Personal Beliefs and Morals are against my Pastors....

[Alisha1174852]

Hey... I'm new here and I was just looking for some advice. I don't ever go to the internet for advice but if God decides to use one of you to give me an answer then I will be happy.

I am in a Christian Apostolic Church, I have disagreed with my Pastor on a few occasions, I don't believe you need to be baptized to be saved (It is important but not the point of salvation), I disagree that God turned into a Man for a little bit then went back to being God up in heaven, I believe Jesus is God, but He is part of a TRIUNE God, I disagree women need to wear veils, these are all things that my pastor believes strongly.
This is the first church I have been to in the last ten years, I am 17, I started coming 2 years ago, it is all in Spanish which I am studying, but I became a youth leader, a sunday-school teacher, a worship leader, part of homegroups and intercession group, and very active in serving, to the point where every day of the week I was at church before this quarantine.
I also have a 2 1/2 hour morning time with the Lord, so I do not use this church to compensate for my time with Him.

I have quietly disagreed with my pastor on these topics, I am a teenager, homeschooled, kinda shy and I don't think its a woman's place to question her pastor, only inquire. So if I do talk to him I would be extremely cautious of being respectful.

The issue I have is... I recently found out he is Pro-choice... In my mind this is terrible. I am sorry if any of you feel different, but to me, it is completely unbiblical and convicting. His reasoning doesn't make any sense and if you see it from my view, it is absolute murder of the innocent. I haven't talked to him yet but this is a huge problem for me, how can I be under the authority of a pastor who believes it's ok to murder children? (This is my personal view, I have my reasons for it) I have a heart for small children and babies, I think they are the most precious beings on earth, the only ones who are truly innocent sometimes.

What am I to do? I will not disrespect my pastor even though I believe he is truly in the wrong. I adore my church, its people, I have many ministries built here, I don't want to leave but I am not sure if I should stay when so many of my beliefs are in conflict with my spiritual authorities and especially his political views too! He votes for the evilest people, and I pray the Lord opens our eyes to the truth. But am I to stay under him when he is deceived?
Thank you all,

Sorry for it being so long.

 

[God is good777]

I wo

Hey... I'm new here and I was just looking for some advice. I don't ever go to the internet for advice but if God decides to use one of you to give me an answer then I will be happy.

I am in a Christian Apostolic Church, I have disagreed with my Pastor on a few occasions, I don't believe you need to be baptized to be saved (It is important but not the point of salvation), I disagree that God turned into a Man for a little bit then went back to being God up in heaven, I believe Jesus is God, but He is part of a TRIUNE God, I disagree women need to wear veils, these are all things that my pastor believes strongly.
This is the first church I have been to in the last ten years, I am 17, I started coming 2 years ago, it is all in Spanish which I am studying, but I became a youth leader, a sunday-school teacher, a worship leader, part of homegroups and intercession group, and very active in serving, to the point where every day of the week I was at church before this quarantine.
I also have a 2 1/2 hour morning time with the Lord, so I do not use this church to compensate for my time with Him.

I have quietly disagreed with my pastor on these topics, I am a teenager, homeschooled, kinda shy and I don't think its a woman's place to question her pastor, only inquire. So if I do talk to him I would be extremely cautious of being respectful.

The issue I have is... I recently found out he is Pro-choice... In my mind this is terrible. I am sorry if any of you feel different, but to me, it is completely unbiblical and convicting. His reasoning doesn't make any sense and if you see it from my view, it is absolute murder of the innocent. I haven't talked to him yet but this is a huge problem for me, how can I be under the authority of a pastor who believes it's ok to murder children? (This is my personal view, I have my reasons for it) I have a heart for small children and babies, I think they are the most precious beings on earth, the only ones who are truly innocent sometimes.

What am I to do? I will not disrespect my pastor even though I believe he is truly in the wrong. I adore my church, its people, I have many ministries built here, I don't want to leave but I am not sure if I should stay when so many of my beliefs are in conflict with my spiritual authorities and especially his political views too! He votes for the evilest people, and I pray the Lord opens our eyes to the truth. But am I to stay under him when he is deceived?
Thank you all,

Sorry for it being so long.

I would leave that church sadly if he believes those things and teaches them. Abortion is something God never intended and it should not be done. I know your in a tough spot as your 17 and probably can't make the call for your family on leaving but I would talk to your parents about it. And discuss how you feel about that and why I'm sure they will understand. But the political side that shouldn't be a concern but the other two you mentioned for me would be a deal breaker. I hope that God guides you above all through this tho. And I do believe you can make a big difference if it's what God has planned for you stay strong and praise the Lord!

 

[Alisha1174852]

Thank you for your reply! I really appreciate your input! That is amazing advice and yes, I have talked to my entire family about this. They are completely leaving it up to me.... the thing is, my pastor believes abortion is political and to me is it pure murder... so leaving for that reason seems petty to him, but i pray God opens his eyes. If I wasn’t contributing and involved in my church so much I would lean towards leaving but I am building ministries here and God is using me... I am praying so hard about it, thank you so much for giving me your viewpoint and advice. I appreciate it so mcuh

 

[God is good777]

Thank you for your reply! I really appreciate your input! That is amazing advice and yes, I have talked to my entire family about this. They are completely leaving it up to me.... the thing is, my pastor believes abortion is political and to me is it pure murder... so leaving for that reason seems petty to him, but i pray God opens his eyes. If I wasn’t contributing and involved in my church so much I would lean towards leaving but I am building ministries here and God is using me... I am praying so hard about it, thank you so much for giving me your viewpoint and advice. I appreciate it so mcuh

Ah I understand I believe if God is using you in those ways he has it all worked out. I hope that your pastor's eyes will be open on that matter as it is murder in my opinion and I believe the Bible says the same about it. As for what your working on with your church that's amazing you are working in those ways and hope as you continue to God guides you and helps you in your path!

