"Some preachers have such a phobia for repetition and such an unnatural fear of the familiar that they are forever straining after the odd and the startling. The church page of the newspaper almost any Saturday will be sure to announce at least one or two sermon topics so far astray as to be positively grotesque; only by the most daring flight of uncontrolled imagination can any relation be established between the topic and the religion of Christ. We dare not impugn the honesty or the sincerity of the men who thus flap their short wings so rapidly in an effort to take off into the wild blue yonder, but we do deplore their attitudes. No one should try to be more original than an apostle." God Tells the Man Who Cares, 144.
I actually see this today quite often when preachers toss out some "novel nugget of truth" which can quite easily be found in an email forward that everyone gets in their daily junk folder. These catch phrases, these slogans, these one-liners, these mantras, these sound bites, these witty contrivances that are intended to accomplish the equivalent of a oratorical sugar high, most often just make me sick to my stomach.Where is the serious man?
0 comments:
Post a Comment