Just an observation from the cheap seats.
Jhn 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Jhn 10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
Jhn 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
This thread, like many good threads, started out well enough. But something went sour somewhere along the way. Not taking sides and not really caring whose at fault, I was thinking about the above verses. First the shepherd (and we know the pastor is a shepherd to the local flock) gives his life for the sheep. The sheep, in a very real sense, becomes his life. Why? Because unlike the hireling, the pastor cares for the sheep. He gives his life for the sheep. What this says to me is this: he is, by the very nature of his office, an example for the sheep. The hireling is not so. He merely tends for someones else's sheep. He's there for the paycheck. He's there for what he can get out of the deal, whether it is a paycheck, a nice home, or the highly desirable title of Pastor. To be sure, if he is hieling, he doesn't care for the sheep. He doesn't risk his lives for them, and, when trouble comes, where it be a literal wolf or a church conflict, what does the hireling do. "He fleeth..." . And thats the point I'm trying to get at. Pastors try to stem church conflicts before they can grow into full blown church wars. What I see here is some brethren who aren't giving their lives for the sheep. They aren't allowing their lives to be an example of what Christians are suppose to be. They have fled their very first pastoral responsibility: they aren't serving as examples to the flock. But, rather they have become the very thing they teach their sheep not to be: arguing, fussing and fighting Christians. They are showing us how God does not want us to be. So, does this make them pastors? or hirelings? They may have the title of Pastor. They may be excellent Bible teachers. But, at least for now, they are reduced to mere hirelings who are allowing the big bad wolf of contention and strife to roam freely among God's Sheep.
If you brethren would just stop a minute and re-read each others posts through Christian eyes and stop spoiling for a fight to "defend your cause", you'll discover what we in the cheap seats already know. You aren't as oppose to each others views as much as you think you are. You're just letting spiritual pride cloud your vision. Now in the words of Abraham: "Let there be no strife...between me and thee...for we be brethren".
Nobody wins arguments like this. Nobody. Everybody loses.
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