I have not said, nor have I read others on this forum who say, that pastor's are the only ones who we can get teaching from, in the body of Christ’
I did not say YOU trust only leaders and priests for instruction, I said the church was wrong to trust 'only' leaders and priests for instruction' (those who do so are wrong, if you don't you are not wrong). I did not even include 'pastors' in 'my' statement, the atheist pastor did, not me. I was pointing out at least two contradictions in the ex-pastors statement:
1. The atheist was justifying his belief 'from scripture', all while believing scripture was 'full of errors'.
2. He was justifying that pastors should have authority in the instruction over others, yet at the same time he himself was an atheist and did not trust the bible 'while being a pastor' over others!
Also he had already shown that 'his interpretation' of certain texts were not generally orthodox (i.e. he says the bible teaches works salvation). And I believe that his belief in his calling and authority, possibly attributed to his dissatisfaction with the Church.
So to deny pastors their biblical role of teaching the body of Christ is to reject God's word
I did 'not' say that, nor do I deny anyone their biblical role of teaching. It is defamation to say I said something I did not say, you need to read my statements more clearly. But since you put it that way, what I have said is that 'many' pastors
deny others the biblical role of teaching in the body of Christ. And it is precisely the money, and fear of losing the paycheck, their dependance on the income, that can be proven to be the reason in many instances as why so many are afraid to let others teach in the body of Christ.
I said they 'should' be able to teach, teachers should be paid, 'if' they want to assume that. I am 'questioning' the role we have 'turned it into' / the 'power' it has been given / the 'singularity' the position is given / and the central 'authority' and 'focus' the role becomes in most every church. And expecting purity, expecting purity of doctrine, expecting honesty, expecting pure motives, expecting pay, and expecting to make a living and career out of pastoring 'because' you went to seminary, is without a doubt problematic. It is interesting that you keep citing Gods word as the authority, so then you are making my case that
Gods word is 'the' authority, for that is truly what the Word teaches.
That is what a bible teachers job is: to teach that
Gods Word is the authority, not my interpretation, not my words, but His Word. That is what I teach. And as a teacher I should be able to keep out un-biblical authorities and discern when Gods Word is not being held to as accurate, enough, and our sure foundation. If someone wants to disagree over the interpretation, then let the class discuss it, I trust as long as we hold the Bible as the true foundation, all of it, then we can agree to disagree on the interpretation. It does become evident who believes and who doesn't. When I impose 'my interpretation' on the rest of my group as unquestionable, and the final word, I have stepped into the abyss.
... that they can ALL teach each other, on a consistent basis, is a recipe for total confusion... If everyone in your group has a different interpretation than yours, or different from each other's, then nobody learns anything. All that has happened is that there were 10 or 12 different opinions of what God's word says.
That is what 'some' leaders say, I believe to maintain their control and position. All I can say is these types don't seem to be able to reason very well, lead, or know 'how to teach' people to 'trust God' and 'trust the word' and study 'Him'. What you describe, I have never seen happen. I have been in, and or lead many beginners groups, and the same for intellectual groups, i have not experienced what you described. Our 9am Sunday group is about 30 very intellectual and biblically well versed individuals, with some younger believers also, the leadership consists of about 8 original members. The lead teaching position rotates every week between 6 or 9 different members, we often counter argument each other, we all hold scripture as central, and because we do, it works out fine, and everyone loves this awesome group. Last week one leader demanded that Ezekiel 28 spoke exclusively of Lucifer, I countered that there may be another way to look at it, and we looked, yes, and we moved on. No problem. We have learned to trust Gods Word as the authority, not our roles, or our ideas.
If we hold that only leadership, priests and such in authority are the only ones we can trust as correct, well
that would have excluded Jesus wouldn't it. That is the Point, Jesus, er The Word of God
questioned 'the authorities'. So did the religious authorities hold to Gods Word, or did hold to their 'positions' and 'interpretations'?
As a teacher, I 'lead' the group to trust and study God and His WORD. A leader must 'model' this, that is what teaching is, modeling: how to discuss, examine, compare, share, converse,
politely, in humility, in love. Don't trust me, or my position, or my charm, look for yourself at His Word. And look out for your own self and your family, read and study, then learn to teach others. Question those who 'presume' they have all the truth, be a Berean.
If you find a good teacher like this, support him or her, praise God! I love Steve's style, we don't always agree, but he teaches we should 'trust' Gods word, study, and put our faith in scripture. Steve's radio show does, and models, just what we should 'all' strive to do,
talk, communicate, 'be there' for those who have questions, and have answers. I wish i could give more to Steve's ministry, when my current financial whoa passes I plan to give very generously to this treasure of a ministry and knowledge. I encourage others to do the same if they can.