 

[Alisha1174852]

That’s what I understand from my reading, Thank you so much, i really appreciate your support!
God bless you

 

[Alisha1174852]

Yes! I completely agree with the understanding of his view of the triune God. I don’t believe we will ever completely understand so I am not using this as a point against the church, although he teaches it frequently and I somewhat disagree. But it is not something I would ever leave a church for.
Very interesting about the head coverings! I always believed the hair was fingering for women but I didn’t know that history, thank you for sharing!
I will take your advice into see consideration. Thank you so much

God bless you

 

[Alisha1174852]

Thank you, please help me pray for a revelation. He is leading the church with this belief that it is their choice. I don’t want the church to be condemned. Thank you for your input

God bless uou

 

[Alisha1174852]

Thank you so much for your advice,
Thankfully I am teaching 3 year olds stories, not doctrine but i understand my endorsement while remaining. I thank you, and hope God blesses you,

 

[Alisha1174852]

In the end you are chasing the truth and if this minister is not promoting it, no matter how much you love the fellowship you will have to leave.

Check out Lee Strobes case for series of books of coldcasechristianity, or reasonable faith.[/QUOTE]

I am sorry, I believe I stated my belief unclearly, I believe 100% that Jesus is God, and human. Now what I believe is that He came to earth to save us, but him and the Father and Spirit are one in unity but they are separate as well, Jesus was God on earth as God's son, God the Father was in Heaven and the Spirit is within us. They have different roles but they are all God. My Pastor believes that God the father, son and spirit came down as a Human and left a bit of his power in heaven so he was human-like and called upon his power in heaven when He did miracles. I believe they are a bit more separate but still one. It is an extremely difficult subject to explain, They are one and three and it can't be either or because of the evidence the Bible gives.

The pastor, I believe, was in the right in letting me become involved in the church heavily, He has known me since I was a child and he knows I study the Bible daily and have a good Christian family. I have questioned him before on a few accounts, and he is very easy-going, not threatened at all, but a 17 year old isn't going to change the mind of a pastor easily, he is supposed to be my teacher, but he welcomes questioning.

Thank you so much for your reply, I do deeply appreciate your advice on this matter, I understand completely your view.

I have read Lee Strobes books, Case for Christ and Case for a Creator and both are incredibly informative books, I will have to look into the other series when I finish mine, Thank you for the recommendation!

 

[Conclusive]

I think that you have found yourself in a situation that happens fairly often in Christian Churches, but to varying degrees of importance. I don't think that anyone would expect you to have a set of values that is completely parallel with your pastor, we should come to expect differences considering the diversity in churches and pastors in this world. But what really matters about a pastor, is how their morals and values compare to biblical morals and values. This is a non-negotiable and there shouldn't be excuses for a pastor to stand for non-biblical values. Pastor's are meant to be held to a higher standard to God and will be judged accordingly (James 3:1).

As from my current knowledge, Christians aren't required to have duplicated morals and values. Some values will be the same, and some will be different. Some morals need to be the same for you to be Christian, while others have freedom in variety. It would be far to convenient to repeat Rupertus Meldenius's famous quote "In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity". But we must be concerned with the essentials of the Christian faith. It is a good practice to question the beliefs of others in order to grow in understanding and fellowship. In summary the christian shouldn't worry about all the small details as long the scriptural message of Salvation is kept intact.

Now, I don't know your pastor and his complete set of values or beliefs, so I don't mean to imply that he is standing for ungodly morals. I am pro-life, and I think that you can either be pro-life or pro-choice. I have yet to hear a convincing argument from the pro-choice perspective that doesn't have numerous flaws (and doesn't shake my conscience). It is even more hard to uphold a biblical pro-choice perspective in contrast to upholding a secular moral one (in my perspective). For me, this would be an alarm bell sounding. But, in the case of a pastor holding non-biblical morals, I think that it would be a good reason to for the member to leave their church. A pastor with non-biblical morals will preach a non-biblical sermon. The church can and will not survive on faulty preaching. But you should never attempt to leave a church based on mere speculation.

If you are concerned with the Morals of your pastor from a biblical standpoint, I would first attempt to look to see how his values compare with the standards set forth in by your branch of church or denomination (this just to see if there is any direct contradictions between what is required of him for his set forth pastoral duties). I would also attempt reach out to an elder whom you are in a good relationship with (or church leader possessing authority in the church), and ask them some questions about what the bible teaches and what it doesn't teach. This way you can bring up some of the topics that are bothering you without being disrespectful (its generally part of an elder/church leader's job to answer questions from the congregation). You could also respectfully engage in discussion with your pastor if you wished to. Try to get a concrete view of what are essentials and non-essentials and where his views lie accordingly.

But in the end, I don't want to impact your decision. Church hoppers never become included in the loving fellowship that is found openly in churches today. Christian love can be healthily cultivated within a church full differently minded Christians. Don't be hasty to give up the love that you have engaged within your church. But, if you find out that things are worse than you thought, and his morals are sinfully affecting his biblical teaching abilities, and your church body and federation is doing nothing to apprehend him... It might be in the best interest of every Christian at that church to escape, lest they be led astray. May you find courage in any action you choose to take and may the God of peace himself give you his peace.

 

[St. Helens]

ADMIN HAT ON
For teens ages 16-19 only
If you are older than that do not post here.
ADMIN HAT OFF​