Posted on 06/28/2004 6:56:33 PM PDT by missyme
Two clergymen in Denver have found a new way of taking religion to the masses, they have opened a church in a nightclub. Every fortnight people are greeted by the founder Matt Honeycutt, who holds a pint of beer in one hand while welcoming people with the other.
According to The Daily Enquirer, it is mainly people in their 20s and 30s who are comfortable with finding God in a bar. They believe in following the teachings of Christ in a wholesome atmosphere that does not tolerate excessive drinking.
Mike Shepherd, the founder of the church has taken the initiative in order to reach out to the few drunkards who attend church.
"That's where believers are more likely to go if they're disconnected from God and the traditional church, but still have a tugging in their heart for something more," he said. (ANI)
It's always nice IMO to look at figures that you can consider to have higher standards than your self...
When you bring them down to your level you loose respect..
That is why so many of todays kids do not respect a darn thing there parents say, when it comes to the clergy they too will loose respect, and lastly if you do not put GOD on the highest plain imaginable for a human being to do you sabatoge your final destiny..
That is fine - but what are they offering? Are they offering to change God's teachings to their liking or to have these people change to what God likes?
Just what was proven by the minister greeting them with a beer in his hand? Did it prove that God is a good ole drinker too? Did it say, "See, I believe and I can still hold a beer"?
I worry about the quick rush to change to make faith more "inviting" to those that don't bother to seek it in the first place. It starts a trend saying that we can't get them, so we must change to be what they will accept.
Where does that end?
What about respect for God? I don't care where people talk to other people about God. What I care about is how God is treated. Is it right to dishonor Him so that a drunk feels comfortable?
Are we putting the comfort of sinners above God? Would you take your mother into a bar of drunks? No, why? Respect - that is why. Shouldn't God be deserving of respect by his people since God is the one offering His Son to die for them and offering man the chance of eternity?
Does He need to offer a beer also to be acceptable?
If you see this as some kind of contradiction or hypocrisy on the minister's part, you obviously come from a strain of Christianity that regards consumption of alcohol as a sin.
As for making faith more "inviting," I see a vast difference between pandersing by changing the message and presenting the same message in venues that might draw more people in. The question is, how many 20-30 year old single people will show up at a theology lecture held in a church basement, versus how many will show up at the exact same lecture held in a popular bar?
Of course, if you belive that teetotaling is essential to being a Christian, then you'll see Theology on Tap or its protestant copycats as pandering to drinkers.
What's new about this?
Catholics have had an ongoing young adult program called Theology on Tap for years now!
It doesn't matter what I believe - it is a matter of respect for God.
It is one thing to go talk to them and then bring them to a church, meeting, house or whatever. It is another thing to set up a church (which is God's house) in the midst of what God wishes to turn them from. What next? Why not just have church in the sewer to make all comfortable? What are we doing? Sincerely seeking the lost to lead them to a life filled with God and faith OR seeking to devalue religion so that nothing has to be given up to follow God?
I see what you are getting at and I totally agree - get the message to the people. But, I think the message also should reflect the respect we have for God. What are we showing them if we don't reflect the consideration and respect for the holiness of God?
Why was Jesus sent to die on the cross? Because we - in our sin - were unworthy to live in the presence of God and the only way we could be made worthy was by Jesus giving his blood to save us. If this is true, I think there must be a consideration of where we take his church and what we are willing to give up to make His church acceptable to people.
After all, who is the one giving salvation here?
Where is the glory to God reflected in greeting people with a beer in one hand? Gee, does it try and get the message to people that "You see, God feels you can have a beer while you worship Him?"
And just how eternally important is a beer in the hand as we worship the Lord that is offering His Son that died for our sins so that we could live with Him eternally?
ROTFL!!!! That is freaking hilarious!!!! Thanks for the laugh!!!!
So would you agree the Clergy hanging out in the local Strip Clubs? or a crack house? Clergy must not compromise there respectability for GOD and his church by attending establishments that condone sinful behaviour....
The lost can be reached through other means...
Isn't the most important thing clergy can do is save lost souls? Maybe that involves getting their hands dirty by hanging out in the bad part of town. IIRC, Jesus hung out with lowlifes, too (heck, some of the Apostles were lowlifes before they met Him).
If a clergyman could convince the denizens of a crack house to change their ways and find religion, isn't that a good thing?
I don't think God would consider it disrespectful for a clergyman to hang out in sinful establishments if the clergyman was there to save souls. Other people might be scandalized by the clergyman's behavior, but so what?
It shows a lack of respect for GOD and his church...
Once you loose respect you will never get people to understand the importance of your message....
How so? God's representatives on Earth shouldn't just hang out in the good parts of town. Does God want His message only to be heard in upper-middle-class suburbs? It seems like the biggest concern you have is that "respectable" people might be shocked by the fact that a clergyman is hanging out in bad joints.
How do you account for the fact that Jesus, were he alive today, might very well be hanging out in bars, strip clubs and crack houses?
How many souls do you really would be saved if a man of the cloth was sitting at the local strip club? how many patrons do you really believe would give him an ounce of creedence?
What if he could save just one? Would it be worth it?
He could, just by standing outside the strip club or bar instead of being inside...
One other thing to be a human being means:
"The flesh is weak" everyone can be tempted by Sin, even the Clergy, It would easy for any man to be distracted by the on-going activities in Bars and Strip Clubs...
Jesus was Never tempted by Sin that is what makes him different than any other human being...
Of course.... Paul wasn't talking about hanging out in bars and drinking when he wrote that. He was talking primarily about observing "the Jewish law" or not. That's why he wrote the rest of the scriture he wrote about the appearance of evil, and all that.
That's not accurate. Jesus was in fact tempted... and even more so than you and I. The difference is that he did not sin. And the PRIMARY difference is that he was not born into sin with a sinful nature. Had he not been tempted, he could not have triumped over sin and thereby reconciled us.
Excuse me?!? What was His encounter with Satan after fasting in the desert for 40 days? Social conversation? He was certainly tempted. What makes Him different is that He never gave in to His temptation to sin.
But the bottom line is.... he won't save any. God will save those that God has chosen. I don't buy the idea that we have to be in bars or those people will NEVER hear the gospel.
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