Do any of you good people - the really naughty people need not answer - respect your church leaders (elders, pastors and such) yet harbour doubts about their opinions on some matters?
I tend to respect my elders and superiors....
And I believe that Christ Himself established the office of pastor and that those in that office have an awesome responsibility. I pray daily for my pastor. I also respect them for their extensive education (typically a min. of 4 years of undergrad education + 4 years of seminary; my pastor has a doctorate) and their knowledge of Greek and Hebrew (very important in exegesis and theological review). I have been richly blessed by very admirable pastors (in my Catholic days as well as my Lutheran ones), men whom I held in high esteem.
But of course, pastors are mere mortals and are sinners like all the rest of us. As such, they can err in thought, word and deed and are fully accountable in accord with the attitudes and processes taught by God in His holy Scripture to we, the church. Only God (all 3 persons) are infallible and thus unaccountable and worthly of docilic obedience (this applies to God's penmanship - His Scriptures). And so, as in all things, there is a balance here - embracing esteem and respect for the office but regarding the holder of such as accountable. It's good to remember that nearly every heretic in Christian history was an ordained pastor and that just as we can be sincerely wrong, so can every human being. But as with all, proceed with great and honest humility and in full accord with due process remembering that we too are fallible and accountable.
This is true of all humans in all offices. You - an Australian resident and citizen - take every opportunity to slam, ridicule, mock and condemn the President of the United States of America - a man in a very high and divinely appointed office. Obviously you agree that those in offices can be wrong and that you can designate even your own individual self to mock, ridicule, condemn them and demand their removal from office. Obviously, all that would apply to your Pope and pastor, too. I think I have a greater esteem for those in high offices than you've shown, but we're not fundamentally in disagreement, philosophically anyway.
Pax Christi
- Josiah
