In reading stories and seeing headlines like this one-– Pastor Tony Evans’ ‘sin’ confession stuns Christian community, sparks questions and prayers
We are reminded of our own set of decisions. We are in our 12th year producing content for this website and it may seem that we come off writing like we are better than others. But we are not.
All of our content here, at theoarch, our books, and other internet places is not the result of us thinking we are more spiritual than anyone else. or that we think we are better than anyone else. Most often, while we write our content we preach to ourselves first and learn from the content we feel God wants us to write.
At no time do we think we are infallible or closer to God than any other Christian. Our content is based on what we have learned from God through our years of study and reading as well as interacting with others over the internet.
We feel that anyone can learn the same lessons if they look to God to teach them. We are not special and do not have any special revelations. Our material comes from God’s word as written and the lessons we have learned over the years.
The reason we have these websites is to share with our readers what we have been taught. There is a reason we have not pursued full-time ministry in a church. We just do not feel qualified to be active in that way.
We feel qualified to write our books and the content for our websites and that is it. We feel both sorry for and a bit disappointed when we read headlines and articles of those pastors who are qualified for full-time ministry for Jesus like the one above.
Pastors and Christians are human and we all fail at some point. The important issue to remember when they do fail is not to kill their wounded but to roll up one’s sleeves and help those men and women of God in restoring them to being qualified to work for God.
This is why we do not like BG’s black collar series. It is not helpful but destructive. it also serves no purpose but to damage the church of Christ. Christians should not follow that example but Jesus’ example when Peter failed him three times.
Jesus forgave him and still helped him become one of the best Christian workers in the early church. Pointing a finger at someone who has failed is judging and condemning them. This act is not Christian teaching.
While the Bible says to put certain people out of the church if they do not follow God’s instructions etc., that instruction does not overrule the one that talks about what you do to the least of these you do it to Christ.
Failed or error-prone ministers are the least of Christians and they need our help, not our rejection. What we do to them, we do to Christ. This does not mean we give them blanket forgiveness and ignore their misdeeds. We still have to put them through the process of restoration no matter which crime they have committed.
We do not see that happening very often. It did not happen to us when we approached old friends many decades ago. usually, only the accepted people get the help they need. Also, only those who commit the accepted crimes get biblical treatment.
The example for this point is Ravi Zacharias who was universally condemned by many as they believed an erroneous report about his so-called sins. Once it was discovered that those alleged sins were not acceptable, he was removed from people’s sight like trash is.
In mentioning our old friends, we are disappointed in them, not only for their failure to help us but in the other actions that have seen them disobey God and allow women to ascend to positions they are not to have among other disobedient activities.
It is sad to see old friends do that. They need correction because misrepresenting God and his instructions is not a Christian thing to do. However, the trend is to let them continue because the leadership of the denominations supports those erroneous moves.
We do not take a position of pride or arrogance and judge or condemn them as we still feel they are better people than we are. All we do is write what we have learned hoping God will lead the right people to what is published and teach them the same lessons.
Then have those qualified to minister full-time for God teach those lessons to their congregants. Our books exist to help strengthen people’s faith not to show them that we are better than them and that we are published while they are not.
Our books have the information we have learned and contain material to help other Christians do apologetics better. Defending the faith takes more knowledge than just the gospel message.
It takes wisdom, understanding, and knowledge as well as true Christ’s love to plant, water, and harvest seeds. Preaching alone will not suffice in most cases. So when you read our material remember that we are fallible and do not always publish the best material.
We have personal views and feelings which often come through our writing. The key is to draw what God wants you to learn from our published material. Then build upon it with future lessons from Him.
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