Posted on 07/30/2006 7:46:33 PM PDT by paltz
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the church’s — to conservative political candidates and causes.
The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?
After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
Mr. Boyd says he is no liberal. He is opposed to abortion and thinks homosexuality is not God’s ideal.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And they never bring up the "church & state" misinformation when a Dem candidate politics from the pulpit.
Well, what gets me is that it is impossible to separate politics from religion.
Religion is generally defined as a set of certain values and principles in which one believes, and ostensibly practices.
And so religion is not only Prebyterianism, Episcopalian, Baptist, whatnot; it is also Planned Parenthoodlum, the earth, atheism, AndyStephensonism, whatnot--anything in which one firmly believes, and bases his conduct upon.
Since all humans have a set of values and principles, all humans have religious beliefs and standards.
So how does one separate religion from his values and conduct in public office? He can't.
I think many--especially DUmmies and Democrats--get stuck on "religion" as being a formally-set-up organization, when in fact "religion" is much more than just church buildings; it is one's values and principles.
That is not true. What is true is that when the government institutes an established denomination (Catholic, Anglican, Puritan in early Massachusetts, etc...) the official church becomes corrupted. But competing in the free market of ideas has only benefited Christianity and the societies in which Christians reside. A lot of good books on this, Rodney Stark, Christianity on Trial, How the Catholic Church Built Civilization, Under the Influence, etc...
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
bttt
Okay, but does Mr. Boyd oppose the Democrat party's agenda of turning America into a French-style, secular socialist welfare state? Why am I not surprised that this scumbag reporter didn't bother to ask?
That church congregation should fire him and get a pastor in that is more in tune with his own congretation. Out wit the old and in with the new.
The term "Evangelical" gets thrown around an awful lot, and has lost a great deal of meaning on its own because of it. So my question is:
Is his church a real Bible-teaching, tell the truth even if it's not convenient or nice....
OR
Is he the pastor of the Evangelical church of Feel Good? You know the type of church- all sermons are designed and scripted to simply make folks feel good. Theydon't bother with the truth if it might hurt someone's feelings, offend the sinners in their congretation, the only pressure being to give their offerings...and give abundantly....
This pastor's statements sure sound like the latter.
If those who claim to be Christian were to stand up for what they claim to believe, they would make a huge impact on the world around us. To bad we tend to not be as active as we should.
Boyd is a big time "open theology" teacher.
Caution with him.
and I have to register on the NYT site to read the rest of this article? Sorry, my scrupples won't allow that!! Seems like a good article, just not a good periodical to have it in ... one of my mini boycotts I guess. only at the bottom of my parrot cage will I touch this rag!! ;-)
Yes, but they're clever enough to say they hate "organized" religion. I suppose "disorganized religion" is what they prefer...AKA moral relativism
I hear ya, but once I registered years ago, reading crap like this became all the more amusing. Why? I 'm shown on a daily basis what the libs are truly getting desperate with.
Gregory A. Boyd
Gregory A. Boyd is the founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN, and founder and president of Christus Victor Ministries. He was a professor of theology at Bethel College (St. Paul, MN) for 16 years. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (BA), Yale Divinity School (MA), and Princeton Theological Seminary (PhD). Greg is a national and international speaker at churches, colleges, conferences, and retreats, and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows. He has also authored and coauthored 14 books prior to The Myth of a Christian Nation, including Escaping the Matrix (with Al Larson), Seeing Is Believing, Repenting of Religion, and his international bestseller Letters From a Skeptic. www.gregboyd.org
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The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?None of those issues have any place within activities of the church. Trying to save a dying world is an absolute lost cause. Instead, the church should be concerned with being the fishers of dead men who walk, so that their Father in heaven can bring them back to life.
The only things that the church should be focused on is worship, spiritual nourishment, edification, building up and encouragement and exhortation (and at times rebuke) of the saints, and reaching out to a lost and dying world.
I'm baffled by a seemingly ubequitous obsession and preoccupation with the reformation of the heathen and unbelievers, that they be compelled to live Godly and Christian lives when they have no idea or clue as to why they should be doing so in the first place. The world can't be saved by the physical reformation of its people, but people while in this world can be saved through spiritual regeneration, i.e., if they be born again by coming to know their sin, and accept the risen Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
I don't follow a religion: following and practicing a man made set of rules and rituals in accordance to man made doctrine, dogma, and traditions having a religious philosophy and ideals. Instead I profess a religious faith, as proclaimed by the Word of God respecting the benefit and efficacy of the attoning work that Jesus Christ performed on the cross at Golgatha, and having a personal relationship with Him, the one "I Am that I AM".
Indeed.
I'm a pastor in the United Methodist Church, and every 4 years I find myself confused as to wether I'm attending the Quadrennial Session of the UMC's General Conference or the Quadrennial Session of the DNC. :(
But ... the NYC doesn't even bother to mention THAT correlation.
My comment was about his teachings, not his church admin practices, which I mostly agree with (that of excluding politics from the pulpit).
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