The church denomination I attend weekly is United Methodist. They are generally progressive with their views and theology. I can tell by how they speak on various political subjects like social justice: Last week, our pastor made sure to denounce racism and call it antithetical to Christian teachings. It’s true because the Bible says so in Galatians 3:28. However, I felt like he was preaching to the choir because nobody in our congregation lynches black people, hurts black people, or treats other races as inferior. But it’s okay: Progressives like to preach tolerance, so there is no harm no foul.
Not every United Methodist preacher is progressive, though. Some can be conservative. Nothing wrong with that (I am after all a Republican), but it can be bad when taken too far.
Years ago our congregation hired a very conservative preacher, but unfortunately he was a conservative of the fundamentalist variety. He made many unfriendly remarks about other denominations like Catholics and Mormons, saying they aren’t real Christians. One time he gave a sermon about how Islam is a fake religion and concluded that Christianity—or at least his version of Christianity—is the only correct religion “because of our experiences.” I thought this was a very weak argument given that Hindus and Muslims can also have very impactful spiritual experiences that make them feel like their religion is correct as well. No doubt our fundamentalist pastor’s thinking abilities weren’t too astute.
He quit preaching at our church after a few months. No one knows why, but I suspect it was because the elders forced him to resign for continually making derisive remarks about other Christian denominations and other religions.
His way of preaching went against Bible principles to love one another and show respect for others despite their differences. This teaching makes sense: If Christians show bigotry and narrow-mindedness, nonbelievers won’t want to convert. It’s through showing kindness, mercy, and love that we can win the hearts of nonbelievers.
Not every United Methodist preacher is progressive, though. Some can be conservative. Nothing wrong with that (I am after all a Republican), but it can be bad when taken too far.
Years ago our congregation hired a very conservative preacher, but unfortunately he was a conservative of the fundamentalist variety. He made many unfriendly remarks about other denominations like Catholics and Mormons, saying they aren’t real Christians. One time he gave a sermon about how Islam is a fake religion and concluded that Christianity—or at least his version of Christianity—is the only correct religion “because of our experiences.” I thought this was a very weak argument given that Hindus and Muslims can also have very impactful spiritual experiences that make them feel like their religion is correct as well. No doubt our fundamentalist pastor’s thinking abilities weren’t too astute.
He quit preaching at our church after a few months. No one knows why, but I suspect it was because the elders forced him to resign for continually making derisive remarks about other Christian denominations and other religions.
His way of preaching went against Bible principles to love one another and show respect for others despite their differences. This teaching makes sense: If Christians show bigotry and narrow-mindedness, nonbelievers won’t want to convert. It’s through showing kindness, mercy, and love that we can win the hearts of nonbelievers.
