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    Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears
    Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears
    Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears

    By F. Belton Joyner JR.

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    About this ebook

    Pastors will keep this book--its hints, its chuckles, its struggles--close at hand. You never know when you'll get one of those dreaded questions.



    They are always just around the corner. Even when things are going swimmingly for the pastor, a these dreaded questions are waiting in the wings. They might come from a tear-stained child , a gruff, "You'll have to show me" member, or from a desperate Sunday School teacher. The zinger comes and the pastor, aware that two thousand years of Christian thought have not generated a simple "I'm glad you asked" answer, most respond.





    The dreaded ten:

    (1) Is my Jewish neighbor going to hell?

    (2) Why did God let my kitten, Fluffy, die?

    (3) What do you mean, you changed the light bulb that Grandma gave the church?

    (4) Why doesn't your wife sing in the choir?

    (5) Who are you going to vote for, Reverend?

    (6) Why are you leaving us for another church? Don't you like us?

    (7) Why do you pick hymns no one knows?

    (8) Why do we keep sending off money for missions?

    (9) Why can't we use Christmas red on the altar table during December?

    (10) Are all "acts of God" acts of God?F. Belton Joyner Jr. is a retired United Methodist pastor and author of The Unofficial UM Handbooks and Being Methodist in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and Other Confused Methodists and many other books. Currently, he is a visiting lecturer at Duke Divinity School and member of Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church. He lives in Bahama, North Carolina.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateFeb 1, 2009
    ISBN9781426749469
    Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears
    Author

    F. Belton Joyner JR.

    F. Belton Joyner Jr. is a retired United Methodist pastor and author of The Unofficial UM Handbooks and Being Methodist in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and Other Confused Methodists and many other books. Currently, he is a visiting lecturer at Duke Divinity School and member of Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church. He lives in Bahama, North Carolina.

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      Book preview

      Ten Questions Every Pastor Fears - F. Belton Joyner JR.

      Ten Questions

      Every Pastor Fears*

      *Answers Included

      Ten Questions

      Every Pastor Fears*

      *Answers Included

      F. Belton Joyner Jr.

      Abingdon Press

      Nashville

      TEN QUESTIONS EVERY PASTOR FEARS

      Copyright © 2009 by Abingdon Press

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth AvenueSouth, Nashville, TN 37202-0801 or e-mailed to permissions@abingdonpress.com.

      This book is printed on acid-free paper.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Joyner, F. Belton.

      Ten questions every pastor fears / F. Belton Joyner, Jr.

      p. cm.

      ISBN 978-0-687-65590-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. Pastoral theology. 2. Theology, Doctrinal—Miscellanea. I. Title.

      BV4013.J69 2009

      233—dc22

      2008034476

      Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      The scripture quotation noted KJV is from the King James Version.

      09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

      For

      Diane M. Christianson

      and

      W. Bryan Faggart

      My pastors who have handled my feared questions

      CONTENTS

      Opening Mumbling: An Introduction

      Question 1: Is my Jewish neighbor going to hell?

      Question 2: Why did God let my kitten die?

      Question 3: What do you mean, you changed the light that Grandma gave the church?

      Question 4: Why doesn't your wife sing in the choir?

      Question 5: Who are you going to vote for, Reverend?

      Question 6: Why are you leaving us for another church? Don't you like us?

      Question 7: Why do you pick hymns that no one likes?

      Question 8: Why do we keep sending off money for missions?

      Question 9: Why can't we use Christmas red on the altar table during December?

      Question 10: Are all acts of God acts of God?

      Afterword

      OPENING MUMBLING :

      AN INTRODUCTION

      These beginning pages are called mumbling because often that is the best we can do when confronted with a feared question. Perhaps we burble until we can get our thoughts organized. Perhaps we murmur because we have no idea what to say. Perhaps we mutter because we have asked ourselves the same feared question that has now been posed to us.

      Mumbling might even be a spiritual discipline. Instead of loudly proclaiming with faked absolute assurance something that actually remains quite ungelled in one's own heart, one mumbles. There is a certain authenticity about mumbling: a little of this and a little of that and maybe some of the other. Although the penetrating words of Revelation 3:16 can be haunting (So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth), there is comfort in Paul's advice to Titus: But as for you, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). So, I can say to myself, I am mumbling not because I am lukewarm; I am mumbling because I am sorting out sound doctrine!

      Of course, some of our colleagues—perhaps including you—do not fear the difficult questions. The spiritual and intellectual challenge excites such a person. They have long since ceased being tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14a) and have a solid grasp on the truth that they now speak in love (Ephesians 4:15a). I am grateful for them and pray for their patience as some of the rest of us struggle to hear more clearly what God is saying.

      Why are some questions feared questions? Pastors recognize that they are the intentional theologians of a congregation.If anyone is expected to have sorted through the tricky places of theological and biblical wonderment, it is the pastor. What if I fail as a theologian—does that mean I fail as a pastor? None of us wants to look ignorant or sloppy in spiritual matters. The pressure is on! Handling the subtle places of doubt and belief is no small task. No wonder some questions are dreaded.

      ABOUT THIS BOOK

      This book is one pastor's thinking about issues that often emerge in the ordinary flow of pastoral work. There is an arrogance in writing this book. Not only is there a dangerous presumption that I have spotted ten questions that are stirring in every congregation, I have dared to offer answers.I trust that you understand that my mumblings are an invitation to conversation, both with the book and with the questions addressed.

      The Feared Question

      The first part of each chapter is a presentation of a feared question. Part of the nature of such inquiries is that they show up when we least expect them: in the parking lot, at a ball game, at a precinct voting station. In these settings, pastors are not always equipped with their full theological armor and certainly do not have with them notes from Systematic Theology 101. Biblical resources will probably be what one can carry in head and heart. Although Let me get back to you on that might buy a little time, the power of the question lingers.

      Most pastors can identify with these dismaying moments.The eyes of the congregation's matriarch aim a steady bead on the pastor as she walks purposefully across the room. Uh-oh! The major giver to the building fund sits with arms crossed in a defiant mode as the church council discusses missions. Uh-oh! The youth who is just back from a mountaintop experience at camp comes up with tears in his eyes. Uh-oh! The thorn-in-the-flesh nonbeliever spots the pastor on the street the day after a damaging hurricane.Uh-oh! The six-year-old child is mad at God because her parents have divorced. Uh-oh!

      Dreaded questions can show up in study groups, but their very nature of catching us with our best thinking antenna down means that they often show up unexpectedly.I hope you enjoy the thrill of roller-coaster theology because these questions are bound to come.

      Quick, First Thoughts

      Before we begin giving a serious answer to a question, we often have flash notions that are best kept to ourselves.The second part of each chapter is a brief hunch on what those instant reactions might be. Fortunately, most of us have filters in place that will keep us from saying these things out loud! Spiritual dialogue is not promoted (usually!) by our exasperatingly saying to the questioner: And what made you think that I can give a happy hoot about your question until I have finished my dessert? Quick, First Thoughts allow us to own our feelings without giving up our control over them.

      Thinking a Bit More about It

      The major portion of each chapter is a tracing of biblical and theological and pastoral matters that emerge in reflecting on the question. Although classic religious studies language is not always used, there are major theological points in each encounter.

      Question 1 (Is my Jewish neighbor going to hell?) touches on soteriology, eschatology, and the nature of

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