be held to a severely higher standard than average pastors.

Maybe a good question for any critique of a prominent figure would be: would I feel uncomfortable if the pastor of my small local churches in my area were critiqued this way. Often the answer would be "no."

Too often the critique of prominent religious figures goes past reason. We need to always doubt ourselves and the motives of others who wish to critique any figure. It is not that critique is wrong but that it must always be done with care and thought.

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