Sheep Suit

The home of grazeable Christian thought. Masters in Ministry. MBA. Student of history, theology, politics. Financial comments are not financial advice.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@muthaPNW @FreshSardonic Two all beef patties, baby kale, mustard, dill relish, ketchup, on keto buns. I just do stuff.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

Consider a typical megachurch of a thousand or more attendees. Consider two adjacent Sunday morning 10:30am worship services. Or, two Sundays in a row. The church is packed both Sundays.

If, on the second Sunday, every seat behind row three from the front was occupied by a person who did not attend the first Sunday, would the worship team notice? Would the preacher/pastor notice? Would any of them care if they did notice? What do you think?

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

Treating "pastor" as an office and a title in a church isn't even a "special pleading" from scripture as it simply doesn't exist in scripture. Treating an office called "pastor" as "shepherd" when the "pastor" doesn't even need to know or care who is in his audience is just tradition and cultic superstition built around the function of public speaking.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

So, if I walk into some church and there is a female pastor, and I sit through her speech during the worship service, just what "authority" have I submitted to?

I chose to be there. I could have walked out any time. I can choose in my brain to believe what she said, or disagree. And most importantly to me, she never even knew I exist. She never needed to. I was in her audience for a very short little piece of my Sunday morning. That's it.

Does "biblical authority" exist in talking to people, for a few minutes, whose individual existence means nothing to you? No. In 1st Century Israel, a rabbi lived, ate, traveled with, and taught his disciples. The rabbi had authority over his disciples' entire waking lives. 24/7. That's what Jesus did, but He was not the only teacher who did this. This was the culture.

The idea of a paid church orator having some "authority" over me, a male sheep 😎, can only exist in a system where a cult has been made of public speaking, and where certain public speaking at a certain time and place, behind a sacred piece of furniture, has been elevated to being the voice of a demigod.

The pulpit, the sacred piece of furniture the demigod stands behind when speaking, ensures that the words of the demigod align with the will of the real God.

The pulpit is the real source of authority. It is the "holy of holies" that confers authority on those who stand behind it, and it makes holy the words that come out of the orator's mouth. There must be strict regulations concerning who gets to speak behind that piece of furniture! That is how authority flows in Christian churches these days: through furniture.

The more I think about it, the more pagan it gets.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

So, elders "read the readings." I assume they ritualistically read printed matter in front of the church. I asked to see if there was any indication of elder/pastor overlap in your church. In many churches there is not. Pastors are employed by the elders, and elders are behind-the-scenes people who spring into action in some crisis situation.

My "proof text" shows five church roles that have no gender requirements. If Paul wanted to stress gender requirements he could have, but he didn't.

So, to put it simply. Elder, or overseer, limited to men, includes "shepherd" but "pastor" also exists as a function without reference to "overseer." So, it's not a huge intellectual stretch to imagine that one function subsumes another. Elder subsumes pastor. But in the text pastor can exist without being elder.

And none of this says "pastor" is equivalent of ceremonial public speaking demigod at a certain place and time.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@robthemany Are all pastors elders in your church? Do all elders in your church preach on Sunday mornings?

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

"Pastor" is mentioned as a distinct role played in the church, without reference to eldership (which includes "shepherd" as we know), only once in the NT, and it's in Ephesians 4:11. The five church roles mentioned in this passage have no gender requirements.

Did your "Book of Concord" people miss this?

And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; - Eph 4:11-12 NASB95

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

Pastors should spend their time "pastoring" or shepherding people in their congregations. Like, send emails, texts, phone call, meet for lunch, visit at home when appropriate, real Christian humans who might benefit from interacting with them on some level.

Or, change their job descriptions and titles to "Resident Theologian of Political History" and tell their congregations not to disturb them, but pay them to do this anyway, whatever exactly it is they're doing. 😎

We are not in Babylon or Rome in the USA in 2026. We are in a Christianized constitutional republic that we're losing to just about every other culture and depraved philosophy that can gain traction because we're so unserious about our faith.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@SkepticalSheep @MatrixMysteries Yikes! I have a ten year old, at least, HP color laser USB printer as my backup. I thought about giving it away. Now it ain't goin' nowhere!

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

This is some grey area of technology and those that use it. I predict it will take multiple tragedies before any laws are enforced. These E-bikes are fast, powerful, and silent and they are ridden by children on pedestrian sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and in regular motorized traffic. I take multi-mile walks most every day and see it all the time.

I've had children wiz by me at high rates of speed just a foot away on pedestrian sidewalks. These bikes are totally silent too and can come out of nowhere in seconds. To totally prevent this I'd have to walk backwards I guess.

I even saw a child, looked like about eight to ten years old, riding a mini gas powered bike with tires about ten inches wide right down the middle of a two lane main road with double yellow lines in with cars doing 20 to 30 mph. It's like nobody cars who is driving what in traffic anymore, as long as it is powered by electricity or gas.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

Well, in the Pacific Northwest where I live, during COVID and the George Floyd fiasco, I saw male pastors in traditionally conservative denominations go far far left too. Women didn't make them do it. They just joined the bandwagon. That's when I gave up on depending on churches and what they do, and many years ago I grew out of needing a professional holy orator tell me what to think.

I still visit churches and meet Christians, but churches are sadly, and unbiblically, closed systems that work more like pop-up cults than communities. And they can turn on a dime, or like a sailing ship that turns where the wind blows.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@DriverXag True enough, but not my problem. And, there are plenty of domineering, attention seeking and narcissistic male "pastors." That's like a different category of sin to me, maybe under the general pride category. But it's no a authority over me.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@TheMuppetPastor His book "People of the Lie" is great too, and still true.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@DriverXag Good point. The women who strive to BE pastors, especially in conservative denominations, are doing it the hard way, eh?

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@jasonrantz Do you have a choice? It matters where you choose to run out the clock.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@DriverXag I was married for seventeen years. Yeah, I get it. And "it" doesn't happen for me when a woman gives a speech in a church. That's why I don't worry about it.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@DailyCaller RIP Famous Actor. I loved Famous Movie; that was one of his best.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@LynAldenContact @naiivememe You'll be 54 when they graduate from high school.

[Sheep Suit @SuitSheep]

@seattleinfo Yeah, marching is always the solution to everything in Seattle, but at least they're finally marching for something that makes sense, but I wonder when marching against violent criminals ever stopped them. I assume never.