Posted on 11/15/2010 3:20:59 PM PST by chickadee
Esbensen, 53, who was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister in 1996 and recently became head of a Madison congregation, does not believe in God or life after death. She calls herself a "humanist atheist." She thinks belief in deity has arguably done more to hurt than help the world.
"People who do not believe in God are actually kinder, gentler people," she says. A personal belief in God, for instance, was not needed for Esbensen to comfort the dying woman in Minnesota, to "say what she needed to hear."
This fall, Esbensen became minister of the Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, 2010 Whenona Dr., near South Midvale and the Beltline. She splits her time between there and Lake Country Unitarian Universalist Church in Hartland, about 40 miles west of Milwaukee, where she's been a minister since 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailypage.com ...
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction...
I remember watching a TV evangelist and I said to my mother, that guy’s a crook. She said how could he talk about God and cheat these people. I said—He is a con-artist. He doesn’t believe in God. Well, then it made sense.
Know how you terrorize a Unitarian?
Burn a question mark in their front yard.
I wrote to the minister of the local Presbyterian church, saying that I was interested in attending the church (I am) but I wanted to know whether his particular church is governed by "political correctness" which seems to be affecting many Presbyterian churches. I also specifically asked whether "Onward Christian Soldiers" appears in the hymnal (some churches have banned it as being "too militaristic."
That was two weeks ago. I'm still waiting for an answer.
I don't know if you ever read anything by Lewis Grizzard,
but he said once that when he was a boy that his preacher
performed a funeral for a little boy's dog because the boy
asked him to and he knew how much the dog meant to him.
Lewis said that that became his litmus test for clergy. He
would look at them and ask himself if this person would
preach a funeral for a boys dog.
I wouldnt recommend a Presbyterian Church USA. Presbyterian Church of America is biblical though.
I say this as a former elder of a PC USA church.
“I once had a Presbyterian minister tell me that 70% of ministers admitted they did not believe Jesus is the Son of God.”
There are liberal Presbyterian denominations and conservative ones (PCA, OPC, RPCNA, CRC. . .)
Your “minister” was obviously from one of the liberal ones. FYI.
“Yeah, like Joe Stalin, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jong-il. “
You forgot Chairman Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Madalyn Murray O’Hare, and Lenin.
Treasures, all.
A good rule of thumb is to see if the church adheres to the Westminister Confession of Faith and if it is Presbyterian Church of American or of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Those denominations are solidly in the conservative camp. I can’t speak for Cumberland Presbyterians much. Nor of Orthodox Pres (but I assume I know where they stand). PC USA is a very mixed bag.
I find the 70% figure a bit hard to believe. Most ministers had a calling. To have a calling and be that wishy-washy seems to mock the whole idea of a calling.
PC-USA - stay away (they're probably a lost cause).
PCA and the OPC are pretty good.
I really like the Free Presbyterian Church (www.FreePres.org ) - but there aren't any in California (let alone the Bay Area) - but I've enjoyed listening to sermons from various of their pastors on www.Sermonaudio.com. Alan Cairns is excellent (as is John Greer, etc).
No he was very conservative and lamenting on those who were not.
“I find the 70% figure a bit hard to believe. “
I did too but trusted this man.
“No he was very conservative and lamenting on those who were not.”
I see, I misunderstood.
I know there are still Christians in the liberal Pres. churches; just not very many.
No pastor who denied faith in Christ could keep his position in the conservative ones.
I attended an Orthodox Presbyterian church when I lived in Morristown NJ. Westminster Confession and the Bible. Theat congregation will emphasize the Bible comes first.
Lewis Grizzard was a wonderful writer (he passed away several years ago). Just the titles of his books were funny. “Shoot Low Boys, They’re Riding Shetland Ponies”, “When My True Love Returns From The Ladie’s Room, Will I Be Too Old To Care?”, “Elvis is Dead, and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself”. The last book of his I read was “I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1965” (or was it 1964?), I forget; but it was a very good book. I miss Lewis. :o(
“No pastor who denied faith in Christ could keep his position in the conservative ones.”
In PCUSA they will keep the retirement of any pastor who moves to another non-PCUSA church. That puts a lot of people in very difficult positions.
His figure was based on a confidential survey taken among the pastors. Apparently these pastors always seem to preach on the old testament and not the new testament.
Unitarians believe in at most one god.
You’re right, from those I’ve met its usually themselves.
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