Receiving Criticism

As a Pastor, I get some really encouraging emails from my congregation:

"Pastor Mark, thanks for the message today. I never leave Faith encouraged, convicted, and prompted to keep going on in the faith. Take care, ___" 

I'm sure my anti-pietistic friends will respond, "many a true word spoken [by mistake]."

On another occasion, I had an elderly man in my church give me a stinging critique for my lack of detail when I preached through Romans. Now, having never preached through Romans, the man had a good point.

There was the time I was critiqued for having unruly children because when I was on the phone with an individual my "children" in the background were making too much noise. Well, when you're at a school playground with 50 kids running around, unruliness - especially with (Canadian) Reformed covenant children present - is the order of the day.

And, finally, a great defender of the truth once implied I was a Pelagian, but I just embraced the compliment.

However, every now and then, you receive a measured, nuanced critique by someone who causes you to think, "maybe I need to reconsider my position." 

Such as here and here and here. Pure gold.

Now I'm not sure what has caused Mr. Hart to become obsessed with my posts - maybe he somehow caught a glimpse of my ETS paper, tentatively titled, "Why Hart is Wrong, Dead Wrong" - but I will admit to being almost as flattered by his attention as I am by the attention I get by some professors at a certain Seminary...

Anyway, since this is "Monday Humour," have a read of the comments in this post and then carefully consider who you choose to friend and un-friend on Facebook. (Though, I will admit that un-friending certain people is as therapeutic as drinking Lagavulin and listening to Gerry and the Pacemakers sing "You'll Never Walk Alone." 

Pastor Mark Jones is looking for another student intern who agrees with 100% of what he has written, especially on the imitatio Christi.